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, whereas Easterners favor the eyes and neglect 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 Caucasian and 13 Eastern Asian people while they observed pictures of expressive faces and put them into categories: happy, sad, surprised, fearful, disgusted, angry, or neutral. 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 did Westerners. “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 whereas 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.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 |
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 |
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 during the study |
| D．The data collected from the study |
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 |
The Book of Life
So far, scientists have named about 1.8 million living species(物种), and that’s just a small number of what probably exists on Earth. With so many plants, animals, and other living things coveting the planet, it can be tough to figure out what type of grass is growing by the roadside or what kind of bird just flew by.
A soon-to-be-started Web site might help. An international team of researchers has announced the creation of Web-based Encyclopedia(百科全书) of Life ( EoL). The project aims to list every species on Earth in a single, easy-to-use reference guide.
To get the encyclopedia started, the creators will use information from scientific databases (数据库) that already exist. And eventually, in special sections of the site, non-scientists with specialized knowledge will come to help. Bird-watchers, for example, will be able to input what birds they’ve seen and where. To make sure the encyclopedia is accurate, scientists will review much of the information added to it.
As the EoL develops, you might find it useful for school projects. The site will feature (以……为特色) special pages for kids who are studying ecosystems in their neighborhoods. Another convenient feature of the EoL is that you’ll be able to pick the level of detail you want to see to match your interests, age, and knowledge.
It now takes years for scientists to collect all the data they need to describe and analyze species. The creators of the Encyclopedia of Life hope that their new tool will speed up that process.The Web-based EoL aims to__________ .
| A．find out what covers the earth |
| B．list all living things on Earth |
| C．work out the number of birds |
| D．save the existing plants |
One characteristic of the EoL is that__________ .
| A．it is run by school students |
| B．it focuses on different types of grass |
| C．it provides different levels of information |
| D．it allows non-scientists to review its data |
In the last paragraph, "that process" means__________ .
| A．analyzing species | B．creating a new tool |
| C．collecting data | D．describing species |
Lying in the sun on a rock, the cougar(美洲豹)saw Jeb and his son, Tom, before they saw it. Jeb put his bag down quickly and pulled his jacket open with both hands, making himself look big to the cougar. It worked. The cougar hesitated, ready to attack Jeb, but ready to forget the whole thing, too.
Jeb let go of his jacket, grasped Tom and held him across his body, making a cross. Now the cougar’s enemy looked even bigger, and it rose up, ready to move away, but unfortunately Tom got scared and struggled free of Jeb.
“Tom, no!” shouted his father.
But Tom broke and ran and that’s the last thing you do with a cougar. The second Tom broke free, Jeb threw himself on the cougar, just as it jumped from the rock. They hit each other in mid-air and both fell. The cougar was on Jeb in a flash, forgetting about Tom, which was what Jeb wanted.
Cougars are not as big as most people think and a determined man stands a chance, even with just his fists. As the cougar’s claws(爪子)got into his left shoulder, Jeb swung his fist at its eyes and hit hard. The animal howled（吼叫）and put its head back. Jeb followed up with his other fist. Then out of the corner of his eye, Jeb saw Tom. The boy was running back to help his father.
“Knife, Tom” shouted Jeb.
The boy ran to his father’s bag, while Jeb stated shouting as well as hitting, to keep the cougar’s attention away from Tom. Tom got the knife and ran over to Jeb. The cougar was moving its head in and out, trying to find a way through the wall Jeb was making out of his arms. Tom swung with the knife, into the cougar’s back. It howled horribly and ran off into the mountains.
The whole fight had taken about thirty seconds.Why did Jeb pull his jacket open when he saw the cougar?
| A．To get ready to fight | B．To frighten it away |
| C．To protect the boy | D．To cool down |
What do we know about cougars?
| A．They are afraid of noises |
| B．They hesitate before they hit |
| C．They are bigger than we think |
| D．They like to attack running people |
How did Jeb try to hold the cougar’s attention?
| A．By keeping shouting and hitting |
| B．By making a wall out of his arms |
| C．By throwing himself on the cougar |
| D．By swinging his fists at the cougar’s eyes |
Which of the following happened first?
| A．The cougar jumped from the rock |
| B．Tom struggled free of his father |
| C．Jeb asked Tom to get the knife |
| D．Jeb held Tom across his body |
When Albert Einstein was young, he was a quiet child who spent much of his time alone. He was slow to talk and had difficulty in learning to read. When Albert was five years old, his father gave him a compass (指南针). Albert was filled with wonder when he discovered that the compass needle (针) always pointed in the same direction —the north. He asked his father and uncle what caused the needle to move. Their answers were difficult for Albert to understand. Yet he spent a lot of time thinking about them. He said later that he felt something must be behind things. Albert did not like school. The German schools of that time were not pleasant. Students couldn’t ask questions. Albert said he felt as if he were in prison. One day Albert told his uncle Jacob how much he hated school, especially mathematics. His uncle told him to solve mathematical problems by pretending to be a policeman. "You are looking for someone," he said, "but you do not know who he is. Call him X. Find him by using your mathematical tools." Albert learned to love mathematics. He was studying the complex math of calculus (微积分学) while all his friends were still studying simple math. Instead of playing with friends he thought about things such as "What would happen if people could travel at the speed of light?". Albert wanted to teach math and physics. He graduated with honors, but it was a pity that he could not get a teaching job.According to Paragraph 2, we can learn that Albert Einstein ________.
