2 . For 85 years, the Harvard Study of Adult Development has tracked an original group of 724 men and more than 1,300 of their male and female descendants (后代) over three generations, asking thousands of questions and taking hundreds of measurements to find out what really keeps people healthy and happy.

Through all the years of studying these lives, one crucial factor stands out for the consistency and power of its bond to physical health, mental health and longevity: good relationships.

In 2008, researchers telephoned the wives and husbands of Harvard Study couples in their 80s every night for eight nights. Researchers spoke to each partner separately and asked them a series of questions about their days.

On days when these men and women spent more time in the company of others, they were happier. Like most older people, those in the Harvard Study experienced day-to-day rises and falls in their levels of physical pain and health difficulties. But researchers found that the people who were in more satisfying relationships were cushioned (缓冲) somewhat from these ups and downs of mood—their happiness did not decline as much on the days when they had more pain. Simply put, their happy marriages seemed to have a protective effect.

Elizabeth Gillespie, a therapist of couples, stated that although most of us found that our experience of relationships might be hard, and at times, impossible, it is essential to our well-being.

Today we live in much more complicated environments, so meeting our social needs presents different challenges. We might be sitting on a gold mine of vitality that we are not paying attention to, because it is hidden by the shiny appeal of smartphones or pushed to the side by work demands.

1. What’s the purpose of the Harvard Study of Adult Development?

A．To study their lives over three generations.

B．To reveal the secret to health and well-being.

C．To track the descendants of an original group.

D．To study the relationship between health and happiness.

2. How did the researchers carry out the study?

A．By working with other researchers.

B．By tracking specific groups of people.

C．By helping participants with social difficulties.

D．By comparing the results from different people.

3. Why did the author mention the examples in Paragraph 4?

A．To provide evidence for the bond of health and longevity.

B．To introduce the concept of physical pain and health difficulties.

C．To show the negative impact of unhappy marriages on older people’s mood.

D．To support the positive impact of satisfying relationships on people’s lives.

4. According to Elizabeth Gillespie, what is essential to our well-being?

A．Having good social connections.

B．Declining pains and difficulties.

C．Overcoming ups and downs of mood.

D．Experiencing rises and falls of physical health.

3 . How to treat each other well

The following tips can help you enjoy a healthy and satisfying relationship.

Create a foundation of respect.     1    . However, it is important to make sure that you and your partner are rooted in respect. Act in ways that demand respect from your partner. Struggle to treat each other with respect at all times, even when you are mad at each other.

Appreciate each other. A healthy relationship should be one in which you and your partner feel appreciated. Often, relationships are built from many small things added one on top of the other.     2    . Instead of focusing on mistakes your partner makes, focus on the ways your partner adds to your life. When you notice something, speak out and show your appreciation.

    3    . It’s easy to change from face-to-face time together to digital communication. Spending quality time together can help strengthen your relationship and increase the bond you and your partner feel together.     4    . It can be as simple as enjoying a cup of coffee together each morning or reading together at night.

Expect changes. Know that your relationship will likely change. Allow growth for yourself, your partner, and for the relationship itself.     5    . Change is inevitable, so welcome changes and accept that the relationship will adapt.

A．Spend quality time together

B．Make a healthy relationship work

C．Relationships can be fun and exciting early on

D．Your partner’s thoughts and feelings have value

E．Find activities that you can do together regularly

F．Find the things your partner does for you and say “thank you”

G．Recognize changes in your relationship are opportunities for new growth

4 . Have you ever wondered why different people react differently to the things you say and do? Maybe you told your parents a story that made them laugh, but found that the same story was upsetting to the kids at school. What caused them to react so differently?     1    

Boundaries are the cut-off point between what a person finds funny and charming, and what they find hurtful and inappropriate.     2     You may not always share a person’s boundaries, but it’s still important to respect them.

    3     That’s why it’s especially important to be a good listener when you’re first getting to know someone. Listening will help you get a feel for the topics they are comfortable discussing.     4     If they become withdrawn when you bring up a certain topic, or they try to change subjects, you may be making them uncomfortable. Then it is better to pull back in the conversation, and let them take the lead for a while.

