阅读理解

Read the following passages carefully and choose one best answer for each question in Passage 1 2and 3, and answer the questions in passage 4 based on your understanding of the passage. 

(3) 
Joy and sadness are experienced by people in all cultures around the world, but how can we tell when other people are happy or despondent? It turns out that the expression of many emotions may be universal. Smiling is apparently a universal sign of friendliness and approval. Baring the teeth in a hostile way, as noted by Charles Darwin 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, facial expressions could signal the approach of enemies (or friends) 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 Paul Ekman took photographs of people exhibiting the emotions of anger, disgust, fear, happiness and sadness. He then asked people around the world to indicate, what emotions were being depicted in them. Those queried ranged from European college students to members of the Fore, a tribe that dwells in the New Guinea highlands. All groups including the Fore, who had almost no contact with Western culture, agreed on the portrayed emotions. The Fore also displayed familiar facial expressions when asked how they would respond if they were the characters in stories that called 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 various emotional 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 also work in the opposite direction. According to this hypothesis, signals from the facial muscles (“feedback” ) are sent back 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 rise to feelings of good 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 rate cartoons (humorous drawings of people or situations) as being more humorous. When they are 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 in signifying fear, heightens arousal Self-perception of heightened arousal then leads to heightened emotional activity. Other links may involve changes in brain temperature and the release of neurotransmitters (substances that transmit nerve impulses. ) The contraction of facial muscles both influences the internal emotional state and reflects it. Ekman has found that the so-called Duchenne smile, which is characterized by “crow’ s feet” wrinkles around the eyes 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 to the British expression “keep a stiff upper lip” as are commendation for handling stress. It might be that a “stiff” lip suppresses emotional response as long as the lip is not quivering with fear or tension. But when the emotion that leads to stiffening the lip is more intense, and involves strong muscle tension, facial feedback may heighten emotional response.

单选题 The word “despondent” in the passage is closest in meaning to_______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】happy or despondent” 中的or表示转折, 因此despondent应该与happy意思相反。
单选题 The author mentions “Baring the teeth in a hostile way” in order to _____.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】题干问的是作者这样说的目的。 由第一段可知, “It turns out that the expression of many emotions may be universal. ” , 作者随后给出了“Smiling” 和“Baring the teeth in a hostile way” 两个例子, 因此C项正确。
单选题 The word “concur” in the passage is closest in meaning to _____
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】由第二段第一句可推断大多数研究人员 都认为“certain facial expressions. . . people” , 或者都同意这个观点, 因此“concur” 的意思与“agree” 相同。
单选题 According to paragraph 2, which of the following was true of the Fore people of New Guinea?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】由第二段可知, the Fore几乎与西方文化没有接触, 他们在测试中也会“displayed familiar facial expressions” 。 因此C项正确。
单选题 According to the passage, what did Darwin believe would happen to human emotions that were not expressed?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】由第三段引用达尔文的话中可知, 自由表达的情感变得更加强烈, 然而“the repression” , 即那些没有表达出来的情感被“soften” 了, 也就是变得不那么强烈了,因此A项正确。