You’ve probably heard or read the saying, “The eyes are the window to the soul.” The saying means that we can tell a lot about others’ authentic feelings by closely examining their eyes. Often, we can tell how a person really feels—sad, bored, or deceived—with a steady gaze into their eyes. Also, humans have another ability that often __1__: we canrecognize people by their faces.
This may seem obvious because nearly everyone has the ability to recognize others from their facial __2__. We can quickly pick out a person we are looking for from a crowd or a picture of a group of people, even one taken years earlier. With widespread masking going on due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some researchers have wondered if this would __3__ this ability of facialrecognition.
The average person recognizes about 5,000 faces over a lifetime. Psychologists wondered whether masking would weaken people’s facialrecognition ability. They prepared pairs of photographs of the same person, one without any facialobstruction and __4__ with either a medical mask or a pair of sunglasses. Test subjects were asked to decide whether the photographs belonged to the same person or not. The photographs were of either unfamiliar or familiar people, such as celebrities or politicians.
Even with a face half-covered by a mask, subjects could __5__ familiar faces 90% of the time. The psychologists concluded that facialrecognition is a geneticcapability and face masks probably won’t affect it too much.
1. Also, humans have another ability that often goes unappreciated: we can recognize people by their faces.
理由 a. (A) 確保隱私 ensure [ ɪnˋʃʊr] vt. 保證，確保 privacy [ˋpraɪvəsɪ ] n. 隱私 • Living in the dormitories is fun, but there isn’t much privacy. 住在宿舍很有趣，但沒什麼隱私可言。 (B) 處理壓力 handle [ˋhænd! ] vt. 處理，應付 • A group of experts is looking for the best way to handle the problem. 一群專家正在尋找處理該問題的最佳方法。 (C) 無人照料 unattended [ ͵ʌnəˋtɛndɪd ] a. 無人照顧∕看管的 • According to the report, most accidents occur when young children are left unattended at home. 根據這份報告，大多數的意外發生在幼童被留在家裡無人照顧的時候。 (D) 未受賞識 unappreciated [͵ʌnəˋpriʃɪ͵etɪd ] a. 無人賞識的 • Gina quit her job because she felt unappreciated for her efforts. 吉娜辭掉了她的工作，因為她覺得自己的努力沒有得到賞識。 b. 本句提到人類有辨別人臉的能力，而空格後下一段第一句提到，這個能力似乎是理所當然的，因為幾乎人人都有，可知空格應置入 (D)，表這項能力往往是「未受賞識的」。
2. This may seem obvious because nearly everyone has the ability to recognize others from their facial characteristics.
理由 a. (A) operation [ ͵ɑpəˋreʃən ] n. 外科手術（可數） • Seriously injured patients have priority for operations. 重傷病患有優先進行手術的權利。 (B) impression [ ɪmˋprɛʃən ] n. 印象 • Studies show that first impressions probably matter more than you think. 研究顯示，第一印象可能比你想像中來得重要。 (C) characteristic [͵kærəktəˋrɪstɪk ] n. 特徵，特性 • One characteristic of my personality is that I’m optimistic. 我個性上的特點之一就是我很樂觀。 (D) representative [ ͵rɛprɪˋzɛntətɪv ] n. 代表 • The country is governed by representatives elected by the people. 那個國家是由民眾選出來的代表所治理。
b. 根據語意，人類能辨別人臉似乎很理所當然，因為幾乎每個人都有能力從面部「特徵」來辨識他人，故 (C) 項應為正選。
3. With widespread masking going on due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some researchers have wondered if this would interfere with this ability of facialrecognition.
理由 a. (A) interfere with... 干擾∕妨礙…… interfere [ ͵ɪntɚˋfɪr ] vi. 干擾，妨礙 • The company’s financial problems are interfering with its plans for expansion. 該公司的財務問題妨礙了其擴大經營的計畫。 (B) appeal to... 吸引…… appeal [ əˋpil ] vi. 吸引 • These pink notebooks were designed to appeal to young girls. 這些粉紅色筆記本是設計來吸引年輕女孩的。 (C) protest against... 抗議∕反對…… protest [ prəˋtɛst ] vi. 抗議 • Many students gathered and protested against the rise in tuition. 許多學生聚集起來，抗議學費調漲。 (D) recover from... 從……恢復∕復原 recover [ rɪˋkʌvɚ ] vi. 恢復；復原 • I recovered from my cold quickly and went back to school. 我很快就從感冒中復原並回到學校上課。
b. 根據語意，由於新冠肺炎大流行，大家普遍需要戴口罩，一些研究人員想知道這是否會「干擾」面部辨識的能力，故 (A) 項應為正選。
4. They prepared pairs of photographs of the same person, one without any facialobstruction and the other with either a medical mask or a pair of sunglasses.
