Body language is important for communication in every language. If you really want to be fluentand communicate effectively with English speakers, you will need to understand what types of body language they use.
What Exactly is Body Language?
Body language is the movement of facial features or body parts, which intentionally(有意地)or unintentionally express thoughts and attitudes. Here are three key types:
Facial expressions: A smile,a slight frown or a straight face are all different expressions that add another layer (层)of meaning to what you are saying.Eye contact is an especially significantpart of body language that you need to pay attention to while speaking English or listening to someone else.
Hand gestures:When you talk,do you move your hands around or do you keep them at yourside?Folded arms,hands on hips or hands in pockets can create different messages even if you are saying the same words.
Body position:The position of your body also means a lot.Leaning forward while somebody is speaking or how far you stand apart from your audience----it all matters.
How to Practice English Body Language
While learning how to speak English takes a lot of work,from mastering grammar to perfecting pronunciation, body language requires the same attention and investment(投入). What makes it even more challenging is that body language varies from culture to culture. For example, did you know that in Bulgaria, people nod their heads up and down to mean“no”?
Therefore,you need to learn body language from real native English speakers. But how can you practice if you are not currently living with English speakers or in an English-speaking region?
1. Which of the following is a facial expression?| A．Giving your brother a bear hug. |
| B．Saying hello to your friend. |
| C．Nodding to your boss in the meeting. |
| D．Raising your eyebrows on seeing a dog. |
| A．The cultural differences. |
| B．The changing gestures. |
| C．A lack of communication. |
| D．A lack of professional training. |
| A．The history of body language. |
| B．The advantages of body language. |
| C．The ways of practicing body language. |
| D．The problems of learning body language. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Sometimes people make themselves understood with gestures even when they don’t talk. Gestures are the “silent language” of every culture.
In the United States, people greet each other with a handshake.
Space is important to Americans. When two people talk to each other, they usually stand about two and a half feet away and at an angle, so they are not facing each other directly. Americans get uncomfortable when a person stands too close.
For Americans, thumbs-up means yes, very good, or well done. Thumbs-down means the opposite. To call a waiter, raise one hand to head level or above. To show you want the bill, make a movement with your hands as if you are signing a piece of paper.
| A．The handshake must be powerful. |
| B．But when you stare at someone, it is not polite. |
| C．They will move back to have their space. |
| D．Smile is the most universal expressions in the world. |
| E．American leaders often take smiling faces seriously. |
| F．It is not right to point at people with the hand or the first finger. |
G．It is important to know the body language of every country or we may be misunderstood. |
【推荐2】Mirroring body language is a way to bond and to build understanding. It is a powerful tool that we use without even knowing it.
The most obvious forms of mirroring are yawning and smiling. When you see someone yawn, you are likely to yawn immediately. Smiling is also pretty contagious-seeing a smiling person makes you want to smile too.
Mirroring body language is a nonverbal way to say “I am like you, I feel the same”. Research shows that people who experience the same feelings are likely to trust, understand and accept each other.
Women have the natural ability to pick up and understand body signals. Therefore, it is not surprising that a woman is more likely to mirror another woman than a man is to mirror another man. That's why women are regarded as better talkers, even if they might not really have more close friends.
It is interesting that when a man tries to mirror a woman's body language while she is talking, he may seem to her as caring, intelligent and attractive.
Mirroring body language is an excellent way to build trust and understanding quickly. If you want to set up a connection with a new person, mirror his or her gestures, sitting position, tone of voice and talking pace. This will make them feel that there is something about you that they like.
While mirroring body language gains you acceptance, you still need to take into consideration your relationship with the person you are mirroring. If you are in a lower social position and are mirroring the body language of your boss, he will view you as arrogant. However, if you want to defeat those who are trying to prove superior to you, mirroring their body language will help defeat them and change their position.
