BORN TO LAUGH (editable version) November 2010

Born to LaughActivity 2.Read the article presenting new findings on how people express different emotions. Which of the following statements is the best summary of the text?

• It is difficult to express certain emotions without using words.• Laughing is instinctive but we pick up through experience how to convey

other emotions.• Deaf people find it more difficult to express emotions.

Cheer up, we were all born to laugh

You might not believe it on a gloomy November morning, but scientists say we are born to laugh.

by FIONA MACRAE, published by Daily Mail - November 2010 0

According to their research, chuckling at a good joke or when someone tickles us, is instinctive.

But crying when we’re sad, like other ‘emotional vocalisations’, is something we learn to do.

Dutch researchers asked 16 volunteers, half of whom were deaf, to make the sounds behind a range of emotions without using words.

The interpretations of sadness, terror, relief, anger, hilarity and other emotions were then played back to 25 volunteers with normal hearing, who were asked to name the emotion.

Only laughter and sighs of relief were easily identifiable on the tapes of the deaf volunteers, New Scientist reports.

All the other sounds, including cries of terror and sobs of sadness, were much easier to guess when made by volunteers without hearing problems.

As the deaf volunteers have never heard others laugh, it suggests this is something we are born knowing how to do.

But learning how to convey other emotions, such as sadness, comes with experience, an Acoustical Society of America conference will hear next week.

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Researcher Disa Sauter said laughter and smiling may have evolved to diffuse confrontation. ‘Even other primates laugh, if you tickled a gorilla or orangutan.’

Professor Sophie Scott, from London’s Institute of Neuroscience, said: ‘The finding makes sense. Laughter has been described as being more like a different way of breathing than a way of speaking.’

But Professor David Ostry, of the University of Montreal, said deaf people may simply learn to laugh by watching others do it.

Activity 3.Discuss these questions in small groups or pairs.

1. Are you convinced that we are born with an instinctive skill of laughing but we have to learn how to express most other emotions?

2. If crying, like other “emotional vocalisations”, is something we learn to do, why do babies cry at birth?

Activity 4.List all the names of emotions that appear in the article.

Activity 5.Write nouns (names of emotions and feelings) derived from these adjectives.

1. frightened .................................... 14. embarrassed

................................

....

2. sad .................................... 15. worried ....................................

3. disgusted .................................... 16. satisfied ....................................

4. angry .................................... 17. proud ....................................

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BORN TO LAUGH (editable version) November 2010

5. optimistic .................................... 18. shy ....................................

6. happy .................................... 19. jealous ....................................

7. pleasant .................................... 20. excited ....................................

8. annoyed .................................... 21. cheerful ....................................

9. terrified .................................... 22. eager ....................................

10. nervous .................................... 23. furious ....................................

11. anxious .................................... 24. desperate ....................................

12. envious .................................... 25. ashamed ....................................

13. bored .................................... 26. humiliated ....................................

Activity 6.Match the words and expressions to their definitions.

1. to beam A) to laugh quietly, unkindly at something embarrassing

2. to burst out laughing

B) to laugh very loudly

3. to giggle C) to smile in an unpleasant way, to show that you are pleased by somebody’s bad luck

4. to grin D) to smile with happiness showing in all your face

5. to shriek with laughter

E) to smile widely (normally because you are very pleased)

6. to snigger F) to laugh in a childish way because you are embarrassed, nervous or amused

7. to smirk G) to laugh quietly and disrespectfully, especially at something rude

8. to titter H) to suddenly begin laughing loudly

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Activity 7.Complete these phrases with words listed below.

cry groan howl moanscreech sigh sniffle sob

1. a .................................... of relief 5. a .................................... of laughter

2. a .................................... of sadness 6. a .................................... of pain

3. a .................................... of terror 7. a .................................... of disdain / scorn

4. a .................................... of pleasure / pain 8. a .................................... of pain / terror

Activity 8.Complete these phrases with words listed below.

1. ................................. to laugh quietly or to oneself

2. ................................. to touch or stroke somebody lightly, esp. in a sensitive place, often making them laugh

3. ................................. a person who offers to do something without being forced

4. ................................. unable to hear at all or to hear well

5. ................................. to make an angry disagreement less serious

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