Question

【题目】What does your face say?

How many different emotions do you think you can communicate to people with your face? Do you have the same facial expressions as people from different cultures?

New research suggests that there are only four basic facial expressions of emotion.However, how these expressions are understood might depend on where you are from.

Research by scientists from the University of Glasgow has challenged the traditional view of how the face expresses emotions. Until now, it was widely believed that six basic emotions — happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise and disgust (厌恶), were expressed and recognized across different cultures. However, the University of Glasgow’s work now suggests that the human face only has four basic expressions of emotion. This is because some pairs of emotions are impossible to distinguish, especially when they are first expressing on the face. Fear and surprise, for example,both share wide-open eyes. The facial expressions for anger and disgust also look the

same.

So if our faces are only able to express four basic emotions, how do we communicate more complex (复杂的) feelings? The study found that the way expressions are explained is different in different cultures. Lead researcher Dr Rachael Jack was studying this because “facial expressions were considered to be general”, she explains. However, while looking at how people from the East and West look at different parts of the face during facial expression recognition, they found that although there are some common characteristics across cultures, the six basic facial expressions of emotion are not recognized by everyone.

“We said we don’t know what a disgust face looks like in China, so the best way to go about that is to make all combinations (组合) of facial movements and show to Chinese researchers and ask them to choose the ones they think are disgust faces.”

With the software they developed, they discovered that in the early stages of signaling emotion, fear and surprise, and anger and disgust, were often confused. Jack explains that these facial expressions have developed both from biology and social evolution(进化).

What interests people about the cross-cultural aspect of the research? “This work leads to understanding which emotions we share, realizing our differences and calling attention to our multicultural experiences.” This research could advise new ways of social communication that improve cross-cultural interactions.

【1】What is the main purpose of the first paragraph?

A. To show interest in different cultures.

B. To express the worries about emotions.

C. To lead in the topic of facial expressions.

D. To give an example of facial expressions.

【2】The word “distinguish” in Paragraph 3 probably means ______.

A. express B. explain C. differentiate D. develop

【3】According to the passage, Dr Rachael agrees that ______.

A. facial expressions are easy to understand in Japan

B. the way expressions are understood is different in China

C. new ways of social communication can improve movements

D. it’s difficult to understand all the facial expressions of emotion

【4】What can we learn from the passage?

A. We can express our emotions in four different ways.

B. Facial expressions of emotion can be discovered easily.

C. Facial expressions of emotion are from different countries.

D. Facial expressions are explained differently in different cultures.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】C

【2】C

【3】D

【4】D

【解析】本文介绍了新的研究表明只有四种基本的面部表情。然而，来自不同文化的人有不同的面部表情。因此人们要理解所有不同文化的人的面部表情是很难的。

【1】C

推理判断题。根据第一段的Do you have the same facial expressions as people from different cultures?和第二段的New research suggests that there are only four basic facial expressions of emotion.可知第一段的目的是引出面部表情这个话题，故选C。

【2】C

词义猜测题。根据Fear and surprise, for example, both share wide-open eyes. The facial expressions for anger and disgust also look the same.可知表示害怕和惊讶都是睁大眼睛，表示生气和讨厌的表情看起来一样，故此处表示两个情绪的表情是一样的，因此不可能区分开，故选C。

【3】D

推理判断题。根据The study found that the way expressions are explained is different in different cultures. Lead researcher Dr Rachael Jack was studying this because “facial expressions were considered to be general”, she explains.可知Rachael Jack认为不同的文化有不同的表情方式，因此很难理解所有的表情方式，故选D。

【4】D

推理判断题。根据The study found that the way expressions are explained is different in different cultures.可知面部表情在不同的文化有不同的解释，故选D。