People from East Asia tend to have more difficulty than those from Europe in distinguishing facial expressions---and a new report published online in Current Biology explains why.

Rachael Jack, University of Glasgow researcher, said that rather than scanning evenly across a face as Westerners do, Easterners fix their attention on the eyes.

“We show that Easterners and Westerners look at different face features to read facial expressions,” Jack said. “Westerners look at the eyes and the mouth in equal measure, while Easterners favor the eyes and ignore the mouth.”

According to Jack and her colleagues, the discovery shows that human communication of emotion is more complex than previously believed. As a result, facial expressions that had been considered universally recognizable cannot be used reliably to convey emotion in cross-cultural situations.

The researchers studied cultural differences in the recognition of facial expressions by recording the facial movements of 13 Western people and 13 Eastern people while they observed pictures of expressive faces and put them into categories: happy, sad, surprised, fearful, disgusted, or angry. They compared how accurately participants read those facial expressions using their particular eye movement strategies.

It turned out that Easterners focused much greater attention on the eyes and made significantly more errors than Westerners did. “The cultural difference in eye movements that they show is probably a reflection of cultural difference in facial expressions,” Jack said. “Our data suggest that while Westerners use the whole face to convey emotion, Easterners use the eyes more and mouth less.”

In short, the data show that facial expressions are not universal signals of human emotion. From here on, examining how cultural factors have diversified these basic social skills will help our understanding of human emotion. Otherwise, when it comes to communicating emotions across cultures, Easterners and Westerners will find themselves lost in translation.

1.The discovery shows that Westerners______.

A. pay equal attention to the eyes and the mouth

B. consider facial expressions universally reliable

C. observe the eyes and the mouth in different ways

D. have more difficulty in recognizing facial expression

2.What were the people asked to do in the study?

A. To make a face at each other

B. To get their faces impressive

C. To classify some face pictures

D. To observe the researchers’ faces

3.What does the underlined word “they” in paragraph 6 refer to?

A. The participants in the study

B. The researchers of the study

C. The errors made in the study

D. The data collected from the study

4.In comparison with the Westerners, Easterners are likely to_____.

A. do translation more successfully

B. study the mouth frequently

C. examine the eyes more attentively

D. read facial expressions more correctly

 

It was the summer of my freshman year of college. Instead of heading home for a nice long , my friends and I had decided to and take some extra courses. We had the top floor of an old house to live in. My bed was into a stuffy(闷热的)former laundry room and each night was a new in humidity. Still, it felt

to be in my own place for the first time. After the first few weeks, , the thrill faded and set in. I found myself sitting alone each night my home and my parents.

My summer holidays had always been a time. I spent hours playing basketball and swimming. I talked to my Mom while she tended her flowers. I helping my Dad drag firewood for the winter. And every night I sat at a dinner table full of delicious food with love while my family filled the room with the sound of sweet . Now I found myself missing them than ever.

Finally when my were at their lowest, I heard a at the door. I opened it and was to see my parents standing there with big smiles to fill my heart and a box full of food to feed my hungry friends. We spent the afternoon eating, on each other’s news, and just being together. It felt so good, and I felt so loved.

Victor Hugo wrote that, “The supreme happiness of life is the that one is loved; loved for oneself, or better yet, loved despite oneself. ”It was that gift of happiness that my parents gave me that afternoon and every day of my life.

1.A.journey B.term C.break D.way

2.A.leave B.stay C.relax D.travel

3.A.rented B.bought C.painted D.repaired

4.A.made B.changed C.jammed D.hidden

5.A.wish B.pleasure C.experiment D.adventure

6.A.exciting B.boring C.astonishing D.moving

7.A.anyway B.though C.therefore D.instead

8.A.headache B.loneliness C.satisfaction D.homesickness

9.A.forgetting about B.relying on C.thinking of D.referring to

10.A.special B.terrible C.specific D.difficult

11.A.gave up B.had trouble in C.put off D.took pride in

12.A.frozen B.prepared C.tasted D.kept

13.A.laughter B.scream C.whistle D.sigh

14.A.less B.more C.worse D.better

15.A.minds B.dreams C.spirits D.thoughts

16.A.kick B.hit C.crash D.knock

17.A.disappointed B.surprised C.puzzled D.encouraged

18.A.hungry B.open C.sick D.gentle

19.A.making up B.getting up C.catching up D.taking up

20.A.sign B.chance C.secret D.belief

 

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