1 . While everyone’s image of their dream home looks a little different, most people will agree that their ideal neighbourhood is filled with friendly faces. Getting to know your neighbours takes time and effort.     1    

Nick Tebbey, national executive officer of Relationships Australia, says spring is the perfect season to start getting to know your neighbours. “When the weather starts warming up we’re all spending more time outdoors.” It makes sense that the best way to get to know a neighbour is to first make sure they actually know you’re neighbours.     2    “ There are always opportunities to make a connection and they can be as small as a nod,a wave or a friendly good day,” says Tebbey.

To put yourself in the way of these opportunities, Tebbey suggests timing your outings to take place“when other people are out and about as well”. When it comes to actually introducing yourself to your neighbours, Tebbey notes it’s important to do what feels comfortable, whether that’s leaving a note on a building notice board or chatting to someone while you wait for the elevator.    3    

Once you’ve introduced yourself to a neighbor, you can start conversations.     4    “ If they’re gardening, ask what they’re planting–be interested in what people share.”Tebbey says. And once someone tells you their dog’s name or where they’re about to go on holiday, try your best to keep that in mind so you can continue the conversation next time you cross paths.

“It’s not about grand gestures or sharing everything about yourself with your neighbours.     5    ” Tebbey says.“ It’s small but meaningful interactions and taking interest in each other’s lives,but without any sense of expectation.”

A．In fact, it’s almost the opposite.

B．It doesn’t have to require a lot of effort.

C．It’s vital to ask questions and remember people’s answers.

D．However, it can potentially be easier than you may expect.

E．Should you start to feel uncomfortable, you could invite another.

F．And the easiest way to do that is with short, repeated interactions.

G．The less anxiety you feel, the more likely you are to commit to them.

2 . How to Improve Your Communication Skills

If you feel like you lack the basic skills required for good communication, there are a number of reliable ways to improve. Here are a few tips:

    1    Effective communicators are always good listeners. Active listening means engaging with what people say by giving positive replies and asking follow-up questions to show that you are paying attention.

Focus on nonverbal communication. Mastering nonverbal signals can help prevent miscommunication and signal interest to those around you.    2    Your nonverbal signals affect the first impression you make on someone. Maintaining eye contact, limiting hand gestures, and having good posture go a long way when meeting someone for the first time.

Manage your own emotions. For clear communication and your own personal well-being, it’s important to manage your emotions and express them appropriately in context.    3    

Practice public speaking.    4    However, there’s no better way to develop good communication skills than by seeking out public speaking opportunities. Great communicators are able to clearly express their feelings, whether they’re speaking to a large group or talking face-to-face to one other person. Regularly speaking in front of a group will help you find your strengths and weaknesses and force you to develop great communication habits.

Ask for feedback. There’s no shame in asking for honest feedback on your communication skills from people around you.    5    

A．Practice active listening.

B．Develop communication skills.

C．Public speaking may sound frightening.

D．Know what’s appropriate to express when speaking publicly.

E．Turn to them for advice on improving your communication skills.

F．Showing strong emotions can lead to poor communication and conflict.

G．Pay attention to your facial expressions and body language when speaking with someone.

3 . As a young child, I was painfully shy. I’d watch other children play in the park, wishing I could join them, but I was too scared to approach. Eventually, my mother would come to the rescue. She’d ask the other kids if I could play, too. Today, I feel comfortable giving public lectures in large halls and having conversations in small groups, but I still tend to avoid situations in which I’m expected to spend time with a roomful of strangers.

There could be many reasons. For one thing, I might be carrying some childhood fear of rejection. But beyond that possibility, one likely element is that I tend to underestimate how much people like me after I meet them, as most of us do.

A new research paper reports that the common concern that new people may not like us, or that they may not enjoy our company, is largely unfounded.

Erica Boothby of Cornell University and her colleagues conducted a series of studies to find out what our conversation partners really think of us. In doing so, they discovered a new cognitive illusion (认知错觉) they call “the liking gap”: our failure to realize how much strangers appreciate our company after a bit of conversation.

