Did you know that all human beings have a "comfort zone" regulating the distances they stand from someone when they talk This (36) varies in interesting ways among people of different cultures.
Greeks, others of the Eastern Mediterranean, and many of those from South America (37) 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 (38) 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 (39) 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 (40) even in a crowded elevator; in Paris they take it as it comes!
Although North Americans have a relatively wide "comfort zone" for talking, they (41) a great deal with their hands—not only with gesture but also with touch. They put a (42) hand on a person’s shoulder to (43) warmth of feeling or an arm around him in sympathy; they nudge a man in the (44) 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 (45) 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.
A. communicate F. sympathetic K. awkward
B. talk G. unfamiliar L. demonstrate
C. distance H. rarely M. comfortable
D. apart I. normally N. happy
E. hands J. ribs O. dignity