Empathy, namely the ability to understand another person's feelings, is probably one of the most important skills a person might have. Empathy is not just for building and maintaining strong and healthy relationships, but to work more effectively and achieve greater success in life.
Empathy is often acquired beyond verbal language. You can experience empathy by noticing a person's facial expressions and voice. You try to tell when he needs attention, acknowledgement, or an offer of help. You grasp when he wants you to leave and give him space or when he wants you to quietly stand by. Empathy demonstrates you care.
However, having an endless capacity for empathy is dangerous. With empathy, you will feel others’ stress, anxiety, and anger. If you let these emotions sit in your body, your mind can be emotionally controlled. Absorbing other people's feelings can make you easily affected by feelings of depression and hopelessness.
In fact, extreme empathy can break the bond of trust that you were hoping to strengthen. When you take on other people's emotions, you may feel responsible for easing their pain. You are driven by a strong desire to fix their problems and interrupt to offer aid. However, your intrusive reaction will make them feel disrespected and less understood.
Non-reactive empathy is especially useful when you feel the desire to jump in and fix people. To acquire non-reactive empathy, you should receive whatever might pass into your mind in a calm way. Notice when emotions begin to arise in your body. Name the emotion and offer what you sense to the person to help him or her better understand the experience. Then you can relax your body and let the emotion fade away.
1. Which is NOT mentioned as the advantage of empathy?| A．Keeping healthy relationships. |
| B．Working more effectively. |
| C．Making friends with people. |
| D．Improving your social status. |
| A．Persuading her to stop crying. |
| B．Accompanying her quietly. |
| C．Blaming her for her mistakes. |
| D．Telling her that everything is possible. |
| A．Absorbing others' feelings. |
| B．Interrupting to give help. |
| C．Being sensitive to bad emotions. |
| D．Letting emotions fade away. |
| A．To introduce a common problem. |
| B．To add some background information. |
| C．To provide some advice for readers. |
| D．To summarize the previous paragraphs. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】In February of 2005, Phil Belfiore was teaching one of Robert Frost’s poems Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. He liked it that he recorded it on his home answering machine, which would lead to one of the most unusual friendships of his life.
When Phil returned from Easter vacation, he listened to his voice messages, one gentleman caller apologized for dialing the wrong number. But, he added that he’d really enjoyed the poem. Phil just laughed and thought nothing more of it——until the phone rang a enjoyed the poem few days later.
Phil recognized John’s unique voice immediately. John said sorry to bother, but he said the poem was impressive and he was eager to hear it once more. The two men talked. It turned out that John’s brother’s phone number was different from Phil’s by one digit (数字) thus the wrong number. Before hanging up, Phil told John to call back anytime, whether to hear the poem or just to have a chat.
That was years ago. They’ve spoken on the phone a few times a month ever since. It is John who is still the starter of most calls. However, Phil will ring if a long while has passed. Not surprisingly, John has been in poor health. And his special voice is just the contribution of some heart trouble. They seem to always connect when there has been a big sports event. The men like to discuss football most, John will also update Phil about his life. Slowly, their conversations have grown much more personal. When asked what drew them together. Phil said that they were born to be friends. They planned to meet twice, but circumstances went against them. Their friendship is based on the simple act of picking up the phone. “My best friend is someone I’ve been in touch only on the phone,” says John.
1. How did Phil react to John’s first voice message?| A．He took it seriously. | B．He felt bothered by it. |
| C．He cared little about it. | D．He appreciated it |
| A．He planned to make an apology. | B．He meant to bring a surprise to Phil. |
| C．He failed to call the right number. | D．He intended to hear the poem again. |
| A．A Special Link Between Two Poets | B．A Friendship Starts With a Wrong Call |
| C．Best Friends Share a Beautiful Poem | D．A Call Can Bring About Big Changes |
【推荐2】Much meaning can be conveyed clearly with our eyes, so it is often said that eyes can speak.
The same is true in our daily life. If you are stared at for more than necessary, you will look at yourself up and down to see if there is anything wrong with you.
