河南信陽市光山縣第二高級中學(xué) 曹耀羅

All of us can feel happiness,fear,sadness,disgust,surprise or anger at some time but what all these words mean?They are so-called six basic emotions and are specific reactions to particular events related to biochemical(internal)and environmental(external)influences.There are more than a half of thousand different words in English that can describe every emotion and we have over 40 muscles in our face to express them.

We feel emotions by our brain and it is really difficult for scientists to give a single accurate definition for this process.However,experts say that emotions are our mental state along with facial expressions,actions or physical changes.They are related to our mood,but differ from it,as they are short-lived feelings with a clear object and mood is a more general feeling and lasts longer.For example,one can be happy about something or angry with somebody—this is his emotion.But another one can have a general feeling of pleasure,anxiety or sadness—this is his mood.

It is easy for us to feel emotions but it is quite complicated to study them.According to many researches in this field,emotions have components(組成部分)of two types—physical and mental， and consist of body responses,expressive behavior and subjective feelings.

The first component is the easiest for measuring because many special tools have been developed by experts to measure our body responses:blood rushing to the face,sweating,pounding heart and many others.

Expressive behavior is the outward sign of the experienced emotion and can include a flushed face,muscle tension,rapid breathing,restlessness,etc.Due to the outward expressions of our emotions we can feel each other better,and in this way social interactions are regulated.

And finally,subjective feelings are the most difficult to measure or describe as they refer to the special way each individual experiences emotions.This component can not be observed,only each person should describe it to others,and of course the interpretations of different persons may differ.

Reading Check

1.What do we know about emotions from the first paragraph?

A．Emotions happen every day in people's life.

B．People can express six basic emotions at the same time.

C．People have over 40 muscles in their body to express emotions.

D．There are over 500 different words in English to describe emotions.

2.What's the difference between emotions and mood?

A.Emotions last shorter than mood.

B.Emotions are easier to study than mood.

C.Emotions have 2 types while mood has 4.

D.Emotions are easier to measure than mood.

3.What can be inferred about the description of the same emotion two persons experience?

A.It's just the same.

B.It's hard to describe.

C.It's out of description.

D.It may be slightly different.

Language Study

Difficult sentence

They are so-called six basic emotions and are specific reactions to particular events related to biochemical(internal)and environmental(external)influences.

【翻譯】_____________________________________________________________________________

【點(diǎn)石成金】本句是一個簡單句。They作主語，后面成分是系表結(jié)構(gòu)，related to是過去分詞作后置定語，意為“與……有關(guān)”。