While many people won’t tell you directly that you’ve made them uncomfortable, some people will.     5     In that case, it’s always best to apologize and correct the offensive behavior. Failing to take a step back can create a lot of discomfort for the people around you. Most people can forgive a one-time slip, but you should avoid making the same mistake repeatedly, which can damage a friendship.

A．You aren’t sure of a person’s boundaries.

B．Different people have different boundaries.

C．The gateway to a healthy relationship is boundaries.

D．They may tell you that you’re standing too close to them.

E．Pay attention to the way they react to your ideas and jokes.

F．A person tends to tell you directly if you’ve made a mistake.

G．The answer has something to do with a tricky concept called boundaries.

5 . How to Deal with a Colleague who Keeps Challenging Your Views

It can be difficult to develop an environment of teamwork when you continually run up against a colleague who challenges your views.     1    . This will ensure you respect one another, even when you disagree.

Handle unnecessary confrontation (对峙).

If a co-worker habitually challenges your ideas in a group discussion in a confrontational manner, don’t engage him or get into an argument. Pause for a moment, look the colleague in the eye.     2    . This will force the co-worker to either repeat his comment in front of everyone with the same level of confrontation, or soften his approach.

    3    .

There’s a time and place for everything, including professional disagreements. If a colleague interrupts you or talks over you in an effort to contradict your point or insert (插入) his own opinion, gently remind him that you still have the floor. If the colleague is challenging something you say before you have a chance to address the point, note that as well.

Agree to respect each other.

    4    . Constructive debate and brainstorming can strengthen the overall performance of the entire team. Speak to your colleague at a time when you are emotionally stable. For example, you might say, “Can we agree to a respectful and civil way to discuss matters when it’s clear there’s no one ‘right’ answer?”

Prepare rebuttals (反驳).

If a particular colleague has a long history of disagreeing with you, you might be able to anticipate his arguments or objections. Prepare rebuttals to address anything your colleague might throw at you.     5    . It also strengthens your points without being confrontational, and allows you to give him credit for his constructive comments when necessary.

A．Hold your ground.

B．Ask for peace-making.

C．This will help you support your own arguments.

D．And ask him in a calm voice to repeat what he said.

E．Here are the ways to deal with colleagues of this kind.

F．Just find ways to make peace and communicate with your colleague.

G．The bottom line is, colleagues are not going to agree with each other all the time.

7 . Do you have a hard time saying“no”? If “yes” rules your life and “no” doesn’t exist, here are some tips for you to say “no” without feeling bad.

Switch out “no” for “later”

If you’re just starting out, you don’t have to jump straight to “no”.     1     . But saying later is much easier. Make your default (预设) response to any request with “Let me get back to you later.”Don’t rely on your “laters” forever, because too many would make you unreliable in the long run.

Rehearse (排演) your “no”

Sometimes, invites or requests happen naturally and in person, requiring an answer immediately.     2    . If you’re afraid of coming off as robotic or unnatural, it helps to rehearse your lines in front of a mirror.

    3    

Offering an excuse may seem polite to decline a request, but it sets you up for an awkward situation. No matter what excuse you offer, people who are determined to get you to say “yes” will come up with a way to reel (卷轴) you in.    4    . If you say “no” to them, you can still soften the blow by being polite and appreciative.

Do offer an alternative

If the person asking you for something is someone who you want to maintain a positive relationship with, you can decrease the impact of your “no” by offering an alternative.     5    . Hence, the person won’t feel upset and you don’t feel guilty for your“no”, either. It is a win-win situation!

A．Don’t offer an explanation

B．Don’t say “yes” to others easily

C．Saying “no”at once can be tough

D．But noisy places with many people aren’t your choices

E．So it would be useful to rehearse your “no” in advance

F．Being frank with people by saying “no” doesn’t mean rude

G．The goal is to find a common ground and reach an agreement

8 . As a professional life and relationship coach, Allison Cowan has over 21 years of experience in teaching and supporting others to achieve their goals. She has dedicated her career to helping her clients gain power and awareness in their lives.

