【推荐1】One of the biggest problems when we are talking is the awkward silence. Encountering this situation is so uncomfortable that you would avoid meeting new people in the first place. In the past, I struggled with this and I even thought it had to do with my DNA or something… But later I learned that once you know how to keep those words flowing, you can meet and talk to anyone you like, which helps create great possibilities for friendship, fun and shared activities that you would otherwise have missed out on.

After studying this in depth, I had different opinions and found that one of these common behaviors is the habit of filtering (过滤)--holding back from saying something until you’ve “checked” to make sure that what you’re about to say is cool, impressive and interesting. Another problem is not learning to get in the mood for conversation. If you don’t know how to change from subjects, then it can take a lot of time to warm up.

It is the reflex (习惯性思维) that allows you to say whatever goes on in your mind. It’s fun to realize that you’re allowed to say whatever is on your mind. As long as you don’t say anything that could land you in jail (监狱).

All of the “Oh! That’s interesting…” “Hmm, I’ve never heard of that” “Hmm, cool!” expressions are reactionary (保守的) bits of conversation that prove to the other person that you’re really listening. This works 99% of the time. So, if you show some interest, they’ll hang around and want to talk to you even more.

Everyone knows that stories juice-up conversations, but most people only talk about stories of their own lives. When someone mentions something related to any of them, just tell the story, even if it’s not from your life. The more interesting, stranger or more frightening they are, the harder they are to forget.

1. If people can deal with the awkward silence, they can      .

A．train their working skill	B．improve their life quality
C．enrich their social life	D．establish their working relationship

2. When talking with others, we should      .

A．feel nervous	B．think twice
C．be free to express	D．avoid breaking in

3. According to the passage, what do the speakers care much about?

A．The attractive topics of conversation.

B．The atmosphere of the conversation.

C．The listener’s experiences and tastes.

D．The listener’s curiosity and concern.

4. What does the underlined part “juice-up conversations” mean?

A．making conversations more boring	B．making conversations livelier
C．making conversations smoother	D．making conversations more relaxing

【推荐2】Hundreds of friends on Facebook can’t replace a handful of close friends in real life, a study has found. In a recent study, researchers discovered that people with only a few friends were at least as happy as those with far more if many of theirs were online.

Social media, the researchers said, has encouraged younger people to have larger but more impersonal networks of “friends”. But instead of trying to amass friends, they added, a better cure for loneliness might be spending time with those you’re closest to.

Scientists from the University of Leeds did their study using data from two online surveys on 1,496 people by a non-profit research organization. People taking part in the study showed their ages, the make-up of their social networks, how often they had different types of social interactions, and their own feelings of well-being. They included details of how often and how they interacted (交流) with families or neighbors, and whether they included people who provided services to them in their networks.

The number of close friends someone had appeared to be the only thing which influenced how satisfied they were with their social life.

“Loneliness has less to do with the number of friends you have, and more to do with how you feel about your friends,” said Dr Wändi Bruine de Bruin. Actually, it's often the younger adults who admit to having a bad opinion of their friends.

If you feel lonely, it may be more helpful to make a positive connection with a friend than to try and seek out new people to meet.

1. Which of the following can replace the underlined word “amass” in Paragraph 2?

A．Play the role of.	B．Think highly of.
C．Take advantage of.	D．Increase the number of.

2. What can be learned from the scientists’ study?

A．Scientists did one online survey on 1,496 people.

B．People surveyed mentioned new forms of social networks.

C．People surveyed showed their ways to interact with families.

D．The number of friends was the only cause of people’s happiness.

3. What makes people happy in social life?

A．Living alone.

B．Having close friends.

C．Having good appearance.

D．Making as many friends as possible.

4. What’s the author’s purpose in writing the text?

A．To advise us to make friends online.

B．To show us the importance of friends.

C．To present us with the findings of a study.

D．To tell us the problems causes by loneliness.

