Smile by Marcelo Vieira
Smile
For every question in BOLDFACE, stop and think for a while of your answers and also of what you might read further about. Your teacher may not be discussing ideas with you, but this process helps you better understand and ponder on the idea of the text. If you find any vocabulary doubts that you (think you) cannot go on without clarifying. Check: www.dictionary.com.
Watch this, before we start:
How often do you smile?
When is it inappropriate to smile?
A smile is a facial expression formed by flexing the muscles near both ends of the mouth and by flexing muscles throughout the mouth. Some smiles include contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes (also known as 'Duchenne' smiling). Among humans, it is an expression denoting pleasure, sociability happiness, or amusement. This is not to be confused with a similar but usually involuntary expression of anxiety known as a grimace. Smiling is something that is understood by everyone, regardless of culture, race, or religion; it is internationally known. Cross-cultural studies have shown that smiling is a means of communication throughout the world, but there are large differences between different cultures. A smile can also be spontaneous or artificial.
Have you ever faked a smile?
How do you react to a fake smile?
While smiling is perceived as a positive emotion most of the time, there are many cultures that perceive smiling as a negative expression and consider it unwelcoming. Too much smiling can be viewed as a sign of shallowness or dishonesty. Japanese people may smile when they are confused or angry. In other parts of Asia, people may smile when they are embarrassed. Some people may smile at others to indicate a friendly greeting. A smile may be reserved for close friends and family members. Many people in the former Soviet Union area consider smiling at strangers in public to be unusual and even suspicious behavior. Whereas smiling freely is far more prevalent in the Western World. In Southeast Asian and Indian cultures, a smile is frequently used to cover emotional pain or embarrassment.
Do you believe animals can smile?
When do you believe an animal is smiling?
How many faces do you show the world? Happy, sad, surprised, scared, mad, excited? Yes, all those and more. Facial expressions are the way our brains move the muscles in our faces to express the way we feel. We raise our eyebrows in surprise, we lower our eyelids in shyness, and we smile with happiness. That last facial expression is the one we most like to experience ourselves as well as to see in others.
We know what a happy smile looks like on the faces of our friends and families, but do our animals smile? And if they do, does the control of the facial muscles that create that smile come from some kind of emotion?
You’ve probably seen animals whose faces appear to express emotions. Your dog for example. Does his mouth turn up at the corners when you’re playing or when it’s dinnertime? No animal has more human-like facial expressions than our close relative the chimpanzee. They often flash a big teeth-baring grin when they are fooling around or when they want humans to pay special attention to them…perhaps even to like them. Whether or not these grins actually have something to do with a feeling of happiness, the delighted reaction they get from humans gives chimps a good reason to repeat them again and again.
Until recently, most animal behaviorists believed that an animal’s use of what we call a smile is no more than a collection of conditioned reflexes that move the muscles in the face. But new thinking on the subject is now allowing for the possibility that animals are expressing happiness when they “smile.” In fact several new theories go so far as to attribute primary emotions like fear, sadness, anger and happiness – and even some secondary emotions like jealousy and embarrassment – to animals. Think of the family dog that is “jealous” of a new baby. Or the one that hides in embarrassment after a bad haircut or a social breach.
Now, take a deep breath and watch this video. Probably you will not conclude that animals smile, but surely this video will make YOU smile:
Professor Nicholas Dodman, head of animal behavior at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine holds that scientists have underestimated the emotional range of animals – particularly domesticated species like dogs and cats. Dodman even believes that dogs have a sense of humor and show it with a laugh that is created by a kind of a breathy forced exhalation. This theory is supported by a 2005 study, which offered evidence that the stress level of dogs confined to animal shelters dropped when they were played a recording of that dog-laugh vocalization.
As for cats, Dodman notes that they have naturally bowed mouths so it’s tricky to pinpoint an actual smile. But cat lovers don’t need a cat-grin to know that their pets are smart enough to respond to training (if it suits them) and sensitive enough to the moods of their people to administer loving therapy when needed.
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What do you think? Are your pets smiling when you play with them and give them back scratches?
Song time
“Smile”
by Charlie Chaplin, sung by Nat King Cole
Smile though your heart is aching
Smile even though it's breaking
When there are clouds in the sky, you'll get by
If you smile through your fear and sorrow
Smile and maybe tomorrow
You'll see the sun come shining through for you
Light up your face with gladness
Hide every trace of sadness
Although a tear may be ever so near
That's the time you must keep on trying
Smile, what's the use of crying?
You'll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just smile
[instrumental interlude]
That's the time you must keep on trying
Smile, what's the use of crying?
You'll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just smile
Smile even though it's breaking
When there are clouds in the sky, you'll get by
If you smile through your fear and sorrow
Smile and maybe tomorrow
You'll see the sun come shining through for you
Light up your face with gladness
Hide every trace of sadness
Although a tear may be ever so near
That's the time you must keep on trying
Smile, what's the use of crying?
You'll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just smile
[instrumental interlude]
That's the time you must keep on trying
Smile, what's the use of crying?
You'll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just smile
Watch this and have a good day:
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