VOA慢速英语2014 AS IT IS 2014-05-10 What are Your Deepest, Darkest Fears? 你心底最深的恐惧是什么?

AS IT IS 2014-05-10 What are Your Deepest, Darkest Fears? 你心底最深的恐惧是什么?

From VOA Learning¹ English this is As It Is!  I’m Anna Matteo in Washington.

“Laughter is the best medicine” is a popular expression.  It simply means that laughing could be good for your health and good for your mind.  But what if hearing laughter makes you afraid?  Later in the show, we will hear about a fear, or phobia, of what many feel is the greatest sound on earth – laughter.

But first, we talk about fears, or phobias, in depth. 

What is a phobia?

 

A phobia is a strong fear of something that, in reality, presents little or no danger.  Most phobias develop in childhood, but they can also develop in adults.  The word phobia comes from the Greek language.  It means “to fear.”   

Some phobias are common.  The fear of spiders is arachnophobia.  The fear of small spaces is called claustrophobia. And the fear of heights is acrophobia². 

But there are also uncommon³ phobias.  Somniphobia is the fear of falling asleep.  And papaphobia is a fear of the leader of the Roman Catholic⁴ Church, the Pope⁵.  The list of phobias goes on and on.

Having a phobia is not a laughing matter.  Phobias often create problems in a person’s life.  One common phobia that can create problems and hold people back especially at school and at work is the fear of public speaking or glossophobia.  “Glossa” is Greek for “tongue.”  A student with glossophobia may be afraid to speak up in class.  At work, a person with this phobia may not speak up in meetings. 

Whether it is a phobia or a real danger, our bodies react to fear.  And we often use physical expressions to describe ourselves when we are afraid.  I was so scared “my blood ran cold” or I “broke out into a cold sweat.”  

If a book or movie is scary, we often call it “spine-tingling” or “hair-raising.”  If something scares us, we can say it “made our hair stand on end” or that it had us “shaking in our shoes.”  All these expressions describe what happens to a person’s body when they are afraid.

The U.S. president Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously said in his inaugural⁶ speech that, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”   That is a nice idea.  But try telling that to a person who is “afraid of their own shadow.” 

I’m Anna Matteo.  And you are listening to As It Is.

On today’s As It Is, we are learning about phobias, things that scare us.  And one phobia may surprise you.  It is the fear of something basic to the human condition.    

Christopher Cruise⁷ brings us that story.

Fear of Being Laughed At

Imagine this situation. You pass a group of people. The people are talking to each other. You cannot hear what they are saying. But suddenly they start laughing. What would you think? Would you think they were laughing at something funny that one of them said? Or -- be honest with yourself -- would you think they were laughing at you? Yes, you.

Being laughed at is a common fear. But a major study published in 2009 found that this fear is not the same around the world. It differs from culture to culture.  

People in Finland were the least likely to believe that people laughing in their presence⁸ were making fun of them. Less than ten percent of Finns in the study said they would think that, compared to eighty percent of people in Thailand.

Some people in the study said they felt unsure of themselves in social situations but hid their feelings of insecurity. Others said they avoided social situations where they had been laughed at before.

The study found that people in Turkmenistan and Cambodia were more likely to be in the first group. They would hide their feelings of insecurity if they were around other people's laughter. But people in Iraq, Egypt and Jordan were more likely to try to avoid such situations if they felt they had been laughed at before.

Shy people often avoid situations that would force them into close contact with other people. They worry that something they say or do will make other people laugh at them. But some people worry much more than others. They may have a disorder⁹ called gelotophobia.  Gelos is a Greek word.  It means laughter.  This fear of laughter can be truly sad for those who live with it. It can affect how they lead their lives.

Another purpose of the study was to compare the levels of fear of being laughed at in different cultures. The researchers surveyed more than 22,000 people in 42 different languages.

In 2012, the same researchers published an article about gelotophobia.  They wrote about how harmful gelotophobia is to mental health.  The researchers compared adults living in Austria, China, and Switzerland and found that in all those places “gelotophobes” were unhappier.  They also were less likely to feel engaged in their life activities, and believed that their lives had less pleasure and meaning.

Both studies appeared in the scientific journal¹⁰ Humor¹¹: International Journal of Humor Research.

I'm Christopher Cruise.

And I’m Anna Matteo. 

To practice American English or talk about phobias, use our comment section.  And if you have a phobia of not finding¹² VOA Learning English online, have no fear.  You can find us on Facebook, iTunes, LinkedIn or YouTube.

And don’t forget to join us again tomorrow for another As It Is.

1 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

2 acrophobia   

n.恐高症

参考例句：

• She has acrophobia and always becomes dizzy in a high-rise elevator.她有恐高症，到了高楼的电梯里就发晕。
• Many people suffer from very serious acrophobia.许多人患有严重的恐高症。

3 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

4 catholic   

adj.天主教的；n.天主教徒

参考例句：

• The Pope is the supreme leader of the Roman Catholic Church.教皇是罗马天主教的最高领袖。
• She was a devoutly Catholic.她是一个虔诚地天主教徒。

5 pope   

n.（罗马天主教的）教皇

参考例句：

• The Pope is the spiritual leader of many Christians.教皇是众多基督徒的宗教领袖。
• The Pope is the supreme leader of the Roman Catholic Church.教皇是罗马天主教的最高领袖。

6 inaugural   

adj.就职的；n.就职典礼

参考例句：

• We listened to the President's inaugural speech on the radio yesterday.昨天我们通过无线电听了总统的就职演说。
• Professor Pearson gave the inaugural lecture in the new lecture theatre.皮尔逊教授在新的阶梯讲堂发表了启用演说。

7 cruise   

v.巡航，航游，缓慢巡行；n.海上航游

参考例句：

• They went on a cruise to Tenerife.他们乘船去特纳利夫岛。
• She wants to cruise the canals of France in a barge.她想乘驳船游览法国的运河。

8 presence   

n.出席；到场；存在

参考例句：

• Her presence lent an air of respectability to the occasion.她的到场使那种场合增添了崇高的气氛。
• His presence is indicative of his willingness to help.他的出席表示他愿意帮忙。

9 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

10 journal   

n.日志，日记；议事录；日记帐；杂志，定期刊物

参考例句：

• He kept a journal during his visit to Japan.他在访问日本期间坚持记日记。
• He got a job as editor of a trade journal.他找到了一份当商业杂志编辑的工作。

11 humor   

n.(humour)幽默，诙谐

参考例句：

• He is distinguished for his sense of humor.他以其幽默感著称。
• American humor is founded largely on hyperbole.美式幽默主要以夸张为基础。

12 finding   

n.发现，发现物；调查的结果

参考例句：

• The finding makes some sense.该发现具有一定的意义。
• That's an encouraging finding.这是一个鼓舞人心的发现。