Hand gestures are a very useful communication tool because they are easy to learn and simple to perform 【小题1】 . Many hand gestures have been around for a very long time, though their meanings may have changed over the years. Here are the histories of three of our most commonly used hand signs.

Thumbs-up

Is there a more well-known sign of approval than the thumbs-up? 【小题2】. When one gladiator (角斗士) beat another, he would look to the crowd for their opinion: Should the loser be allowed to live? The crowd would respond by turning their thumbs up if they wanted the man to be saved or down if they wanted him to be killed —at least, that’s what people used to think. 【小题3】 What would an ancient Roman think if he saw the number of thumbs-up we give each other today?

V Sign

【小题4】. Captured English archers (弓箭手) would have their first two fingers cut off so they could no longer fight. Uncaptured archers would therefore raise these two fingers to the enemy to show them that they could— and would— still draw their bows. Centuries later, the sign was employed by those who were fighting against the Nazis to represent “V for Victory,” and later to mean “peace” by American activists in the 1960s. During this time, people in Japan also started using the V sign in photos.

High Five

On October 2, 1977, after Dusty Baker hit a home run, L.A Dodgers baseball player Glenn Burke raised his hand to greet his teammate. 【小题5】 From then on, they would often give high fives during their games, and the gesture caught on.