2 . Wanting to be more responsible is admirable. Being responsible can seem hard at first, but if you keep at it, it will become second nature to you! Below are some tips on how to become responsible.

Place others’ needs before your own. When you have a family, friends, or pets, being responsible may mean placing their needs above your own. That doesn’t mean you don’t take care of yourself.     1     .

Learn to think about other people’s thoughts and feelings. Empathy is feeling what other people feel. When you say something or do something, think about how it will make the other person feel. If you’re not sure, consider how it would make you feel.     2    .

Make a schedule to plan your time. Whether you have a daily planner or use a phone app, a schedule helps you stay on top of your responsibilities. It reminds you of what you need to be doing.     3    . Write out the appointments you have, the places you go every day, and the chores you need to get done each day.

    4    . One aspect of being responsible is not putting off your tasks until after you’ve had fun. Start by doing what you need to get done first, and then you can relax and have fun afterward.

Keep your long-term commitments. When something is fun and new, it’s easy to be committed to it.

    5    . Whether it’s being in a club, taking a leadership role in a community organization, or volunteering, you have to be in it for the long term.

A．Your personal feelings aren’t an issue.

B．Take care of your tasks before having fun.

C．Pick a few goals that you want to achieve.

D．In addition, it shows you where you’ re spending your time.

E．However, it becomes a little more difficult when the novelty wears off.

F．If it would make you feel bad, reconsider what you were thinking about doing or saying.

G．It does mean you may need to take care of yourself later if someone you love has a need now.

3 . If you’re not sure which relationships to prioritize (优先考虑), here are some types of people to keep close.

    1    .

It’s essential that we can trust the people around us. Honesty is not just about someone refraining from lying or coming forward when they screw up. It’s also about finding a way to tell us truths that we don’t want to hear. It’s important to be around individuals who will call us out when we are wrong or heading down a path that they know is not leading to a destination we want.

    2    . Choose to be around those who will not feel threatened by your happiness or success.    3    . Surround yourself with those who believe in your skills, potential and vision as much as you do, and want to help you be the best version of yourself.

People who make space for your emotions. Many people are good at having stimulating conversations but lack the emotional availability needed to make space for how we feel. We all need individuals who respect our feelings understand that sometimes all we need is to be heard.    4    . Such individuals serve as a source of support and can help us grow in our emotional maturity.

People who model qualities you admire, understand and accept you, and show up authentically are also valuable.

Let’s remember to apply these criteria to every type of relationship in our life.    5    .

A．People who tell us lies

B．People who tell us the truth

C．People who encourage and support you

D．Find people who are not satisfied with everything you do

E．They will sit with us through the hard or painful moments

F．Our time is valuable, so spend it with people who deserve it

G．Find people who areas happy about your wins as they would be about their own

4 . Most of us associate awe (敬畏) with something rare and beautiful: nature, music or a spiritual experience. But people can waken awe too, and not just public heroes. Research shows that we can be awed by our nearest and dearest — the people sitting next to us on the couch, chatting on the other end of the phone, looking back at us over Zoom.     1    

Often, interpersonal awe is a response to life’s big, sweeping changes, such as witnessing a baby’s first steps.     2     John Bargh said he was “truly awestruck” — by his 5-year-old daughter while dining in a McDonald’s. When she heard another child crying, she grabbed the toy from her Happy Meal, walked over to the boy and handed it to him.

Though we can’t make someone else behave in a way that’s awesome, we can prepare ourselves to notice it when they do and boost the emotion’s positive effects.

Question your assumptions. Do you believe your partner is insensitive or your sibling is selfish? There may be a little truth to that, but it’s never the whole tale.     3     To increase your chances of feeling awed by the other person, ask yourself what’s going on in his or her life that you don’t know about.

Name awe when you see it. Speaking out “Wow, that was awesome!” is a simple way to help you identify and remember a special experience. Savor (品味) it in the moment and then tell others about it. This will reinforce your positive emotions.     4     Studies show that you will feel awe again simply by remembering an awe experience.

    5     This makes the other person feel good and can give your relationship a boost. And it will help you too: Studies show that people who practice gratitude have significantly higher levels of happiness and psychological well-being.

A．Thank the person who awed you.

B．And recall it or write about it later.

C．Psychologists call this interpersonal awe.

D．It’s easy to forget that it can be awesome too.

E．But interpersonal awe does happen in smaller moments.

F．Here’s why you should recognize those moments of interpersonal awe.

G．The story you tell yourself gets in the way of catching people at their best.

5 . Most people enjoy variety. We like to eat different foods from meal to meal. We wear different clothes. We like to try new activities and visit new places. We become bored when there is little variety. Nevertheless, there’s one place where we tend to dislike variety, and that’s in each other. We often feel uncomfortable with people who practise different habits, or hold beliefs or values that we do not share.

There are reasons for this. When we are exposed to new and different things, our brain works a bit harder than usual. When we’re learning, our nerve cells require more resources, such as water, salt, and various other chemicals. This extra metabolic (新陈代谢的) activity can feel unsettling and unpleasant. And it can feel worse if our nervous system is already under pressure, like in the midst of the pandemic.

This sort of variation may be uncomfortable for individuals, but it’s critical to the survival of any species. If all finches (雀科鸣鸟) were identical, for example, and their environment changed in some significant, harmful ways, like an increase in the temperature or a decrease in water, all of them would be equally affected and the species might become extinct. This insight into variation comes from Charles Darwin, and it’s known as population thinking. Most people associate Darwin with his evolutionary theory of natural selection, but population thinking may be an even greater scientific achievement. The idea of “survival of the fittest” implies that individuals must vary. Some are more suited than others for a given environment, making it easier for them to survive, grow, and reproduce. Variation is therefore a prerequisite for natural selection to work.