| A．was interested in the compass | B．wanted to be a great scientist |
C．was not clever enough | D．didn’t like thinking by himself |
Why did Albert Einstein hate school?
| A．He couldn’t play with his friends there. |
B．Students were not allowed to ask questions. |
C．The schools were small at that time. |
D．He had to learn mathematics that he didn’t like. |
What does the underlined word "complex" probably mean?
| A．useless. | B．Difficult. | C．Boring. | D．Interesting. |
We can learn from the passage that ________.
| A．Einstein became a mathematics teacher after graduation |
B．Einstein gradually loved mathematics with his uncle’s help |
C．learning mathematics is like working as a policeman |
D．Einstein liked playing with other children |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．How Albert Einstein studied in school. |
B．Something about Albert Einstein’s early interests. |
C．Something about the young Albert Einstein. |
D．Why Albert Einstein learned more than his classmates. |
Today, when a man steps on to the moon, or something new and important happens, the world learns about it immediately. What did the newspapers say about that first flight in 1903? Strangely enough, they said hardly anything about it at all. There are only a few reports about it in the papers. These reports said very little. Some of the things they said were not even correct.
In 1904 the Wrights built a second machine. They called it “Flyer No. Two”. They invited some reporters to a field near Dayton to watch them fly. Unfortunately, there was some mechanical(机械的) trouble with the plane and it did not fly at all that day. The newspapermen went away. They were disappointed and did not come back. The Wrights went on with their work. In 1905, they built an even better machine, “Flyer No Three”. They were able to stay upon the air for half an hour and more in the machine. Farmers and travelers on the road around the Dayton often saw them flying, but when three people told newspapermen about it, they refused to believe them.
The Wrights offered “Flyer No. Three” to the United States government. The government was not interested. They seemed to think the Wrights wanted money in order to build a plane. They did not understand the Wrights had already done this, and flown it as well. Experts were still saying that mechanical flight was impossible. At the end of 1905, the two brothers took their planes to pieces. The parts were put into a huge wooden box. It seemed nobody was interested.The reporters were disappointed in 1904 because________.
| A．the Wrights did not invite them |
| B．the plane could not stay long in the air |
| C．the plane did not fly at all that day |
| D．they had wanted to see a better machine |
The U．S. government could not understand that________.
| A．the Wrights had already built a machine that could fly |
| B．experts still thought flight was impossible |
| C．the Wrights wanted more money to build an airplane |
| D．“Flyer No. Three” was now in a wooden case |
The Wrights took their plane to pieces because________.
| A．they planned to go to Europe |
| B．nobody was interested |
| C．the government didn't give them any money |
| D．the newspapermen didn't report their flights |
What does the underlined word “Flyer” mean?
| A．Pilot. | B．Drive. | C．Plane. | D．Kite. |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．Today, people are very interested in new things. |
| B．People in the past talked little about new things. |
| C．Reporters are now as interested in new happening as in the past. |
| D．People in the past even told each other wrong things. |
Teenagers in England do much the same as children in America do. They enjoy sending messages by their mobile phones and they also like swimming, listening to the latest music, watching TV and surfing the Internet.
How do teenagers in England spend their free time and holidays? Let’s follow Sally, a British teenager, and spend five days with her during her school holiday.
Day One
After breakfast, Sally’s mother went out and left her alone at home. She checked her mobile phone during lunch —one of her friends sent her a message early in the morning. Dinner was at 6:30 p.m. After that, she finished her English home-work. Then she surfed the Internet.
Day Two
Sally and her mother paid a visit to their friends and went swimming together. Later, they went shopping for clothes and books, and had dinner in a restaurant.
Day Three
She went to the supermarket with her mother to buy fish and chips for lunch as well as some pens. After she got back home, she spent the next few hours surfing the Internet and watching TV.
Day Four
She surfed the Internet. Her mother took her out for lunch before she went to work. She then read stories after lunch.
Day Five
She woke up at 2 p.m., and so did her mother. They went to a park. Her mother met some friends there. When they got home, it was already time for dinner. Afterwards, she did her homework until 10 p.m.When did Sally do her homework?
| A．In the morning. | B．In the afternoon. |
| C．At lunch time. | D．In the evening. |
Sally and her mother went shopping again to buy __________.
| A．food for lunch and pens | B．some books and pens |
| C．some fish and clothes | D．food and books |
Which of the following things did Sally do on Day Four?
| A．She went swimming. | B．She went out for breakfast. |
| C．She read books. | D．She went shopping. |
How many times did Sally and her mother meet their friends during the five days?
| A．Once. | B．Twice. | C．Three times. | D．Four times. |
According to the passage, it can be inferred that ________.
| A．a park is the best place to meet a friend |
| B．parents shouldn’t leave teenagers alone at home |
| C．teenagers don’t usually do their homework during their school holidays |
| D．surfing the Internet has become an important part of teenagers’ lives |