THE POWER | 4 OF SMILING Warm up In pairs or small groups discuss the questions below. 1. What are some common reasons people smile o laugh? How do you feel when you see someone smiling or laughing? Why? ‘Can you describe the diferences between a smile end a laugh? In your culture, when sit considered appropriate or inappropriate to smile or laugh? Have you ever experienced a situation where you couldn't stop laughing? What happened? How can smiling and laughing positively affect our mood and overall well-being?Focus on vocabulary Match the words to the definitions below. 1. intergalactic (ad), 8, make something weaker so itis less effective 2. competent (adi.) b. experience something as a result of your actions 3. uniform (adj) between galaxies 4. agrand (n) 4. the same 5. impair(v) causing similar behaviourin others 6. contagious (adi) f. athousand 7. incur (v) able to do something well Before you watch Part A: You're going to watch a health expert talk about the benefits of smiling 1. The size of young people's smiles could help researchers predict the quality oftheir future: a diet b. marriage 2. The span ofa person's smile is connected to: a. howrich they will be b, how many children they will have ©. how long they will live 3. Athird of us smile more than: 3. 20times per day b. 30 times per day c. 40 times per day 4, Children can smile as many as: a, 300 times per day b, 4001times per da c. 500 times per dayPart B: Before you listen to the second part of the talk (04:23-06:59), do the same as in the previous. activity and choose the correct answers for each of the statements below. 1, One smile can generate the same level of brain stimulation as: a, agood date b. watching your favourite TV show & 2,000 bars of chocolate 2. Smiling gives us an equivalent feeling to receiving: a. $25,000 b. $50,000 e. $100,000 3. Smiling makes you seem: 1a, capable of doing your job b. satisfied with your job c._like you find your job easy\d the words Part A: Match the underlined word or phrases in the fragments of the transcript (page five) to their ‘meanings below. 1 (phr, v) make a connection (with something) that will give you an advantage: 2 ______ (pr. v) discovered something by accident a (phrase) examinations done under the same conditions 4, (2) sudden strong increases in energy 8 (adj.)improving 6 (phrase) believed that something was a result of a particular action ind the synonyms in the fragments of the transcript (page five) for each of the verbs below. 1 (para, 1) begin 2. (para. 1) produce 3 (para, 4) decide 4, (para, 4) imitate 5. —— (para. 5) cause 6 (para. 6) restrainWhen | was a child, | always wanted to be a superhero. | wanted to save the world and make everyone happy, but | knew that I'd need superpowers to make my dreams come true. So, 1 sed to embark on these imaginary journeys to find intergalactic objects from planet Krypton, which was a lot of fun but didn't yield much result. When | grew up and realized that science fiction was not a good source for superpowers, | decided instead to embark on a journey of real science, to find a more useful truth. | started my journey in California, with a UC Berkeley 30-year longitudinal study that examined the photos of students in an old yearbook and tried to measure their success and well-being throughout their life. By measuring the students’ smiles, researchers were able to predict how fulfling and long-lasting a subject's marriage would be, how well she would score on standardized tests of well-being, and how inspiring she would be to others. In another yearbook, | stumbled upon Barry Obama's picture. When | first saw his picture, | thought that his superpowers came from his super collar. (..) In studies conducted in Papua New Guinea, Paul Ekman, the world’s most renowned researcher (on facial expressions, found that even members of the Fore tribe, who were completely disconnected from Western culture, and also known for their unusual cannibalism rituals, attributed smiles te descriptions of situations the same way you and | would. So from Papua New Guinea to Hollywood all the way to modern art in Beijing, we smile often and use smiles to express joy and satisfaction. (...) Ina recent mimicking study at the University of Clermont-Ferrand in France, subjects were asked to determine whether a smile was real or fake while holding a pencil in their mouth to repress smiling muscles. Without the pencil, subjects were excellent judges, but with the pencil in their mouth- when they could not mimic the smile they saw -theirjudgment was impaired In addition to theorizing on evolution in "The Origin of Species,” Charles Darwin also wrote the facial feedback response theory. His theory states that the act of smiling itself actually makes us feel better, rather than smiling being merely a result of feeling good. In his study, Darwin actually cited a French neurologist, Guillaume Duchenne, who sent electric jolts to facial muscles to induce and stimulate smiles. Please, don't ty this at home, Ina related German study, researchers used (MRI imaging to measure brain activity before and after injecting Botox to suppress smiling muscles. The finding supported Darwin's theory, by showing that facial feedback modifies the neural processing of emotional content in the brain, iia way that helps us