【推荐3】When we were very small, we realized that having friends was important.Some of us even had imaginary(想象中的)friends. The need for friends continued as we grew into our teens.Friends played a big part in forming our personalities(性格). As adults，it is still important for us to have friends.
True friends are people who like us though we made mistakes and who listen to us and tell us the truth. Friends support our decisions and tell us when we’re foolish. They laugh with us and share our sadness. They are our partners and share interests with us. They stimulate us when we are feeling down. They are people we aren’t afraid of telling our secret wishes to or what is really on our minds.
Friends are our supporters. When you can depend on friends, you feel safe and warm. Friends offer acceptance and emotional(情感的)support. At times, they also help with our everyday lives, cooking a meal, doing chores, or giving us a lift when we need one. Friends also are there to offer advice, an ear to listen, or a shoulder to cry on.
Friends also help us reduce stress. Not only do they listen to us when we feel stressed, but they also discuss what is stressing us. Sharing interests and doing activities with friends help us forget about problems at work or at home. For a short time, we can lose ourselves in a pleasant activity and perhaps laugh and breathe more easily.
1. What is the best title for the passage?

A．How to Reduce Stress

B．How to Make New Friends

C．The Importance of Friends

D．The Qualities of Good Friends

2. The underlined word“stimulate” in Paragraph 2 probably means________.

A．educate	B．encourage
C．surprise	D．dislike

3. We can learn from the third paragraph that friends always________.

A．laugh at us when we’re foolish

B．tell us other people’s secrets

C．share our sadness and interests

D．support us when we need help

4. We can learn from the passage that________.

A．people should make friends anytime

B．friends are people who allow you to cry

C．a friend helps you in many ways

D．good friends are always difficult to meet

【推荐1】Do you know how to use a mobile phone without being rude to the people around you?
Talking during a performance irritates (激怒) people. If you are expecting an emergency call, sit near the exit doors and set your phone to vibrate (振动). When your mobile phone vibrates, you can leave quietly and let the others enjoy the performance.
Think twice before using mobile phones in elevators, museums, churches or other indoor public places—especially enclosed spaces. Would you want to listen to someone’s conversation in these places? Worse yet, how would you feel if a mobile phone rang suddenly during a funeral! It happens more often than you think. Avoid these embarrassing situations by making sure your mobile phone is switched off.
When eating at a restaurant with friends, don’t place your mobile phone on the table. This conveys the message that your phone calls are more important than those around you.
Mobile phones have sensitive microphones that allow you to speak at the volume you would on a regular phone. This enables you to speak quietly so that others won’t hear the details of your conversations. If you are calling from a noisy area, use your hand to direct your voice into the microphone.
Many people believe that they can’t live without their mobile phone. Owning a mobile phone definitely makes life more convenient, but limit your conversations to urgent ones and save the personal calls until you are at home.
1. What should you do when you need to answer a phone call during a performance?

A．Call back after the performance.

B．Answer it near the exit door.

C．Talk outside the exit door.

D．Speak in a low voice.

2. Putting your mobile phone on a restaurant table may make your friends think_____.

A．you prefer to talk to your friends at the table

B．you value your calls more than your friends

C．you are enjoying the company of your friends

D．you are polite and considerate of your friends

3. When you are calling in a noisy area, you are advised to _____.

A．use a more sensitive microphone

B．shout loudly into your microphone

C．go away quietly to continue the phone call

D．use your hand to help speak into the phone

4. The author implies that the use of mobile phones in such places as museums should be_____.

A．limited	B．expected
C．encouraged	D．recommended

【推荐2】Building Trust in a Relationship Again

Trust is a learned behavior that we gain from past experiences.    1    Trust is a risk. But you can’t be successful when there’s a lack of trust in a relationship that results from an action where the wrongdoer takes no responsibility to fix the mistake.

Unfortunately, we’ve all been victims of betrayal. Whether we’ve been stolen from, lied to, misled, or cheated on, there are different levels of losing trust. Sometimes people simply can’t trust anymore.    2    It’s understandable, but if you’re willing to build trust in a relationship again, what can you do?    3    

●Learn to really trust yourself. Having confidence in yourself will help you make better choices because you can see what the best outcome would be for your well-being.

●    4    If you’ve been betrayed, you are the victim of your circumstance. But there’s a difference between being a victim and living with a "victim mentality". At some point in all of our lives, we’ll have our trust tested or violated.

● You didn’t lose "everything". Once trust is lost, what is left? Instead of looking at the situation from this hopeless angle, look at everything you still have and be thankful for all of the good in your life.    5     Instead, it’s a healthy way to work through the experience to allow room for positive growth and forgiveness.

A．It is putting confidence in someone.

B．Believe in yourself.

C．Here are some tips for you.

D．Stop regarding yourself as the victim.

E．They’ve been too badly hurt and they can’t bear to let it happen again.

F．Seeing the positive side of things doesn’t mean you’re ignoring what happened

G．This knowledge carries over in their attitude toward their future relationships.