1 . Have you ever struggled to understand how someone else feels? Building up your empathy (同理心) skills helps you connect with your friends.     1    

What is empathy?

Empathy is a kind of capability that lets you step into someone else’s shoes and then figure out how they are feeling. For instance, if you can see your friend is upset after losing a football match and you support them by telling them some warm and motivating words, you are showing empathy. Miranda McKeamey set up an organization called EmpathyLab that builds empathy through reading.     2     “Empathy is a force for change,” she says.

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Scientists say empathy isn’t something you are born with, it’s a skill you can acquire through learning. One way you can do this is by active listening. When someone is talking to you, listen closely and respond in a way that shows you understand their situations and emotions thoroughly. Reading, advocated by EmpathyLab, is also a great way to boost empathy, since stories can take you inside someone else’s mind and show you the world through their eves and emotions.

Put empathy into action.

    4     This could mean trying out something that is important to a friend or family member, like exploring their favorite place. EmpathyLab advocated ideas for putting empathy into action in schools or at home. That might be connecting with someone new in your class and having a friendly conversation, or making small changes to your behaviour. All small acts of kindness to others can make a difference, which in turn will be copied by someone else.     5    

A．How can you have more empathy?

B．Who need empathy most in daily life?

C．Besides, it also spreads kindness and inspires them to do the same.

D．To find out more conducts you can do, log in EmpathyLab.UK.com.

E．Only by putting empathy into action can you relate to others’ bad lives.

F．She believes even small, supportive actions can have a positive impact.

G．Miranda recommends going into the thick of people’s lives to show empathy.

2 . Throughout history — and probably in your own life — you’ve seen examples of good and bad leaders. They can lift you up or drag you down, praise a group effort or promote themselves.

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Leadership is said to be an art.     2    . It truly takes practice to create a team atmosphere where people are happy, excited to come to work, and excited to do the work. Here are some of the most important tips to become a great leader.

Be transparent with your team

The higher up you go, the more secrecy there is.     3    . For example, you can include your team in decisions that directly affect them, ask them for feedback on plans or share important news before it becomes public.

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Being a leader isn’t just about checking off tasks and evaluating your team’s performance. Leaders should also make it their job to understand their teams as a whole, understand the people on their team as individuals, and put them in the right positions.

Seek guidance

    5    . And some leaders don’t even want to be leaders! If you find yourself unexpectedly in charge of a team, reach out to a boss you liked before and ask them for advice to guide you through this process.

A．Add value to your team

B．Study how your team works

C．But you can break that cycle of secrecy

D．It’s not something everyone can do well

E．Most leaders are not trained to be leaders

F．Put yourself in the position to do the kind of work you love

G．In short, leaders are often the difference between a great job and a terrible one

3 . Look up how to increase your life expectancy (预期寿命), and you will probably see plenty of results recommending that you have a healthy diet, get sufficient sleep, work out and cut out tobacco and too much alcohol consumption. But what many of us don’t know is that our relationships also affect our life expectancy. Social integration is associated with greater life satisfaction, better health and increased life expectancy. People with wide social networks are more likely to be happy, experience fewer health issues, enjoy better mental health and to live a lot longer.

Now this doesn’t mean that we should dive head first into a relationship whenever we’re lonely in order to avoid dying young. Harmful relationships can be as isolating as being alone, so who we choose to break bread with is absolutely vital to our overall health.

Have you ever wondered why some people are single and happy, while others are drowning in suffering? Or why some married couples exist in a consistent state of bliss, while others are practically enemies?

Research shows that marriage has greater benefits for men than it does for women. Being coupled allows men to receive the essential emotional support that they would lack if they were single. They also get the added benefit of being physically taken care of thanks to the gender roles society still subscribes to.

Women, on the other hand, don’t have as much luck when it comes to being coupled. A woman in a harmful relationship is likely to experience the mental, emotional and physical consequences that come with that. On the contrary, a woman in a healthy relationship is likely to live well. Research shows that the women who are happily married tend to be coupled with partners who take on their fair share of household responsibilities.

But that’s not all, age gaps also need to be factored in to determine relationship satisfaction. Couples with wider age gaps are more likely to be harmonious compared to their peers.

1. What does the writer intend to emphasize in Paragraph 1?

A．Some health problems.

B．Ways to increase life expectancy.

C．The effect of sleep on people’s health.

D．The importance of human relationships.

2. What does the underlined word “bliss” mean in Paragraph 3?

A．Happiness.	B．Kindness.
C．Loneliness.	D．Friendliness.

3. What can we learn from the research?

A．Marriage benefits men and women equally.

B．Women benefit more from marriage than men.

C．Men are better taken care of because of the gender roles.

D．Good relationship can effectively prevent people from dying lonely.

4. What would be probably discussed in the next paragraph of this passage?

A．The influence of a harmonious marriage.

B．Relationship satisfaction for older couples.

C．Gender differences in marriage satisfaction.

D．The benefits of wider age gaps in marriage.

4 . Having a good sense of humor makes you more enjoyable to be around.     1     . Here’s how you can develop your sense of humor.

●Surround Yourself with Humor

You learn more effectively when you fully expose yourself to a subject. Similarly, you can improve your sense of humor by surrounding yourself with humor. Watch stand-up comedians. Listen to programs that amuse you.Read humorous books.     2     .

●Learn What Amuses You

    3     . We amuse our friends by praising a change they made. However, when it comes to being funny, don’t change your sense of humor to amuse other people. Instead, start with what amuses you.Then, if you think the other person will also be amused with it, share it with them.

●Think About Timing and Audience

You don’t have to be funny all the time, so don’t expect that of yourself. When you catch yourself trying to be funny, slow down. Simply speak slower so you’re not as likely to stop and repeat yourself. Try speaking at 60-70 % of your usual rate.     4     .