Looking too long at someone may seem to be rude and aggressive.
However, when two persons are engaged in a conversation, the speaker will only look into the listener’s eyes from time to time to make sure that the listener does pay attention to what the former is speaking.
Actually, eye contact should be made based on specific relationship and situation.
| A．If nothing goes wrong, you will feel annoyed at being stared at that way. |
| B．That’s what normal eye contact is all about. |
| C．Actually, continuous eye contact is limited to lovers only. |
| D．Do you have such a kind of experience? |
| E．But things are different when it comes to staring at the opposite sex. |
| F．He wrongly believes that looking straight in the eye is a sign of honest communication. |
| G．After all, nobody likes to be stared at for quite a long time. |
【推荐3】Family isn’t always blood. They’re the people in your life who appreciate having you—the ones who encourage you to make progress in healthy ways.
☆Free yourself from negative people.
Relationships should help you, not hurt you. Choose friends who you are proud to know, who you admire, who love and respect you.
☆Give people you don’t know a chance.
☆
Treat everyone with kindness and respect. Any good relationship is based on sincerity and respect. Treat everyone with the same level of respect you would give to your grandfather and the same level of patience you would have with your baby brother. People will notice your kindness.
☆Forgive people and move forward.
Don’t live your life with hate in your heart. You will end up hurting yourself more than the people you hate.
| A．Be kind to your family. |
| B．We meet no ordinary people in our lives. |
| C．Show everyone kindness and respect. |
| D．They will make your day a little brighter. |
| E．However, you should find ways to change your life. |
| F．Here are four tips to help you find these special relationships. |
| G．Generosity doesn’t mean you’re erasing the past, or forgetting what happened. |
【推荐1】I was travelling with students in Barcelona,walking through the famous street La Rambla, when I noticed two guys making fun of me.I could see them on in the reflection of a mirrored building,making gestures with their hands to suggest how much bigger I was than the thin girl standing next to me.They painted her figure in the air like an hourglass(沙漏).Then they painted my shape like a ball.They were saying something,too,but there was only one word I could make out:Gorda.Fat woman.
I’ve been hearing comments like this for much all my life.Maybe someone else would have yelled at them,or shrunk(畏缩) inside.But I don’t get upset when this happens.
I pulled out my camera,and set up a shoot.I suspect that if I met with these narrow-minded people,my words would have no effect.So,rather than using the attackers’ actions to beat myself up,I just prove them wrong.The camera gave me my voice.
For about a year,I’d been taking pictures of strangers’ reactions to me in public for a series I called“Wait Watchers.”My goal is to capture a wide range of social groups so I travel as much as I can.I’ve photographed in Spain,Peru,Chicago,New York and Memphis.I set up my camera on a tripod(三脚架) or bench,or an assistant will take hundreds of photographs in several minutes.I then comb the images to see if I captured a reaction.
And I don’t get hurt when I look at the images.I feel like I am pushing the stare back on to them to let people see their stare.I’m fine with who I am and don’t need anyone’s acceptance to live my life.I only get angry when I hear someone comment about my weight but I don’t get the shot.
Since the project started getting media attention,I’ve received hundreds of emails from people thanking me.There are so many people in the world who feel they have the right to criticize someone for the way they look.I got an email from a 15-year-old girl in Belgium who said my images made her“feel better and not care about what others think.”That made me proud.As for what the images mean,viewers may make sense of the images as they see fit,I’m trying to start a conversation.
1. Where were the two guys when the author noticed them?| A．Outside the mirrored building | B．On the top of the building |
| C．Next to a mirror in the building | D．In front of a mirror in the building |
| A．Pictures of strangers | B．Pictures of social groups |
| C．Reactions to her from students | D．Reactions to her from various people |
| A．She pays no attention to what others think about. |
| B．She is often made fun of for her appearance. |
| C．She realizes her making fun of others is wrong. |
| D．She is beginning to feel proud of her appearance. |
| A．Upset | B．Ashamed | C．Unlucky | D．Confident |
【推荐2】Meeting at a church on a Friday night is not usual for most college students, but it is for the members of an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) women’s group in my hometown, which is an organization for alcoholics who want to stop drinking alcohol.
