6 . Humor is so much more than silly situations and funny words. It is about the places we live in, the people who are with us, the events we experience and the problems we face. These humorous English stories will make you laugh first, then think. Here are some funny stories in English to get you started!

“Hunting the Deceitful Turkey” by Mark Twain

Good for: Intermediate to advanced students

Considered one of the funniest turkey tales in American literature, Twain tells a true incident where he tries to shoot a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner.

The story is a humorous account of his failure. It also relates to the American holiday of Thanksgiving, where turkey is the main dish in the feast (宴会).

Since the story was written in 1906, you might read some words which are not commonly used anymore. For instance, the word “swindler” means “cheat” or “fraud.” It might be helpful to have access to a good English dictionary while you read this.

“Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir” by Jenny Lawson

Good for: Mature intermediate learners

Have you ever felt that you did not fit in, or that you were strange or awkward? The author of this book felt like that throughout her life.

There are tales about her sister going to school in a bird costume, her “message-board” cat, her relationship and more. Her story is equal parts funny and enlightening (something which makes you aware).

The core message is that the moments that embarrass us are really the ones that define (界定) us. If you are still unsure about the book, you can read this article by The Washington Post.

“The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year” by Sue Townsend

Good for: Intermediate learners

Eva, the main character, is disappointed with her family. When her children leave home, she climbs into bed and stays there.

She refuses to be a dutiful wife to her indifferent (漠不关心的) husband, and she stops being an ideal mother to her careless children. Soon, unexpected things start happening. The true face of every person in the household starts to come out.

The novel is funny but also seeks to question traditional family roles. For a more detailed overview, read this review by The Guardian.

7 . Ancient documents are an important part of ancient civilization. Unfortunately, such documents are often vulnerable (易受……伤害的) to aging and related damage, which greatly reduce their legibility (易读性).

An international group of computer scientists have teamed up to strike up the conversation with ancient people through their writing that have been broken down by time. They have developed a computer-assisted method to help us have a conversation with people from the distant past.

Appreciating ancient documents, even when in good condition, can require a reader to dig into the role of a cryptologist (密码学家). That’s because the combination of a writer’s handwriting legibility, lettering styles, old-fashioned spelling and grammar conventions or abbreviations (缩写) can make even a native language seem unfamiliar. Besides, the same document’s legibility can be reduced even more by faded ink, widened lettering due to exposure to wetness, and so on.

Typical digital reconstruction changes a document into black text on a white background in an attempt to reveal the text through noise filtering (过滤) and contrast improvement. However, in this current method, the image is much more of a restoration effort, keeping much of the look and virtual feel of the document.

Researchers applied a complex integration of several digital color interpretation techniques and Gaussian mixture models to identify and separate features of text, paper, and historical objects. This allows for the specific selection of different layers of information based on slight spectral (光谱的) differences. So a user could decide whether a notation (符号), page decoration, coffee mug ring stain or another feature was critical to the understanding by adding or removing layers.

In some cases, the technique could preserve features that would otherwise be lost, such as the vague watermarks of a paper manufacturer, which could offer vital insights to historians. “For example, Leonardo da Vinci’s famous works were written on pages with watermarks from various paper suppliers that allowed document historians to group them into likely writing periods,” said Usman Habib, an expert on digital restoration.

According to the paper, the processing can be accomplished on a standard desktop computer, and it takes just a few minutes. This would make it a great tool for historical document researchers and people attempting to figure out old family recipes.

9 . Many people love the Halloween season, particularly young ones. It’s not hard to understand. The Halloween season is a time for fun-sized candy, giving rocks to trick or treaters, apple cider donuts, and frights. The very last-frights, are generally all in good fun. But can they be dangerous? Can someone be scared to death?

The key factor in an imagined scare-caused death is a little chemical that anyone who’s played a particularly intense game of hide-and-seek is very familiar with: adrenaline (肾上腺素). Fear puts the body in a state of severe emotional anxiety, which in turn causes the autonomic fight-or-flight response.

The fight-or-flight response is an evolutionary defence mechanism (机制) which acts in your best interest when there is a noticed threat. You sweat a lot, your anxiety is exacerbated, your blood glucose (葡萄糖) levels are increased, and your heart rate is higher. Like a cornered animal, you’re a bit less reasonable, a bit stranger, but a bit more ready to survive.

Now, back to the adrenaline. Adrenaline causes all of these processes, but there’s just one organ, which, if overloaded, can lead to sudden death. The human body doesn’t immediately come to an end as soon as a kidney (肾) fails, but when a heart stops working, the whole business fails. This is what happens to your body during an adrenaline rush.

Adrenaline causes calcium (钙) to enter the heart at a higher rate, and when there’s more calcium rushing through the heart, it has harder time resetting to its normal resting rate. This can cause a dangerous condition, which prevents blood from pumping to the rest of the body. Without immediate treatment, this can lead to sudden death.

Of course, such cause of death isn’t unique to being scared. Any event that increases one’s adrenal level could lead to this dangerous condition. So if you are planning on scaring others the next Halloween season, be sure to do it in a controlled setting, especially if you have a history of heart problems.