1 . Active listening is a communication skill that involves going beyond simply hearing the words that another person speaks but also seeking to understand the meaning and intention behind them. The word “active” implies that you are taking some type of action when listening to others.
Be fully present
Active listening requires being fully present in the conversation. It enables you to concentrate on what is being said. Being present involves listening with all your senses and giving your full attention to the speaker. To use this active listening technique effectively, put away your cell phone, ignore distractions, and shut down your internal dialogue.
Pay attention to non-verbal cues (非言语暗示)
As much as 65% of a person’s communication is unspoken,
Keep good eye contact
When engaged in active listening, making eye contact is especially important. This tells the other person that you are present and listening to what he or she says.
Be patient
Patience is an important active listening technique because it allows the other person to speak without interruption. Being patient involves not trying to fill periods of silence with your own thoughts or stories. This also requires listening to understand, not to respond.
| A．Don’t prepare a reply while listening. |
| B．It also shows that you aren’t distracted. |
| C．This isn’t helpful during active listening. |
| D．So use open, non-threatening body language. |
| E．Don’t focus too much on insignificant details. |
| F．Place your focus on your conversation partner. |
| G．This involves using certain strategies or techniques. |
2 . It’s natural for people to compare themselves with their peers. Peer pressure is a force that nearly everyone has faced at some point. If it’s not well handled, there might be some destructive consequences.
Find positive influence
At any age, it’s beneficial to stay involved with extracurricular activities like sports, music, art, or other hobbies. Team building activities can help increase self-confidence and create a support system that allows an individual to succeed. Additionally, enjoying hobbies and other harmless pastimes like exercising can release feel-good hormones.
Plan ahead
Experiencing peer pressure, especially when in an unfriendly environment, can cause a person to panic and make impulsive decisions.
Positive influences, usually parents or siblings, can teach you how to deal with peer pressure directly. Having a trusted friend, family member, or another resource to call on can relieve some of the everyday life stresses. They can be there to give advice or just support the decisions you’ve made that you feel are right for you.
Convey feelings and emotions
Honesty goes a long way in reducing the harmful effects of peer pressure. Speak to the person or group of people who may be causing feelings of unease or uncertainty and kindly ask them to stop.
| A．Talk to a trusted resource. |
| B．Don’t be afraid to find new groups. |
| C．Unfortunately, peer pressure is difficult to avoid. |
| D．Therefore, it’s essential to know how to deal with it. |
| E．So, it’s best to have a plan that can help map out a response. |
| F．They can help reduce anxiety, depression, and other mental health problems. |
| G．It’s ok to distance yourself from those who are not serving you in a positive aspect. |
3 . I came across some excellent tips on how to communicate better with others.
Pause(停顿)before replying to others.
Be honest.
Ask for feedback（反馈）from others. When it’s all said and done, one of the best ways you can learn to communicate more effectively is to ask for feedback. Take some time to speak to those who you communicate with frequently to find out how you can improve on your communication with them.
| A．Be patient and open-minded. |
| B．Trust and hard work are valuable. |
| C．When you’re honest, communication becomes a lot easier. |
| D．I believe communication is key to living a good life. |
| E．It’s not always easy to ask for feedback, but it’s worth it! |
| F．You’ll be on the road to creating a better understanding with others. |
| G．Pause works wonders when it comes to communicating effectively with others. |
4 . We’ve all been in a position where life gets busy, schedules are difficult to coordinate and connecting with friends feels harder than ever. With some friendships, we may lose touch and want to reconnect. However，the more time that passes, the more uncertain it can feel if they want to hear from us.
A recent study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology says it’s time to reach out. Researchers found numerous benefits when reaching out to friends and old acquaintances. Especially if you’re unsure of how well they’ll receive hearing from you. The study, led by Dr Peggy Liu, is called The Surprise of Reaching Out: Appreciated More Than We Think. In the study, researchers posed the question: Do people accurately understand how much other people value being reached out to by someone in their social circle? To answer this question, researchers carried out 13 experiments with more than 5,900 participants. In the experiments, researchers measured how much people estimated their friends or acquaintances would appreciate them reaching out versus how much those on the receiving end did appreciate it. They also examined different forms of communication-phone calls, texts, emails, notes or even small gifts—and their impact.
Over the series of experiments, experts discovered a similar trend: those reaching out significantly underestimated how much their friends would appreciate hearing from them. Plus, the more unexpected the communication was, the more the friend on the receiving end appreciated it. “People are fundamentally social beings and enjoy connecting with others,” the researchers wrote.