AA is based upon a number of principles，including twelve steps and twelve traditions. The traditions state that the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. Members read aloud these steps and traditions, as well as a promise.
The AA meeting we attended was a speaker week, which meant that the majority of the time was spent listening to a particular member talk about her journey with alcohol. The speaker recounted her story with addiction. The group processed the story in a positive way. I noticed several times when members laughed, smiled, and made brief supporting comments while she spoke. Later, a member shared with me that “this is the kind of place where you can talk about things, and everyone just laughs...no judgment but support.” Being able to talk about her emotions and experiences, receiving support, and the lack of judgment was a large part of her decision to keep coming to meetings.
Years later, I look back on the meeting with fond memories. It changed the way I looked at addiction. It was no longer an evil faceless monster. I think it’s essential to have support when you’re struggling with addiction, as with any lifestyle change. AA is a prime example of how groups follow a program and commit (致力于) to changing their habits.
And it doesn’t hurt that sometimes after the meeting, everyone has a piece of cake.
1. The main purpose of AA women’s group is to _____.| A．gather on Friday nights | B．stay away from alcohol |
| C．start an autonomous group | D．promote twelve traditions |
| A．make comments | B．exchange ideas |
| C．meet new friends | D．have emotional connection |
| A．Meaningful. | B．Doubtful. | C．Rootless. | D．Worthless. |
| A．drink some coffee | B．play a game |
| C．make a meal | D．share some food |
【推荐3】Tips for Dealing Holiday Parties When You Have Social Anxiety
Social anxiety is more than just being shy. Someone can be so uncomfortable in a situation where he becomes panicked or frozen.
Practice light conversation before the event.
Participate in small conversation during low-pressure situations, such as at the coffee shop.
Some people will choose to have a drink to calm down when they feel nervous. But if you are at a party and experience social anxiety, that’s not a good idea.
Bring a partner.
If it’s proper, ask a friend who makes you feel comfortable to go along with you to the event.
Write in a journal after the event.
After a holiday party, write down the good things you did at the party in a journal. Perhaps you finished the goal of saying hello to the host, or maybe you made friends with a co-worker at the office party.
| A．Limit alcohol intake. |
| B．Think about what you’re wearing. |
| C．You can ask the waiter how his morning is going. |
| D．Read on to learn how to deal with such occasions. |
| E．Pay full attention to what is going on in your surroundings. |
| F．Write down what you did and how you think you performed. |
| G．For work parties, ask a co-worker what his plan is for getting to the event. |
【推荐1】Reading the Screen
The debate on literacy is one of the most heated in education. On the one hand, there is an army of people convinced that traditional skills of reading and writing are declining. On the other hand, a large number of progressives protest that literacy is much more complicated than a simple technical mastery of reading and writing. This second position is supported by most of the relevant academic work over the past 20 years. These studies argue that literacy can only be understood in its social and technical context. In Renaissance England, for example, many more people could read than could write, and within reading there was a distinction between those who could read print and those who could manage the more difficult task of reading manuscripts (手稿). An understanding of these earlier periods helps us understand today’s “crisis in literacy” debate.
It seems that there has been an overall decline in some aspects of reading and writing—you only need to compare the newspapers of today with those of 50 years ago to see a clear decrease in vocabulary and simplification of sentence patterns.
While reading a certain amount of writing is as crucial as it has ever been in industrial societies, it is doubtful whether a fully extended grasp of either is as necessary as it was 40 years ago. While print holds much of its authority as a source of topical information, television has increasingly taken this role. The ability to write fluent letters has been weakened by the telephone and research suggests that for many people the only use for writing, outside formal education, is making shopping lists.