As a coach, Allison inspires her clients to overcome obstacles and achieve goals. However, her practice has come with its own share of challenges. Expanding her knowledge to meet diverse client needs has involved lots of trial-and-error searching.

Initially, Allison spent a hard time building strong and trustworthy relationships with her clients. She knew trust was critical to finding and retaining clients but was frustrated at how long the trust-building process takes.

Allison soon learned that there was no single right way to coach. To meet her clients’ different needs, she needed to become more efficient at supporting their diverse learning styles. To overcome her challenges as a coach and offer better service, she began looking for ways to customize her coaching solutions.

During her search, Allison realized Positive Psychology is a field with many different goals. “It covers so many areas, including whatever a client may go through,” she recalled. Later, she began using self-reflection tools to help her clients develop self-acceptance and self-forgiveness. She even discovered a way to help clients without a coaching goal find their purposes. She said, “There’s a lot of blame. The more they stay in blame mode, the more angry they are, and they are not able to move forward with acceptance and forgiveness. But we can find solutions in Positive Psychology.”

Whether Allison was helping clients build self-confidence, understand their attachment styles, or reframe their challenges, she quickly found that she was also learning all the time. By completing the homework Allison assigned to them, her clients were also changing. They were more engaged with their coaching and making more significant progress between their sessions. That made Allison proud. She said, “They grow and move forward at a quicker pace. That’s what coaching is about.”

1. Why is Allison’s initial trouble mentioned in the text?

A．To show her special efforts.	B．To stress her defeated career.
C．To prove the difficulty in coaching.	D．To give the reason for setting goals.

2. What did Allison do to serve her clients better?

A．She used the same coaching ways to teach them.

B．She coached them according to their own needs.

C．She tried her best to change their learning styles.

D．She helped them overcome their challenges in life.

3. What’s Allison’s attitude to Positive Psychology?

A．Doubtful.	B．Unclear.
C．Supportive.	D．Dismissive.

4. What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A．Allison’s clients misunderstood what coaching is about.

B．Allison learned to build self-confidence all the time.

C．Allison’s clients helped her complete homework.

D．Allison and her clients benefited each other.

9 . I heard a story recently about a friend’s former boss. When employees would go into this person’s office to discuss something like a pay rise or promotion, the boss had a habit of greeting their request with silence. Quiet, tense seconds went slowly by, and they’d often leave, willing to take a pay cut or demotion (降职) — anything to end the terrible silence.

Embarrassing silences can be unbearable. In 2017, a study found that silence in a talk starts to be unbearable after about four seconds. There’s so much uncertainty in the air as those silent seconds went slowly by. Did I say something wrong? Does this person hate me? Am I going to get fired? But it’s worth remembering that if you don’t know what to say or do, there is always the choice to do nothing. Uncomfortable silences aren’t necessarily a bad thing, depending on how you use them.

For example, Katie Donovan is a supporter of the awkward-silence negotiating (谈判) technique. As she said, “The first step is to be silent or shut up!” If, for example, you are offered a starting salary of $40,000 when you know that the median salary for this position is $48,000, you can say something like this, “Thank you for the offer. I’m a little surprised about the salary, though. Based on my research I would have expected it to be in the $50,000 range.”

It’s a good start; there is no phrase more quietly deadly in the business world than “I’m a little surprised”. But it only works if you say this — and then say nothing. During this pause, Donovan explains, the hiring manager is likely to try to work out how serious you are and how much more to offer. “Remember,” Donovan writes, “the hiring manager most likely will increase the salary during the meeting.”

1. What would the employees often do when they met with the boss’s silence?

A．Keep silent.

B．Get angry.

C．Fight back.

D．Give in.

2. What does the author say about silence in Paragraph 2?

A．It is a basic part of communication.

B．It gives people time for themselves.

C．You don’t have to break it all the time.

D．The meaning of it varies among people.

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

A．Average.	B．Highest.
C．Final.	D．Starting.

4. What should you do after saying “I’m a little surprised”?

A．Give up your request.	B．Keep silent for a while.
C．Avoid making eye contact.	D．Continue to give your reasons.

10 . 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.

    1    .

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.

    4    

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