2 . 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.

3 . 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.

4 . “Shyness can stop you from doing all the things in life that you’d like to,” the Smiths once sang. However, research suggests that may not be the case when working as a team.

Researchers have found that when animals temper their personalities because of social rules, the efficiency of a group to undertake risky missions—such as foraging (觅食) for food—is boosted. “We see this phenomenon happening when we mix together a school of fish with wildly different personalities: the very fearless individuals and the very shy individuals tend to control what they would normally be doing when they stick with the rest of the group,” said Dr. Sean Rands, the lead author of the research at the University of Bristol.

Writing in the journal PLoS Computational Biology, the researchers reported how they built a computer model to investigate the impact of social conventions and animals’ personalities on the movement of individuals within a group. The model was based on an assumption in which a group of animals in a safe “home” set out to travel to a food foraging site some distance away.

The results revealed that when no social conventions were in place, their movements were governed by their personalities alone—in other words how fearless or shy they were determined how quickly they left home and arrived at the foraging site. However, when social conventions were introduced, so that the individuals had to keep an eye on each other and adjust their movements accordingly, the impact of personality reduced with less variation in how quickly they reached the destination. The team found where social conventions were present, the group foraged more efficiently than when individuals behaved independently. “We find that if individuals pay attention to the other members of the group, the group will tend to remain at the safe site for longer, but then travel faster towards the foraging site,” the team wrote.

Rands added that for many social animals, being part of a group can bring huge benefits, and these can outweigh the influence of personality.

1. Why are the Smiths’ words mentioned in paragraph 1?

A．To give an example.

B．To make a comparison.

C．To lead in the topic.

D．To introduce the background.

2. What will individuals do while staying with a group?

A．Adjust their behavior.

B．Take on risky missions.

C．Ignore social rules.

D．Travel to a distant foraging site.

3. What can we infer from the results?

A．Personalities alone determine movements.

B．Individuals prefer to behave independently.

C．Group work increases exposure to potential risks.

D．Social conventions contribute to working efficiency.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Be Part of a Group

B．Stay True to Yourself

C．Get Rid of Your Shyness

D．Control Your Personalities

6 . 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.

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 . 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

10 . When I worked on the manufacturing shop（车间）floor, we rarely saw plant managers. Except for one. He often walked through the plant. He checked out product quality. He stopped for a brief word—usually no more than a "hello." He wasn't outgoing. He didn't display any of the qualities typically associated with a "leader." Yet we liked him.

In a 1992 University of Pittsburgh study, researchers had four women attend a number of different classes. Their attendance varied: one woman might attend every class; a different woman might attend only a few. What didn't vary was their behavior. None of the women spoke in class or spoke to other students.

At the end of the term, students were asked which woman they liked best. Who "won"? Women who attended the highest number of classes. According to the researchers, "Mere exposure had weak effects on familiarity, but strong effects on attraction and similarity." Or in non-researcher-speak: If I see you frequently, I naturally like you more. That's the power of showing up.

Knowing someone will show up in the future also matters. In a 1967 University of Minnesota study, researchers gave study participants profiles of two people and told them that one would be a partner in future discussion groups. When asked, the participants said they liked their future partner more. Even though the profiles were almost identical.

Want your team or your customers to like you more? Show up. Drop in. Drop by. Send a brief note. Make a quick phone call. You don't have to say or do much. Then, be consistent in your behavior. In time, people will expect you to drop in or drop by, whether in person or virtually. Anticipating future contact will make them like you more.

1. What does the first paragraph serve as?

A．An introduction.	B．A background.
C．A comment.	D．An explanation.

2. According to the 1992 study, what helps make a student welcome?

A．Answering questions frequently.	B．Greeting others enthusiastically.
C．Behaving more like others.	D．Attending classes more often.

3. What did the University of Minnesota study find?

A．Familiarity contributes to likability.

B．Identical behaviours enhance likability.

C．Future partnership increases likability.

D．Virtual contacts benefit likability.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．Power of likability.	B．Research on likability.
C．Definition of likability.	D．Application of likability.