1 . What is empathy?

Empathy is the ability to share and understand the feelings or emotions of others.

Types of empathy

There are three different ways to think of empathy. First, there is affective empathy. This is the ability to share the emotions of others. For example, someone watching a scary movie may feel scared when a character is scared. Second, there is cognitive empathy. This is the ability to understand the feelings of others. A good example is a counselor. Counselors may understand that someone they are speaking to is sad, but that does not mean the counselor becomes sad. Finally, there is emotional regulation.     1    . For example, doctors need to control their emotions when doing surgery on a patient. They cannot be afraid of hurting them or sad for them because they are sick.

Depending on the situation

    2     . It may not always be positive. For example, strong positive empathy feelings for members of our own family might lead to negative emotions like hate toward those we see as a threat.     3    . For instance, people might feel more empathy for people who look or act like them. People who are good at reading others’ emotions might also trick other people for their own benefit.

Measuring stick

    4     . These typically ask people to tell how much they agree with certain statements. They might say they strongly agree or they disagree. One statement might be, “It affects me very much when one of my friends is upset.” This would measure how much affective empathy someone normally feels.

Our brain has evolved to be able to quickly change under different circumstances.     5     . It can help us to understand others so we can help them. Sometimes, though, we need to be able to switch off our empathetic feelings to protect our own lives and those of others.

2 . I have just finished my years in Colmar, in eastern France. I _________ in Leeds, a large city in the U.K.! I was _________ in Chester. I had lived there until I went to university.

I _________ in a secondary school in Colmar. I taught English to several classes and over a year I grew quite attached to my _________. I enjoyed preparing lessons that they would _________ and games that would make them laugh. Telling each class that it was my last lesson with them was _________ painful. It is likely that I will _________ see most of these students again. I didn’t want to _________ this beautiful town, nor lovely colleagues （同事） and students behind.

I attended university in Leeds. I _________ a house with six other people—it was great fun and I have some __________ memories of our time together. Within just two years, Leeds became my second __________. I knew where to go for many kinds of things, the nice places to eat and who I could turn to for help. It was a(n) __________ to leave the city.

Last but not least, I must mention Chester. I am __________ to have a group of friends from secondary school there. We still meet up when we’re back in Chester. Being in Chester also       ________ spending time with my family.

I no longer know which place to call home. However, when I’m in one place, I will __________ the other two — which makes me quite sad.

I have a crush (喜欢) on a girl in my class, but I haven’t told her. I know being at high school isn’t the best time to start a relationship, but I can’t_________ myself.

Li

Being a(n)_________is normally the time when we begin to think about_________,   and everyone always remembers their first_________.

However, there are a few things you should_________.

First, you must remember that a senior student’s top priority is to study as _________as possible. This means that if two students were to_________a relationship with one another, they may get distracted (分散注意力) from their _________.

And _________it might be nice to have a boyfriend or girlfriend to __________your life with, high school relationships don’t normally__________forever—your final grade will, __________

Second, you should consider your school’s __________. Many schools don’t allow their students to have relationships, so keep that in__________.

That said, there’s no__________that you can’t make friends with a person you have a crush on. __________, the other girl or boy may not even feel the same way about you—but that doesn’t mean you can’t be good__________.

In the meantime, __________on your studies more than your love life—at least until you graduate from senior high school.

It may seem like you have no__________to do what you want right now. But once all the hard work of being a senior is over, you'll be free to__________whoever you like.

Dale