In fact, what made these moments of reaching out so impactful was the effort they showed—no matter the form of communication. Dr Amie Gordon, a social psychologist at the University of Michigan, emphasises the importance of small moments and making efforts in relationships in a Psychology Today article. “In a busy life, these little moments might feel just like that—little moments that don’t really matter ... But each moment we ignore is a missed opportunity to connect and build up an emotional bank of positive moments.”
The science is clear—people appreciate the effort we put into our friendships. And we greatly underestimate it. One phenomenon that may explain why those who reached out underestimated their positive impact is because of “the liking gap”. Psychologist Terri Apter writes in Psychology Today that the liking gap is a tendency to “how we often underestimate other’s responses to us”, and the reality that other people like us more than we may think.
1. In writing Paragraph 1, the author aims to ______.| A．state some disturbing problems |
| B．present the background of the following topic |
| C．introduce the theme of his argument |
| D．make comparisons between different opinions |
| A．The way of communication matters in reconnecting with friends. |
| B．An unexpected calling to an acquaintance will not be highly valued. |
| C．People tend to appreciate hearing from friends more than reaching out to them. |
| D．We are more well-liked and well-received than we expect in our friendships. |
| A．To present the discovery of the study. |
| B．To support the findings theoretically. |
| C．To explain the causes of losing friendships. |
| D．To make suggestions about the topic. |
| A．Estimate Friendships in a Scientific Way |
| B．Appreciate Being Reached Out to by friends |
| C．Remove the Misunderstanding between Friends |
| D．Don’t Hesitate to Reconnect with Your Old Friends |
5 . When romantic partners argue over things like finances, jealousy, or other interpersonal issues, they tend to employ their current feelings as fuel for a heated argument. But thinking about the future helps overcome relationship conflicts, according to a University of Waterloo study just published online in Social Psychological and Personality Science. Alex Huynh, a doctoral candidate in psychology is the lead author of the study, which he published with Igor Grossmann from the University of Waterloo, and Daniel Yang from Yale University.
Previous research has shown that third-perspective reasoning can be a positive strategy for reconciliation (调解) of interpersonal struggles. Huynh and his collaborators investigated whether similar benefit can be induced by simply thinking about the future. Study participants were instructed to reflect on a recent conflict with a romantic partner or a close friend. One group of participants were then asked to describe how they would feel about the conflict one year in the future, while another group was asked to describe how they feel in the present.
The team examined participants’ written responses through a text-analysis program for their use of pronouns — such as I, me, she, he. These choices of pronouns were used to capture participants’ focus on the feelings and behaviour of those involved in the conflict. Written responses were also examined for forgiveness and reinterpreting the conflict more positively, both of which implied the participants’ use of reasoning strategies.
The researchers found that envisioning future relationship affected both participants’ focus on their feelings, and their reasoning strategies. As a result, participants reported more positivity about their relationship altogether, especially when study participants extended their thinking about the relationship a year into the future.
“Our study demonstrates that adopting a future-oriented perspective in the context of a relationship conflict — reflecting on how one might feel a year from now — may be a valuable coping tool for one’s psychological happiness and relationship well-being,” said Huynh.
1. What do romantic partners do in face of most disagreements?| A．They lose faith in their future. | B．They focus on their present feelings. |
| C．They look forward to a fierce conflict. | D．They care more about financial problems. |
| A．Caused. | B．Explained. |
| C．Reduced. | D．Improved. |
| A．All the study participants described how they felt both in the present and in the future. |
| B．Study participants described their recent relationship with their romantic partners or friends. |
| C．A text-analysis program was employed to examine participants’ use of negative words. |
| D．The reasoning strategies in participants’ written responses were well worthy of note. |
| A．You have a year to solve your interpersonal problems! |
| B．Thinking about future is essential for relationship maintenance! |
| C．Your current feelings are the real cause of your heated arguments! |
| D．Beneficial reasoning is a positive strategy for reconciliation! |
6 . Almost everyone gossips. And a new study finds that people spend about 52 minutes per day, on average, talking to someone about others who are not present
But here’s the surprise: Despite the assumption that most gossip is trash talk, the study finds the majority of gossip is nonjudgmental chat.
“People love to talk about others,” says Jeremy Cone, a psychologist at Williams College. “Think about your own conversations with a family member or friend: You talk about everyday things that keep you connected. You share your daughter got her driver’s license or your uncle has a kidney stone. Much of it is just documenting facts.”
Of course, the study also finds that some gossip is negative or mean-spirited. About 15% of the gossip included some type of negative judgement.