The decision of some car factories to issue their instructions to mechanics as a video pack rather than as a handbook might end the automatic link between industrialization and literacy. On the other hand, it is also the case that ever-increasing numbers of people make their living out of writing, which is better rewarded than ever before. Schools are generally seen as institutions where books rule—films and recorded sound have almost no place, but it is not clear that this opposition is appropriate. While you may not need to read and write to watch television, you certainly need to be able to read and write in order to make programs. Those who work in new media are anything but literate. The traditional oppositions between old and new media are inadequate for understanding the world which a young child now encounters. There is evidence that children are mastering reading and writing in order to get on to the Internet.
Nevertheless, there is a crisis in literacy and it would be foolish to ignore it. To understand that literacy may be declining because it is less central to some aspects of everyday life is not the same as reluctantly accepting this state of affairs. The production of school work with the new technologies could be a significant stimulus to literacy. How should these new technologies be introduced into the schools? It isn’t enough to call for computers in every classroom. They will stand unused unless they are properly combined with the educational culture.
1. When discussing the debate on literacy in education, the writer notes that________.| A．children can read and write as well as they used to |
| B．academic work has improved over the last 20 years |
| C．there is evidence that literacy is related to external factors |
| D．people’s reading skills are more important than writing skills |
| A．The printed word is both gaining and losing power. |
| B．The car factories’ decision brings benefits to labors. |
| C．Those who do manual jobs no longer need to read. |
| D．New media offers the best career for the literate. |
| A．How to teach students the skills of reading and writing. |
| B．How to apply new technologies to classroom teaching. |
| C．Raising money to purchase technological equipment. |
| D．Managing the widely differing levels of literacy among pupils. |
| A．Modern communication has completely replaced writing letters. |
| B．New media has the potential to promote students’ literacy. |
| C．New technologies are inadequate for us to know about children’s world. |
| D．Current newspapers use more complicated sentence patterns than before. |
【推荐2】Traditionally, it has been assumed that cultivating food leads to a loss of biodiversity and negative impacts on an ecosystem. In a recent study, researchers looked at 28 urban community gardens across California over five years and quantified biodiversity in plant and animal life, as well as ecosystem functions such as carbon sequestration (碳封存), food production, pest control and human well-being.
“We wanted to determine if there were any biodiversity and impacts on ecosystem function in those unban gardens,” says Shalene Jha, the lead author of the study in Ecology Letters. “What we found is that these gardens, which are providing tremendous nutritional resources and increasing well-being for gardeners, are also supporting incredibly high levels of plant and animal biodiversity. It’s a win-win.”
Previous assumptions by scientists about the negative effect of food production on bio diversity have been almost entirely based on intensive rural agriculture enterprises that tend to grow on one or two types of crops, often at a massive scale. Urban community gardens, private gardens, and urban farms and orchards tend to grow more types of plants in smaller areas. The new study is the first to explore the effects of urban gardens across a wide range of biodiversity measures and ecological services.
“It’s estimated that by 2030, about 60% of the world’s population will live in cities,” Jha says. “And urban farms and gardens currently provide about 15%-20% of our food supply, so they are essential in addressing food inequality challenges. What we’re seeing is that urban gardens present a critical opportunity to support both biodiversity and local food production.”
The study also found that the choices that gardeners make can have a large impact on their local ecosystem. For instance, planting trees outside crop beds could increase carbon sequestration without decreasing food production from too much shade. And covering only within crop beds could help improve soil carbon services, while avoiding negative effects on pest control.
1. What’s the purpose of the study conducted by Shalene Jha?| A．To analyze the cause of loss of biodiversity. |
| B．To increase well-being of gardeners. |
| C．To study the influence of urban gardens on ecosystem. |
| D．To quantify nutritional levels in plants and animals. |
| A．Inefficient pest control. | B．Intensive agricultural pattern. |
| C．Limited planting scales. | D．Unsatisfactory ecological services. |
| A．Urban gardens play a significant role in ecosystem. |
| B．Urban gardens will replace rural agriculture enterprises. |
| C．Urban gardens will be gradually decreasing. |
| D．Urban gardens provide the majority of our food supply. |
| A．Urban Farms Address Food Inequality |
| B．Urban Gardens Challenge Rural Agriculture |
| C．Urban Biodiversity Increases Well-being of Gardener. |
| D．Urban Gardens Boost Biodiversity |
【推荐3】Anxiety disorders affect millions of people and can have a major impact on their quality of life. While it’s best to seek help from a mental health professional to treat an anxiety disorder, for many that’s easier said than done. Luckily, many apps available today are designed to help anxiety sufferers find relief.
