И. А. Фомченкова, Н. А. Шайдорова
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V. Some people say: “To be beautiful you have to suffer”. Which beauty practices do you find the most acceptable/unacceptable for women? Think about some practices and answer the following questions:
FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS Vocabulary tasks I. Why do people have emotions and feelings? What good are they?
II. What emotions and feelings are usually classified as positive and negative? If you have a look at the topical vocabulary list, you'll notice that it deals with painful feelings and emotions rather than joyous ones. How can you account for it? POSITIVE FEELINGS: admiration, enthusiasm, excitement, elation, joy, love, pride, zest. NEGATIVE FEELINGS: anger, annoyance, irritation, anxiety, despair, humiliation, embarrasment, tension, envy, hate, jealousy, fear, shame, guilt, rage, terror. EMOTIONAL CONDITION: to feel good, to feel fine, to feel great, to feel pride and joy, to be bright and happy, to be in a good mood, to feel bad, to feel uneasy/anxious/lonely/scared/ miserable, to feel guilty, to feel put upon, to be upset, to be tense and jumpy, to be furious, to be in a bad temper. DISPLAY OF EMOTIONS: to express/to hide/to disguise/to control/to reveal/to relieve one's feelings, to get angry at, to cope with one's feelings, an outlet for one's emotions. To let off steam, to burst out laughing/crying, to behave calmly and cooly, to take one's irritation out on somebody, to scream and yell at somebody, to lose one's temper, to fly into a rage. Reading tasks I. Have you ever watched a movie or a television program in a language you didn't understand? Could you tell whether the characters were feeling happy or sad even though you didn't know what they were saying? You probably could because people communicate their feelings through body language, or non-verbal communication, as well as through words. One common sign of happiness is a smile. Discuss the following questions with your whole class or in a small group. 1. Can you think of other facial expressions or movements that people in your country use to show that they feel happy? 2. What do people do with their eyebrows, shoulders, or hands when they feel sad? 3. What colors are associated with happiness and sadness? II. Read the text The Expression of Emotion and compose a set of questions to cover its contents: Sometimes you are vaguely aware that a person makes you feel uncomfortable. When pressed to be more precise, you might say: "You never know what she is thinking." But you do not mean that you never know her opinion of a film or what she thought about the last election. It would probably be more accurate to say that you do not know what she is feeling. Almost all of us conceal our emotions to some extent to protect our self-image or to conform to social conventions. But usually we give off some clues to help others determine what we are feeling. Verbal Communication The simplest way to find out what someone is feeling is to ask. Sometimes we do ask people what they are feeling, with varying results. If your roommate finishes washing the dishes and says acidly, "I hope you are enjoying your novel," his words are quite clear, but you know very well that he is not saving what he really feels. If he were to say, "I am furious that you did not offer to help," he would be giving you an accurate report of his emotions at that moment. For many reasons, we may be unable or unwilling to report our emotions accurately. In some situations, people simply do not know what their emotions are. A father who abuses his child may sincerely profess affection tor the child, yet act in ways that reflect quite different emotions that are hidden from his own awareness. Even when we are aware of our emotions, we sometimes diminish the degree of emotion that we are feeling: We may say we are "a little worried" about an upcoming exam when in fact we are terrified. Or we may deny the emotion entirely, especially if it is negative. So often what people say does not reflect accurately what they are feeling. Thus, it is sometimes necessary to resort to other clues to emotion it we are to understand them fully. Nonverbal Communication "Actions speak louder than words, " the saying goes, and people are often more eloquent with their bodies than they realize or intend. We transmit a good deal of information to others through our facial expressions, body postures, and physical distance—in fact, our bodies often send emotional messages that contradict our words. Here's an example of this process at work. At a county fair, a political rally, or a football game, a pickpocket goes to work. Standing behind someone, the nimble-fingered thief prepares to relieve the person of his wallet. Slowly, the thief's hand moves toward the victim's back pocket and is almost touching the wallet, when suddenly the thief pulls his hand back empty. The pickpocket moves casually through the crowd, whistling. What went wrong? What gave the thief a clue that his intended victim might have been about to reach for his wallet? It could have been any one of many signs to a pickpocket skillful enough to stay out of jail: The hairs on the back