The researchers observed the gap in a variety of situations: strangers getting acquainted in the research laboratory, first-year college students getting to know their dormitory mates over the course of many months, and community members meeting fellow participants in personal development workshops. In each circumstance, people consistently underestimated how much others liked them. For much of the academic year, as dormitory mates got to know each other and even started to develop enduring friendships, the liking gap persisted.

The data also revealed some of the potential reasons for the illusion: we are often more severe with ourselves than with others, and our inner critic prevents us from appreciating how positively other people evaluate us. Not knowing what our conversation partners really think of us, we use our own thoughts as a proxy (代理人). This is a mistake, because our thoughts tend to be more negative than reality.

1. Why does the author mention his childhood experience?

A．To show how his character changed.

B．To explain what he was like when he was young.

C．To show an example of why people are shy of communication.

D．To emphasize the important role of a mother in one’s childhood.

2. What does the underlined word “unfounded” probably mean?

A．Careless.

B．Baseless.

C．Selfless.

D．Meaningless.

3. What do we know about the liking gap from the text?

A．It indicates what strangers really think of us.

B．It begins and ends quickly among strangers.

C．It disappears when strangers get to know each other.

D．It states our misunderstanding of how much others like us.

4. Which of the following is the best title for this text?

A．People Like You More than You Know

B．How to Get Along Well with Strangers

C．The Way to Know What Others Think of Us

D．Having Conversations with Strangers Benefits Us

4 . You’ve reached that special time — you are getting ready to leave your job and move on to the next step in your career. But the end of an employment relationship is not necessarily the end of the relationship — with either the leader or the company.     1    

I learned this relatively early in my career. At first, I was concerned I might lose my relationship with my now former boss, as I truly liked him.    2    My boss enthusiastically stayed in touch with me, and I helped him onboard my replacement and consulted on other projects. And now, more than 2 decades since I left, we are still in communication and friends.

That isn’t to say it always goes like this. When I left another role, in spite of my desire to maintain communication, my former supervisor seemed indifferent and the relationship ended. Sometimes your boss was a nightmare and you want to end the relationship.     3     You don’t owe the bad bosses anything. That’s exactly what I did when I was fired from a freelance role after I asked to be paid for my completed work!

But for the good bosses and organizations, the ones that invested in your talent and celebrated your achievements, things are different.     4     The breakup can become a breakthrough.

    5     Especially when you have a truly delightful and respectful boss, you may feel guilt, sadness, or regret. But your overall responsibility is to yourself and your career — not to one organization. And given the right circumstances, it is almost always possible — and usually beneficial — to leave gracefully.

A．But it turned out I had no reason to fear.

B．So the way I left contributed to this breakup.

C．It’s completely understandable not to engage further.

D．It is normal to have mixed emotions when you leave a job.

E．Here are some ways to build a win-win with your former leader.

F．The concusion of the employment can start a new era of cooperation.

G．You can leave your company and keep the relationship at the same time.

5 . When romantic partners argue over things like finances, jealousy, or other interpersonal issues, they tend to employ their current feelings as fuel for a heated argument. But thinking about the future helps overcome relationship conflicts, according to a University of Waterloo study just published online in Social Psychological and Personality Science. Alex Huynh, a doctoral candidate in psychology is the lead author of the study, which he published with Igor Grossmann from the University of Waterloo, and Daniel Yang from Yale University.

Previous research has shown that third-perspective reasoning can be a positive strategy for reconciliation (调解) of interpersonal struggles. Huynh and his collaborators investigated whether similar benefit can be induced by simply thinking about the future. Study participants were instructed to reflect on a recent conflict with a romantic partner or a close friend. One group of participants were then asked to describe how they would feel about the conflict one year in the future, while another group was asked to describe how they feel in the present.

The team examined participants’ written responses through a text-analysis program for their use of pronouns — such as I, me, she, he. These choices of pronouns were used to capture participants’ focus on the feelings and behaviour of those involved in the conflict. Written responses were also examined for forgiveness and reinterpreting the conflict more positively, both of which implied the participants’ use of reasoning strategies.

The researchers found that envisioning future relationship affected both participants’ focus on their feelings, and their reasoning strategies. As a result, participants reported more positivity about their relationship altogether, especially when study participants extended their thinking about the relationship a year into the future.