●    5    

You don’t need to seize every single opportunity to be funny. If you’re in the middle of a bad joke, just end it. “You know what, now that I’m telling it, it’s not as funny as it sounded in my head,” can be a bit of an awkward end and hurt your pride a little bit, but it saves everyone time and patience. In the long run, they’ll respect your taste.

A．Be Creative, Not Silly

B．Pause in between sentences

C．There’s a lot of fun out there

D．You might also do better at work

E．Know When to Pull the Plug on Yourself

F．You can also try your hand in the real world

G．A lot of times, we say things purely to please others

6 . Many people have secrets or things about themselves they don’t want others to know. Those secrets can be something as simple as they have a new job or serious matters such as a divorce.     1    . But if you want someone to open up to you, building trust and showing that you can keep secrets may get them to tell you the secret.

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Have conversations with others that cover a range of meaningful topics. Talking about meaningful things to others can help them consciously connect positive feelings about you and make them more likely to open up to you.

Listen carefully

    3    . Refer to what they’ve said when you talk at other time, which shows that you are paying close attention to them and their needs. Besides, ask questions during the conversation, which can show that you’re listening closely to what they are saying.

Talk about yourself

Make sure to talk about yourself during your conversations.     4    . In turn, it will put them at ease and show that they can confide (倾诉) in and trust you. Sharing can really help establish a relationship of trust between people, especially if both individuals are comfortable to talk about themselves.

Be reliable

Make sure to be there and fulfil promises with your friends. This shows them that they can rely on you, including telling and keeping secrets. Follow up on any commitment you make to the best of your ability.     5    .

A．Chat online

B．Have meaningful conversations

C．You can’t share your friend’s secret with anyone

D．Getting someone to tell you their secrets can be difficult

E．Listen closely to what they are saying during your conversations

F．Give little bits of information about yourself as you feel comfortable

G．If you cannot keep your promise, explain the circumstances and then apologize

8 . People are taught how to speak, but good sentence structure and a wide range of vocabulary words won’t always lead to being understood or understanding others.    1    

The good news is that it’s never too late to learn how to communicate more effectively. The first step is to realize you’ re having communication issues.    2    The following is a list of the top three signs that you need to learn healthier communication skills.

You have the same fights over and over.

Your fights are about the same topic again and again. If this is happening, it means you don’t yet have the skills to resolve conflicts.    3    The fight may end, but it’s only a matter of time before you argue about the same thing again. When you learn how to resolve conflicts, issues don’t pile up or become baggage that weighs down your relationship.

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You don’t want to fight so you try not to bring up subjects that lead only to pain and disconnection. The problem is that avoiding them leads to pain and disconnection anyway. Unless you learn how to have hard conversations productively, you will get more and more disconnected until your relationship is in danger of ending.

You regularly feel misunderstood or unheard.

No matter how hard you try, you don’t feel understood. Perhaps your partner has expressed the same feeling.Over time the disconnected feeling does damage to your relationship. It’s important to learn how to communicate in a better way, so that both you and the other person feel heard and understood.    5    To be heard, your partner will need to learn how to listen. For you, to be able to hear your partner, you will need to do the same.

A．You avoid discussing certain topics.

B．You argue with your partners about some issues.

C．If you can’t resolve issues, they will continue to show up.

D．This requires more than just speaking to your partner or vice versa.

E．Then, you can learn how to communicate in a more productive way.

F．If you leave conflicts unsettled, you will feel disconnected and lonely.

G．Effective communication requires much more than being able to speak.

9 . My daughter Eve used to love the Lightning McQueen character from the film ‘Cars’. As a little baby she began to stop and smile every time she saw the character. She was happy when a relative bought her some ‘Cars’ toys.

I knew her interest in ‘Cars’ had disappeared recently; she’s developed new interests since starting school. But when I found myself in a hurry to buy juice cartons(盒装果汁), and the choice was between ‘Disney Princess’ or ‘Cars’ cartons, I took the ‘Cars’ ones.

The next morning she saw a carton go into her lunch bag and took it out. She said it embarrassed her. She told me it was because ‘Cars’ is ‘boyish’. When I said to her that I thought she liked ‘Cars’, she said, very quietly, “I do, but I don’t want anyone to know“. Eve says children should be able to like whatever they want to, but the pressure to behave ‘like a girl’ has got to her.

Children do understand the gendered messages they receive. They understand the gender rule ‘This is for boys and that is for girls, ‘in the same way as other kinds of social rules. The period between birth and age 7 is called The Imprint Period, because this is when children learn about everything around them. They accept much of it as true. It’s one of the reasons gender-stereotyped(性别刻板印象的)toys can be so damaging.

From the moment they are born, children are expected to live up to expectations of what it means to be a boy or a girl. It’s easy to see that they are influenced by the way toys are marketed. Children accept what their world tells them, so it’s necessary to change the harmful stereotypes they are being sold.

1. Why did the author buy ‘Cars’ cartons?

A．She chose them only out of habit.	B．She loved the characters in ‘Cars’.
C．She had no choice but to take them.	D．She tried to stimulate Eve’s interest.

2. Why did Eve take the carton out of her lunch bag?

A．She wanted it stored by her mother.	B．She disliked being the envy of others.
C．She lost interest in the ‘Cars’ carton.	D．She didn’t want to be laughed at by others.

3. What do kids tend to do during The Imprint Period?

A．They learn how to tell right from wrong.	B．They turn a blind eye to the surroundings.
C．They can be easily affected by social rules.	D．They care too much about others’ thoughts.

4. What would be the best title for the text?

A．Let Toys Be Toys	B．Girls Will Be Girls
C．Toys for Boys Only	D．Let Rules Be Rules