Unit 59
Whether you are a gorilla, a four-year-old child, a politician or an Olympic athlete, the signs of victory are obvious for all to see: the chest inflates, the head is thrown back and the victor displays a strutting and confident air. Shame at being defeated is equally recognizable: the head bows, and sometimes the shoulders slump and the chest narrows too—something that is not a million miles away from the cringing postures associated with submission in animals, from chimpanzees to rats, rabbits and even salamanders. Are these displays of pride and shame common to all humans? If they are, they will have evolved to serve some function.
The past week in Beijing demonstrates that different cultures do indeed show similar displays of pride and shame. But it is difficult to say if these reactions are instinctive or learnt. Jessica Tracy at the University of British Columbia and David Matsumoto at San Francisco State University decided to explore this by comparing pictures of blind and sighted athletes from different cultures.
In their research, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team analyzed images from the judo competition held in the 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games. They looked for whether or not competitors indulged in post-match behavior such as tilting their heads back, raising their arms or expanding their chests in victory, or hiding their face or narrowing their chests in defeat. They found that in response to success and failure, people from different cultures displayed the stereotypical gestures of pride and some of the components of expressions of shame. This included the blind competitors—even those blind from birth.
Although the researchers say that congenitally blind children might have been taught by their parents to lift their hands above their heads after a victory, they speculate that it would be harder to teach them the full spectrum of displays they witnessed. These findings, then, imply that displays of pride are not simply cultural stereotypes learnt after birth, but an innate form of behavior that was relevant to the way humans lived. A display of pride（or shame）, in other words, may be an evolved and innate behavioral response.
Why? Such displays may have an evolutionary function. People could be advertising their accomplishments and ensuring their status and acceptance within their social group. Similarly, shame shows acceptance of a defeat and a reluctance to fight on（which may help to avoid further aggression）, and so might well be a display of submission.
The researchers also found that the behavioral response to shame was weaker in sighted athletes from cultures that were individualistic—or “self-expression valuing”—societies in the West. They suggest that athletes from these parts were suppressing responses in accordance with “cultural norms” that stigmatize displays of shame. If so, this would explain why the congenitally blind displayed more shame in defeat than did people who became blind later in life.
Culture has a lot to do with displays of victory, whether it is the two-fingered “V” salute or footballers removing their clothing. Both are culturally influenced, but they have their roots in showing exactly who is on top.
注（1）：本文选自Economist；
注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象为2004年真题Text 4（个别题目顺序加以调整）。
1. The ways humans of different cultures display the expressions of pride and shame are ______.
A) learnt
B) identical
C) alike
D) instinctive
2. We can infer from the text that the object of the study is to ______.
A) discover whether displays of pride and shame are culturally determined or innate
B) find out how differently blind and sighted athletes would display pride and shame
C) pinpoint how being blind can influence people’s specific behaviors
D) compare the behaviors of athletes from different cultural backgrounds
3. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, according to the text, is probably ______.
A) a manual on scientific research
B) an academic conference
C) an online academic forum
D) an academic journal
4. According to the text, people display pride or shame probably because ______.
A) they are in favor of evolutionary progress
B) they want to be accepted by a social group and protect themselves
C) they are required by their culture to show these emotions
D) they want to fight for victory and avoid failure
5. What can we learn from the last two paragraphs?
A) Culture is ultimately accountable for human display of pride and shame.
B) The fact that culture still exerts influence on human display of pride and shame undermines the conclusion of the research.
C) Culture plays a part in shaping the way people display their pride and shame.
D) Congenitally blind people display more shame in defeat than those who become blind later in life because they have different genes.
篇章剖析
本文主要讨论的问题是人们表达自豪和羞愧的行为。除了文化因素之外，更重要的是本能在起作用。第一段提出问题，即人类与动物以相同的方式表达自豪与羞愧，是否意味着这些表现是进化的产物；第二、三段介绍了两位学者通过比较来自不同文化的失明和视力正常运动员的照片来进行相关研究；第四、五段介绍了该研究的发现，即自豪（或羞愧）的表现可能是进化形成的先天行为反应；第六段指出了可能存在的文化影响；最后一段则是对全文的总结概括。
词汇注释
gorilla /gəˈrɪlə/ n. 大猩猩
inflate /ɪnˈfleɪt/ v. 使充气，使膨胀
strut /strʌt/ v. 高视阔步，趾高气扬地走
slump /slʌmp/ v. 使降低，使衰落
cringe /krɪndʒ/ v. 畏缩，蜷缩
chimpanzee /ˌtʃɪmpənˈziː/ n. 黑猩猩
salamander /ˈsæləmændə/ n. 蝾螈
tilt /tɪlt/ v. 使倾斜，使翘起
congenitally /kənˈdʒenɪtəli/ adv. 先天地，天生地
innate /ˈɪnˈeit/ adj. 与生俱来的，天生的，固有的
stigmatize /ˈstɪgmətaɪz/ v. 给…带来耻辱，污辱
难句突破
Shame at being defeated is equally recognizable: the head bows, and sometimes the shoulders slump and the chest narrows too—something that is not a million miles away from the cringing postures associated with submission in animals, from chimpanzees to rats, rabbits and even salamanders.
主体句式：Shame at being defeated is equally recognizable.