理由 a. (A) other 表「其他的」，其後須接複數名詞；(B) one another 表「彼此，互相」，置入後語意不合，故亦不選。 b. some... others... 一些……另一些……（非限定的兩群） • Some dogs bark often. Others don’t. 有一些狗時常吠叫。有些則不會。 c. one... the other... 一個……另一個……（限定的兩者） • I have two brothers. One is tall and thin, while the other is short and heavy. 我有兩個弟弟。一個高又瘦，而另一個矮又胖。 d. 空格前提及心理學家準備了同一個人的兩張照片，一張臉部沒有任何遮掩，「另一張」則戴著醫用口罩或太陽眼鏡，可知為限定兩者的用法，故答案應選 (D) the other。
5. Even with a face half-covered by a mask, subjects could identifyfamiliar faces 90% of the time.
理由 a. (A) resist [ rɪˋzɪst ] vt. 抵抗，抗拒 cannot resist N/V-ing 無法抗拒…… • My sister cannot resist sweets or ice cream. 我妹無法抗拒甜食或冰淇淋的誘惑。 (B) identify [ aɪˋdɛntə͵faɪ ] vt. 認出，辨別 • It’s hard for me to identify a person by just their voice. 對我來說，要光從聲音認出一個人很困難。 (C) fulfill [ fʊlˋfɪl ] vt. 完成，實現；履行 • My new job will enable me to fulfill my dream of traveling the world. 我的新工作能讓我實現環遊世界的夢想。 (D) estimate [ˋɛstə͵met ] vt. 估計 It is estimated + that 子句 據估計…… • It is estimated that this structure is over 2,000 years old. 據估計，這棟建築物有兩千多年的歷史。
b. 根據語意，即使照片中的人用口罩半遮著臉，受試者還是有 90% 的準確度能「認出」熟悉的面孔，故選 (B)。
Words in Use
1. recognition [ ͵rɛkəgˋnɪʃən ] n. 認出 recognize [ˋrɛkəg͵naɪz ] vt. 認出 • The small town has changed beyond all recognition. 這座小鎮已變得讓人完全認不出來。 • Bill recognized the handwriting and knew who had signed the check. 比爾認出筆跡，知道是誰簽了那張支票。
2. authentic [ ɔˋθɛntɪk ] a. 真實的，真正的 • It’s important to learn how to distinguish an authentic account from a fake one. 學習如何分辨真實及捏造的報導是很重要的。
3. deceive [ dɪˋsiv ] vt. 欺騙（本文為過去分詞作形容詞用） • Rita was angry when she found that she had been deceived by her best friend. 當麗塔發現自己被最好的朋友欺騙時，她很生氣。
4. widespread [ˋwaɪd͵sprɛd ] a. 普遍的；廣泛的 • The widespread use of computers has made it more convenient to communicate. 電腦的普遍使用讓溝通更加方便了。
5. unfamiliar [ ͵ʌnfəˋmɪljɚ ] a. 不熟悉的；陌生的 familiar [ fəˋmɪljɚ ] a. 熟悉的 • I got lost and ended up in an unfamiliar part of town. 我迷路了，結果到了鎮上一處陌生的地方。 • I went to the supermarket last night and saw a familiar face there. 昨晚我去超市，在那裡看到了一張熟悉的面孔。
6. genetic [ dʒəˋnɛtɪk ] a. 遺傳的，基因的 • Autism is a genetic problem, but experts are not exactly sure how it comes about. 自閉症是種遺傳疾病，不過專家仍無法肯定確切病因。 ＊autism [ˋɔtɪzəm ] n. 自閉症
7. capability [ ͵kepəˋbɪlətɪ ] n. 能力 • In this company, no one doubted the manager’s capability to do his job. 在這間公司裡，沒有人懷疑該經理的工作能力。
Practical Phrases
1. pick out... / pick... out 挑選…… • Can you pick out my brother in that picture? 你能從那張相片裡找出哪一個是我哥哥嗎？
2. belong to... 是……的，屬於…… belong [ bəˋlɔŋ ] vi. 屬於
• This old watch belonged to my great grandfather. 這只舊手錶以前是我曾祖父的。
More to Learn
gaze [ gez ] n. & vi. 凝視；注視 • My gaze fell on a strange man on the street when I looked out my window. 當我往窗外看時，目光落到了街上一名奇怪男子的身上。 • Gary gazed at his new car with a smile on his face. 蓋瑞臉上掛著微笑凝視著他的新車。
------------------------------------------------------------------- 以下介紹不同的「看」，皆可作為名詞或動詞： a. stare 表「凝視、盯著看」，眼睛睜大、長時間地看，尤指驚訝、害怕或思考時。 • The way the girl stared at me made me feel embarrassed. 那女孩盯著我看的模樣令我感到不自在。
b. glance / glimpse 表「（粗略地）一瞥、掃視」，指很快地看，通常指非刻意的行為。 • Jason glanced around the room to see who was there. 傑森快速地環視了整個房間，看看有誰在裡面。 • Beth couldn’t recall what the robber looked like because she only caught a glimpse of him. 貝絲想不起那名搶匪的長相，因為她只瞥見他一眼。
c. glare 表「怒視，瞪眼」，指帶著怒氣地看。 • The man angrily entered the restaurant and glared around. 那名男子怒氣沖沖地走進餐廳，怒視四周。
d. peep / peek 通常是指「偷看、窺視」。 • During the meeting, I noticed that Alice took a peep at the clock on the wall. 會議中，我注意到艾莉絲偷看了一眼牆上的時鐘。 • The student turned around to peek at his classmate’s test. 那個學生轉過頭去偷看同學的考卷。
Words for Reference
◆ facial [ˋfeʃəl ] a. 臉部的 ◆ pandemic [ pænˋdɛmɪk ] n.（範圍廣大的）流行病∕疫情 ◆ psychologist [ saɪˋkɑlədʒɪst ] n. 心理學家 ◆ obstruction [ əbˋstrʌkʃən ] n. 障礙物 ◆ celebrity [ sɪˋlɛbrətɪ ] n. 名人
