填空题

Among the kinds of social gestures most significant for second-language teachers are those which are (26)______ in form but different in meaning in the two cultures. For example, a Colombian who wants someone to (27)______ him often signals with a hand movement in which all the fingers of one hand, cupped, point downward as they move rapidly (28)_______. Speakers or English have a similar gesture through the hand may not be cupped and the fingers may be held more loosely, but for them the gesture means goodbye or go away, quite the (29)______ of the Colombian gesture. Again, in Colombian, a speaker of English would have to know that when he (30)________ height he most choose between different gestures depending on whether he is (31)_______ a human being or an animal. If he keeps the palm of the hand (32)_________ the floor, as he would in his own culture when making known the height of a child, for example, he will very likely be greeted by laughter, in Colombia this gesture is (33)_________ for the description of animals. In order to describe human beings he should keep the palm of his hand (34)_________ to the floor. Substitutions of one gesture for the other often create not only humorous but also (35)________ moment. In both of the examples above, speakers from two different cultures have the same gesture, physically, but its meaning differs sharply.

35()

【参考答案】

embarrassing