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When she returned home after a year in South America, Judith Martin, a North American writer, began to have a problem. People kept interpreting her behavior as aggressive, but that was not right. Fairly soon she figured out what was happening.
When most South Americans talk to each other face-to-face, they stand closer together than North Americans do. Martin had not readjusted to North American distances. Apparently, she had forgotten about the phenomenon known as personal space — the amount of physical distance people expect during social interaction. Everyone has expectations concerning the use of personal space, but accepted distances for that space are determined by each person’s culture.
Observations about personal space began about twenty years ago. Anthropologist Edward T. Hall was a pioneer in the field. He became very interested in how interpersonal distances affected communication between people. In his book The Hidden Dimension, Hall invented the word “proxemics” to describe people’s use of space as a means of communication. As Hall’s book title indicates, most people are unconscious that interpersonal distances exist.
Personal space depends on invisible boundaries. Those boundaries move with people as they interact. Personal space gets larger or smaller depending on the circumstances of the social interaction at any moment. People do not like anyone to trespass (侵犯) on their personal space. As Cooper explains, invasions of personal space bring about negative reactions.
Researchers working with Hall’s data found that accepted interpersonal distances in the United States also depend on other factors. For example, subcultures help determine expectations concerning personal space. Fisher, Bell, and Baum report that groups of Hispanic-Americans generally interact more closely within their subculture than Anglo-Americans do within theirs. They further explain that in general subcultural groups tend to interact at closer distances with members of their own subculture than with nonmembers.
Age also affects how people use personal space. Cooper reports that North American children seem unaware of boundaries for personal space until the age of four or five. As the children get older they become more aware of standards for personal space. By the time they reach puberty (青春期), they have completely adapted to their culture’s standards for interpersonal distances.
Gender (性别) also influences people’s use of personal space. For example, North American males’ most negative reaction is reserved for anyone who enters their personal space directly in front of them. Females, on the other hand, feel most negative about approaches from the side. Also, females have smaller interpersonal distances than males do, although pairs of the same sex communicate across larger spaces than do pairs of males and females. The gender factor changes, however, in high-density situations such as crowded subways or elevators in the United States. As Maines observes, when people have some choice about where they stand or sit in crowded settings, they choose people of the same sex.
As international travel and commerce increase, intercultural contact is becoming commonplace. Soon, perhaps, cultural differences in expectations for personal space will be as familiar to everyone as are cultural differences in food and dress. Until then, people need to make a special effort to learn one another’s expectations concerning personal space. Once people are sensitive to such matters, they will not go either away from or toward a person from another culture.
50. Judith Martin’s experience tells that interpersonal distance in social interaction is determined by _____.
A. personal preference B. cultural background
C. social awareness D. geographical features
51. According to Hall, ______.
A. people are unaware that personal space affects communication
B. personal space in social interaction is used quite regularly
C. people show not enough interest in learning about interpersonal distances
D. people doubt that personal space affects communication
52. Which of the following can be implied from the first four paragraphs?
A. Judith Martin went to South America to explore about personal space,
B. Being unaware of interpersonal distance may lead to discomfort.
C. Nobody has ever noticed the existence of personal space phenomenon.
D. People don’t like those who are trying to keep distance in communication.
53. According to the passage, which fact makes no contribution to the decision of interpersonal distance?
A. culture B. gender C. age D. education
54. By “they will not go either away from or toward a person from another culture”, the writer means _____.
A. people try their best to avoid embarrassment by knowing more about culture
B. People are always afraid that they might take a wrong step when talking
C. people can keep appropriate personal distance in communication
D. people will choose to approach the right person to ask about the culture thing
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