托福听力短文 II-09-2

(WA) Did you know you can catch a mood? A bad mood isn't spread by a virus like the flu is, but it can be contagious. Moods sort of drift from person to person unconsciously --- slight, unintentional signals carry the mood.

You've probably experienced it yourself. You're around someone who's feeling down and showing it... slumped shoulders, downcast mouth, subdued voice --- all that sort of thing. Pretty soon you begin to feel depressed too --- of course, good moods are also catching, not just bad ones.

Moods spread in steps. One person's facial expression or whatever is observed by another, who then unconsciously begins to mimic. The process is automatic --- a split second mimicry. The person isn't even aware of the copying. A full-blown case of mood transfer develops as this copying continues.

Not everyone picks up moods to the same degree. Those who're most susceptible often have strong physiological responses to what's going on around them. You know, people who break out in a nervous sweat easily and whose stomachs churn.

People don't all send moods equally well either. The best mood senders are expressive people because mood contagion can't happen without signals. If they aren't there --- that is, the person gives no indication of the mood they're in --- nobody will pick up the mood.