feel better when we srrile, Smiling stimulates our brain reward mechanism in.a way that even chocolate - a well-regarded pleasure inducer - cannot match. British researchers found that one smile can generate the same level of brain stimulation as up to 2,000 bars of chocolate. Wait - The same study found that smiling is as stimulating as receiving Lup to 16,000 pounds sterling in cash. That's like 25 grand a smile. It's not bad. And think about itthis way: 25,000 times 400 ~ quite a few kids out there feel like Mark Zuckerberg every day. ‘And unlike lats of chocolate, lats of smiling can actually make you healthier. Smiling can help reduce the level of stress-enhancing hormones lke cortisol, adrenaline and dopamine, increase the level of mood-enhancing hormones like endorphins, and reduce overall blood pressure. (..) ‘So whenever you want to look great and competent, reduce your stress or improve your rmartiage, or feel as if you just had a whole stack of high-quality chocolate without incurring the caloric cost, or as if you found 25 grand in @ packet of an old jacket you hadn't worn for ‘ages, or whenever you want to tap into a superpower that will help you and everyone around you lve a longer, healthier, happier if, smile.Part A: Match the idioms with the correct definitions. Group 1 1. havethe last laugh 2, taughone’s head off 3, laughing stock 4, laugh in someone's face 5. laugh up one's sleeve ‘8. show open disbelief, contempt, or disrespect towards someone by laughing directly at them 8. be secretly or inwardly amused person whois publicly ridiculed or made fun of 4. _ulimately succeed or be proven righ, after intially facing ridicule or doubt fe. laugh uncontrollably or extremely hard Group 2: 1. a smile that could fight up a room 2. noteughing matter 3, you're having a laugh 4. wipe the smile off someone's face 5. laugh off ‘a. a serious situation that should not be treated lightly or made fun of ». dismiss something by making a joke about itor treating itightly ©. used to describe someone with a vary bright and warm smiley 4. anexpression used to convey disbelief or disagreement with what someone is saying, suggesting they must be joking cause someone to stop feeling happy or pleased, often by revealing unpleasant information or defeating them in some wayPart B: Complate the sontonces below with the appropriate idiomatic expression from the previous. part. You may need to change the form of the words. Group 1: 1, The comedian was so funny that | couldn't help but his entire performance. 2. When she found out her rival failed the exam, she because she didn't want anyone to see her satisfaction 3. Despite everyone doubting his abilities, he managed to when his business idea turned out to be a huge success. 4, Hewas so offended by the ridiculous accusation that he couldn't help but, 5. After his embarrassing mistake during the presentation, he became the of the office for a few days. Group 2: 1, When he said he could run a marathon without any training, | replied, There's no way you could do that." 2. She tried to her mistake by making a joke about it, but her boss ‘was not amused, 3, The factory accident was a tragedy and definitely. ‘twas not appropriate for anyone to make jokes about it. 4. She had. » making everyone feel welcome as soon as she entered the room, 5, The news ofthe team's loss was enough to, as the winning streak came to an end.Part C: In pairs or small groups, discuss the following questions. 1. Canyou recall a time when you laughed your head off? What was the reason behind it? 2. Have you ever laughed up your sleeve at someone or something? What was the situation, and why did you choose to laugh secretly? 3. Describe a situation when you, or someone you know, had the last laugh. How didi feel to prove others wrong? 4, How would you react if someone laughed in your face? Do you think i's ever acceptable to do this, or is it always disrespectful? 5, Have you ever feltlike a laughing stock? How did you handle the situation, and what did you learn from the experience? 6. Can you think of a situation where you or someone else managed to laugh off an embarrassing ‘moment? Did ithelp ease the tension? 7. Share an example of a time when someone said something so unbelievable or outrageous that you responded with "You're having a laugh!” 8. Discuss a situation where joking or laughing would be considered inappropriate or insensitive because it was a no laughing matter. 9, Whois someone in your life with a smile that could light up a room? How does their smile make you feel? 10. Describe a time when something wiped the smile off your face. How did you react and move forward from that moment? Talking point In pairs or small groups, discuss the following questions. 1, Doyou feel annoyed if someone tells you to smile? Why/why not? 2. Doagree with the speaker that smiling is similar to the brain stimulation created by 2,000 bars of chocolate? Why/why not? 3. Canyou think of any idiomatic expressions or sayings related to smiling or laughing in your native language? How would you translate them into British English? 4, How do you think cultural differences might affect te way people perceive or react to smiling and laughing? 5, Have you ever experienced a "language barrier" moment that ed to laughter? Share your story,