1. What does the underlined word “contagious” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Affecting each other. | B．Powerful to show one's feelings. |
| C．Attractive to the others. | D．Being gentle to people around. |
| A．send wrong messages | B．hide true feelings |
| C．win others' acceptance | D．avoid misunderstanding |
| A．You will appear very attractive. | B．It will help to soften his position. |
| C．You will seem unacceptably proud. | D．It will be a good way to build trust. |
| A．It is important to copy the others' gestures. |
| B．Why women are regarded as better talkers. |
| C．Men is not good at nonverbal communication. |
| D．Mirroring body language can be a useful tool. |
【推荐3】Aristotle believed the face was a window onto a person's mind. Today, facial expressions are still commonly thought to be a universally valid way to judge other people's feelings. A smile suggests happiness. A frown indicates sadness. However, an analysis of hundreds of research papers has uncovered a surprising conclusion there is no good scientific evidence to suggest that there are such things as recognisable facial expressions for basic emotions which are universal across cultures.
Lisa Feldman Barrett, a psychologist at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, and her colleagues found that, on average, adults in urban cultures scowled when they were angry 30% of the time. This meant that some 70% of the time they did not scowl when angry. A scowl, the researchers concluded, seemed valid for all six of the emotional categories: anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness and surprise.
All raise questions about the efforts of information-technology companies to develop artificial intelligence algorithms which can recognise facial expressions and work out a person's emotional state. Aleix Martinez, a computer engineer at Ohio State University, said that companies attempting to extract emotions from images of faces have failed to understand the importance of context.
Dr Martinez cited an experiment in which participants were shown a close-up picture of a man's face, which was bright red with his mouth open in a scream. Based on this alone, most participants said the man was extremely angry. Then the view zoomed out to show a football player with his arms outstretched, celebrating a goal. His angry-looking face was, in fact, a show of pure joy.
Given that people cannot guess each other's emotional states most of the time, Dr Martinez sees no reason computers would be able to. "There are companies right now claiming to be able to do that and apply this to places I find really scary and dangerous, for example, in hiring people," he says. "Some companies require you to submit a video CV, and then this is analysed by a machine-learning system. And depending on your facial expressions, they hire you or not, which I find really shocking and not only based on the wrong hypothesis, but a dangerous hypothesis."
1. The main purpose of the passage is to________.| A．present the mistake associated with artificial intelligence |
| B．report the problem caused by misreading facial expressions |
| C．describe the relationship between facial expressions and emotions |
| D．introduce a danger experienced by information-technology companies |
| A．reveal the mystery of the picture | B．emphasize the importance of context |
| C．show the significance of facial expressions | D．demonstrate the professionalism of his experiment |
| A．Critical. | B．Indifferent | C．Neutral. | D．Favorable. |
【推荐1】Live streaming (直播) is booming, with viewers watching nearly 4 billion hours of live stream, in the gaming sector alone, in 2020.
To stream or not to stream—that is the question with over 50 million American online creators. With over seven-in-ten people in the US using social media such as YouNow, Facebook Live, YouTube Live and Twitch, sharing a moment, routine, or an exciting experience with others has never been easier for US streamers.
For some, the motivation to live stream is for the fun of it, while others are seeking to become the next celebrity (名人).
Back in 2016, researchers studied live streams originating from the US, Japan and Germany on the platforms YouNow, Periscope and UStream. They found a wide variety of motivations driving each streamer, with a large majority using live streaming services for their own entertainment.
The main motive of US streamers was to reach a specific target group, for example, by performing music. Their goal was to improve their personal image and to cultivate their fan base. On the other hand, socializing was the main motivation for Japanese streamers. The need to communicate with their audience was especially strong. Finally, German streamers’ primary motivations were to relieve their boredom. And they’re not alone. Boredom was also a strong motivator found in both American and Japanese streamers back in 2016. Simply put, many people turned to live streaming to help pass the time and to relieve their boredom.
And then there’s a new type of live streaming where streamers don’t perform for, interact or even communicate with their viewers. Instead, the live stream broadcasts uninterrupted everyday activities such as sleeping and studying. Streamers position their cameras on their beds and go to sleep. In February 2020, Chinese streamer YuanSan broadcast his 2-day “sleep-stream” which, to his surprise, attracted 18 million viewers. In an interview, YuanSan claimed that his motivation was to relieve his boredom. “I was so bored that I decided to live stream myself sleeping. What I discovered was that viewers on the internet were even more bored than I was.”
