英语听力精选进阶版 13906

Dad Dancing

Summary

10 September 2010

British people are frequently embarrassed by their fathers' dancing, so the term 'dad dancing' now means bad moves on the dance floor. Scientists at Northumbria University have analysed what makes dancing attractive to women.

Reporter:

Pallab Ghosh

Report

The researchers asked young men to dance in a laboratory to a very basic drum rhythm. Their dances were played back to a group of women who rated them on a scale of one to seven.

The researchers had expected that the movement of arms, legs and hands would be important as they can often convey expressive¹ gestures.

But instead they found that there was a greater focus on the torso, neck and the head. And higher ratings were given for variation and mixing up dance moves. What went down badly though were twitchy and repetitive movements – often called 'dad dancing'.

The researchers also found from blood tests on the dancers that those who had good moves were in better physical condition.

And so, as is the case with courtship rituals with wild animals, dancing ability may well be a way of assessing a suitable mate.

Pallab Ghosh, BBC science correspondent

1 expressive   

adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的

参考例句：

• Black English can be more expressive than standard English.黑人所使用的英语可能比正式英语更有表现力。
• He had a mobile,expressive,animated face.他有一张多变的，富于表情的，生动活泼的脸。