Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Bruce Gulland.
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And I'm Marina Santee. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand - no matter where in the world they live.
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A group of businessmen enter a room in the Japanese city of Tokyo. They are coming here after working all day. Each man finds a place to sit. Soon, a film starts to play. It is a very sad story. One man starts to cry. Then another. And another. This is why these men have come to this group. They have gathered for one reason - to cry together!
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Today's Spotlight is on crying. Most people cry at some time in their lives. But why do people cry and is it helpful?
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Scientists say there are three different kinds of tears - basal tears, reflex tears and emotional tears. Basal tears keep our eyes wet. These tears are always on our eyes. Basal tears keep our eyes from getting too dry. They help our eyelids move. And they help our eyes fight diseases.
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Reflex tears result when an irritant or foreign particle enters our eye. These tears are extra tears. They help to clean the eye - removing dirt, dust and other bad things.
Voice 1
But usually, when people talk about crying, they are talking about crying emotional tears. Many emotions make people cry - including joy, sadness, anger, conflict, regret, failure and success. People also cry emotional tears when they experience physical pain. Doctors do not know exactly why our emotions and physical pain produce tears. Many people have studied it. But there are no clear answers to this question.
Voice 2
One idea is that crying protects the body. When a person feels strong emotions, the body produces particular substances like proteins, hormones and other chemicals. These substances cause many different effects - including a tense body and a faster heart rate. Emotional tears contain larger amounts of these substances than other kinds of tears. So emotional crying may remove some of these substances from the body. Some people talk about feeling better after having 'a good cry'. This process may be why crying can help people feel better.
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Crying can be good for our emotions and for our health. But some people have a difficult time crying. This is the reason for the crying club - the group from the beginning of today's program. Crying clubs started in Japan, but there are now also clubs in United Kingdom. The idea of crying clubs is for people to gather together to help each other cry. Some clubs watch sad films or listen to sad music. In a crying club in London, members cut up onions. The strong smell from these vegetables makes their eyes water. People sit together with tears rolling down their faces. Do cry clubs help people release their emotions and be more healthy? Scientists do not know for sure. But what they do know is that crying for different reasons has different results.
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A study published in 2008 looked at these results. People in the study reported how they felt after they cried. Some crying made people feel better - for example, crying for happiness. But in some sad situations, crying also made people feel better. This was true when people cried about problems in their own lives - especially things they felt they could change. But people felt worse if they felt they could not change things. For example, if someone else had hurt the crying person, crying often made them feel worse.
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Crying is also cultural. People in some cultures cry much more often than people in other cultures. For example, studies show that people in America and Italy cry far more often than people in China or Ghana. In some cultures, people easily cry in public. But in other cultures, crying causes people to feel shame. So, crying is something a person will only do in private.
Voice 2
In the United Kingdom people talk about having a 'stiff upper lip'. Often, a person's mouth will shake just before they begin to cry. This British saying means that the person holds his mouth very still. He refuses to cry even when he is feeling very unhappy.
Historians believe this custom and saying developed during the twentieth century. During World War One and World War Two, life in Britain was very difficult. Many people were dying. People in Britain also had limited food and other materials. People knew they had to be strong. So they tried hard not to show their emotions. They felt it helped them to continue living, even when everything around them was very bad.
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But there are some times when people cannot help crying. For example, it is rare to be at a funeral where there are no tears. But the right behaviour at a funeral in one culture may be wrong behaviour in another culture. In Fiji you must not cry until after the body of the dead person has been buried. In Britain people can cry anytime during a funeral. But they usually try to be very quiet and still when they do it. They try to avoid being noticed. And in Iran the correct behaviour is to cry loudly and openly. In fact, a group of people are paid to begin the crying. This makes it easier for the rest of the people mourning to cry.
Voice 2
But as many people know, people do not just cry when they are sad. They also cry from happiness. For example, there are often many tears when two people get married! This is not usually because of regret. Instead, people are happy to celebrate such a good event. And scientific study shows that crying from happiness results is a person becoming even happier!
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The Christian Bible has a saying about crying. It says that people should show love by crying with people who are crying and laughing with people who are laughing. By doing this, people can honor both the pain and joy of people around them. Crying with a supportive person can make a person feel even better.
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