1 . As the concept of emotional intelligence (EI) has gone global, we’ve watched professionals fail as they try to improve their emotional intelligence because they either don’t know where to focus their efforts or they haven’t understood how to improve these skills on a practical level. In our work consulting with companies and coaching leaders, we have found that if you’re looking to develop particular EI strengths, it helps to consider areas for improvement others have identified along with the goals you want to achieve and then to actively build habits in those areas rather than simply relying on understanding them conceptually.
The first step is to get a sense of how your self-perception (how you see yourself) differs from your reputation (how others see you). This is especially true for the development of EI because we can be blind to how we express and read the emotional components of our interactions. For example, most of us think that we’re good listeners, but very often that’s really not the case. Without this external reality check, it will be difficult for you to identify the ways that your actions affect your performance. Getting teed back from others can also provide proof of the necessity of shifting our behavior and motivation to do so.
To give you the best sense of where the differences lie between your self-perception and reputation, you should use a 360-degree feedback assessment that takes into account the multiple aspects of EI. The key is to find one to give you feedback, which is focused on development and not on performance assessment. And that can give you a detailed understanding of how other people’s assessments of you differ from your own assessments.
Secondly, when you get your feedback from an assessment, let that inform what you want to improve. But also consider what your goals are. When it comes to cultivating strengths in emotional intelligence, you’re at a huge disadvantage if you’re only interested because others say you should be. Your emotional intelligence is so tied up in your sense of self that being intrinsically (内在的) motivated to make the effort matters more when changing longstanding habits than it does when simply learning a skill.
That means the areas that you choose to actively work on should lie at the intersection of the feedback you’ve gotten and the areas that are most important to your own aspirations (抱负). Understanding the influences of your current EI habits relative to your goals will keep you going over a long period at time as you do the work or strengthening your emotional intelligence.
1. What do we know from the first paragraph?| A．EI can be better improved with others’ help. |
| B．Leaders are badly in need of improving their EI. |
| C．EI plays a key role in professional development. |
| D．Professionals fail to understand the concepts of EI. |
| A．You help your siblings make a key decision. |
| B．Your career development speeds up with others’ help. |
| C．You reflected yourself and made a New Year resolution. |
| D．Your teacher directed you towards a better attitude in study. |
| A．To improve your EI, following your inner call is the most reliable. |
| B．It’s bard for others to know your EI because it hides deep inside. |
| C．To improve your EI, you should take your goals into consideration. |
| D．Acquiring a new skill is more significant than improving your EI. |
| A．Your inner self discourages you from improving your EI. |
| B．Effective EI development is determined by different factors. |
| C．The importance of performance assessment is underestimated. |
| D．EI development is unlikely to happen unless you know what EI is. |
2 . For years, David James, who studies insects at Washington State University, had wanted to examine the migration (迁徙)patterns of West Coast monarch butterflies (黑脉金斑蝶). The route the butterflies travel has been hardly known because the populations are too small to follow. For every 200 monarchs tagged (打标签)by a researcher, only one is usually recovered at the end of its trip, James says, and finding even 200 in the wild to tag is unlikely. Knowing the route is vital to conservation efforts, but James had no way to figure it out- until he got a phone call from Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.
The prison was looking for new activities to improve the mental health of those serving long-term sentences. So James began working with prisoners to raise monarchs through the whole process of their transformation. The adult insects were then tagged and released from the prison. Over five years, nearly 10, 000 monarchs flew from the facility. Elsewhere in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, researchers released another few thousand.
The tags included email addresses, and soon after the first butterflies took off, James started receiving messages from people who had spotted them. The butterflies, the reports confirmed, wintered in coastal California. Twelve of them landed at Lighthouse Field State Beach in Santa Cruz. Several more headed to Bolinas and Morro Bay.
The work helps researchers identify ideal places to plant milkweed and other vegetation that are important to the life cycle of West Coast monarch butterflies. It also brought out the gentler side of some of the prisoners. “They were very worried that they were going to harm the butterflies, ”James says. Watching the monarch change their form also touched the men. “This butterfly changed, ” James recalls prisoners telling him, “and maybe we can too. ”
1. What was hard for David to do in his study?| A．Gain financial support. | B．Hire qualified workers. |
| C．Build a new laboratory. | D．Find enough monarchs. |
| A．To guarantee their safety. |
| B．To enable them to fly longer distances. |
| C．To track their travel routes. |
| D．To distinguish them from other species. |
| A．The patience the butterflies showed. |
| B．The hardship the butterflies underwent. |
| C．The transformation of the butterflies. |
| D．The devotion of James to the butterflies. |
| A．The impact of the research. |
| B．The findings of James’ study. |
| C．The release of the prisoners. |
| D．The life cycle of the butterflies. |
3 . The Secure Child
By Stanley Greenspan, M.D. CHILD
Publisher: Da Capo Press; Reprint
Print list price: ₤ 5.99
Kindle price: ₤ 2. 99, save ₤3.00
In this book, Stanley Greenspan offers a set of guiding principles to help parents of children — from preschoolers to teenagers — so that they feel secure in their homes, their schools, and in the society at large. He also explains children’s behavior that signals reaction to stress and fears and gives parents concrete suggestions to help children handle their anxieties.
