Aristotle thought the face was a window onto a person’s mind. Cicero agreed. Two thousand years passed, and facial expressions are still commonly thought to be a universally valid way to judge other people’s feelings, irrespective of age, sex and culture. A raised eyebrow suggests confusion. A smile indicates happiness.
Or do they? An analysis of hundreds of research papers that examined the relationship between facial expressions and underlying emotions has uncovered a surprising conclusion: there is no good scientific evidence to suggest that there are such things as recognizable facial expressions for basic emotions which are universal across cultures. Just because a person is not smiling, the researchers found, does not mean that person is unhappy.
This may raise questions about the efforts of information-technology companies to develop artificial-intelligence algorithms (算法) which can recognize facial expressions and work out a person’s underlying emotional state. Microsoft, for example, claims its “Emotion API” is able to detect what people are feeling by examining video footage of them. Another of the study’s authors, however, expressed scepticism. Aleix Martinez, a computer engineer at Ohio State University, said that companies attempting to obtain emotions from images of faces have failed to understand the importance of context.
For a start, facial expression is but one of a number of non-verbal ways，such as body posture, that people use to communicate with each other. Machine recognition of emotion needs to take account of these as well. But context can reach further than that. Dr Martinez mentioned an experiment in which participants were shown a close-up picture of a man’s face, which was bright red with his mouth open in a scream. Based on this alone, most participants said the man was extremely angry. Then the whole picture was shown. It was a football player with his arms outstretched, celebrating a goal. His angry-looking face was, in fact, a show of pure joy.
Given that people cannot guess each other’s emotional states most of the time, Dr Martinez sees no reason computers would be able to. “There are companies right now claiming to be able to do that and apply this to places I find really scary and dangerous, for example, in hiring people,” he says. “Some companies require you to present a video resume, which is analyzed by a machine-learning system. And depending on your facial expressions, they hire you or not, which I find really shocking.”
1.We can learn from the second paragraph that __________.
A.facial expressions are universal across cultures
B.it is hard to recognize some facial expressions
C.emotions and facial expressions may not be related
D.common facial expressions convey similar meanings
2.In the passage, the word “scepticism” (paragraph 3) is closest in meaning to “__________”.
A.similar interest B.fierce anger C.strong support D.great doubt
3.The experiment mentioned by Dr Martinez may prove that ___________.
A.facial expression is an important way to communicate
B.machine recognition of emotion is not reliable at all
C.facial expression is not the only way to detect feelings
D.people may misread facial expressions for lack of context
4.What does this passage mainly tell us?
A.Facial expressions are among the most universal forms of body language.
B.Computers can detect people’s mind by analyzing their facial expressions.
C.Facial expressions may not be the reliable reflection of a person’s emotions.
D.Companies can depend on machine recognition of emotion to hire people.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题
Aristotle thought the face was a window onto a person’s mind. Cicero agreed. Two thousand years passed, and facial expressions are still commonly thought to be a universally valid way to judge other people’s feelings, irrespective of age, sex and culture. A raised eyebrow suggests confusion. A smile indicates happiness.
Or do they? An analysis of hundreds of research papers that examined the relationship between facial expressions and underlying emotions has uncovered a surprising conclusion: there is no good scientific evidence to suggest that there are such things as recognizable facial expressions for basic emotions which are universal across cultures. Just because a person is not smiling, the researchers found, does not mean that person is unhappy.
This may raise questions about the efforts of information-technology companies to develop artificial-intelligence algorithms (算法) which can recognize facial expressions and work out a person’s underlying emotional state. Microsoft, for example, claims its “Emotion API” is able to detect what people are feeling by examining video footage of them. Another of the study’s authors, however, expressed scepticism. Aleix Martinez, a computer engineer at Ohio State University, said that companies attempting to obtain emotions from images of faces have failed to understand the importance of context.
For a start, facial expression is but one of a number of non-verbal ways，such as body posture, that people use to communicate with each other. Machine recognition of emotion needs to take account of these as well. But context can reach further than that. Dr Martinez mentioned an experiment in which participants were shown a close-up picture of a man’s face, which was bright red with his mouth open in a scream. Based on this alone, most participants said the man was extremely angry. Then the whole picture was shown. It was a football player with his arms outstretched, celebrating a goal. His angry-looking face was, in fact, a show of pure joy.