But even negative gossip can serve a purpose, as more research has found.
“I think gossiping can be a smart thing to do,” says Elena Martinescu who has studied gossip in the workplace. “It allows people to keep track of what’s going on and form social connection with other people.”
Research has shown that gossip can help build group cohesion (凝聚力) and cooperation. “When you gossip, you can keep track of who is contributing to the group and who's being selfish,” Martinescu explains. “And by sharing this information, you can exclude those group members who are social loafers (游手好闲的人).”
“We also found negative gossip makes people likely to repair the aspects of their behavior that they were criticized for,” Martinescu says.
So, say, for instance, you were criticized for always arriving at work late. Hearing that gossip about yourself may motivate you to want to be on time.
Of course, this isn’t a license to be loose lips or to repeat baseless claims that can damage someone’s reputation unfairly. But confiding (吐露个人隐私) in your friends and colleagues and sharing impressions about another person — even when they’re negative — may be helpful.
1. Why do people often gossip according to Jeremy Cone?| A．Because gossip can satisfy their curiosity. | B．Because they can share social information. |
| C．Because they want to correct others’ mistakes. | D．Because spreading negative facts is unavoidable. |
| A．People can be improved in an all-round way. | B．People can get rid of immoral behavior rapidly. |
| C．People can be kept informed of others' privacy. | D．People can change their behavior for the better.. |
| A．It is plain to see that people gossip all the time. |
| B．Based on the study, the majority of gossip is trash talk. |
| C．It’s advisable that we turn a deaf ear to negative gossip. |
| D．It’s likely that gossip helps us know more about one's quality. |
| A．Gossip is the last thing people could do. | B．Gossip should be advocated by the society. |
| C．Gossip may not be as harmful as it sounds. | D．Gossip is the best way to build social bonds. |
7 . Recently my friend invited me to her residential hall, which is an African-American themed hall. They have lots of meetings and outings there. So I thought it would be fun. On this particular day they were having a pancake breakfast, just a time to mix. I was excited to be there, too.
I walked in at a time when the mini-party was at its peak. I found my friend; excitedly, we hugged and she led me to a seat in the back. We sat there for some time. I sensed some sort of discrimination. I wondered, were we just isolating ourselves or were we facing discrimination?
My friend’s breakfast came in first, and it was a plate full of colors. My mouth watered. I have always liked rainbow dishes: they make me hungry. She let me pick pancakes and fruit; we ate and only then began to talk.
The black American contemporary music was extremely loud. Some boys and girls were beating the tables and some guys on the stage were dancing in what looked like a kind of competition.
We talked about various subjects: hair, boys, shoes and books. And then we got to it. “What do African Americans think of Africans?”
We argued. I told her I thought African Americans were haughty. Why did they sideline us? When we met in a narrow passage and our eyes met, they quickly looked aside before we greeted. Why? Weren’t we all black? I mean, wasn’t this exactly the reason why there was an African-American themed house to begin with?
Did they look down upon us because they grew up in America and we in Sub-Saharan Africa? Oh yes, I felt this was it! They believed that we were HIV-positive and that the giraffes were right behind our huts.
My friend uttered, “No!” And then she continued：
“I also thought so at one point but after living with these guys, I got to a different conclusion altogether. These guys are not from Africa. They were not born there and may have never been there. We can’t expect them to naturally like us or bond. We are different. Skin color is the skin color.”
1. It can be inferred from Paragraph 2 that the author ________.| A．is an African American | B．is an American African |
| C．was late for the party | D．was crazy about parties |
| A．Delicious. | B．Just so-so. |
| C．A bit salty. | D．A little sweet. |
| A．kind-hearted | B．modest |
| C．fashionable | D．proud |
| A．They had a good time at the party. |
| B．They turned down the music for me. |
| C．Some of them broke the tables. |
| D．They had a competition at the party. |
| A．The author was brought up in Sub-Saharan Africa. |
| B．The friend had the same idea as the author before. |
| C．The African Americans are born in America. |
| D．The African Americans have nothing in common with Africans. |
8 . Many people confuse hard-working people with workaholics(工作狂). How could a person tell that he/she is a workaholic? A workaholic works long hours, at the expense of personal relationships and health. When not working, they’re thinking about work. Work influences their mood: when work is going well, they’re up; when work is going less well, they’re down.
Working, or simply being busy, can be a hard habit to break. When workaholics aren’t busy working—or doing something to promote their work—they feel anxious and guilty. They hang onto jobs for dear life and do everything they can to make sure they’re essential.
