托福阅读：your storytelling
托福阅读：your storytelling转自:考试网 -Many anthropologists and linguists have studied storytelling, the accounts ofpersonal experiences that people tell in conversation, because stories reveal a great deal about a person's worldview. In one study, the researcher analyzed twenty-one stories told in conversation by fourteen young men. In all of the stories, the men talked about themselves, mostly in a way that made them look good. For example, two mentold about times when their extraordinary performance had won a game for their team.
The men's stories tended to be about competition or contest. Most ofthe stories had a protagonist, a main character or hero, as well as an antagonist, a character or force opposing the main character. When the storyteller was not the protagonist in his own story, the protagonist was always another man. None of the stories had a woman as the protagonist, although women occasionally appeared as minor characters.
Many of the stories were about contests with other men. There were physical contests, such as fights and sports. There were also social contests, in which the protagonist used verbal or intellectual skill to defend his honor. Some of the stories told of contests with nature, such as hunting, fishing, and mountain climbing. The men talked mostly about events in which they had acted alone. In only four ofthe stories did the protagonist receive help or advice from another person. The vast majority ofmen who acted alone achieved a positive outcome.
The researcher concluded that these young men view life as a contest, a struggle against nature and other men. In their world, power comes from an individual acting alone against others in a test of skill and performance.
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