[originaltext]M: Hi, Sarah. What’s up?W: Oh, hi. I just got out of a history c

M: Hi, Sarah. What’s up?
W: Oh, hi. I just got out of a history class, I had to give a presentation.
M: How did it go?
W: Terribly. I’m sure I made a fool of myself.
M: Why? Weren’t you prepared?
W: No, it’s not that. just get so embarrassed and nervous whenever I have to speak in front of a group of people. I stand up and my face gets red and...then I get even more nervous because I know everyone can see me blushing.
M: It is not so bad to blush.
W: But it happens all the time. If the professor asks a question and I know the answer, I’ll blush like crazy if he calls on me. Doesn’t that ever happen to you?
M: No, not really. Maybe you should try to forget about the people. Look at something else in the room, like the exit sign.
W: I guess I could try that. But I doubt that it’ll help.
M: You know we talked about this in psychology class. Blushing, even though it’s involuntary, is more or less a learned behavior.
W: What do you mean?
M: Oh, children hardly ever blush at all. And, among adults, supposedly women blush more than men.
W: I wonder why.
M: I don’t know. But I had a friend in high school, Brian Smith. It was really easy to make him blush. He turned red whenever a waitress would ask him for his order.
W: I’m not that bad. Well, I’ve got to get going for my next class. I’ll talk to you later.