2014英语专业八级全真模拟试题(4)

PART 2 READING

TEXT A
Joy and sadness are experienced by people in all cultures around the world, but how can we tell when otherpeople are happy or despondent? It turns out that the expression of many emotions may be universal. Smiling isapparently a universal sign of friendliness and approval. Baring the teeth in a hostile way, as noted by CharlesDarwin in the nineteenth century, may be a universe sign of anger. As the originator of the theory of evolution,Darwin believed that the universal recognition of facial expressions would have survival value. For example, facialexpressions could signal the approach of enemies (or fiiends) in the absence of language.

Most investigators concur that certain facial expressions suggest the same emotions in a people. Moreover,people in diverse cultures recognize the emotions manifested by the facial expressions. In classic research PaulEkman took photographs of people exhibiting the emotions of anger, disgust, fear, happiness, and sadness. He thenasked people around the world to indicate what emotions were being depicted in them. Those queried ranged fromEuropean college students to members of the Fore, a tribe that dwells in the New Guinea highlands. All groupsincluding the Fore, who had almost no contact with Western culture, agreed on the portrayed emotions. The Fore alsodisplayed familiar facial expressions when asked how they would respond if they were the characters in stories thatcalled for basic emotional responses. Ekman and his colleagues more recently obtained similar results in a study of
ten cultures in which participants were permitted to report that multiple emotions were shown by facial expressions.The participants generally agreed on which two emotions were being shown and which emotion was more intense.

Psychological researchers generally recognize that facial expressions reflect emotional states. In fact, variousemotional states give rise to certain patterns of electrical activity in the facial muscles and in the brain. The facial-feedback hypothesis argues, however, that the causal relationship between emotions .and facial expressions can alsowork in the opposite direction. According to this hypothesis, signals from the facial muscles ("feedback,) are sentback to emotion centers of the brain, and so a person's facial expression can influence that person's emotional state.Consider Darwin's words: "The free expression by outward signs of an emotion intensifies it, On the other hand,the repression, as far as possible, of all outward signs softens our emotions." Can smiling give r~ to feelings ofgood will, for example, and frowning to anger?

Psychological research has given rise to some interesting findings concerning the facial-feedback hypothesis.Causing participants in experiments to smile, for example, leads them to report more positive feelings and to ratccartoons (humorons drawings of people or situations) as being more humorous. When they arc caused to frown,they rate cartoons as being more aggressive.

What are the possible links between facial expressions and emotion? One link is arousal, which is the level of~activity or preparedness for activity in an organism. Intense contraction of facial muscles, such as those used insigni~ing fear, heightens arousal. Self-perception of heightened arousal: then leads to heightened emotionaiactivity. Other links may involve changes in brain temperature and the release of neurotransmitters (substances thattransmit nerve impulses.) The contraction of facial muscles both influences the internal emotional sta~e and reflectsit. Ekman has found that the so-called Duchenne smile, which is characterized by "crow's feet" wrinkles around Lheeyes and a subtle drop in the eye cover fold so that the skin above the eye moves down slightly toward the eyeball,can lead to pleasant feelings.

Ekman's observation may be relevant tothe British expression "keep a stiff upper lip" as a recommendationfor handling stress. It might be that a "stiff" lip suppresses emotional response--as long as the lip is not quiveringwith fear or tension. But when the emotion that loads to stiffening the lip is more intense, and involves strongmuscle tension, facial feedback may heightenemotional response. ______.
11. The word "despondent" in the first paragraph is closest in meaning to
A. curious
B. sad
C. elated
D. skeptical

12. Which of the following statements would Darwin NOT agree with?
A. Facial expressions can only reflect emotional states.
B. Facial expressions may help people survive.
C. Baring the teeth means the same to people all over the world.
D. Human emotions that were not expressed would become less intensive.

13. According to Paragraph 2, the Fore people______.
A. knew little about Western culture
C. were famous for their solitude
B. showed distinctive facial expressions
D. had never been taken photographs of before

14. According to the facial-feedback hypothesis,______.
A. there is no link between emotions and facial expressions
B. people's facial expressions can only reflect their emotional states
C. people's emotional states cannot be influenced by their facial expressions
D. the causal link between emotions and facial expressions is bidirectional

15. Ekman has found that
A. people might have different expressions for the same emotion
B. pleasant feelings often stimulate Duchanne smile
C. "crow's feet" wrinkles often accompanied the Duchennc smile
D. keeping a stiffupper lip was useful for handling stress

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