2 . Miscommunications can sometimes be funny, however, most of time you will feel frustrated or upset. Put some efforts into your conversations, and you can lower your risk of miscommunicating.

    1     Thinking about your words allows you to organize your thoughts and prepare to say something meaningful. Especially if you’re about to have an important conversation, make sure your words are organized so that you can say what you mean.

Get people’s attention. It means making sure they are listening to and understanding the words you say. Make eye contact and check to make sure they are listening. If the other person is distracted or in the middle of doing something else, say that you’ll talk later when he or she is more available.     2    

Listen closely.     3     Instead of trying to think about what they will say next, just stay engaged with the person who is speaking.     4     One of the best ways to do this is through actively listening. Turn your body toward them and lean in. Don’t turn to distractions, like cell phones.

Avoid interrupting. If someone else is speaking, do your best not to interrupt them.     5    This shows that you’re listening and you care about what they are saying. If you tend to interrupt people often, they may feel frustrated in talking to you and may not communicate all they wish to say.

3 . Meeting people is the first step to make friends.     1     Here are some useful tips.

Small talk can make people feel false and meaningless.     2     By making small talk, you show that you’re friendly and open to communicating. In that way, small talk helps you to make the first connection with potential (潜在的) new friends. If someone doesn’t make any small talk, we might think that they don’t want to make friends with us, that they don’t like us, or that they’re in a bad mood.

    3    

When you talk to someone new and realize that you have similar interests, the conversation usually goes from stiff (生硬的) to fun and interesting. Therefore, make it a habit to find out if you have any mutual interests or something in common. You can do this by mentioning things that interest you and seeing how they answer.

Don’t judge people too quickly. Try not to think that they are shallow (肤浅的), boring, or that you have nothing to talk about. If everyone seems uninterested, it might be because you have been in small talk.     4    

When you try to make people like you, it will become easier for you to make friends.     5     If we are with someone with a positive experience, we like that person more.

5 . Being a good listener is important for a number of reasons. When you are at work, it can make you better understand your tasks and what your boss expects from you.     1     You can see the world through the eyes of others.

• Give the speaker your full attention,     3     Once you talk face to face, you need to keep your mind quiet, and pay attention to what the other person is saying.

• Don’t cut in. Many people have a habit of cutting in and giving out quick opinions before people finish what they are speaking. That’s impolite.     4    .

•    5     Not everyone is a talented speaker. Some people take longer time to share their points.“ It sounds great!” “What happened next?” These are useful for keeping the sharing going on.

It takes time to be a good listener. You can’t be perfect at one night. Keep trying every day to put the above advice into practice.

8 . Due to social events in recent years, the relationship between social media and teenagers mental health has been under heated discussion.

On Sept 30, a British court decided that content on social media platforms contributed to the depression of 14-year-old Molly Russell. Russell interacted with 2,100 posts related to pessimistic, self-harm in the six months, leading up to her depression, reported the Observer website.

The correlation has also been proved by science. A study in 2019 showed that the frequent use of social media by teenagers can lead to a decrease in their mental health.

So, how can we make sure that teenagers won’t get hurt while using social media? Chan, 18, from the University of Macao shared her experience. Chan said that she once came across short videos romanticizing mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety. She immediately reported them to the platform.

But she said that the users’ power to regulate videos is still limited. “It is ultimately the responsibility of the social media platforms to filter out content that is potentially harmful.” She also noticed that the age of social media users has become increasingly younger. Society should pay attention to this, she said. “Since it’s not possible to cut off access to social media for younger users, why not introduce a ‘supervision mode’ with which parents can regulate the content to be viewed by teenagers beforehand?” she said.

Wu Chengyu, 18, studies at Tianjin Experimental High School. He said that several years ago he came across a game that lures teenagers to self-abuse and depression. He quickly chose to ignore it so he wouldn’t be influenced. This is the same way he reacts when exposed to negative content on social media.

In Wu’s opinion, teenagers today should improve their social media literacy(素养), telling real from fake and good from bad. “Also, everyone can be a content creator on social media.” he said, “We should all strengthen our awareness of ethics”.