Whether the eyes are "the windows of the soul" is debatable, that they are intensely important in interpersonal communication is a fact. During the first two months of a baby's life, the stimulus that produces a smile is a pair of eyes. The eyes need not be real: a mask with two dots will produce a smile. Significantly, a real human face with eyes covered will not motivate a smile, nor will the sight of only one eye when the face is presented in profile. This attraction to eyes as opposed to the nose or mouth continues as the baby matures: In one study, when American four-year-olds were asked to draw people, 75 percent of them drew people with mouths, but 99 percent of them drew people with eyes. In Japan, however, where babies are carried on their mother's back, infants do not acquire as much attachment to eyes as they do in other cultures. As a result, Japanese adults make little use of the face either to encode or decode meaning. In fact, Argyle reveals that the "proper place to focus one's gaze during a conversation in Japan is on the neck of one's conversation partner."
The role of eye contact in a conversational exchange between two Americans is well defined: speakers make contact with the eyes of their listener for about one second, then glance away as they talk; in a few moments they re-establish eye contact with the listener to reassure themselves that their audience is still attentive, then shift their gaze away once more. Listeners, meanwhile, keep their eyes on the face of the speaker, allowing themselves to glance away only briefly. It is important that they be looking at the speaker at the precise moment when the speaker re-establishes eye contact: if they are not looking, the speaker assumes that they are disinterested and either will pause until eye contact is resumed or will terminate the conversation. Just how critical this eye maneuvering is to the maintenance of conversational flow becomes evident when two speakers are wearing dark glasses: there may be a sort of traffic jam of words caused by interruption, false starts, and unpredictable pauses.
1.The author is convinced that the eyes are _______.
A.of extreme importance in expressing feelings and exchanging ideas
B.something through which one can see a person's inner world
C.of considerable significance in making conversations interesting
D.something the value of which is largely a matter of long debate
2.Babies will not be stimulated to smile by a person _______.
A.whose front view is fully perceived B.whose face is covered with a mask
C.whose face is seen from the side D.whose face is free of any covering
3.According to the passage, the Japanese fix their gaze on their conversation partner's neck because _______.
A.they don't like to keep their eyes on the face of the speaker
B.they need not communicate through eye contact
C.they don't think it polite to have eye contact
D.they didn't have much opportunity to communicate through eye contact in babyhood
4.According to the passage, a conversation between two Americans may break down due to _______.
A.one temporarily glancing away from the other B.eye contact of more than one second
C.improperly-timed ceasing of eye contact D.constant adjustment of eye contact
5.To keep a conversation flowing smoothly, it is better for the participants _______.
A.not to wear dark spectacles C.not to glance away from each other
B.not to make any interruptions D.not to make unpredictable pauses
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1.【答案】A。
【解析】辨认事实题。第一段第一句话指出：“眼睛是否是‘心灵的窗户’尚待讨论；然而眼睛在人与人的交往中极其重要乃是事实。”A项说：“眼睛在表达情感和交流思想方面非常重要。”这与第一句话内容相吻合，因为情感表达和思想交流是人际交往中的非常重要的一部分。故答案为A。
2.【答案】C。
【解析】辨认事实题。问婴儿不会被哪种人逗笑。根据文章第一段中的第二、第三和第四句话，A、B、D中所提到的几种人都可能逗婴儿笑：C项内容与第三句后半句“脸侧对着孩子的人不会引起婴儿发笑”相符，故为正确答案。
3.【答案】D。
【解析】辨认事实题。问根据本文，日本人在交谈中目光盯住对方的脖子原因何在。第一段第七句话指出：“……在日本，由于婴儿背在母亲的后背上，因此他们与其他的婴儿相比不爱用目光进行交流。”D项“在婴儿期他们没有多少机会通过目光接触进行交流”，与上句话意思相吻合，故为正确答案。
4.【答案】C。
【解析】辨认事实题。问根据本文，由于什么原因，两个美国人之间的谈话也许会中止。第二段第三句指出：“在说话人重新进行目光接触时，听话人看着说话人非常重要。如果他们不看说话人，对方会认为他们不感兴趣。说话人要么会停止说话直到听话人恢复目光接触，要么就会终止会话。”C项“中止目光接触的时机把握不当”符合题意，故答案为C。
5.【答案】A。
【解析】辨认事实题。问为了使会话顺利进行下去，会话双方最好怎么做。B、D两项是戴墨镜造成谈话人可能会出现的妨碍交谈的情况。C项是一般会话中不可避免的。A项“不要戴墨镜”与文章的最后一句话意思相近，故答案为A。