Dealing with the vast variety of humankind can be demanding and even annoying at times, but it’s a good investment, sort of like exercise for your brain. When you meet someone who looks different or thinks differently from you, treat your discomfort as a cue to be curious and learn instead of a signal of a problem. Don’t hold the view that the other person should be silenced. Ultimately, this mindset can make you more flexible in adapting to challenging situations, and more adaptable to change.

1. Which of the following might make people feel uncomfortable?

A．Having an adventure in the wild.

B．Taking a trip to a foreign country.

C．Sharing traveling experiences with others.

D．Socializing with people from diverse cultures.

2. What does the second paragraph focus on?

A．People’s unwillingness to deal with new things.

B．The significance of learning new things in our life.

C．The biological explanations for people’s discomfort.

D．The role of the nervous system in learning new things.

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

A．Requirement.

B．Substitute.

C．Motivation.

D．Challenge.

4. What does the writer mainly want to convey?

A．Why we tend to chase and enjoy variation.

B．How we can benefit from seeking variation.

C．How we should treat the differences we find in others.

D．Why we should get along with people different from us.

7 . When we hurt someone, we may be unwilling to acknowledge our fault and make an apology because it makes us feel guilty, conflicts with our beliefs about being a good person, or means accepting that we’re imperfect human beings. We may want to excuse our behavior and blame the other person, minimizing our role in hurting him or her.

Researchers carried out a study to find out how we can be better at apologizing. In the study, researchers asked 120 college students to recall a time when they’d hurt someone else and the conflict remained unresolved. Then, participants were randomly assigned to either a 15-minute guided mindfulness exercise focusing on their breath and having people think in the present moment or a guided mind-wandering exercise, where they were encouraged to let their minds wander.

Afterward, they were asked to report how much they felt like apologizing to the person versus not apologizing or offering excuses for their behavior. Then, they were asked to write a note to the person, without instructions to apologize or not. In analyzing the notes, the researchers found that participants who had practiced mindfulness were more likely to write statements like “I’m sorry” or “I apologize” in their notes than those who had mind-wandered.

“One way in which we can foster apologies is by having people think in the present moment,” lead author Sana Rizvi says. “We can teach individuals to be mindful of their present states, and it can be done in about 15 minutes.”

Why might this be the case? Rizvi isn’t sure, as there has been very little research on how being more mindful might affect us when we hurt others. Prior research has found that being more mindful helps victims of wrong doing to be more forgiving, and it seems to improve relationships generally.

Mindfulness makes us feel less defensive and, therefore, helps us consider the importance of the other person in the conflict more. It’s encouraging that teaching simple mindfulness techniques (like focused breathing) could increase apologies, especially in places that are often filled with interpersonal conflicts, like workplaces or other occasions. It could help improve interpersonal interactions and repair relationships helping people move more easily from a place of conflict to understanding and forgiveness.

1. What does the author want to convey in Paragraph 1?

A．It is difficult for us to apologize.	B．It is hard to put ideas into action.
C．It is normal for us to make mistakes.	D．It is useless to regret what we have done.

2. What can we know about the participants in the study?

A．They were bad at handling conflicts.

B．They were encouraged to discuss their trouble.

C．They did something hurtful to others in the past.

D．They received mindfulness training before the study.

3. What conclusion did the researchers draw from the study?

A．Mind-wandering tended to increase conflicts.

B．Mindfulness could help people apologize more.

C．College students are more likely to behave responsibly.

D．College students seem to have better emotional control.

4. What does the author think of practicing mindfulness in workplaces?

A．It is challenging to carry out.	B．It takes time to prove its effect.
C．It solves conflicts once and for all	D．It helps achieve better relationships.

5. What does the text mainly talk about?

A．Necessity of apology.	B．Benefits of mindfulness.
C．Apology and mindfulness.	D．Understanding and mindfulness.

10 . One of the many lessons we were forced to learn from the pandemic was the importance of social interaction, and the negative effects on social isolation. And even outside of our close relationships with friends and family, weak social ties are also necessary to our sense of wellbeing. I know how easy it is to close yourself off from interactions from strangers.    1    

Recent research shows that even weak social interactions — like a quick exchange with a stranger on the sidewalk — contribute positively to our wellbeing. It is easy to live life with your head down, avoiding the far ends of your social network, like classmates you never chat with or neighbors whose names you don’t remember.    2    But by avoiding such tiny interactions, you could be robbing yourself of potential happiness.

Take a look at your social network. Think about your favorite coffee shop, your grocery store, your gym — every day we cross paths with some of the same people.    3    Then you’re no longer strangers, and now have mutual familiarity.

    4    Consider taking out your ear buds, shifting your gaze from your phone, and smiling at others. You might start identifying familiar faces to introduce yourself to later, you might be making yourself available to someone who needs directions, or you might simply feel less lonely from a small wave or nod from a stranger.

Don’t be disturbing.    5    Don’t force conversation with some who clearly wants to be alone. If you are concerned that your small talk is making the other person feel in danger, listen to that instinct. However, if what’s holding you back is a fear of awkwardness or embarrassment, then push yourself to beat that anxiety.

A．Look up, literally!

B．Respect people’s boundaries.

C．You may not regard your life as lacking.

D．Do you want to avoid unwanted interactions?

E．Take the brave first step to introduce yourself.

F．Sadly, you have to think through the positive effects of conversations.

G．However, building tiny relationships with some acquaintance has a powerful impact.