Faces, like fingerprints, are unique. Did you ever wonder how it is possible for us to recognize people? Even a skilled writer probably could not describe all the features that make one face different from another. Yet a very young child — or even an animal, such as a pigeon — can learn to recognize faces. We all take this ability for granted.
We also tell people apart by how they behave. When we talk about someone’s personality, we mean the ways in which he or she acts, speaks, thinks and feels that make that individual different from others.
Like the human face, human personality is very complex. But describing someone’s personality in words is somewhat easier than describing his face. If you were asked to describe what a nice-face looked like, you probably would have a difficult time doing so. But if you were asked to describe a nice person, you might begin to think about someone who was kind, considerate, friendly, warm, and so forth.
There are many words to describe how a person thinks, feels and acts. Gordon Allports, an American psychologist, found nearly 18,000 English words characterizing differences in people’s behavior. And many of us use this information as a basis for describing, or typing, his personality. Bookworms, conservatives, military types — people are described with such terms.
People have always tried to type each other. Actors in early Greek drama wore masks to show the audience whether they played the villain’s or the hero’s role. In fact, the words “person” and “personality” come from the Latin “persona”, meaning mask. Today, most television and movie actors do not wear masks. But we can easily tell the good guys from the bad guys because the two types differ in appearance as well as in actions.
1. What is the main idea of this passage?
A. How to distinguish people both inward and outward.
B. How to describe people’s personalities.
C. How to differ good people from bad people.
D. How to distinguish people’s faces.
2. The author is most probably a ______.
A. writer
B. psychologist
C. sociologist
D. behaviorist
3. What is the meaning of the underlined word “considerate” in the passage?
A. Careful
B. Numerous
C. Open-minded
D. Helpful
4. Which of the following is NOT true?
A. People can learn to recognize faces.
B. People differ from each in appearance.
C. People can describe all the features of others.
D. Different people may have different personalities.
5. We learn from the passage that people classify a person into certain type according to ______.
A. his learning and behavior
B. his way of speaking and behaving
C. his physical appearance and his personality
D. his way of acting and thinking
1.【答案】A。解析：主旨题。第一段说从外貌可以区分一个人，接下来又说从其personality上也可以区分，并详细说了从哪些方面可以做到，文章最后一句话也点出“可以从appearance和actions两个角度来区分好人和坏人”。综上可知，本文主要在说如何从外在和内在来区分人，故A项最佳答案。
2.【答案】D。解析：推断题。本文中间的段落主要从人的行为举止角度说如何区分不同的人，所以作者最可能是一位行为主义学家，即研究人的行为举止的人。psychologist心理学家;sociologist社会学家;behaviorist行为主义学家。
3.【答案】A。解析：词义猜测题。considerate意为“体贴的，考虑周到的”，四个选项中careful“仔细的，小心的”与之最接近，故选A。numerous“许多的，很多的”;open-minded“开放的，思想开明的”;helpful“有帮助的，有益的”。
4.【答案】C。解析：细节题。根据第一段倒数第二句话可知，一个很小的孩子甚至是一个动物都可以learn to recognize faces，故A项正确;根据第一段中第一句话及第三句话可知B项正确;根据第一段第二句话可知，即使一位作家也很难描述出不同人之间的所有不同特征，故C项错误;根据第二段可知，我们也可通过描述人的行为举止(即personality)来区别人，人的行为、说话、思考及感知等都是不同的，这些都是区别不同人的方面，故D项正确。
5.【答案】C。解析：细节题。根据最后一段最后一句话可知“可以从appearance和actions两个角度来区分好人和坏人”，这里的actions主要指的就是personality的角度，故答案选C。
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