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Exchange a glance with someone, then look away. Do you realize that you have made a statement? Hold the glance for a second longer, and you have made a different statement. Hold it for 3 seconds, and the meaning has changed again. For every social situation, there is a permissible time that you can hold a person’s gaze without being intimate, rude, or aggressive. If you are on an elevator, what gaze-time are you permitted? To answer this question, consider what you typically do. You very likely give other passengers a quick glance to size them up (打量) and to assure them that you mean no threat. Since being close to another person signals the possibility of interaction. You need to emit a signal telling others you want to be left alone. So you cut off eye contact, what sociologist Erving Goffman (1963) calls “a dimming of the lights.” You look down at the floor, at the indicator lights, anywhere but into another passenger’s eyes. Should you break the rule against staring at a stranger on an elevator, you will make the other person exceedingly uncomfortable, and you are likely to feel a bit strange yourself.
If you hold eye contact for more than 3 seconds, what are you telling another person? Much depends on the person and the situation. For instance, a man and a woman communicate interest in this manner. They typically gaze at each other for about 3 seconds at a time, then drop their eyes down for 3 seconds, before letting their eyes meet again. But if one man gives another man a 3-second-plus stare, he signals, “I know you”, “I am interested in you,” or “You look peculiar and I am curious about you.” This type of stare often produces hostile feelings.
51. It can be inferred form the first paragraph that ________.
A) every glance has its significance
B) staring at a person is an expression of interest
C) a gaze longer than 3 seconds is unacceptable
D) a glance conveys more meaning than words（A）
52. If you want to be left alone on an elevator, the best thing to do is ________.
A) to look into another passenger’s eyes
B) to avoid eye contact with other passengers
C) to signal you are not a threat to anyone
D) to keep a distance from other passengers（B）
53. By “a dimming of the lights” (Para. 1, Line 9) Erving Goffman means “________".
A) closing one’s eyes
B) turning off the lights
C) creasing to glance at others
D) reducing gaze-time to the minimum（C）
54. If one is looked at by a stranger for too long, he tends to feel ________.
A) depressed
B) uneasy
C) curious
D) amused（B）
55. The passage mainly discusses ________.
A) the limitations of eye contact
B) the exchange of ideas through eye contact
C) proper behavior in situations
D) the role of eye contact in interpersonal communication（D）
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