Another cultural aspect of nonverbal communication is one that
you might not think about: space. Every person (36) himself
to have a sort of invisible (37) surrounding his physical
body. When someone comes too close, he feels uncomfortable. When he bumps into
someone, he feels (38) to apologize. But the size of a
person’s "comfort zone" depends on his cultural ethnic (39) .
For example, in (40) conversation, many Americans stand about
four feet apart. In other words, they like to keep each other "at arm’s
(41) ", people in Latin or Arab cultures, in contrast, stand
very close to each other, and touch each other often, If someone from one of
those cultures stands too dose to an American while in conversation, the
American may feel uncomfortable and back away. When Americans
are talking, they expect others to (42) to what they are
saying. To Americans, polite conversationalists empathize by displaying
expressions of excitement or (43) , shock or sadness.
(44) . Americans also indicate their
attentiveness in a conversation by raising their eyebrows, nodding, smiling
politely and maintaining good eye contact. (45) .
If a person doesn’t look you in the eye, Americans might say, you should
question his motives — or assume that he doesn’t like you. (46)
.