1 . Feeling like what you do is worthwhile is arguably a significant key to a happy life. But what this means is different for each person. These strategies can help you find your purpose so you can begin living a more meaningful life.
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Listen to feedback (反馈)
It can be hard to recognize the things you feel passionate about sometimes. After all, the things you love to do may have become so ingrained (固化) in your life that you don’t realize how important they are.
Start conversations with new people
It’s easy to surf social media while you’re alone on the subway. Resist that urge.
Are you regularly sharing articles about climate change? Are there pictures of you engaging in a particular activity over and over, such as gardening or performing? Consider the conversations you enjoy holding with people the most when you’re meeting face to face. Do you like talking about history? Or do you prefer sharing the latest money-saving tips you discovered?
| A．Explore your interests |
| B．Otherwise, it may drag you down |
| C．Spread sunshine to people through your smile |
| D．Instead, take the time to talk to the people around you |
| E．You can develop helpful habits in your search for purpose |
| F．The things you enjoy sharing may reveal your purpose in life |
| G．Fortunately, other people might be able to give you some insights |
2 . Many people changed residences and are eager to get familiar with their new neighbors. Here’s a quick refresher on making the most of neighborhood relationships.
Begin at the beginning. Building good neighborly relationships starts when you or someone else moves into the area. If a new neighbor moves in, be proactive (主动的) and welcome them to the neighborhood.
Be inclusive. If you are hosting a large party, consider extending invitations to your neighbors. During the holiday season, remember the people next door with a card, a homemade goodie, or an offer of assistance. Give without expectations.
Allow people to be human.
Accept it. If you have tried your best to resolve a conflict without success, let it go. Sadly, some people won’t like you whatever you do. And you aren’t going to enjoy some people.
| A．Maintain your space |
| B．Be the first to stop by and say hello |
| C．It’s easier to accept it and move on |
| D．Everyone has a bad day now and then |
| E．Take steps to ensure it won’t happen again |
| F．Let others know you are thinking of them |
| G．Some neighbors are more easygoing than others |
3 . How do people respond when you have a talk with them? Maybe they brush your emotions aside or never listen to you.
Use confident body language. This type of body language can increase your self-respect and help you earn people’s respect. Confident body language can include good eye contact and appropriate postures (姿势). Keep your eyes forward instead of down.
Improve your listening skills. Good listeners often come across as sympathetic and caring, which are admirable qualities. A skilled listener can make others feel valued and appreciated.
Avoid oversharing. It’s common to talk too much and start rambling (瞎扯) when you get nervous or want to make a good impression. But to gain others’ respect, you can’t ramble or talk too much about yourself.
| A．Keep calm and your anger in check. |
| B．There’s no need to fill every silence. |
| C．Therefore, he may be respected in return. |
| D．Try to make your message as clear as possible. |
| E．You might feel that you just don’t matter to others. |
| F．Don’t leave your arms crossed or hands in your pockets. |
| G．Instead, you need to slow down and find some common ground. |
4 . All of us have taken an instant dislike to someone, and then felt guilty about being too judgmental. But now it seems we should place more trust in our first impressions. Most people can correctly judge a total stranger following a short meeting, according to scientists.
And in general, the more confident the people are, the more likely they are to be correct in their assumptions. Jeremy Biesanz, who led a team of researchers from the University of British Columbia, said: “Many important decisions are made after very brief encounters — which employee to hire, which person to date, which student to accept”. Although our first impressions are generally accurate, it is necessary for us to recognize where they may be not good enough.
The researchers arranged for two groups of more than 100 people to meet in a meeting. Much like speed-dating, the volunteers spoke to everyone in their group for three minutes each. At the end of each three-minute chat, they were asked to rate each other’s personalities, and how well they thought their impressions “would coincide with someone who knows this person very well”.
To find out what the person was “really” like, the scientists had his friends and family fill out his personality reports. Generally speaking, the more confident the volunteers felt in accurately rating another’s personality, the closer their ratings were to those of the other person’s friends and family, the researchers said.
However, the participants with the highest accuracy were those who rated themselves moderately(适度)accurate — those highly confident of their judgment were less successful. The scientists concluded that, although we know people are different from each other, a good judge of character knows that in many ways people are mostly alike. For example, almost everyone would prefer being kind to being unfriendly.