“Our study demonstrates that adopting a future-oriented perspective in the context of a relationship conflict — reflecting on how one might feel a year from now — may be a valuable coping tool for one’s psychological happiness and relationship well-being,” said Huynh.

1. What do romantic partners do in face of most disagreements?

A．They lose faith in their future.	B．They focus on their present feelings.
C．They look forward to a fierce conflict.	D．They care more about financial problems.

2. What does the underlined word “induced” in Paragraph 2 most probably mean？

A．Caused.	B．Explained.
C．Reduced.	D．Improved.

3. What do we know about the study?

A．All the study participants described how they felt both in the present and in the future.

B．Study participants described their recent relationship with their romantic partners or friends.

C．A text-analysis program was employed to examine participants’ use of negative words.

D．The reasoning strategies in participants’ written responses were well worthy of note.

4. What can be the best title of the text?

A．You have a year to solve your interpersonal problems!

B．Thinking about future is essential for relationship maintenance!

C．Your current feelings are the real cause of your heated arguments!

D．Beneficial reasoning is a positive strategy for reconciliation!

6 . “I’m sorry” are two very important words that play a big part in daily life. You might apologize while squeezing through a crowd or using the last of the printer paper at work. It’s easy to say “I’m sorry”, but true apologies are a different story.    1     Or you may wonder how to properly demand an apology if the other person is at fault? With the following tips, you’ll find these are not hard.

Apologize sincerely. A genuine apology can help repair your relationship, and even your reputation—you’re showing that you can be trusted to do what’s right. But your relationship will remain tense if your apology seems casual.    2    

Apply specific principles. A meaningful apology comes down to the three R’s- regret, responsibility and remedy (补救办法). Firstly, communicate your regret. Show the other person you have recognized your error and can relate to his/her pain. Then take complete responsibility.    3     Lastly, show that you’re working to improve the situation. Offer to make up for the harm you caused or promise you wouldn’t repeat it again.

    4    If you’re the offended (冒犯) party, describe what’s changed in the relationship and your true feeling. For example, you could say, “Although there’s a disagreement between you and me, I want us to be friends again. But I’ve been hurt, and I’d like an apology. I need you to acknowledge what you’ve done.”

Don’t expect immediate forgiveness. Most people hope for immediate forgiveness while apologizing, but that may mean you don’t respect the others’ emotions and all you care about is yourself.    5    After all, they were hurt and it would take them a while to recover.

A．Ask for an apology if necessary.

B．Don’t make excuses or blame the victim.

C．Say sorry first if both parties are at fault.

D．So you have to be truly willing to apologize.

E．You should make sure your words are acceptable.

F．So give them some time to come out of the pain after your apology.

G．You may have trouble finding the right way to send meaningful apologies.

7 . The most popular course at Yale is Psych 157: Psychology and the Good Life, covering the science of happiness and how to apply it. Since its launch in 2018 by Professor Laurie Santos, the course has been taken by a quarter of Yale students and more than 200,000 others in its online version.     1    

When chasing happiness, many of us are trying to be a little gentler with ourselves and assigning a priority to self-care. That’s a sensible strategy, Santos agrees. The trouble is how people understand self-care. We assume that self-care looks like a nice bubble bath - or even selfish pursuits.     2     We actually get more out of being more open, more social and more other-oriented (以他人为中心的) than spending money on ourselves.

Santos isn’t the only scientist insisting that you focus more on kindness to others than kindness to yourself. Research out of Oxford University confirms that even tiny acts of kindness can have significant effects on our happiness.     3     They boost mental well-being in the wider community. If you want to stay happy, focus less on self-indulgence (自我放纵) and more on kindness.

    4     Everyone has made a silly decision or two. I myself have lived and learned from more than a few. It’s not the mistakes that matter. It’s how we deal with them. What we can do is to learn from the poor choices, terrible ideas and bad decisions of the past and not repeat them. We can also learn from the mistakes of others and avoid them.     5     And we can make all the bumps and bruises (磕磕碰碰) count for something.

A．Apparently, we all have a thirst for happiness.

B．Self-care is the foundation for caring about others.

C．Finally, to pursue happiness, learn from mistakes.

D．Getting them down on paper will help us avoid mistakes.

E．And other studies show small acts of kindness can spread out.