Given that people cannot guess each other’s emotional states most of the time, Dr Martinez sees no reason computers would be able to. “There are companies right now claiming to be able to do that and apply this to places I find really scary and dangerous, for example, in hiring people,” he says. “Some companies require you to present a video resume, which is analyzed by a machine-learning system. And depending on your facial expressions, they hire you or not, which I find really shocking.”
1.We can learn from the second paragraph that __________.
A.facial expressions are universal across cultures
B.it is hard to recognize some facial expressions
C.emotions and facial expressions may not be related
D.common facial expressions convey similar meanings
2.In the passage, the word “scepticism” (paragraph 3) is closest in meaning to “__________”.
A.similar interest B.fierce anger C.strong support D.great doubt
3.The experiment mentioned by Dr Martinez may prove that ___________.
A.facial expression is an important way to communicate
B.machine recognition of emotion is not reliable at all
C.facial expression is not the only way to detect feelings
D.people may misread facial expressions for lack of context
4.What does this passage mainly tell us?
A.Facial expressions are among the most universal forms of body language.
B.Computers can detect people’s mind by analyzing their facial expressions.
C.Facial expressions may not be the reliable reflection of a person’s emotions.
D.Companies can depend on machine recognition of emotion to hire people.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Aristotle thought the face was a window onto a person’s mind. Cicero agreed. Two thousand years passed, and facial expressions are still commonly thought to be a universally valid way to judge other people’s feelings, irrespective of age, sex and culture. A raised eyebrow suggests confusion. A smile indicates happiness.
Or do they? An analysis of hundreds of research papers that examined the relationship between facial expressions and underlying ( 潜在的) emotions has uncovered a surprising conclusion: there is no good scientific evidence to suggest that there are such things as recognizable facial expressions for basic emotions which are universal across cultures. Just because a person is not smiling, the researchers found, does not mean that person is unhappy.
This may raise questions about the efforts of information-technology companies to develop artificial-intelligence algorithms (算法) which can recognize facial expressions and work out a person’s underlying emotional state. Microsoft, for example, claims its “Emotion API” is able to detect what people are feeling by examining video footage of them. Another of the study’s authors, however, expressed scepticism. Aleix Martinez, a computer engineer at Ohio State University, said that companies attempting to obtain emotions from images of faces have failed to understand the importance of context.
For a start, facial expression is but one of a number of non-verbal ways, such as body posture, that people use to communicate with each other. Machine recognition of emotion needs to take account of these as well. But context can reach further than that. Dr Martinez mentioned an experiment in which participants were shown a close-up picture of a man’s face, which was bright red with his mouth open in a scream. Based on this alone, most participants said the man was extremely angry. Then the whole picture was shown. It was a football player with his arms outstretched, celebrating a goal. His angry-looking face was, in fact, a show of pure joy.
Given that people cannot guess each other’s emotional states most of the time, Dr Martinez sees no reason computers would be able to. “There are companies right now claiming to be able to do that and apply this to places I find really scary and dangerous, for example, in hiring people,” he says. “Some companies require you to present a video resume, which is analyzed by a machine-learning system. And depending on your facial expressions, they hire you or not, which I find really shocking.”
1.We can learn from the second paragraph that ______.
A.facial expressions are universal across cultures
B.it is hard to recognize some facial expressions
C.emotions and facial expressions may not be related
D.common facial expressions convey similar meanings
2.In the passage, the word “scepticism” (paragraph 3) is closest in meaning to “______”.
A.great doubt B.similar interest
C.fierce anger D.strong support
3.The experiment mentioned by Dr Martinez may prove that .
A.facial expression is an important way to communicate
B.machine recognition of emotion is not reliable at all
C.facial expression is not the only way to detect feelings
D.people may misread facial expressions for lack of context
4.According to the text, which of the following statements is correct?
A.Facial expressions differ from person to person.
B.People with red face must be feeling extremely angry.
C.Artificial-intelligence algorithms can always work out a person’s inner emotional state.