Building Healthy Minds
By Stanley Greenspan, M.D. &Nancy Lewis
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Print list price: ₤7.99
Kindle price: ₤ 4.49, save ₤3.50
The book applies Dr. Greenspan’s developmental theories to a child’s everyday life with practical, delightful observations and advice. Every parent wants to raise a bright, happy and moral child, but until Stanley Greenspan did much research on the building blocks of such qualities, no one could show parents how and when these qualities begin. In this book Dr. Greenspan identifies the six key experiences that make it possible for children to reach their full potential.
The Learning Tree
By Stanley Greenspan, M.D., Nancy Thorndike Greenspan
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Print list price: ₤11.99
Kindle price: ₤ 7. 99, save ₤4.00
Using the metaphor (隐喻) of a tree, Dr. Stanley Greenspan explains that the roots represent how children take in the world through what they hear, see, smell, and touch. The trunk represents thinking skills through which children grow both academically and socially. The branches — children’s basic abilities to read, write, do math, and organize their work. Both parents and early learning professionals will especially welcome the part on finding and dealing with learning problems early.
The Challenging Child
By Stanley Greenspan, M.D. &Jacqueline Salmon
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Print list price: ₤ 5. 99
Kindle price: ₤ 4. 24, save ₤1.75
Most children fall into five basic types that come from inborn physical characteristics: the sensitive child, the self-absorbed child, the defiant (反叛的) child, the inattentive child, and the active / aggressive child. Stanley Greenspan, M. D., is the first to show parents how to match their parenting to the challenges of their particular child.
1. Which book saves the most on its Kindle edition?| A．The Challenging Child. | B．The Learning Tree |
| C．Building Healthy Minds. | D．The Secure Child. |
| A．The types of children. | B．Children’s learning abilities. |
| C．Advice on educating children. | D．Children’s moral development. |
| A．He wrote the four books on his own. | B．He has been working in Da Capo Press. |
| C．He’s the first to study children’s types. | D．He wrote Building Healthy Minds based on his study. |
4 . My hands were shaking uncontrollably. I tried incredibly hard to focus on the words that I spent hours putting down on paper. I tried to conquer my fear of speaking in public on numerous occasions throughout my life. During college and at my first few jobs, I would get ridiculously nervous when I had to give a presentation or lead a meeting. Public speaking had been my nemesis for as long as I could remember.
Then in my mid-thirties, I decided to join the public speaking group Toastmasters. At every meeting, we were rated and forced to compete with other speakers for an award. You would think that I would walk away from these experiences as a polished speaker, but nothing seemed to work.
It wasn’t until recently, when science and scientific institutions were being attacked for unfair reasons during the pandemic, that I decided I must speak out. Science has made this country a place where dreams come true — this is why we all need to protect science. In addition, as a science writer, I try to get readers to understand how science is related to their daily lives.
So I ended up on that frightening stage on that sunny Saturday in April — Earth Day. Despite the body shakes and fear, I persevered. That day, I looked out into the crowd of like-minded science supporters and I felt comfort.
Reaching that milestone goal of getting through a speech truly changed me. At almost forty, I learned that passion can set off a flame in my heart to do things I never dreamed possible. The darkness that led to my speech is sure to lead to new opportunities and adventures.
1. Which of the following can replace the underlined word “nemesis” in Para. 1?| A．Strength. | B．Confusion | C．Preference. | D．Struggles. |
| A．Things got worse for him. | B．Nervousness remained with him. |
| C．He became a polished writer. | D．He began to feel more competitive. |
| A．He must rise up to defend science. |
| B．It was a good chance to learn science. |
| C．It was a project organized by Toastmasters. |
| D．He couldn’t have people attacking his fellow scientists. |
| A．Frustration can be a stepping stone to success. |
| B．Love motivates us to achieve the unachievable. |
| C．Science can lead us to make wonderful changes. |
| D．Any difficulty can be overcome with great effort. |
5 . Your children are watching you.
Let your children see you taking care of your own physical health by eating fruit and vegetables. Talk to them about healthy habits in appropriate terms and at a proper time.
| A．Don’t get rid of technology, but use it wisely. |
| B．Take part in physical activities and exercise regularly. |
| C．Be enthusiastic about developing healthy habits of your own. |
| D．Your actions are speaking to them louder than your words will. |
| E．Children prefer to imitate their parents rather than listen to them. |
| F．This can be helpful to teach your children to form good eating habits. |
| G．It’s easy for the children to form their healthy habits when they are young. |
