Friends play an important part in our lives, and although we may take the friendship for granted, we often don’t clearly understand how we make friends. While we get on well with a number of people, we are usually friends with only a very few—for example, the average among students is about six per person. In all the cases of friendly relationships, two people like one another and enjoy being together, but beyond that, the degree of intimacy between them and the reasons for their shared interest vary enormously. As we get to know people, we take into account things like age, race, economic condition, social position, and intelligence. Although these factors are not of prime importance, it is more difficult to get on with people when there is a marked difference in age and background.
Some friendly relationships can be kept on argument and discussion, but it is usual for close friends to have similar ideas and beliefs, to have attitudes and interests in common. They often talk about “being on the same wavelength”. It generally takes time to reach this point. And the more intimately involved people become, the more they rely on one another. People want to do friends favours and hate to break a promise. Equally, friends have to learn to put up with annoying habits and to tolerate differences of opinion.
In contrast with marriage, there are no friendship ceremonies to strengthen the association between two people. But the supporting and understanding of each other that results from shared experiences and emotions does seem to create a powerful bond, which can overcome differences in background, and break down barriers of age, class or race.
1. According to the author,________.| A．all those who get on well with each other are friends |
| B．friends are closer than people who just get on well with each other |
| C．everyone understands clearly how to make friends |
| D．every student has 6 friends |
| A．support and understand each other | B．hold friendship ceremonies |
| C．make friends with those who are of the same age | D．get rid of differences in beliefs and attitude |
| A．being on the same boat | B．having similar ideas, beliefs, attitudes and interests |
| C．keeping the same pace exactly | D．having similar background |
| A．It takes time for people to become close friends. |
| B．People tolerate annoying habits of their friends. |
| C．Even friends may have differences of opinions. |
| D．Close friends never argue with each other. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】All relationships require work, though it may not always feel like work.
Listen to others. The most important skill in communication is the ability to listen to others. Rather than doing all the talking, take time to stop and hear what others have to say.
Be polite and positive. When you are the one speaking, do it in a way that considers others’ feelings and leaves a positive impact. Think about what you want to say before you say it.
Be honest and sincere. Another communication skill is to make sure you speak with honesty and sincerity.
| A．Keep an open mind. |
| B．Look for common ground. |
| C．Avoid interrupting other people. |
| D．Ask questions that help you understand them more deeply. |
| E．Don’t be afraid to apologize if you say something unintended. |
| F．You will build relationships with others when you tell them the truth. |
| G．That could mean calling a friend, or getting together with your family for the holidays. |
【推荐2】We are all born social and company to live happy and fruitful life. Healthy and supportive mutual relationships help reduce stress and promote the, physical, mental and emotional well-being by building skills like time management, assertiveness( 坚定自信), sociability and empathy.
Making friends has made me feel secure. However, I have to be cautious to pick up friends sharing similar tastes and values. In addition, having added to one’s circle of friends helps one feel supported.
It is true that finding time to cultivate relationships is all about effective time management. My busy uncle finds time to catch up with family and friends during his tea and lunch breaks. Similarly my friend Somya uses her time on her way back home from work in her chauffeur-driven car to catch up with people. The modern inventions of SMS and e-mail help send wishes for birthdays and anniversaries to show your love and care.
Assertiveness is as much applicable to relationships. My friend Mohana emphasizes that neither being a passive observer nor being aggressive helps relationships. It is assertiveness in our relationships that opens the lines of effective communication. It emphasizes helping friends in need and also strengthens mutually supportive relationships.
It is also true that assertiveness by intuition promotes discretion(自行决定权) of friends and helps Lalitha distinguish positive people from drains of energy. She can easily figure this out by the flow of the conversation, the way each feels understood, accepted and supported, and by how I feel, happy, bored or energized in the relationship. It also helps to know whether all benefit from each other’s positive aspects.
Handling stress in life is all about cultivating mutually supportive relationships and working on them. Manisha always says she feels great when sharing her feelings after a hard day with people who share similar ideas. Actually we all need someone who would not just hear us, but listen to us, and we need to cultivate the art of listening and understanding people.
