Question

    Have you ever heard someone say, “you totally look like you’re a Jessica” or something similar? People seem to think that they know what kind of person a “Jessica” or a “Michael” looks like. Why is this?

According to a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, humans tend to associate people’s names with their appearance, and can even guess someone’s name based on how they look.

Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, collected thousands of photos of people’s faces. They labeled each photo with four names. Then, they asked volunteers to guess which of the four names was correct.

The volunteers were able to guess the right name 38 percent of the time. It seems that certain characteristics of faces give them clues about someone’s name, Reader’s Digest reported.

However, this only worked when the volunteers looked at names from their own culture. In addition, the volunteers were not as good at guessing the real names of people who used nicknames more often than their real names. This may show that a person’s appearance is affected by their name only if they use it often.

This kind of face-name matching happens “because of a process of self-fulfilling prophecy (自我实现预言), as we become what other people expect us to become.” Ruth Mayo from the university told science news website EurekAlert.

Earlier studies have shown that gender and race stereotypes (刻板印象) can affect a person’s appearance. The researchers believe there are also similar stereotypes about names. For example, people tend to think that men named Bob should have rounder faces because the word itself looks round. People may think that women named Rose are beautiful. They expect them to be “delicate” and “feminine(女性的)”, just like the flower they are named for.

1.What was the purpose of the study?

A.To find out today’s most popular English names.

B.To learn how names influence personality.

C.To find out whether names relate to their looks.

D.To show how men’s names are different from women’s.

2.What can we infer from the study?

A.Volunteers found it easier to guess nicknames correctly.

B.Names may have different associations in different cultures.

C.Volunteers could guess the characteristics of those people.

D.The people in the photos and volunteers were from the same country.

3.According to Ruth Mayo, why do some people look like their names?

A.They tend to become what others expect them to become.

B.They want to please everyone around them.

C.They don’t want to be different from others.

D.They like to copy famous people who share the same name.

4.What point does the last paragraph want to explain?

A.Earlier studies about stereotypes are limited.

B.Stereotypes about names can bring good results.

C.Stereotypes about names can affect people’s looks.

D.It’s not always bad to be influenced by the expectations of others.

Answer

1.C

2.B

3.A

4.C

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。人们倾向于把人的名字和外表联系起来，甚至可以根据长相来猜测一个人的名字。先前的研究已经表明，性别和种族刻板印象可以影响一个人的外表。研究人员认为，对名字的刻板印象也会影响人们的长相。

1.推理判断题。文章第一段提到，人们经常会听到别人说“你今天长得好像Jessica。”并提出了相应的疑问。因此做实验研究以确定是否名字与长相有关。故选C。

2.推理判断题。文章第二段提到“humans tend to associate people’s names with their appearance, and can even guess someone’s name based on how they look.”人们倾向于将人的名字和外表联系起来，甚至会通过别人的长相来猜测名字。在第五段提到“this only worked when the volunteers looked at names from their own culture. In addition, the volunteers were not as good at guessing the real names of people who used nicknames more often than their real names.”但这只在同种文化的人们之间才适用，而且在猜测别人的昵称时结果并不明显。说明在不同的文化中名字有着不同的联系，故选B。

3.细节理解题。文章第六段提到长相和姓名的关联度是因为“self-fulfilling prophecy”，即人们会长成别人希望他长成的样子，故选A。

4.推理判断题。文章最后一段提到“Earlier studies have shown that gender and race stereotypes (刻板印象) can affect a person’s appearance.”早期的研究发现，性别及种族的刻板印象会影响一个人的外表，同时在第二句提到“The researchers believe there are also similar stereotypes about names.”研究者也发现在姓名中也会有刻板印象的现象。对名字的刻板印象会影响人们的长相。故选C。