Passage Two
Exchange a glance with someone, then look away. Do you realize that you have made a statement? Hold the glance for a second longer, and you have made a different statement. Hold it for 3 seconds, and the meaning has changed again. For every social situation, there is a permissible time that you can hold a persona's gaze without being intimate, rude, or aggressive. If you are on an elevator, what gaze-time are you permitted? To answer this question, consider what you typically do. You very likely give other passengers a quick glance to size them up and to assure them that you mean no threat. Since being close to another person signals the possibility of interaction, you need to emit a signal telling others you want to be left alone. So you cut off eye contact, what sociologist Erving Goffiman (1963) calls “a dimming of the lights.” You look down at the floor, at the indicator lights, anywhere but into another passenger's eyes. Should you break the rule against staring at a stranger on an elevator, you will make the other person exceedingly uncomfortable, and you are likely to feel a bit strange yourself.
If you hold eye contact for more than 3 seconds, what are you telling another person? Much depends on the person and the situation. For example, a man and a woman communicate interest in this manner. They typically gaze at each other for about 3 seconds at a time, then drop their eyes down for 3 seconds, before letting their eyes meet again. But if one man gives another man a 3-seeond-plus stare, he signals “I know you.” “I'm interested in you.” Or “You look peculiar and I am curious about you.” This type of stare often produces hostile feelings.
It can be inferred from the first paragraph that ________.
此题为推理判断题。文章仅仅谈论了目光接触的含义，并未涉及 与语言表达的对比，因此选项D不正确。文中只提到“a stare longer than 3 seconds is different”而没提到“unacceptable”，所以选项C不正 确。文章第一段第三句和第四句提到“Hold the glance for a second longer and you have made a different statement. Hold it for seconds, and the meaning has changed again”，即“staring at a person”的含义因时间长短而不同；同时文章第二段第二句提到“Much depends on the person and the situation”也表明其含义也因人、场合的不同而不同，并非仅仅代表有兴趣，所以选项B不正确。通过排除法可知，本题应选A。
If you want to be left alone on an elevator, the best thing to do is ________.
文章第一段中间部分指出“Since being close to another person signals the possibility of interaction, you need to send out a signal telling others you want to be left alone. So you cut off eye contact…”。如果你想 向别人发出信号告诉对方你想独自一人待着，你就不要和对方有眼神交流，也就是避免和对方有眼神的碰撞。故选项B符合题意。
By “a dimming of the lights (Para. 1)” Erving Goffiman means “________”.
此题为细节理解题。由题干可定位至文章第一段倒数第三句。由 上一道题可知，若想在电梯里一个人待着，就要避免和他人有眼神的 碰撞，这也就是对“a dimming of the lights”的正确理解。通过查看选项可知，选项C符合题意。
If one is looked at by a stranger for too long, he tends to feel ________.
文章第一段最后一句提到“Should you break the rule against staring at a stranger on a lift, you will make the other person extremely uncomfortable, and you are likely to feel a bit strange yourself”。 如果你违反了不要长时间盯着一个人看的规则，也就是你长时间盯着一个人看，你会让对方感觉很不舒服，让对方不安。“uneasy”表示“不安的”，故选项B为正确答案。
The passage mainly discusses ________.
此题为主旨归纳题。本文为说明文，主要讲述的是如何与别人进行眼神的交流，要特别注意看着对方的眼睛的时间长短表示不同的含义，这与选项D符合。