Therefore, while first impressions can be generally accurate, they are not conclusive in working out whether somebody really is “better” than someone else.
1. The volunteers joined a meeting which was ______.| A．interesting | B．complex | C．serious | D．brief |
| A．agree with | B．appeal to | C．get along with | D．set an example to |
①Being talkative ②Good social relationships
③A proper degree of confidence ④Knowing that people are mostly alike
| A．①② | B．②③ | C．③④ | D．④① |
| A．many important decisions are made with the help of strangers |
| B．people tend to have better impressions on friends than on strangers |
| C．we shouldn’t depend on first impressions completely to judge others |
| D．accurate judgments on others can help us make as many friends as possible |
| A．We should not doubt our ability to judge others. |
| B．Our first impressions on a stranger are usually accurate. |
| C．Confidence determines whether people can succeed or not. |
| D．It’s an important task to make a good judgment about strangers. |
5 . Picking up after your dog is interesting, but it must be done. Most dog owners understand the importance of picking up their dogs’ waste, so it can be especially frustrating to see dog owners that obviously refuse to perform this duty.
Ask them directly. Talking to another dog owner about picking up their dogs’ waste can be uncomfortable. However, asking the owner directly to pick up after their dog will often work to fix the problem.
Use a friendly tone. Although you are probably fed up and mad at a dog owner that isn’t cleaning up after their dog, approach them in a friendly manner. Yelling at them may make them defensive and angry.
Give them a reason. It’s possible this person doesn’t realize how their neglect in picking up after their dog is negatively affecting those around them.
| A．Be honest |
| B．Raise some dogs |
| C．If you want to help them to sweep their waste |
| D．And they will likely do more harm than good, too |
| E．When you ask them to pick up their dogs’ waste |
| F．There are many reasons people don’t pick up after their dogs |
| G．Figuring out how to convince these owners to change their ways can be difficult |
6 . Your manager stops you and says she needs to have a word about your performance in the recent project. She begins by praising you for the good work you’ve done on the project, and you wonder if this is the praise that starts off the typical “feedback sandwich”.
However, when feedback becomes such a routine, employees can start to perceive positive feedback as simply a form of sugarcoating the negatives, thus decreasing its value. Instead, positive feedback should not simply be seen as something to cushion the negative.
Cultivate a “growth mindset”. Many of us tend to focus our praise on the end result and seeming inborn talents. For example,
Create a culture of offering positive feedback. Make giving positive feedback part of your team culture. Don’t just wait for special moments to give feedback. Offer informal positive feedback when making small talk.
| A．you have a real talent for organizing events. |
| B．You know how the feedback sandwich goes. |
| C．Attempt to inject some positivity into negative feedback. |
| D．you really put a lot of effort into making this event a success. |
| E．Don’t always follow positive feedback with negative feedback. |
| F．Feedback doesn’t have to only come from the higher ranks either. |
| G．It should also be delivered so as to reinforce and encourage good performance. |
7 . Only about 20% of U.S.adults say they have a best friend at work.Should the other 80% start looking for one?Yes and no.
But if becoming best friends with your coworkers feels too daunting (使人气馁的),or just not your style,you can still benefit from social support.When most people hear “social support”,they think of emotional support,like venting (发泄) to a coworker over coffee, Heaney says.
| A．But it comes in many forms |
| B．Research on the topic is clear |
| C．The goal isn’t necessarily to make lifelong friends |
| D．It’s easy to talk yourself out of making these gestures |
| E．It s often considered equal to smoking 15 cigarettes a day |
| F．That could mean seeking input from people at all levels of the company |
| G．There’s no doubt that social support in the workplace is important for your health |
8 . Initial conversations can have a huge impact on how relationships develop over time. People are often stuck in the impressions they think they might have made the minute they finish speaking with someone for the first time: “Did they like me or were they just being polite?” “Were they deep in thought or deeply bored?”
To find out whether these worries are necessary, we have conducted nearly 10 years of research. In our studies, participants in the UK talked with someone they had never met before. Afterward, they were asked how much they liked their conversation partner and how much they believed that their conversation partner liked them. This allowed us to compare how much people believed they were liked to how much they were actually liked.
Time and time again, we found that people left their conversations with negative feelings about the impression they made. That is, people systematically underestimate how much their conversation partners like them and enjoy their company — a false belief we call the “liking gap”.
