3 . Clothes play a critical part in the conclusions we reach by providing clues to who people are, who they are not, and who they would like to be. They tell us a good deal about the wearer’s background, personality, status, mood, and social outlook.

Since clothes are such an important source of social information, we can use them to _______ people’s impression of us. Our appearance _______ particular significance in the original phases of interaction that is likely to occur. An elderly middle - class man or woman may be alienated (疏远) by a young adult who is dressed in an unconventional manner, _______ the person’s education, background, or interests.

People tend to _______ what certain types of clothes mean. Adolescent girls can easily agree on the _______ of girls who wear certain outfits, including the number of boyfriends they likely have had and whether they drive or drink. Newscasters, or the announcers who read the news on TV, are considered to be more convincing, honest, and _______ when they are dressed conservatively. And college students who view themselves as taking an active role in their interpersonal relationships say they are concerned about the _______ they must wear to play these roles successfully. _______, many of us can relate instances in which the clothing we wore changed the way we felt about ourselves and how we acted. Perhaps you have used clothing to gain confidence when you _______ a stressful situation, such as a job interview, or a court appearance.

In the workplace, men have long had ________ dress code and role models for achieving success. It had been otherwise for women. A good many women in the business world ________ the appropriate mixture of “masculine” and “feminine” (女性气质的) attributes they should convey by their professional clothing. The variety of clothing alternatives to women has also been more ________ than that available for men. Male administrators tend to judge women more ________ for managerial positions when the women display less “feminine” grooming - shorter hair, ________ use of make - up, and plain tailored clothing. As one male administrator confessed, “An attractive women is definitely going to get a longer interview, but she won’t ________ the job.” We need a change in this regard.

The United States is committed to empowering women all over the world. In too many places around the world today women face barriers to equality, resources, and opportunities, said USAID’s Senior official Michelle Bekkering. It could be a barrier to credit, to the     1     needed to launch a business. And all too frequently, women are tied down by gender-based violence, at home or within the community.

“Gender-based violence harms women, girls, their families, communities and countries,” added Bekkering.

Gender-based violence, is a universal barrier to global security, women’s empowerment, and economic growth. It is estimated right now that gender-based violence has     2     the world more than five percent of its global GDP, having a greater total economic impact than war.

USAID is trying to eliminate it through prevention and response. On prevention, we first need to learn what’s causing the problem,     3     if there are too many such severe incidents within a given region. How do natural disasters compound gender-based violence? What about lack of access to natural resources? What is the     4     of local laws?

As part of a     5    , we look at the regulatory framework, make sure there are laws that clearly define and punish offenders of gender-based violence.

Improving girls’ education is a step in the right direction, said Ms. Bekkering. For every    6     year that a girl goes to school, she is less likely to be a victim of gender-based violence. So is improving women’s access to digital technologies, and     7     support from local leadership.

U.S. Congress appropriates (拨款) a combined 150 million dollars to the State Department and to USAID for the global effort to     8     gender-based violence. It also provides money for combating child, early, and     9     marriage, which are closely linked to gender-based violence. Since 2012, USAID has provided critical services to over five million survivors and persons at risk of GBV.

Women and girls should be safe from the     10     of violence in their homes, in their communities, and they should have access to education and health care—and opportunities to live up to their full economic potential.

7 . Why You Won’t Apologize

In our relationships with others, it’s inevitable that we’ll hurt people from time to time, even though, in some cases, we don’t mean to.     1     Research shows what those with high levels of social intelligence already know — sincere apologies are usually very effective at mending relationships that have been damaged by thoughtless acts. But all too often, we stubbornly refuse to apologize, even when we know we’re in the wrong.

An apology is an attempt to repair the damage we’ve done to a relationship. To do this，we need to imagine ourselves to be in the victim’s position and to show empathy (共情) for the pain we have caused the victim. Some researches have indicated that people with the personality of narcissism (自恋) generally see no need to apologize when they have wronged another person.     2     When our friend points out that we’ve offended them, it’s easy to recall plenty of instances when they’d also hurt our feelings—so what are they getting so upset about?

We all want to believe we’re essentially good people. Accepting the fact that we’ve hurt someone we care about conflicts with our precious self-image. People who believe that personality is fixed are especially easily affected by the idea that an act of apology is a threat to their self-image. If personal characteristics stay the same, then, of course, hurting someone they care about is inconsistent (不一致) with their self-image as an essentially good person. In reality, of course, even good people sometimes do bad things.     3    

Sometimes people don’t apologize because they don’t believe it will do any good. This could come from the belief that some mistakes are unforgivable.     4     Your sincere apology doesn’t mean the victim ought to forgive you right away. It may still take time, but at least the act of making an apology gets the process of forgiveness started.

Building Trust in Virtual Environments

Research into the science behind human communication tells us that up to 90 percent of what we tell one another is nonverbal. It’s the countless eye, facial and body movements we flash one another that help us understand someone’s intention and determine if we should trust them.

The challenge we all face is figuring out ways to build trust in virtual environments. Sure, we have some interactions on videoconferences, but the physical cues (暗示) we’ve become accustomed to reacting to are restricted and masked. This is forcing us to develop new ways to trust one another. Good leaders are working to engineer those opportunities to build trust in their now virtual teams.

There are lessons we can learn from global multinational companies that have figured out how to make virtual relationships work over the past few decades. If you have vital business partners, or even employees working overseas, you have, at best, limited opportunities to meet them in person. What these companies have learned is that actions speak louder than words, and people base a simple analysis of trustworthiness on delivering on commitments. People that do are trustworthy; people that don’t aren’t.

When you hire virtual workers and get a new virtual team member, there is the question of whether someone has the background and experience they claim to have. That means we all need to lean on tools and techniques to help certify (证实) someone’s background. Some companies have built talent databases in which people can search their teammates and confirm their impressive backgrounds. Knowing that you are working with a certified superstar builds trust.

Finding ways to get someone to prove their trustworthiness by doing what they say they will and backing up their claims of experience will go a long way in helping you adapt to the new reality that we work in.

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9 . The Truth Is Out

Human beings are not born liars, but the moment we can form complete sentences we begin lying to protect the feelings of others, to avoid punishment and conflict, and, most frequently, because lying gives advantages the truth wouldn’t provide. Lying gets results.

One study by Bella DePaulo, a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, found lies played a part in 30-38 percent of people’s social interactions. Socially skillful people told a lot more lies than their more awkward coworkers.     1    

Nowhere is this more obvious than on the singles scene. First dates have always involved a certain amount of self-boast, but some singles now regard out-and-out deceit (欺骗) as a reasonable strategy.

Experts believe that increased competition and the higher expectations among singles, along with the popularity of Internet dating, are encouraging outbreaks of deceitfulness. The problem is that many singles are presenting images of themselves that are impossible to live up to, and costing their already limited chances of long-term love in the process.     2    

Of course, long-term lovers aren’t immune (不受影响) to the conflict-avoiding, problem-burying lie either. Once again, a pleasant singles scene coupled with unrealistic expectations has put new pressure on less-than-faultless relationships and tempted many into more serious deception. A study last year by Cahoot found that a majority of partners lie to each other about their personal financial situation. Other studies have found that women appreciate wise lies about their weight or looks.

    3     In this context, might a policy of honesty at all costs upset the delicate balance of deceit that we’ve involved in by chance over the past few years? Could lying, as some people suggest, be little more than the latest social art?

Possibly. After all, few of us feel that lying is wrong any more.     4     But then that, of course, is the real issue. We might be great and frequent liars these days, but we’re not any better at recovering or forgiving, if we discover that we’ve been lied to.