Passage 2

Questions 6 to 10 are based on thefollowing passage.

It is not surprising thatmany women complain that their partners don't listen to them. But men make thesame complaint about women, although less frequently. The accusation"You're not listening" often really means “You don't understandwhat I meant, or "I'm not getting the response I wanted."Beinglistened to means being understood and being valued.

In my earlier work Iemphasized that women may get the impression that men aren't listening to themeven when the men really are. This happens because men have different habitualways of showing they're' listening. As anthropologists(人类学家) Maltz and Borkerexplain, women are more inclined to ask questions. They also give morelistening responses-little words like mhm, uh-uh, and yeah-scattered throughoutsomeone else's talk. And they respond more positively and enthusiastically, forexample by agreeing and laughing.

All this behavior is doingthe work of listening. It also creates friendly talk by emphasizing connectionand encouraging more talk. The corresponding strategies of men-giving fewerlistener responses, making statements rather than asking questions, andchallenging rather than agreeing-can be understood as moves in a contest byspeakers rather than audience members.

Not only do women give morelistening signals, according to Maltz and Borker, but the signals they givehave different meanings for men and women. Women use"yeah"to mean"I'm with you, I follow," whereas men tend to say"yeah"only when they agree.The opportunity for misunderstanding isclear. When a man is confronted with a woman who has been saying"yeah,""yeah,""yeah, "and then turns out not toagree, he may conclude that she has been insincere, or that she was agreeingwithout really listening. When a woman is confronted with a man who does notsay "yeah"—or much of anything else-she may conclude that he hasn't beenlistening. The men's style is more literally focused on the message level oftalk, while the women's is focused on the relationship level.

To a man who expects alistener to be quietly attentive, a woman giving a stream of feedback andsupport will seem to be talking too much for a listener. To a woman who expectsa listener to be active and enthusiastic in showing interest, attention, andsupport, a man who listens silently will seem not to be listening at all, butrather to have checked out of the conversation and gone mentally home.

 
What does 'yeah'mean to men in a talk?