英语听力文摘 English Digest 713 笑容的秘密

What’s So Funny?

Laughter research has found that only a small percentage of laughter, less than 20%, is a sincere response to someone’s humor. In fact, laughter is primarily a social signal, as opposed to an emotional outburst.

No Laughing Matter

People are 30 times more likely to laugh in a group setting than when they are alone, leading observers to conclude laughter has a primarily social function.

For instance, there’s “polite” laughter. How often have you found yourself laughing at someone’s attempt at being funny in order to spare their feelings or make them feel good?

Kings of Comedy

Research has also found that women tend to laugh a good deal more than men. And male speakers tend to elicit¹ more laughter than female speakers.

Laughter may very well be a sign of power dynamics² between people, signaling dominance and submission³, acceptance and rejection⁴. Certainly, that seems to be the case when someone is laughing at you rather than with you.

什么这么有趣？

笑声研究发现，只有不到20%的一小部分笑声是对某人幽默的真诚回应。事实上，笑主要是一种社交信号，而不是情绪爆发。

无笑问题

人们在集体环境中笑的可能性是独处时的30倍，这让观察者得出结论，笑主要具有社交功能。

例如，有“礼貌”的笑声。你有多少次发现自己在嘲笑某人试图搞笑以减轻他们的感受或让他们感觉良好？

喜剧之王

研究还发现，女性比男性更爱笑。男性演讲者往往比女性演讲者更能引发笑声。

笑声很可能是人与人之间权力动态的一个标志，表明支配和顺从、接受和拒绝。当然，当有人嘲笑你而不是嘲笑你时，情况似乎就是这样。

1 elicit   

v.引出,抽出,引起

参考例句：

• It was designed to elicit the best thinking within the government. 机构的设置是为了在政府内部集思广益。
• Don't try to elicit business secrets from me. I won't tell you anything. 你休想从我这里套问出我们的商业机密, 我什么都不会告诉你的。

2 dynamics   

n.力学，动力学，动力，原动力；动态

参考例句：

• In order to succeed,you must master complicated knowledge of dynamics.要取得胜利，你必须掌握很复杂的动力学知识。
• Dynamics is a discipline that cannot be mastered without extensive practice.动力学是一门不做大量习题就不能掌握的学科。

3 submission   

n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出

参考例句：

• The defeated general showed his submission by giving up his sword.战败将军缴剑表示投降。
• No enemy can frighten us into submission.任何敌人的恐吓都不能使我们屈服。

4 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。