Having a good sense of humor makes you more enjoyable to be around.
●Surround Yourself with Humor
You learn more effectively when you fully expose yourself to a subject. Similarly, you can improve your sense of humor by surrounding yourself with humor. Watch stand-up comedians. Listen to programs that amuse you.Read humorous books.
●Learn What Amuses You
●Think About Timing and Audience
You don’t have to be funny all the time, so don’t expect that of yourself. When you catch yourself trying to be funny, slow down. Simply speak slower so you’re not as likely to stop and repeat yourself. Try speaking at 60-70 % of your usual rate.
●
You don’t need to seize every single opportunity to be funny. If you’re in the middle of a bad joke, just end it. “You know what, now that I’m telling it, it’s not as funny as it sounded in my head,” can be a bit of an awkward end and hurt your pride a little bit, but it saves everyone time and patience. In the long run, they’ll respect your taste.
| A．Be Creative, Not Silly |
| B．Pause in between sentences |
| C．There’s a lot of fun out there |
| D．You might also do better at work |
| E．Know When to Pull the Plug on Yourself |
| F．You can also try your hand in the real world |
| G．A lot of times, we say things purely to please others |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Earthquakes happen without warning(前兆). They can happen any time of a day, at any point during the year. But don’t worry because most are so weak that they cannot be felt. Only a few big ones hurt people. However, it’s important to know what to do when an earthquake is happening．
Do NOT go outside. You could get injured from falling glass or parts of buildings. If you are outside, stay away from buildings and power lines (输电线).
Stay under a desk, table, or other strong furniture. Hold on to it. Or stay in a corner of the building. Cover your face and head with your arms and cover your mouth with a towel or clothing. Stay inside until shaking stops and it is safe to go outside.
Keep away from windows., pictures or advertisements on the wall or the building, and anything else that could fall and hurt you. Most people get injured by falling things during an earthquake, not by the shaking itself．
Also keep away from a fire. You could fall down and burn yourself on the fire.
If you are driving when an earthquake happens, stop the car if it’s safe. Stay inside your car until the earthquake stops, and don’t drive near bridges. Try not to stop by power lines or trees. These could fall and hurt you.
1. Most earthquakes are too to hurt people．| A．strong | B．weak |
| C．dangerous | D．heavy |
| A．Stay under a big building | B．Stay under a strong furniture |
| C．Stand by windows | D．drive near a big bridge |
| A．run out of the building | B．stay in a corner of the building |
| C．cover your head with your arms | D．cover your mouth with a towel |
| A．How dangerous the earthquake is． | B．How to be safe in an earthquake． |
| C．We shouldn’t be afraid of the earthquake． | D．How the earthquake comes into being． |
| A．How Earthquakes Happen | B．How to Drive a Car |
| C．What We Should Do in Earthquakes | D．Why Earthquakes Happen |
【推荐2】Young people can have problems with their minds. Some students become worried because they have to study very hard. Others have trouble getting on well with people like their parents and classmates.
Li Wen, a junior 2 student from No. 2 Middle School, could not understand his teacher and was doing badly in his lessons. He became so worried about it that he didn’t sleep well at night.
Another student, 16-year-old Yang Fang from No. 1 Middle School was afraid of exams. She got very worried and when she looked at the exam paper, she couldn’t think of anything to write.
A recent report from Jiefang Daily says about 18% of Shanghai teenagers have mental (精神的) problems. Their troubles include being worried and very unhappy, and having problems in learning and getting on with people. Many students who have problems won’t go for advice or help. Some think they will look stupid if they go to see a doctor. Others don’t want to talk about their secrets.
Liang Yuezhu, an expert on teenagers from Beijing Anding Hospital has the following advice for teenagers:
● Talk to your parents or teachers often.
● Take part in group activities and play sports.
● Go to see a doctor if you feel unhappy or unwell.
1. The students who often become worried or have trouble getting on with others may have ________.| A．no parents | B．a headache |
| C．a knife with them | D．mental problems |
| A．she had exams | B．she studied very hard |
| C．she talked with her parents | D．she thought of something |
| A．they won’t let others think they are stupid |
| B．they don’t think doctors can help them |
| C．they don’t want to talk about their secrets |
| D．both A and C |
| A．it’s unnecessary for them to be with others |
| B．only group activities and sports can help them |
| C．it’s better for the students who have mental problems to join others |
| D．teachers and parents can’t do anything about mental problems |
【推荐3】At the Virginia Convention in 1775, Patrick Henry gives a superb speech to inspire a revolution against Great Britain in which he uses various rhetorical (修辞的) devices to urge the President to take up arms against the oppressive British.