of the victim's neck might have bristled slightly; there might have been a slight stiffening of the back, a twitch in a neck muscle, a subtle change in skin color, a trickle of sweat. The victim might not yet have been consciously aware that his pocket was about to be picked, but these signals showed that he was physiologically aware something was afoot. As we noted earlier, these kinds of physiological changes are not normally under our control. They tend to function independently of our will—indeed, often against it. Facial expressions are the most obvious emotional indicators. We saw earlier that facial expressions can actually cause some emotional experiences. Facial expressions are also good indicators of the emotions a person is experiencing, from whatever source. We can tell a good deal about a person's emotional state by observing whether that person looks as if he or she is laughing, crying, smiling, or frowning. Many facial expressions are innate, not learned. Children who are born deaf and blind use the same facial expressions as other children do to express the same emotions. Charles Darwin originated the idea that most animals share a common pattern of muscular facial movements. For example, dogs, tigers, and humans all bare their teeth in rage. Darwin also suggested that expressive behaviors serve a basic biological as well as social function. His idea that emotions have an evolutionary history and can be traced across cultures as part of our biological heritage laid the basis for many modern investigations of emotional expression. Today psychologists who take an evolutionary approach see facial expressions as serving an adaptive function, particularly as our ancestors competed for status, sought mates, and defended themselves. It turns out, however, that some emotions are easier to express facially than others. Most people had no trouble expressing love, fear, determination, and happiness. Suffering, disgust, and contempt were more difficult to express convincingly, and these feelings were also more difficult for other people to "read." Moreover, very different emotions are easier to tell apart than are related emotions such as fear and surprise. Body language is another means by which we communicate messages nonverbally. When we are relaxed, we tend to stretch back into a chair; when we are tense, we tend to sit more stiffly with our feet together. Slumping and straightness of the back supply clues about which emotion someone is feeling. If you videotape people acting out six emotions: anger, fear, seductiveness, indifference, happiness, and sadness you can notice that most people can portray successfully two out of the six emotions but that the rest of their portrayals do not reflect their intentions. One person appears angry no matter which emotion she tries to project; another is invariably seductive. Another kind of body communication is distance. The normal conversing distance between people differs from culture to culture. Two Swedes conversing would ordinarily stand much farther apart than would two Arabs or Greeks. Within every culture, there seems to be a usual distance for normal conversation, one that is generally thought appropriate. If someone is standing closer than usual to you, it may indicate aggressiveness or seductiveness; if farther away than usual, it may indicate withdrawal or repugnance. Explicit acts, of course, can also be nonverbal clues. When we receive a 2:00 A.M. telephone call, we expect that the caller has something urgent to say. A slammed door tells us that the person who just left the room is angry. If friends drop in for a visit and you invite them into your living room, you are probably less at ease with them than you are with other friends whom you generally ask to sit down at the kitchen table. Gestures, such as a slap on the back or an embrace, can also indicate feelings. Whether a person shakes your hand briefly or for a long time, firmly or limply, can tell you something about what he or she feels toward you. A word of caution is needed here. Although overt behavior can be a clue to a person's feelings, it is not an infallible clue. Laughing and crying sound alike, for example, and we bare our teeth in smiles as well as in rage. III. Although we often use non-verbal communication to express our emotions, we also use words. The text below contains adjectives that are used to describe emotions from very happy to very sad. While reading the text write these adjectives out and divide them into four groups (very happy/happy/sad/very sad). In the United States, if you turn on the TV in the early afternoon, you will probably tune in to a soap opera. These daily programs tell the story of several main characters. Many viewers become "addicted" to a soap opera because they get to know the characters on the program very well. The characters become like friends and the viewers want to know what will happen to them next. The characters in soap operas live interesting lives. In fact, there is seldom a dull moment! Deaths, births, marriages, murders, fights, divorces - it all happens in a soap opera. Let's tune in to a typical soap opera. On Monday's show, Sandra and Nick seem pleased and contented with their