D.Unbelievable to Dr Martinez is that job offers are decided by a machine-learning system.
5.What does this passage mainly tell us?
A.Facial expressions are among the most universal forms of body language.
B.Computers can detect people’s mind by analyzing their facial expressions.
C.Facial expressions may not be the reliable reflection of a person’s emotions.
D.Companies can depend on machine recognition of emotion to hire people.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
The truth was written all over her face. The eyes are the window to the soul. From those sayings, you would think that we could read faces. In fact, people tend to overestimate their ability to do it.
Most of us can’t distinguish between certain expressions without contextual clues. In one study, participants were unable to tell whether faces in photos were showing pain or pleasure about a quarter of the time. In another, when people watched silent videos of the same person experiencing pain and faking pain, they couldn’t tell which was which.
And yet, as bad as we are at reading expressions, we jump to all kinds of conclusions based on people’s faces. We might scoff at the ancient physiognomy—assessing character on the basis of facial feature—but we unknowingly practice it daily. Recent research shows that while there’s practically no evidence that faces reveal character, we nonetheless behave as if certain features signal certain traits. People with typically “female” facial features seem more trustworthy; those with lower eyebrows appear more controlling. In another study, people were ready to decide whether an unfamiliar face should be trusted after looking at it for just 200 milliseconds. Even when given a chance to look longer, they rarely changed their mind.
Such judgments can defy logic. Subjects playing a trust game invested more money with a player who had a trustworthy face than with one who didn’t—even when the two players had the same fame. Another study reported that judges needed less evidence to sentence a person with an untrustworthy face. And a researcher focusing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict found that a Palestinian peace offering was more likely to be accepted by Jewish Israeli if it was attributed to a politician with “babyfacedness”.
Which brings us to a contradiction. A person’s face may not reflect her nature, and yet research finds that specific facial features do seem to influence futures. U.S. Army War College graduates with controlling-looking faces are more likely than their peers to become generals; people with obvious cheekbones, appearing strong and competent, are more likely to become CEOs of successful companies. This makes a certain sense. If everyone assumes strong-chinned Daniel is an ambitious person, he’s more likely to become one. Perhaps by treating others as though their face reveals their character, we motivate them to become the people we assume them to be.
1.Miss Green wants to find a pet shop for her dog while she is on holiday. She is most likely to choose the shop’s owner with ________.
A. a strong chin B. “female” facial features
C. low eyebrows D. obvious cheekbones
2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the author?
A. People rush to judgments based on facial features.
B. People are better at telling “pain” than “delight” from faces.
C. People consider it instructive to study the ancient physiognomy.
D. People would change their first impression if given more chances.
3.In Paragraph 4, the examples are used to show ________.
A. facial features reveal minds
B. trust is essential in big issues
C. baby faces are more trustworthy
D. decisions are easily influenced by faces
4.According to the last paragraph, the author believes ________.
A. facial features mirror character
B. people’s behavior is contradictory
C. people won’t be judged by appearance
D. facial features can influence eventual character
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
there was no hard evidence, most people thought he had broken the window of the classroom.
A. While B. Because
C. Unless D. When
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
—Would you mind if the window was closed?
—________. I also feel a little cold.
A．Absolutely B．Definitely
C．Certainly not D．Oh，I see
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
Like toolmaking,teaching was once thought to be an exclusive capacity of the human mind.It is not actually.
“Teaching”requires this:one individual must take time from their own task to demonstrate and instruct with effort and the student must learn a new skill.That’s a tall order.
When a young chimpanzee watches a skilled adult and then imitates ,that’s learning.But the adult has not taken time specifically to instruct,so it is not teaching.In the honeybees’ amazing dance,the dancer takes time to indicate information about a source of food,but observers learn no new skill.They do take time to show,but they do not pass on new skills to learners.
Dolphins teach.Atlantic spotted dolphin mothers sometimes free a caught fish in the presence of their youngsters and let their youngsters chase it,catching it again if it’s getting away.Dolphin youngsters also position themselves alongside mothers who are scanning sandy bottoms for hidden fish,and the mother spends extra time demonstrating.