Henry uses rhetorical questions (反问句) to make everyone at the convention start to think about a war against Britain. For example, Henry says “And what have we to oppose to them?” to make people think that there is no other option except war if the colonists want freedom and justice from Britain. He is not looking for an actual answer back, but by making the people come up with the answer themselves, they can see the true necessity of a revolution. Then Henry asks his audience “But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house?” Henry is explaining that waiting and debating on the topic of war does not do any good. Instead, the colonies must move immediately.
Additionally, Patrick Henry uses the technique of restatement. Throughout his speech, Henry constantly restates that there is no time left, nor another option apart from war to separate from the British: “There is no longer any room for hope.” Restating the important conclusion stresses the importance of whatever the speaker is arguing, in this case, the colonists’ last resort of a revolution.
In the speech, Henry also uses pathos (悲情) to persuade the audience. He asks “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?” Henry indicates that slavery will be the outcome if the colonists do not take up arms and fight for freedom. By saying this, Henry uses pathos to strike at the hearts of the colonists to show that their freedom 13 worth the sacrifice and risk of death.
1. What does the passage mainly deal with?| A．Language techniques. | B．Social revolution. |
| C．A Historical figure. | D．America history. |
| A．The necessity of war. | B．The value of freedom. |
| C．The urgency of action. | D．The power of speech. |
| A．humorous | B．persuasive |
| C．controversial | D．confusing |
| A．was elected President of the U. S. A | B．was killed in the battle against Britain |
| C．managed to start the American Civil war | D．contributed to American independence |
【推荐1】Jon Hoffman was sitting at a red light when he saw a man run out of a store carrying a plastic donation jar full of cash. The Plano, Texas, detective# dressed in plain clothes but wearing his badge and gun, caught the man and pinned him to the hood of his car. But Hoffman had trouble containing the thief, and they got into a struggle.
“The detective has a martial (军事的) arts background, and he said he thought the suspect must have a martial arts background, too, because he was able to break away so easily,” a Plano police spokesperson said.
The detective called out for help as a crowd gathered. Among those watching: Andre Harvey and Kirby Sample, two day laborers. Harvey did what has become common these days—he took out his phone and hit record. “I hate to say it, but I thought that this policeman was doing something stupid,” Harvey said. “But when he asked for help, I thought, well, there won’t be a shooting if I get over there in time.” Harvey jumped into action —while he was still recording the video—as did Sample.
“Harvey caught hold of the suspect’s arms, while Kirby seized his legs, and they were able to get the suspect to the ground to help Detective Hoffman put the handcuffs (手铐)on,” said the police spokesperson. The 27-year-old suspect was charged with resisting arrest and other offenses. The charity jar he stole held less than $ 50.
“I’ve been on the wrong side of the law several times in my life,” Harvey told WFAA. “It feels good to be on the right side and do something positive.”
After the arrest, the three men got to know each other over steaks and ribs at a local steak house — Hoffman’s treat, as a thank-you. But the rescuers say Hoffman deserves credit too. “It could have turned real ugly,” Sample told KFOR. com. “He handled himself like a real professional.”
1. What made Hoffman call for help when arresting the suspect?| A．He was not on duty. | B．He couldn’t control the suspect. |
| C．He needed witnesses to support him. | D．He wanted to push the thief into the car. |
| A．To follow the fashion | B．To record the cop’s violence. |
| C．To keep track of the criminal. | D．To avoid being involved in the incident. |
| A．He was ready to violate the law. | B．He was out of work at that time. |
| C．He had a good martial arts background. | D．He might have had some illegal conducts. |
| A．Appreciative. | B．Prejudiced. |
| C．Skeptical. | D．Admirable. |
【推荐2】By now you’ve probably heard about the “you’re not special” speech, when English teacher David McCullough told graduating seniors at Wellesley High School: “Do not get the idea you’re anything special, because you’re not.” Mothers and fathers present at the ceremony — and a whole lot of other parents across the Internet — took issue with McCullough’s ego-puncturing words. But lost in the uproar was something we really should be taking to heart: our young people actually have no idea whether they’re particularly talented or accomplished or not. In our eagerness to elevate their self-esteem, we forgot to teach them how to realistically assess their own abilities, a crucial requirement for getting better at anything from math to music to sports. In fact, it’s not just privileged high-school students: we all tend to view ourselves as above average.
Such inflated self-judgments have been found in study after study, and it’s often exactly when we’re least competent at a given task that we rate our performance most generously. In a 2006 study published in the journal Medical Education, for example, medical students who scored the lowest on an essay test were the most charitable in their self-evaluations, while high-scoring students judged themselves much more stringently. Poor students, the authors note, “lack insight” into their own inadequacy. Why should this be? Another study, led by Cornell University psychologist David Dunning, offers an enlightening explanation. People who are incompetent, he writes with coauthor Justin Kruger, suffer from a “dual burden”: they’re not good at what they do, and their very ineptness prevents them from recognizing how bad they are.
