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A new research has uncovered that culture is a determining factor when interpreting facial emotions
(情感). The study reveals that in cultures where emotional control is the standard, such as Japan, focus
is placed on the eyes to interpret emotions. Whereas in cultures where emotion is openly expressed,
such as the United States, the focus is on the mouth to interpret emotion.
"These findings go against the popular theory that the facial expressions of basic emotions can be
universally recognized," said University of Alberta researcher Dr Takahiko Masuda. "A person's culture
plays a very strong role in determining how they will read emotions and needs to be considered when
interpreting facial expressions."
These cultural differences are even noticeable in computer emotions(情感符号), which are used to
convey a writer's emotions over email and text message. The Japanese emotions for happiness and
sadness vary in terms of how the eyes are drawn, while American emotions vary with the direction of the
mouth. In the United States the emotions: ) and: －)show a happy face，whereas the emotions: (or: －(
show a sad face. However, Japanese tend to use the symbol (??) to indicate a happy face, and (; _;) to
indicate a sad face.
"We think it is quite interesting and appropriate that a culture tends to mask its emotions. The
Japanese would focus on a person's eyes when determining emotions, as eyes tend to be quite subtle
(微妙的)," said Masuda. "In the United States, where open emotion is quite common, it makes sense to
focus on the mouth, which is the most expressive feature on a person's face."
1. The text mainly tells us that ________.
A. cultural differences are expressed in emotions
B. culture is the key to interpreting facial emotions
C. different emotions are preferred in different cultures
D. people from different cultures express emotions differently
2. Which emotion is used by Americans to show a happy face?
A. (; _; )
B. : －)
C. : －(
D. : (
3. If a Japanese wants to detect whether a smile is true or false, he will probably ________.
A. read the whole face
B. focus on the mouth
C. look into the eyes
D. judge by the voice
4. People used to believe that ________.
A. some facial expressions of emotions were too complex to be recognized
B. people in the world interpreted basic emotions in different ways
C. people could only recognize the facial expressions of basic emotions
D. people all over the world understood basic emotions in the same way
