Question

  Facial expressions carry meaning that is determined by situations and rela?tionships. For example,in American culture (文化) the smile is in general an expression of pleasure. Yet it also has other uses. A woman's smile at a police of?ficer does not carry the same meaning as the smile she gives to a young child. A smile may show love or politeness. It can also hide true feelings. It often causes confusion (困惑) across cultures. For example,many people in Russia consider smiling at strangers in public to be unusual and even improper. Yet many Ameri?cans smile freely at strangers in public places (although this is less common in big cities) . Some Russians believe that Americans smile in the wrong places;some Americans believe that Russians don't smile enough. In south-east Asian cultures,a smile is frequently used to cover painful feelings. Vietnamese people may tell a sad story but end the story with a smile.

  Our faces show emotions (情感) ，but we should not attempt to "read" people from another culture as we would "read" someone from our own culture. The fact that members of one culture do not express their emotions as openly as do members of another does not mean that they do not experience emotions. Rather,there are cultural differences in the amount of facial expressiveness permitted. For exam?ple,in public and in formal situations many Japanese do not show their emotions as freely as Americans do. When with friends,Japanese and Americans seem to show their emotions similarly. 

  It is difficult to generalize about Americans and facial expressiveness because of personal and cultural differences in the United States. People from certain cul?tural backgrounds in the United States seem to be more facially expressive than others. The key is to try not to judge people whose ways of showing emotions are different. If we judge according to our own cultural habits,we may make the mistake of "reading" the other person incorrectly.

1. What does the smile usually mean in the US?

   A. Love.

   B. Politeness.

   C. Joy.

   D. Thankfulness.

2. The author mentions the smile of the Vietnamese to prove that a smile can

   A. show friendliness to strangers   B. be used to hide true feelings  

    C. be used in the wrong places   D. show personal habits

3. What should we do before attempting to "read" people?

   A. Learn about their relations with others.

   B. Understand their cultural backgrounds.

   C. Find out about their past experience.

   D. Figure out what they will do next.

4. What would be the best title for the text?

   A. Cultural differences   B. Smiles and relationships

   C. Facial expressiveness   D. Habits and emotions

Answer 1

[文章大意]面部表情可以反映內心情感，但在不同的背景和文化中，相同的表情卻表達著不同的情感。這是人們在跨文化交際中應注意的地方。

1. C細節理解題。根據第一段中的"For example,in American culture (文化) the smile is in general an expres?sion of pleasure."可知選C項。

2. B推理判斷題。根據第一段最后兩句話可知，在一些東南亞國家中，微笑更多地被用來掩飾人們痛苦的感情，列舉越南的例子就是為了證明這一點。故選B項。

3. B推理判斷題。通讀全文可知，盡管人的面部表情能夠反映其內心情感，但在不同的文化背景下，相同的面部表情有時卻傳達著不同的信息。所以要想讀懂對方的表情就要先了解對方的文化背景，而不能用自己的文化背景去判斷對方的表情。故選B項。

4. C主旨大意題。本文是一篇說明文，介紹人的面部表情可以反映人的內心情感。文章以微笑為例介紹了相同的面部表情在不同的文化背景下可能會傳遞不同的信息。故選C項。