Exchange a glance with someone, and 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 person’s stare without being friendly, rude, or aggressive. If you are on a lift, what stare-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 harm. 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 contacts. That is what sociologist Erving Goffiman 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 a lift, you will make the other person extremely uncomfortable, and you are likely to feel a bit strange yourself.
If you hold eye contacts for more than 3 seconds, what are you telling another person? Much depends on the person and the situation. For instance, a man and a woman communicate interest in this manner. They stare at each other for about 3 seconds at a time, and then drop their eyes down for 3 seconds, before letting their eyes meet again. But if one man gives another man a 3-second-plus stare, he signals, “I know you”, “I am interested in you” or “You look peculiar and I am curious about you.” This type of stare often produces hostile feelings.
60. It can be inferred from the first paragraph that ______.
A. every glance has its significance
B. a glance carries more meaning than words
C. a stare longer than 3 seconds is unacceptable
D. staring at a person is an expression of interest
61. If you want to be left alone on a lift the best thing to do is ______.
A. to look into another passenger’s eyes
B. to keep a distance from other passengers
C. to avoid eye contacts with other passengers
D. to signal you don’t mean to do harm to anyone
62. By “a dimming of the lights”, Erving Goffiman means ______.
A. closing one’s eyes B. turning off the lights
C. stopping glancing at others D. reducing stare-time to the minimum
63. The passage mainly discusses ______.
A. the limitations of eye contacts
B. the exchange of ideas through eye contacts
C. proper behavior in different situations in people’s daily life
D. the role of eye contacts in communication between people
60.A;61.C;62.C;63.D.
60．选A。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B不对。文中只提到a stare longer than 3 seconds is different而没提到 unacceptable，所以C不对。文中提到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；而且Much depends on the person and the situation，也因人、场合的不同而不同，并非仅仅代表有兴趣。所以D不对。
61．选C。从下文cut off eye contacts可知。
62．选C。从上文you need to send out a signal telling others you want to be left alone. So you cut off eye contacts中的cut off eye contacts可知。
63．选D。A选项意思为“目光接触的局限/不足”。B选项意思是“通过目光接触进行的思想交流”。而本文中要讲的是目光接触所代表的含义而非主动的思想交流。C选项意思是“人们日常生活中的不同情境中的恰当行为”。与本文中心不符。D选项意思是“目光交流在人与人的交流中的作用。”通过本文所举的例子可以看出D正确。