In Dunning and Kruger’s study, subjects scoring at the bottom of the heap on tests of logic, grammar and humor “extremely overestimated” their talents. Although their test scores put them in the 12th percentile, they guessed they were in the 62nd. What these individuals lacked (in addition to clear logic, proper grammar and a sense of humor) was “metacognitive skill”: the capacity to monitor how well they’re performing. In the absence of that capacity, the subjects arrived at an overly hopeful view of their own abilities. There’s a paradox here, the authors note: “The skills that engender competence in a particular domain are often the very same skills necessary to evaluate competence in that domain.” In other words, to get better at judging how well we’re doing at an activity, we have to get better at the activity itself.
There are a couple of ways out of this double bind. First, we can learn to make honest comparisons with others. Train yourself to recognize excellence, even when you yourself don’t possess it, and compare what you can do against what truly excellent individuals are able to accomplish. Second, seek out feedback that is frequent, accurate and specific. Find a critic who will tell you not only how poorly you’re doing, but just what it is that you’re doing wrong. As Dunning and Kruger note, success indicates to us that everything went right, but failure is more ambiguous: any number of things could have gone wrong. Use this external feedback to figure out exactly where and when you screwed up.
If we adopt these strategies — and most importantly, teach them to our children — they won’t need parents, or a commencement（毕业典礼） speaker, to tell them that they’re special. They’ll already know that they are, or have a plan to get that way.
1. Which can be the best title of this passage?| A．Special or Not? Teach Kids To Figure It Out |
| B．Let's Admit That We Are Not That Special |
| C．Tips On Making Ourselves More Special |
| D．Tell The Truth: Kids Overestimate their Talents |
| A．we don't know whether our young people are talented or not |
| B．young people don't know how to assess their abilities realistically |
| C．no requirement is set up for young people to get better |
| D．we always tend to consider ourselves to be privileged |
| A．They usually give themselves high scores in self-evaluations. |
| B．They tend to be unable to know exactly how bad they are. |
| C．They are intelligently inadequate in tests and exams. |
| D．They lack the capacity to monitor how well they are performing. |
| A．know how to cultivate clear logic and proper grammar |
| B．don't know how well they perform due to their stringent self-judgement |
| C．don't view themselves as competent because they know their limits |
| D．tend to be very competent in their high-scoring fields. |
| A．we need internal honesty with ourselves and external honesty from others |
| B．the best way to get better is to carefully study past success and failure |
| C．through comparison with others, one will know where and when he fails |
| D．neither parents nor a commencement speaker can tell whether one is special |
Attachment is not just a connection between two people; it's a bond that involves a desire for regular contact with that person and the experience of distress(悲伤) during separation from that person.
According to psychologist John Bowilby, there are four critical characteristics of attachment. The first is the desire to be near those with whom we share an attachment since we are happy while staying with them. Attachments also create a safe shelter, meaning that during times of distress, fear, or uncertainty, we may seek out the people we're attached to for care and comfort. Next, attachment figures also offer a secure base for exploration. This is particularly important during childhood. This secure base allows kids to explore the world while they know they can still return to the safety of the attachment figure. Finally, we experience separation distress when parted from an attachment figure. For example, kids tend to become upset when parents have to leave them in the care of others.
Attachment serves a number of important purposes. For instance, it helps keep babies and children close to their caregivers so that they can avoid potential dangers, which in turn helps boost their chances of survival. However, if a child doesn't form a secure attachment to a caregiver, he or she will suffer from a number of problems including conduct disorder and oppositional -defiant (对立反抗的) disorder. Researchers also suggest that the type of attachment displayed early in life can have a lasting effect on later adult relationships.
Psychologist Harry Harlow conducted an experiment on social isolation in monkeys. Baby monkeys were separated from their mothers and placed with surrogate mothers (代母). One mother was simply a wire armature (电枢) that held a bottle, while the other mother was covered with a soft terry cloth material. Harlow found that the baby monkeys would receive food from the wire mother, but preferred to spend most of their time with the soft mother. When compared to monkeys that had been raised by their birth mothers, the monkeys raised by surrogate mothers were shyer and more nervous and suffered from social and emotional problems.
All in all, developing secure and healthy attachments early in life is very important. Such attachments play a vital role in our future development.
Attachment | |
| Introduction to attachment | Attachment means that you feel so connected to someone else |
| Characteristics of attachment | ·We enjoy the ·We may turn to attachment figures when experiencing negative emotions. ·Attachment figures are always ·Any |
| Importance of attachment | ·Attachment makes children seek · ·Childhood attachment influences later adult relationships. |
| An experiment | In a study, with their early attachments |
| Conclusion | We should form secure and healthy attachments while young, because they will have important impacts on our future development. |