There is a link between health problems and workaholism. Just because work itself is a respectable pursuit(追求) doesn’t mean that an addiction to it is any less damaging than other sorts of addictions. A number of studies show that workaholism has been associated with a wide range of health problems, such as anxiety and heart disease.
Besides health problems, being a workaholic brings other negative effects as well. A study published in the American Journal of Family Therapy found that working too much negatively influenced an employee’s marriage. This isn’t surprising, since if you’re married to your work, it can be difficult to be married to anything, or anyone, else. There have also been studies looking at the influence of workaholic parents on their children and the news isn’t good. Adult children of workaholic fathers experienced more depression and anxiety and a weaker sense of self.
However, there are also many positive aspects to working hard and to an increasing devotion to career. Hard work can bring great rewards. For many, it’s how they develop feelings of self-worth and confidence and purpose. If you have a workaholic in your life, you might point out the things he or she is missing out on while at work, whether it’s a child’s soccer game, a good book, or a yoga class. Seek to understand why the person feels the need to work so much and support them in finding a solution.
1. What can we infer about workaholics?| A．They put work in the first place. |
| B．They usually have life outside work. |
| C．They often get pleasure from work. |
| D．They win respect from their workmates. |
| A．Bad influences of workaholism. |
| B．Reasons for being workaholics. |
| C．How people deal with their addictions. |
| D．How hard-working people differ from workaholics. |
| A．Force them to join family activities. |
| B．Reward them for their hard work. |
| C．Help them find self-worth and confidence. |
| D．Try to understand and support them. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Objective. | C．Negative. | D．Curious. |
9 . A new study, published in The Journal of Experimental Psychology found that communication interactions that included voice, like a phone call or video chat, created stronger social bonds than communication through typing, like text messaging or email.
In the study, researchers used various experiments to gauge connectedness. In one, they asked 200 people to make predictions about what it would be like to reconnect with an old friend by email or by phone and then assigned people at random to do one or the other. Although people anticipated that a phone call would be more awkward, hearing someone's voice actually made the experience better. However, people who participated in the experiment reported that they did form a significantly stronger bond with their old friend on the phone versus email, and they did not feel more awkward.
In another experiment, the researchers had strangers connected by either texting, talking over video chat, or talking using only audio. They found that both forms of voice communication — whether video or audio only — made the strangers feel significantly more connected than when they communicated via text.
Sabrina Romanoff, a Harvard trained clinical psychologist based in New York City, says people tend to text or email instead of calling because of convenience, as they see it as a controlled form of communication where they can "correspond information exactly in the way they intend without unexpected additions by the other person."
Romanoff says that in reality, texting can make it hard to determine the true meaning behind a conversation. A phone call is actually more convenient when considering the net effects of the message. Each party is more present, and therefore, able to gauge the meaning behind the content without ruminating on the endless possible meanings behind words and punctuation.
1. What is the purpose of the study?| A．To encourage people to let their fingers do the talking. |
| B．To introduce the effects of verbal and non-verbal communications. |
| C．To demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses of making phone calls. |
| D．To compare connectedness of communication through voice and typing. |
| A．Typing a letter. | B．Sending an email. |
| C．Having a video chat. | D．Texting a message. |
| A．A way to talk about controlled topics. | B．A way to communicate without time limit. |
| C．A way to explain something without delay. | D．A way to express thoughts without being disturbed. |
| A．Being more formal. | B．Being less awkward. |
| C．Being more straightforward. | D．Being less expensive |
10 . The Internet has opened up a whole new online world for us to meet, chat and go where we’ve never been before.
But just as in face to face communication, there are some rules of behavior that should be followed when on line.
For anything you’re about to send: ask yourself, “Would I say this to the person’s face?” if the answer is no, rewrite and reread.
If someone in the chat room is rude to you, your instinct (本能) is to fire back in the same manner. But try not to do so.
It is not polite to ask others personal questions such as their age, sex and marital status. Unless you know the person very well, and you are both comfortable with sharing personal information, don’t ask such questions.
| A．It’s natural that there are some people who speak rudely or make mistakes online. |
| B．Repeat the process till you feel sure that you’d feel comfortable saying the words to the person’s face. |
| C．Everyone was new to the network once. |
| D．The basic rule is simple: treat others in the same way you would want to be treated. |
| E．When you send short messages to a person online, you must say something beautiful to hear. |
| F．You should either ignore the person, or use your chat software to block their messages. |
| G．If you do decide to tell someone about a mistake, point it out politely. |
