Eye behavior, involving varieties of eye-contact, can give
subtle messages which people pick up in their daily life. Warm looks or
cold stares tell more than words can. Meeting or failing to meet
another person’s eye produce a particular effect. When two Americans look
62. ______. searchingly at
each other’s eye, emotions are heightened and the
63. ______. relationship becomes closer. However,
Americans are careful about where 64. ______. and
when to meet other’s eye. In our normal conversation, each eye
contact lasts only a few seconds before
one or both individuals look away, because the longer
meeting of the eyes is rare, and after it happens, can 65.
______. generate a special kind of human-to-human awareness. For instance, by
simply using his eyes. a man can
make a woman aware of him comfortably
or uncomfortably; a long and steady gaze from a policeman or judge
66. ______. intimidates accused. In the
U.S. proper street behavior requires a nice
balance of attention and inattention. You are supposed to look at a
passer- 67. ______. by just enough to show that you are being
aware of his presence. If you look too
little, you appear haughty; too much, inquisitive. Much eye
68. ______. behavior is such subtle that our reaction to
it is largely instinctive. Besides, the
codes of eye behavior vary dramatically from one culture to
69. ______. other. In the Middle east, it is impolite to look at other person
all the time during a conversation; in England, the polite
listener fixes the speaker 70. ______. with an
inattentive stare and blinks eyes occasionally as a sign of interest
and attention. In America, eye behavior functions as a kind of
71.
______. conversational traffic signal control the talking pace and time, and
to indicate a change of topic. If you can understand this vital mechanism
of interpersonal relations, the basic American idiom is there.