This bias (偏见) may seem like something that would occur only in initial interactions, but its effects extend far beyond a first impression. Surprisingly, the liking gap can constantly affect a variety of relationships, including interactions with coworkers, long after the initial conversations have taken place. Having a larger liking gap is associated with being less willing to ask workmates for help, less willing to provide workmates with open and honest feedback, and less willing to work on another project together.
There are numerous strategies to minimize your biased feelings. One place to start is shifting your focus of attention. Try to direct your attention to your conversation partner, be genuinely curious about them, ask them more questions, and really listen to their answers. The more you’re zeroed in on the other person, and the less you’re focused on yourself, the better your conversation will be and the less your mind will turn to all the things you think you didn’t do well.
1. Why did the author carry out 10 years of research?| A．To dismiss national concerns. | B．To check out a potential bias. |
| C．To enhance human communication. | D．To develop harmonious relationships. |
| A．Fewer chances of new projects. | B．Underestimation of their ability. |
| C．Bad relationships with people around. | D．Low willingness to interact with others. |
| A．Restate opinions. | B．Deliver warnings. | C．Give suggestions. | D．Make a summary. |
| A．Liking Gap May Influence Work Performances |
| B．First Impressions Rely On Initial Conversations |
| C．People Probably Like You More Than You Think |
| D．How People Like You Matters Less Than You Assume |
9 . As people hold different views on almost anything, we live in a judgmental world where people are quick to point out the faults and imperfections of others, yet seem unaware of their own. Some misguided souls believe they have a duty to help you to be a better person by telling you what a failure you really are first and then offering suggestions as to how you can improve.
So what is the possible solution to criticism?
If you are the one forcing others to feel ashamed of themselves, STOP. Make a conscious decision rather than focus on the negative aspect of a person’s performance or attitudes. You are more likely to offer helpful suggestions from the beginning. If you are on the receiving end of criticism, the “OK” response is a perfect solution. When someone comments negatively on a task you are doing or a personality issue of yours, a natural response is to defend and attack. However, this approach is rarely effective as it puts both parties on the defensive. Instead, simply reply with “OK”. This brief one-word response acknowledges the other person’s comment without agreeing with it or feeling necessary to engage in a debate about it.
It is important to remain emotionally attached to what the other person is saying, to listen without feeling, to be an objective observer. In fact, there is much that one can learn from a negative review. You can ask yourself: Did I make a mistake? Could I have done better? Did I give 100% of myself to the task at hand? If so, how can I improve myself? As for chronic(习惯性的) criticizers: It is important to set strict boundary with them. Remove yourself from their presence when necessary.
In any case, one can learn to be “OK” with criticism and not allow it to negatively impact your life or relationship with the other party.
1. What may the author think of people who prefer to judge others?| A．Warm-hearted. | B．Self-centered. | C．Talkative. | D．Responsible. |
| A．He thinks the suggestions are helpful. |
| B．He defenses himself with the response. |
| C．He agrees with the comments completely. |
| D．He wants to avoid unnecessary arguments. |
| A．Having debates. | B．Accepting criticism. |
| C．Keeping calm. | D．Avoiding criticizers. |
| A．To make a judgment on others. | B．To explain some social behavior. |
| C．To call for action against attack. | D．To give advice on facing criticism. |
10 . If you identify as a people-pleaser, you might feel like it’s impossible to change. Well-meaning friends can try to encourage you to just be yourself, but no matter how hard you try, you can’t shake that urge to keep everyone happy.
Lots of times, people who try to please other people are extremely quick to react in social settings. They know what to say right away and they move into care taking immediately.
As you slowly start to become aware of your needs and even state them out loud, it can bring in some essential changes in your relationships. You might realize that as you mature, some friendships are not as rewarding or even as equal as you would like them to be.
| A．So, it’s time to end the relationship. |
| B．Change your habits and please yourself. |
| C．Slow down and check in with yourself before reacting. |
| D．This could be because, since childhood, they have developed this habit. |
| E．However, that doesn’t mean you always have to cut people out of your life. |
| F．Therefore, here’s how to slowly stop people-pleasing and start being yourself. |
| G．General polite behavior to one person can be people-pleasing to someone else. |
