泛读教程3第二版TheSecretLanguageofBarrierSignals课文翻译.docVIP

unit2 The Secret Language of Barrier Signals 障碍信号的秘密语言 People feel safer behind some kind of physical barrier. If a social situation is in any way threatening, then there is an immediate urge to set up such a barricade. For a tiny child faced with a stranger, the problem is usually solved by hiding behind its mothers body and peeping out at the intruder to see what he or she will do next. If the mothers body is not available, then a chair or some other piece of solid furniture will do. If the stranger insists on coming closer, then the peeping face must be hidden too. If the insensitive intruder continues to approach despite these obvious signals of fear, then there is nothing for it but to scream or flee.在某种物理障碍后面，人们感觉更安全。如果一种社会形势有任何威胁，那么立即就会有建立这种障碍的冲动。对于一个面对陌生人的小孩来说，问题通常是通过躲在母亲身后，偷看入侵者，看他或她下一步会做什么来解决的。如果母亲的身体不在，那么一把椅子或其他一些结实的家具就可以了。如果陌生人坚持要走近，那么偷窥的脸也必须藏起来。如果麻木不仁的入侵者不顾这些明显的恐惧信号继续接近，那么除了尖叫或逃跑，它就别无他法了。 This pattern is gradually reduced as the child matures. In teenage girls it may still be detected in the giggling cover-up of the face, with hands or papers, when embarrassed. But by the time we are adult, the childhood hiding, which decreased to adolescent shyness, is expected to disappear altogether, as we bravely stride out to meet our guests, hosts, companions, relatives, colleagues, customers, clients, or friends. Each social occasion involves us, once again, in encounters similar to the ones which made us hide as scared infants and, as then each encounter is slightly threatening. In other words, the fears are still there, but their expression is blocked. Our adult roles demand control and suppression of any primitive urge to withdraw and hide ourselves away. The more formal the occasion and the more dominant or unfamiliar our social companions, the more worrying the moment of encounter becomes. Watching people under these conditions, it is possible to observe the many small ways in which they continue to hide behind their mothers skirts. The actions are still the