FINCH
Free/in-app pays for more features
Finch works by having the app’s so-called bird stand in for you. So you take care of the bird by taking care of yourself. Unlike other apps, it has no pressure-based aid, which makes it suitable for anyone who finds more goal-based apps too difficult or stressful.
MINDSHIFT
Free
Mindshift is a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) based app that uses well-known methods of CBT to help overcome anxiety. It’s particularly useful to use after completing a CBT course with a therapist (治疗师) as it helps remind the user to continue with the strategies learned.
CALM
£28.99/year
Calm is primarily a meditation (冥想) app, guiding the user through a wide range of meditations. It also plays calming sounds and features a growing set of stories designed for restfulness. It’s had ten million downloads and always receives positive reviews from its users.
HEADSPACE
14 days free, then £49.99/year
Headspace is a meditation and mindfulness app designed by former Buddhist monk, Andy Puddicombe. The app has guided meditation exercises as well as a large number of mindfulness scenes, some expressly designed to help users deal with anxiety and stress.
1. What do we learn from MINDSHIFT?| A．It makes users take care of birds. | B．It offers users calming sounds. |
| C．It is only useful after having a course. | D．It aids users with a course. |
| A．CALM | B．MINDSHIFT | C．FINCH | D．HEADSPACE |
| A．They center around anxious teennagers. | B．They charge for some extra features. |
| C．They help its users relieve anxiety. | D．They guide users by meditation. |
【推荐1】My brush was tiny, more like something you’d use for nail polish. That was suitable because I was struggling to paint the toenails of my dragon shadow puppet (皮影戏偶). Mao Zhongbo, our teacher, noticed my struggle and showed me how to keep my brush from becoming overloaded with pigment (颜料). It was an unexpected personal touch from the resident master at a Beijing hotel.
Shichahai Shadow Art Performance Hotel is a step back in time. Surrounded by a forest of skyscrapers, this little inn is in a hutong. Once you open its massive wooden doors, you enter a calm space that direct your gaze to the framed shadow puppet art that decorates the walls. The mission here is clear: to educate guests about a dying part of Chinese culture before it’s too late.
I visited here last winter. As a theater lover, I hoped to get a behind-the-scenes look into a completely different performing art. The inn provides English interpreters who help make the cultural offerings accessible to its foreign guests. These include performances in the private puppet theater at the hotel and several classes taught by master Mao.
One night, I watched Mao and several other hotel employees perform the classic tale “Turtle and Crane”. The animals’ flexible movements made me forget that puppeteers controlled them. Afterward, I tried my hand at controlling the many sticks needed to make each puppet move effortlessly. My awkward attempts to operate several sticks at once showed why it takes years to master something that looks simple.
I asked Mao whether anyone could learn to be a shadow puppet performer. He paused, then answered, “Like ballet, some have a talent for this and some don’t. Making a puppet seem real comes from the hands, the heart and the brain. It also takes passion.”
At the end of my stay, I went to the lobby to get my dragon shadow puppet. I noticed Mao giving a class to a group of local youngsters, confirming me in my belief that he would inspire a new generation of masters.
