HSK6 (H61002) Q.69 about yawning: How can we conclude the answer is A?

Question

打哈欠是人类的一种本能行为,非 [???] 意志所能控制。当一个人受到劳累、睡意等因素的 [???] 时,会引起相关分子大量分泌,进而引起“哈欠中枢” [???] ,随即向人体肌肉发出“指令”,有关的肌肉严格 [???] “指令”运动,于是,一个哈欠 [???] 了。

1. A: 主观 刺激 兴奋 遵照 诞生
2. B: 客观 袭击 异常 采取 产生
3. C: 自身 打扰 快乐 贯彻 发生
4. D: 自我 麻烦 激动 服从 出生

This is a HSK6 "fill in the blank" question (H61002 Q.69). I couldn't figure out the answer, so I eventually chose D (I thought 服从 and 指令 fit well), and thought maybe it was C (although neither D nor C seemed to be a perfect fit). The given answer is A.

I eliminated A for multiple reasons: (i) 非主观意志 = "non-subjective will" sounded nonsensical to me (ii) I didn't think 劳累 = "exhaustion" nor 睡意 = "sleepiness" is able to 刺激 = "stimulate", (iii) yawning doesn't seem very exciting 兴奋, and (iv) 诞生, which is usually reserved for the birth of important people or things, but it seems like it's used in some abstract way here. But A is the given answer.

Question: How can we conclude the answer is A?

Answer 1

I think the critical matter is how to parse 非 [???] 意志所能控制. The sentence structure is 非什么什么所能控制 = It can not be controlled by that things.

The answer is 非[主观意志]所能控制.

It is NOT parsed into 非主观 = non-subjective.

The second critical matter is that, to my greatest surprise, it shortened "中枢神经系统" (central nervous system) to only "中枢" (central). This is nearly impossible for a person who studies Chinese as a Second Language to figure out, except it appeared in the textbook.

Answer 2

In the speed of the exam, I would hone in on word 4:

随即向人体肌肉发出“指令”,有关的肌肉严格 [???] “指令”运动[。]

... which could only be 遵照 or 服从.

In practice though, a lot of these collocations are 'well-formed' in modern Chinese:

非主观意志所能控制

主观意志 is very much 'a thing', and I would equate it to "intention, intentionally".

自我意志 is rarer, and more limited to Freudian and Jungian psychoanalysis (自我 referring to the 'ego'); however, it has become more popular recently on social media, closer to 'self-willed'.

受到劳累、睡意等因素的刺激时

Although 劳累 and 睡意 are not very stimulating, they are certainly stimuli in the physiological sense. The other terms do not fit semantically into this category. 影响 would also work, although strictly speaking it would still be too loose for the 'physiological' nature of the text.

进而引起“哈欠中枢”兴奋

This also employs the definition of 兴奋 excite in neurophysiology. A neurological centre is 'excited' or 'stimulated' in English. In Chinese, a 中枢 can be 兴奋ed directly (yes I have seen the sentence 可兴奋中枢神经 before), treating 兴奋 as a verb, or more commonly 中枢 can have 兴奋 as a noun ('excitation', 'stimulation') which is 引起ed or has 发生ed.

Note: 中枢兴奋药 refers to 'central nervous system stimulants', such as amphetamine 苯丙胺. The use of 中枢 here is thus slightly ambiguous; disambiguation would require the use of 中枢神经 'central nerves' or 中枢神经系统 'central nervous system' vs 中枢 (psychological/neurological) 'centre' - but in the context with the function attached, it is clear enough.

于是，一个哈欠诞生了

This is the only semantically appropriate option; 出生 usually has concrete animate referents, and is not generally used for events in this way, and especially not in a biological context (with its slightly more rigid 出生 - 诞生 distinction).

产生 would also be semantically appropriate as 'produce', but the syntax is already fixed here, so the use of that term is out of the question.

Answer 3

诞生可以比喻为“产生”，但是出生只能指有生命的人或动物出生。

Answer 4

“主观意志” is a word, while we won't say “自我意志” but “自我意识”。

So the answer is obvious, as long as you have enough vocabulary.