IELTS Research Reports

Anthony Green and Roger Hawkey5 Copying another person’s gestures or behaviour is believed to assist in the creation ofcommunal attachments.6 It is clear that laughter developed in man nearly six million years ago.7 There has been a considerable amount of research into tickling.8 The tickling machine is to be tried out on a range of different mammals.Questions 9–14Complete the summary below.Choose TWO WORDS ONLY from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 9–14 on your answer sheet.Laughter in Great ApesWhen observing chimpanzees, researchers have noted that laughter occurs when the animalsare involved in 9…….. The chimpanzees make a noise similar to 10…….and this is becausetheir internal 11…….is not the same as that of humans.Other researchers have studied orangutans in captivity and focused on the common12…….that they exhibit when relaxing together. The researchers were especiallyinterested in the fact that the top 13……of the orangutans were visible when they were‘laughing’ . When observing one animal ‘laughing’, researchers frequently noted thatanother orangutan immediately copied this behaviour, suggesting that the laughter couldbe described as 14…..Questions 15 and 16Choose TWO letters, A - E.Write the correct letters in boxes 15 and 16 on your answer sheet.Which TWO of the following statements are mentioned in the passage?A It is thought that laughter in apes is related to their ability to stand upright at times.B Laughter in chimpanzees probably originated when they learned to hold their breath.C Human speech began to develop when early man ceased walking on four legs.D All mammals demonstrate some kind of laughter when playing.E Laughter may originate in the physical response to the exertion of play.362 www.ielts.org