F．Therefore, we can save the unavoidable pain in life for what’s worthwhile.

G．But data suggest the right way to treat ourselves would be to do nice things for others.

8 . Internal communication, also known as IC, refers to a group of processes responsible for effective circulation of message within an organization. These messages are information that is valuable to the organization and are supposed to be kept confidential(机密的). The means of transferring this information is often done through emails, letters, notice boards, and even with the help of social media like Skype, Zoom, and Google Meet, in the current times.

Honest internal communication is the healthiest way to keep your organization growing. With honesty around the workplace, it is a safer environment for the employees to voice their opinions which could help in the modification of a certain operation that might have been outdated. Other than changes, not opening up to your colleagues can result in frustration and give rise to “gossip culture” at the workplace. When information is not passed out with lucidity, not only does the quality of work get affected but it also gives rise to questioning the worth of the time spent in the company.

An atmosphere of honesty also encourages growth in responsibility, leadership, and self-accountability. If the CEO of a company voices the shortcomings of his team in a respectful manner, it would bring room for each and every employee to take it on a positive note and bring around the change for the one common goal of development of the company that they are working for. This brings a lot of change in the attitude of every individual employee since they start seeing the company that they are working for as an asset that they cherish (珍爱) dearly.

In a workplace, things go both wrong and right, so it is important to both appreciate and criticize when such situations occur from the end of both the leadership and the employees. The positives should be celebrated while the negatives should be taken as positive criticisms that could help the company grow into something better. The main goal of unity and development should always be kept in mind.

1. Which is considered one main character of IC?

A．It comes with the times of social media.	B．It exists within the leadership of a company.
C．It is often kept secret within an organization.	D．It needs a long and difficult process in most cases.

2. What does the underlined word “lucidity” in paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．Clearness.

B．Appreciation.

C．Authority.

D．Assistance.

3. What is the third paragraph mainly about?

A．The main responsibilities of the CEO.	B．The importance of unity for a company.
C．The advantage of a powerful leadership.	D．The role of an honest leadership in a company.

4. What does the author suggest to us in a workplace in the last paragraph?

A．Communicating both the positives and the negatives.

B．Taking responsibilities bravely for our mistakes.

C．Trying all possible means to avoid the negatives.

D．Strengthening unity mainly among the employees.

9 . We moved into a new neighborhood in 1990, Andy was pretty much the first person we ________. He came across the street to ________ us. Having lived there since 1967, he was warm and kind, full of ________. He would introduce to us which bakery for cakes, which store for shopping and ________ the occupations of everyone around us.

Andy would proudly and regularly ________ his veteran (老兵) cap and play music while doing yard work. ________ anything, though, he delighted in talking about our kids as much as about his. We watched out for each other. He would ________ our vegetable gardens when we went on vacation; we gave him some of our ________ in return. Andy and I would also complain about the big trucks that used our streets as a shortcut. As more time went by, we didn’t see him out ________ his small dog as often due to his ________ problem, and we’d help with clearing the ________ in the winter. Those ties continued with time passing by.

But the real ________ of our neighborhoods is their people — an Andy, or, in some cases, many Andys. Our neighborhoods are built on them, and ________ by their emotional ties. We are better for their ________, and worse for their absence.

Andy died this month. I will miss him, more than he ________.

1.

A．met

B．recalled

C．thanked

D．admired

2.

A．treat

B．greet

C．criticize

D．comfort

3.

A．happiness

B．energy

C．knowledge

D．information

4.

A．still

B．even

C．ever

D．never

5.

A．wear

B．exhibit

C．wave

D．hold

6.

A．Different than

B．More than

C．Because of

D．Instead of

7.

A．do damage to

B．stare at

C．sit around

D．keep an eye on

8.

A．produce

B．crafts

C．cakes

D．money

9.

A．selling

B．feeding

C．walking

D．chasing

10.

A．health

B．financial

C．political

D．marriage

11.

A．rubbish

B．smog

C．snow

D．dirt

12.

A．welfare

B．influence

C．tie

D．faith

13.

A．prevented

B．separated

C．widened

D．strengthened

14.

A．interruption

B．performance

C．situation

D．presence

15.

A．evaluates

B．knows

C．forgets

D．regrets