1. A busy person can develop his social relationships by________.| A．inviting friends for dinner | B．making friends with strangers |
| C．working hard for high positions | D．getting together in the intervals of business |
| A．Being passive. | B．Being assertive. |
| C．Being aggressive. | D．Being relaxed. |
| A．lonely | B．bored | C．stressed | D．energetic |
| A．Manisha. | B．Mohana. | C．Lalitha. | D．Somya. |
| A．How should we handle our stress in life? |
| B．What is to be done for applicable relationships? |
| C．How can we pick up friends supporting us? |
| D．How people build mutually supportive social relationship? |
【推荐3】A friend of yours just got a new haircut. Deep down, you think it’s terrible. However, you say it looks fantastic.
People tell white lies all the time. They don’t do it to gain anything like money. They do it because they’re considerate (体谅的) of others. They don’t want to hurt those people’s feelings.
People also tell white lies to help themselves.
Telling white lies all the time also affects the liars.
| A．Should we tell white lies? |
| B．You just told a little white lie. |
| C．Why do people tell white lies? |
| D．White lies may help keep the peace. |
| E．Some are dishonest with themselves. |
| F．Some parents tell their children little white lies to make life easier. |
| G．They also do it to please somebody, cheer somebody up or encourage somebody. |
【推荐1】For the first time in its history, the International Olympic Committee has allowed a team of refugees to compete at the Games. All of the team’s members were forced to leave their home countries. Now they’ve come together to compete under the Olympic flag instead.
Making it to the Olympics is something eighteen-year-old swimmer Yusra has always dreamed of. But just last year, she was swimming for her life. She and her sister were forced to leave their home in Syria because of the war there. They were trying to get to Greece in a rubber dinghy (橡皮艇) with eighteen other refugees, when their boat broke down and began filling with water. Most of the people on board couldn’t swim, so she and her sister jumped in to help push it to shore.
Three hours later, they made it to safety, and eventually to Germany as refugees. Refugees are people who have left their home country because their lives are threatened by war, bad treatment or violence---often because of their race, gender or beliefs. Around the world, more than 60 million people are in this situation. And some of them, like Yusra, are elite athletes who have trained all their lives to compete at the highest level, only to have that chance taken away.
Now, a team of ten, including swimmers, runners, and judokas from Syria, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Congo have been given the chance to compete at the Games under the Olympic flag. They’ve also been given their own coaches, officials, uniforms and a chef, all paid for by the IOC. And in the past few months they’ve been training hard. The IOC says it wants the team to inspire and give hope to other refugees, and draw attention to the issues millions of other around the world are facing. And these guys say they are up to the task whether they win gold or not.
“These refugee athletes will show the world that despite the unimaginable tragedies that they have faced, anyone can contribute to society through their talent, skills and strength of the human spirit,” the statement continues.
1. What does the underlined sentence mean?| A．She trained all her life. |
| B．She swam for the glory of life. |
| C．She swam to escape being drowned. |
| D．She swam to escape from other refugees. |
| A．Syria | B．Germany | C．Congo | D．Ethiopia |
| A．Race | B．Violence | C．Religion | D．Nationality |
| A．help the refugees to fulfill their dreams of winning the Olympic gold medal. |
| B．offer the refugees a chance to earn bread by themselves. |
| C．light a candle of hope for all the refugees in the world. |
| D．curse the darkness of the society by forcing them to pay attention to the life of refugees. |
【推荐2】After numerous warnings over the years, you thought coffee probably had a negative effect on your health? Perhaps the drink is not so bad after all.
The new study, conducted by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), has been published and suggests that coffee does not have a harmful effect on your health. Researchers suggest, based on data examined, older adults who drink a lot of coffee, have a lower risk of death when compared to their non-drinking coffee peers.
The team of researchers conducting the study analyzed data on 400,000 U.S. men and women, aged 50 to 71 years; the individuals had participated in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study. This study started in 1995﹣1996 and was tracked until the day a participant passed away, or Dec. 31, 2008.