lives. Sandra is delighted with her new baby, and her husband, Nick, seems to be in a cheery mood, too. They are glad to be parents. Their baby has a sunny, cheerful disposition and everything is going well. On the other hand, Sandra's mother, Emma, is miserable. She has been depressed ever since she became a grandmother. She thinks she is too young to be a grandmother. She becomes gloomy whenever she thinks about growing old. She is afraid she will lose her beauty. Sandra's sister, Elaine, is also feeling unhappy. She has become quite melancholy since the birth of Sandra's baby. No one in the family knows why she has become so somber lately. This quiet life never lasts long in a soap opera! On Tuesday, the new baby is kidnapped. Sandra and Nick are inconsolable and Emma and Elaine are heartbroken. The baby's nanny feels responsible for the disaster because the baby was kidnapped while she was taking care of her. She is so disconsolate that her doctor gives her a tranquilizer. The police haven't received any ransom requests and have found no clues, so they have little hope of finding the child. Sandra becomes so despondent that Nick is afraid she might have a nervous breakdown. In the world of soap operas, events happen quickly. By Friday the baby has been found. Sandra is overjoyed to have her baby back and Nick is ecstatic. Even Emma seems to be able to forget that she's a grandmother long enough to celebrate the joyous occasion. At first the nanny is elated by the return of the child. Later she announces that she is going to leave the family because of all the bad memories she has of the kidnapping. Even this announcement can't stop everyone from sharing a joyful meal. They are all thrilled with the happy ending to the story. Tune in next Monday to see what happens in the exciting lives of Sandra, Nick, Emma, and Elaine! IV. Write down short descriptions of four events in your life that made you feel happy or sad. In your description, do not tell how you felt. You should only describe the event or situation using the corresponding adjectives. V. Study the vocabulary box below and think of the Russian language equivalents. Use the phrases below in the sentences of your own: Informal expressions to show that you are very happy: On cloud nine On top of the world In seventh heaven In hog heaven Walking on air Happy as a clam Happy as a lark Clams are animals with shells that live in the ocean. Larks are a kind of bird. Are these two animals happier that most other animals? Probably not. But we use these informal expressions to express happiness. Informal expressions to show that you are sad: Blue Down Low In the doldrums Down in the dumps The expression in the doldrums is a sailing term. A sailing ship is in the doldrums when it can’t move because there is no wind. How do you think the sailors feel when that happens? The words light-hearted, heavy-hearted, broken-hearted show the idea that the heart is the centre of human emotions. VI. We cannot be always bright and happy. Sometimes we have moods of depression or sadness. How do you find the way out of depression? How do you relax after a hard working day or at the end of the week? Read the story and comment on it. Have you ever found yourself in the same situation? What would you advise both to the girl and the parents in this situation? Pressure by Kristen Melchin The door rattled as it slammed shut and the lock on the knob clicked. She gave a sigh of relief as she leaned against the closed door. Lately her room had become a haven; a place where she could be alone and forget everything she hated to think about. She turned the volume on the radio up a notch, drawing her thoughts in the heavy beat of the song. She could hear her mother calling her name faintly from downstairs, but she pretended not to notice. Every night was the same, beginning with an argument with her parents and ending with her running up the stairs to lock herself in her room. Every argument was the same too. Her parents were always lecturing her on the best colleges and how important the right school was for her future. She knew college was important, but did it have to be discussed every night? Even her friends talked about it. Senior year had crept up on her almost as fast as she wished it would end. She thought it was supposed to be one of the best years of her life, but so far it qualified as one of the worst. She wished she could fast forward to the summer when all her worries would be over. She would already be accepted to a college, and the hard part, like applications and the anxiety of waiting to be accepted, would be over. Unfortunately that was utterly impossible. She collapsed on her bed exhausted from thinking about schools. She awoke to a loud banging on the door and the sound of her mother's voice ordering her to come downstairs and finish filling out applications. What seemed to be only five minutes of rest had really been an hour of sleep. It was nine o'clock and her little sister cried as her father put her to bed. She thought how ironic it was that when she was younger, she would beg to stay up later, but now she wished she could sleep and forget about all the pressure. |
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