结构分析：本句的主体句式比较简单，后面以冒号来引出详细说明，也就是说the head bows, and sometimes the shoulders slump and the chest narrows too都是用来说明shame的表现。下面破折号引导的不是一个句子，其核心成分只有一个词something，指的就是前面列出的各类表现。that引导的定语从句整个用来修饰something。这个定语从句的主干是that is not a million miles away from the cringing postures，后面associated with submission in animals用来修饰postures。
句子译文：被打败时的羞愧也很容易辨认：垂头含胸，有时两肩耷拉，与动物表现的顺从的畏缩姿态非常接近，无论是黑猩猩、老鼠，还是兔子，甚至是蝾螈。
题目分析
1. C 细节题。文章第二段开头指出“上周在北京展示了不同文化的确存在相似的自豪与羞愧的表现”，四个选项中只有alike与similar的意思最为接近。要注意B选项identical这个词的意思是“完全一模一样的”，与similar的意思有所出入。该段中下一句话指出这些表现“出于本能还是后天习得”现在尚不得知，因此A和D的learnt和instinctive都不正确。
2. A 推理题。这道题可以采用排除法，首先C和D选项都没有提到全文的关键词pride and shame，所以可以很快排除。文章第二段中说很难确定自豪或羞愧的表现是“出于本能还是后天习得”，紧接着就介绍杰西卡和戴维的实验是为了研究这个问题。所以比较失明和视力正常运动员的行为不是目的，研究的根本目的是要说明自豪或羞愧的表现究竟是由文化决定还是先天形成的，因此答案为A选项。
3. D 细节题。从原文中我们可以看出，这项研究的结果发表在Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences上，马上可以排除B和C选项，因为发表都是与出版物有关。而A项是科学研究指南，不会介绍最新研究成果。本文讲述的是一项最近进行的研究及其发现，此类文章通常刊登在学术期刊上，因此D才是正确答案。
4. B 细节题。文章第五段指出“人们可能是在夸耀自己的成就，确保自己的地位并获得所处社会群体的认同。类似地，羞愧表现出承认失利和对继续抗争的犹豫（如此可能有助于避免遭受进一步攻击），因此也可能是顺从的表现。”选项B很好地概括了这两点，是正确答案。A选项中提到的evolutionary progress是客观事实，而不是人们的主观态度，因此该选项不正确。C显然与研究发现不符。D的错误在于其表述的是人们在成功或失利前的心态。
5. C 推理题。本题考查对文章最后两段的理解。尽管这两段主要谈论的是文化的影响，但是文章最后一句话指出“这些都受文化的影响，但其根源都是彰显究竟谁是赢家”，也就是说本能仍然起着决定性作用，可见A的表述错误。而文化因素的存在也没有推翻该研究的结论，因此B也不正确。文章倒数第二段提到“先天失明的盲人在失败后会比后天失明者表现出更强烈的羞愧”，而从上一句话我们可以看出这是受了文化影响（西方社会崇尚个性或是自我表现），因此D也不正确。而最后两段主要说明的问题是，尽管自豪和羞愧的表现是一种进化形成的先天行为，但是文化与此还是息息相关。例如“在来自崇尚个性或是自我表现的西方社会的视力正常运动员中，羞愧的行为反应相对较弱”，也就是文化影响到了这种表现的程度轻重，所以可以推断出C是正确答案。
参考译文
无论是大猩猩、四岁幼童、政治家、还是奥运会运动员，表达胜利的方式都显而易见：昂首挺胸，而且显出骄傲自得和信心百倍的样子。被打败时的羞愧也很容易辨认：垂头含胸，有时两肩耷拉，与动物表现的顺从的畏缩姿态非常接近，无论是黑猩猩、老鼠，还是兔子，甚至是蝾螈。这些自豪与羞愧的表现是人类共有的吗？如果是的话，那么这些表现将会进化出一些功能。
上周在北京展示了不同文化的确存在相似的自豪与羞愧的表现。但很难确定这些反应是出于本能还是后天习得。英属哥伦比亚大学的杰西卡·特雷西和旧金山州立大学的戴维·松本决定研究这个问题，他们比较了来自不同文化的失明的和视力正常的运动员的照片。
在这项发表于美国《国家科学院院刊》的研究中，科研小组分析了2004年奥运会和残奥会的柔道比赛图像。他们查看竞技者是否会沉浸于一些赛后动作，例如成功时昂起头颅、高举双臂，或挺起胸膛，或失利后掩面含胸。他们发现在对胜利和失败作出反应时，来自不同文化的人展示出典型的胜利姿态和某些羞愧表现的成分。其中包括盲人竞技者，甚至先天失明的竞技者也是如此。
尽管研究人员指出，那些先天失明的儿童可能是由父母教会在胜利后高举双手，但图像中显示出了完整的情绪表现，研究人员推测要教会这些是较为困难的。这些发现意味着自豪的表现并不只是后天习得的文化定势，而是一种与人类生存方式相关的先天行为。换句话说，自豪（或羞愧）的表现或许是进化形成的先天行为反应。
为什么呢？此类表现也许有进化的作用。人们可能是在夸耀自己的成就，确保自己的地位并获得所处社会群体的认同。类似地，羞愧表现出承认失利和对继续抗争的犹豫（如此可能有助于避免遭受进一步攻击），因此也可能是顺从的表现。
研究人员还发现，在来自崇尚个性或是自我表现的西方社会的视力正常运动员中，羞愧的行为反应相对较弱。他们提出，来自这些地方的运动员刻意压抑自己的反应来遵从反对表现耻辱的“文化规范”。如果是这样，也就可以解释为什么先天失明的盲人在失败后会比后天失明者表现出更强烈的羞愧。
文化与胜利的表现息息相关，不论是竖起两指的“V”型手势，还是足球运动员脱掉球衣。这些都受文化的影响，但其根源都是彰显究竟谁是赢家。