1. What is the probable reason for the rise of live streaming in the US?| A．The fast network connections. | B．Streamers’ desire to share. |
| C．People’s need for entertainment. | D．The huge number of online viewers. |
| A．To enjoy themselves. | B．To make money. |
| C．To make friends. | D．To be famous. |
| A．Various ways of streaming. | B．Positive infuences of streaming. |
| C．Great achievements of streamers. | D．Different motivations of streamers. |
| A．It is boring to stream online. | B．Streaming can improve his sleep. |
| C．Streaming can help relieve boredom. | D．It is important to communicate with viewers. |
【推荐2】It’s time to teach kids how to play. Play can teach them important life skills. Their imagination will also be inspired.
● Play a game. Dig out your board games. Checkers, chess and Monopoly are all great games.
● Hands-on fun. Bring out play dough (橡皮泥). Your children may roll their eyes at this one, but you would be surprised at how they will sit down and keep themselves entertained with it.
● Build something. Lego, Lincoln Logs and K’NEX. How many of our kids still have these in the back of their closets? Try building something using toothpicks and connecting them together with glue. As the things you build dry, they become stronger and you can keep them around for a while.
● Go outdoors. Outdoor games like marbles and hopscotch not only interest your kids, they will also improve coordination (协调) skills. Too hot or cold out? The garage, basement or kitchen floors will be OK, too.
● Become an outdoor artist. Buy a box of colored chalk from the local store and let your kids create their own works on your front or back sidewalks. Take pictures of them for your family album.
Are these new ideas? Of course not. But when our kids are given a choice of any of these “offline” activities or the chance to watch TV or play computer games, what are they going to choose? When you unplug your kids, they will learn how to play again simply because they have nothing else to do. They will find other activities to keep themselves entertained.
1. According to the passage, K'NEX _________.| A．is a kind of toys children can use to build something |
| B．is a book about how to build things you like |
| C．can be used to join things together |
| D．can be used to dry things |
| A．“offline” activities do more harm than good to kids |
| B．children today have no interest in outdoor games |
| C．play is a good way to inspire kids' imagination |
| D．few children today are interested in play dough |
| A．Give them the chance to do things as they please. |
| B．Make your kids stay away from TVs and computers. |
| C．Keep your kids away from games or outdoor activities. |
| D．Keep your kids in a quiet and lonely place for a long time. |
| A．children | B．parents |
| C．teachers | D．students |
【推荐3】The chicken or the egg—which came first? It's probably one of the most commonly cited paradoxes — a chicken hatches from an egg, so the egg came first, right? But then what laid the egg? The two ideas seem contradictory, and that's exactly what a paradox is — a problem that seemingly has no definitive solution and can 't be logically solved.
And paradoxes don't just exist in philosophical debates but also in our daily lives. How can work be flexible but maintain structure? How can we switch off if we're working from home? Two contrasting ideas could cause people stress, but what if we accept the contradiction and change the way we look at it? This is what some experts call the 'paradox mindset'.
A paradox consists of two realities that exist at the same time—even though that seems impossible. If you embrace just one of those realities and ignore the other, it can cause problems. For example, embracing change may lead to burn—out, while embracing stability may lead to boredom. Some experts have found the acceptance of both realities and a willingness to embrace them can improve both creativity and productivity by allowing you to navigate a path through the contradictions.
A 1996 study of geniuses by Albert Rothenberg found that those thinkers spent time considering opposites and antitheses. Consider Einstein. The theory of relativity was born out of the paradox that something could be moving and stationary at the same time depending on perspective.
So, having a 'paradox mindset' and accepting the bigger picture may help you to better understand problems. It could also make you happier knowing that contradictions exist. As a result, it may lead you to improving your productivity and creativity. If it worked for Einstein, maybe it could be good for you too!
1. The chicken— egg example in paragraph one is used to ________.| A．introduce the topic | B．draw a conclusion |
| C．make a comparison | D．explain a complicated theory |
| A．The theory of relativity |
| B．To work at home and not answer phone calls from your boss |
| C．To lead a stable and boring life |
| D．To change constantly without feeling exhausted |
| A．learning to appreciate contradictions | B．avoiding contrast ideas |
| C．having it all | D．coming to a dead end |
| A．You will feel much better if you embrace contradictions. |
| B．'Paradox mindset' only applies to geniuses |
| C．People will become less productive if they accept the bigger picture |
| D．Contradictions will make it more difficult for people to understand problems. |