Other teachers include:housecats who bring back live prey and let their young learn to catch it,and meerkats(猫鼬) who first bring to their growing young dead scorpions(蝎子), then disabled ones,to demonstrate how to remove the poisonous part on their tails.
Like toolmaking and teaching,imitation is also considered to reflect high intelligence.In South Africa lived a baby dolphin named Dolly.One day while she was just six months old,Dolly was watching a trainer standing at the window smoking a cigarette,blowing puffs of smoke.Dolly swam to her mother,got a mouthful of milk,then returned to the window and released a cloud of milk that surrounded her head.The trainer was“absolutely astonished”.Somehow Dolly came up with the idea of using milk to represent smoke.Using one thing to represent something else isn’t just imitation.It is art.
1.What does the underlined phrase“a tall order”probably mean in paragraph 2?
A. A clear instruction.
B. A high risk.
C. A difficult requirement.
D. useful purpose.
2.What do we know about honeybees’dance?
A. Presenting. B. Learning.
C. Imitating. D. Teaching.
3.What can we infer about animals that can teach?
A. Bees show their dance to younger generations.
B. Housecats teach in a way similar to dolphins.
C. Young dolphins must learn how to free a fish.
D. Meerkats have poisonous parts on the tails.
4.Why does the author use Dolly’s example?
A. To prove smoking can affect other animals.
B. To explain dolphins are capable of making art.
C. To show animals can be surprisingly intelligent.
D. To stress milk is to dolphins what smoking is to men.
高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
Like toolmaking,teaching was once thought to be an exclusive（独有的）capacity of the human mind.It is not actually.
“Teaching”requires this:one individual must take time from their own task to demonstrate and instruct with effort and the student must learn a new skill.That’s a tall order.
When a young chimpanzee watches a skilled adult and then imitates（模仿）,that’s learning.But the adult has not taken time specifically to instruct,so it is not teaching.In the honeybees’ amazing dance,the dancer takes time to indicate information about a source of food,but observers learn no new skill.They do take time to show,but they do not pass on new skills to learners.
Dolphins teach.Atlantic spotted dolphin mothers sometimes free a caught fish in the presence of their youngsters and let their youngsters chase it,catching it again if it’s getting away.Dolphin youngsters also position themselves alongside mothers who are scanning sandy bottoms for hidden fish,and the mother spends extra time demonstrating.
Other teachers include:housecats who bring back live prey and let their young learn to catch it,and meerkats（猫鼬）who first bring to their growing young dead scorpions（蝎子）,then disabled ones,to demonstrate how to remove the poisonous part on their tails.
Like toolmaking and teaching,imitation is also considered to reflect high intelligence.In South Africa lived a baby dolphin named Dolly.One day while she was just six months old,Dolly was watching a trainer standing at the window smoking a cigarette,blowing puffs of smoke.Dolly swam to her mother,got a mouthful of milk,then returned to the window and released a cloud of milk that surrounded her head.The trainer was“absolutely astonished”.Somehow Dolly came up with the idea of using milk to represent smoke.Using one thing to represent something else isn’t just imitation.It is art.
1.What does the underlined phrase“a tall order”probably mean in paragraph 2?
A. A clear instruction. B. A high risk.
C. A difficult requirement. D. A useful purpose.
2.What do we know about honeybees’ dance?
A. Presenting. B. Learning.
C. Imitating. D. Teaching.
3.What can we infer about animals that can teach?
A. Bees show their dance to younger generations.
B. Housecats teach in a way similar to dolphins.
C. Young dolphins must learn how to free a fish.
D. Meerkats have poisonous parts on the tails.
4.Why does the author use Dolly’s example?
A. To prove smoking can affect other animals.
B. To explain dolphins are capable of making art.
C. To show animals can be surprisingly intelligent.
D. To stress milk is to dolphins what smoking is to men.
高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
A smile ______ the mother’s face when the son walked onto the platform to receive the prize.
A. lit up B. brought up
C. put up D. took up
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
A smile ________ the mother's face when the son walked onto the platform to receive the prize.
A．lit up B．brought up
C．put up D．took up
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
(2014·石家庄市高三模拟)A smile________the mother’s face when the son walked onto the platform to receive the prize.
A．lit up B．brought up
C．put up D．took up
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析