I was born and raised in Minnesota, the USA, but as an adult I have mostly lived in Europe and Africa. I teach cross-cultural management at the International Business School near Paris. For the last 15 years, I’ve studied how people in different parts of the world build trust, communicate, and make decisions especially in the workplace.

While traveling in Tokyo recently with a colleague, I gave a short talk to a group of 20 managers. At the end, I asked whether there were any questions or comments. No hands went up, so I went to sit down. My colleague whispered to me, “I think there actually were some comments, Erin. Do you mind if I fry?” I agreed, but I guessed it a waste of breath. He asked the group again. “Any comments or questions?”

Still, no one raised a hand, but this time he looked very carefully at each person in the silent audience. Gesturing to one of them, he said, “Do you have something to add?” To my amazement, she responded “Yes, thank you.” and asked me a very interesting question. My colleague repeated this several times, looking directly at the audience and asking for more questions or comments.

After the session, I asked my colleague, “How do you know that those people had questions?” He hesitated, not sure how to explain it, and then said, “it has to do with how bright their eyes are.”

He continued, “In Japan, we don’t make as much direct eye contact as you do in the West. So when you asked if there were any comments, most people were not looking directly at you. But a few people in the group were looking right at you, and their eyes were bright. That indicates that they would be happy to have you call on them.”

I thought to myself I would never have learned from my upbringing in Minnesota. Since then, I try to focus on understanding behavior in other cultures I encounter, and keep finding the bright eyes in the room.

【小题1】What can we conclude from the first paragraph?

A．Life in Minnesota has made the author worn out.

B．The author enjoys traveling around the world.

C．Different cultures are kind of familiar to the author.

D．The author may start his own business in the future.

【小题2】Hearing the colleague whispering, the author ________.

A．went back to his scat and got seated

B．knew his colleague had some questions

C．owed a big debt of gratitude to his colleague

D．thought his colleague would get nowhere

【小题3】Where does the author’s colleague probably come from?

A．Japan.	B．America.
C．Africa.	D．France

【小题4】Which is the proper title for the passage?

A．Focusing on Behavior in Cultures.

B．Looking at Another Culture in the Eye.

C．Sharing Different Cultures in Tokyo.

D．Admiring the Beauty in the Eye.