1. What was the author doing according to Paragraph 1?| A．Polishing her toenails. |
| B．Taking a shadow puppet class. |
| C．Learning Chinese painting skills. |
| D．Choosing pigment for her shadow puppet. |
| A．Find foreign lovers of shadow puppetry. |
| B．Save the dying art of shadow puppetry. |
| C．Make shadow puppetry easy to understand. |
| D．Attract buyers for shadow puppets on its walls. |
| A．It is all about talent. |
| B．It is effortless but boring. |
| C．It looks easier than it is. |
| D．It involves dealing with animals. |
| A．Negative. | B．Hopeful. | C．Doubtful. | D．Uncaring. |
◇Moving Sale 2 armchairs, red/brown at$400 each; coffee table, black, wood, $800; oil painting, big, $900; Tianjin carpet, green 3x7, $600; double bed, $500; mirror, big, square, $500; fridge, big, double-door, $1000; old pictures, $140 up each; plants, big and small Tel: Weekend, 2521601l/Weekday. 25245867
◇Part-time Laboratory Assistant Wanted Required by busy electronics (电子) company to help with development of computer. Should have an electronics degree and some practical experience of working in an electronics laboratory Hours 9:30 a.m.—l:00 p. m. Mon.—Fri. Fourteen days paid leave. Salary￥6,598-10,230 dependent on experience. Letter of application to: Mrs. G Chan, NOVA ELECTRONICS, 45 Gordon Rd, Hung Hom Kowloon.
1. The one who put on the first ad probably wants to_________.
| A．rent a beautiful flat of her own in Happy Vallev |
| B．find another lady to share the cost to rent a flat |
| C．share her room in a flat with whoever has no pet |
| D．employ a maid to look after herself and the flat |
| A．buy an old picture for $150 | B．call at 25720836 and see a beautiful park |
| C．buy two armchairs for $400 | D．hire a maid by paying $6,800 |
| A．get in touch with NOVA ELECTRONICS |
| B．call at 25245867 any day except Monday |
| C．do it before you move to another place |
| D．call at either25245867 on Monday or 25216011 on Saturday |
| A．you have to work at least 4 hours a day |
| B．you should write a letter to Mrs. G Chan |
| C．you will be given 14 days off each year besides weekends |
| D．you will get no more than $6,598 each month |
【推荐3】NASA aims to send a man and a woman to the moon by 2024. This is the goal of its Artemis program. But for Artemis to succeed, the U. S. space agency first needs to solve a big problem: the damaging threat of moon dust.
Over billions of years, celestial （天体的）bodies, such as asteroids and meteors, have slammed into the moon. These hits have crushed some lunar rocks into dust. The surfs radiation gives the dust an electric charge that makes it stick to everything. Those powdery bits are like u broken pieces of glass" , notes Mihaly Horanyi, a physicist at the University of Colorado Boulder. The dust is so rough, in fact, that it can damage equipment. If taken in, it might even harm an astronaut's health. Horanyi is part of a team that has now figured out how to overcome one troubling aspect of the dust: its static cling, using a low-powered electron beam （电子束）.When shined onto the dust, that beam sends the dust flying.
During the 1970s, the astronauts in NASA's Apollo missions relied on a very low-tech system to clean lunar dust off their spacesuits. They swept it away with what looked like the brushes used to paint a house. But the electrically charged nature of space dust tended to fail such hand sweepers.
The new electron-beam broom takes advantage of the dust's electrical characteristic. As the beam hits the dust, it releases electrons into the tiny spaces between particles. Some of these negatively charged electrons will be absorbed by the surrounding dust.
One problem with the electron beam, at least for now, is that it leaves up to one-fourth of the dust behind. The Boulder group aims to strengthen that cleaning power. Horanyi says the electron beam is just one of several ways future space explorers could keep surfaces clean. Others might include changes to a spacesuit's design.
1. Why should the moon dust problem be solved?| A．It might affect astronauts' health and equipment. |
| B．It can give off harmful radiation. |
| C．It can stick to the surface of the spaceship. |
| D．It might cause serious crashes. |
| A．The discovery of the electron beam. | B．The way the electron beam works. |
| C．The occurrence of the electron beam. | D．The development of the electron beam. |
| A．It is a low-tech dust cleaning system. |
| B．It leaves three-fourths of the dust uncleaned. |
| C．It needs improvement in the cleaning power. |
| D．It is proved less efficient than other methods. |
| A．Astronauts' health. | B．New spacesuit's designs. |
| C．Spaceship surface features. | D．Future space exploration. |