According to a press release on the report, researchers shared that coffee drinkers are “less likely to die from heart disease, respiratory disease, stroke, injuries and accidents, diabetes, and infections, although the association was not seen for cancer.”
Results indicated participants that drank three or more cups of java a day reduced their risk of death by 10percent. Based on the findings that both caffeinated and non-caffeinated coffee found similar results, researchers are thinking caffeine is not the protective ingredient(原料), although which ingredient in coffee might be, they are not sure.
Researchers indicate that despite these observational findings，they caution it is not clear whether or not drinking coffee actually extends life expectancy.
“Coffee is one of the most widely consumed drinks in America，but the association between coffee consumption and risk of death has been unclear. We found coffee consumption to be associated with lower risk of death overall, and of death from a number of different causes,” said Neal Freedman, Ph. D. , Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, NCI.
“Although we cannot infer a relationship between coffee drinking and lower risk of death, we believe these results do provide some comfort that coffee drinking does not adversely affect health,” Freedman said.
Dr. Cheryl Williams, a registered dietician, told ABC News, “Overall, more research needs to be done to truly understand the compounds in coffee and their biological activity and effect on health,” said Williams.
1. The passage is mainly about ________.| A．medical benefits of coffee |
| B．benefits of planting coffee |
| C．coffee’s negative effects on health |
| D．new study results on coffee |
| A．drinking coffee can help reduce the risk of death from some diseases |
| B．people rely heavily on coffee drinking and that proves to be a problem |
| C．people who often drink coffee are more likely to suffer different diseases |
| D．caffeine is the very ingredient which protects people from developing diseases |
| A．caffeine | B．ingredient |
| C．coffee | D．drink |
| A．People should drink more caffeinated coffee. |
| B．People should analyze the cause of human death. |
| C．People should take advantages of drinking coffee. |
| D．People should carry out more related and effective studies. |
【推荐3】A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost? If you answered 10 cents, you’re not alone most people give the same answer (the correct answer is 5 cents.)
It’s an example of how we often rely on intuitive answers we feel are true. People give answers that pop into their mind, says cognitive (认知的) scientist Steven Sloman. We don’t spend much time reflecting and checking whether the answer is right or wrong.
The bat and ball question helps explain why we often believe in fake news. It is part of human nature to believe, says Sloman. But “the trick with fake news is to know to verify” — in other words, to stop and question what you know.
In one experiment, Sloman and a colleague invented a discovery called helium rain. They told a group of volunteers about it, but admitted they could not fully explain what it was. They then asked the volunteers to rate their own understanding of helium rain. Most volunteers rated themselves 1 out of 7, meaning they did not understand the concept. The researchers then told another group of volunteers about the discovery. This time, they said that scientists could fully explain how it works. When asked to rate their understanding, the volunteers gave an average answer of 2. The scientists’ confidence gave the volunteers an increased sense of their own understanding. According to Sloman, studies show that knowledge spreads like a contagion.
Another explanation for the spread of fake news is “motivated reasoning”, writes Adam Waytz, a management professor at the Kellogg School. We are naturally more likely to believe things that confirm our existing opinions.
So, in a world where misleading information is common, is there a way to protect ourselves? “Though it’s impossible to verify everything that people encounter, training people to care about fact-checking is important, especially in online communities.” says Sloman, “Develop an atmosphere where we should check things and not just take them at face value. Verify it before you believe.”
1. The author uses the example of the bat and ball question to show that .| A．people often forget skills that they learned at school |
| B．there is often more than one possible answer to a question |
| C．many people give quick responses without thinking carefully |
| D．it is easy to make mistakes when doing math questions |
| A．To make sure something is true. | B．To think about something for long. |
| C．To express an opinion about something. | D．To change something into a different one. |
| A．some of the volunteers explained it to them |
| B．Sloman and his colleagues showed them how it works |
| C．they feel more confident about their own ability |
| D．they believed that scientists fully understood it |
| A．Helium Rain: A Great Discovery | B．Stop, Question, and Check |
| C．Social Media and How to Use It | D．Fake news and How to Spread It |
