Did you know that all human beings have a "comfort zone"
regulating the distances they stand from someone when they talk This distance
varies in interesting ways among people of different cultures.
Greeks, others of the Eastern Mediterranean, and many of those from South
America normally stand quite close together when they talk, often moving their
faces even closer as they warm up in a conversation. North Americans find this
awkward and often back away a few inches. Studies have found that they tend to
feel most comfortable at about 21 inches apart. In much of Asia and Africa,
there is even more space between two speakers in conversation. This greater
space subtly lends an air of dignity and respect. This matter of space is nearly
always unconscious, but it is interesting to observe. This
difference applies also to the closeness with which people sit together, the
extent to which they lean over one another in conversation, how they move as
they argue or make an emphatic point. In the United States, for example, people
try to keep their bodies apart even in a crowded elevator; in Pads they take it
as it comes! Although North Americans have a relatively wide
"comfort zone" for talking, they communicate a great deal with their hands — not
only with gesture but also with touch. They put a sympathetic hand on a person’s
shoulder to demonstrate warmth of feeling or an arm around him in sympathy; they
nudge a man in the ribs to emphasize a funny story; they pat an arm in
reassurance or stroke a childhood in affection; they readily take someone’s arm
to help him across a street or direct him along an unfamiliar route. To many
people — especially those from Asia or the Moslem countries — such bodily
contact is unwelcome, especially if inadvertently (无心地) done with the left hand.
(The left hand carries no special significance in the U.S. Many Americans are
simply left handed and use that hand more.)
(334 words) When Americans tell a joke, they often ______ .