1 . There are several ways from which to choose for you to keep your kids safe in your neighborhood. But the first step to keep your child safe in your neighborhood is to know your neighbors.
Knowing your neighbors can save you a lot of worry. It lets you know that the car that has just driven down the street belongs to “the yellow house on the corner”, or the truck that has just driven by the playground looks unfamiliar, but the guy in the passenger seat lives two doors down. It’s these simple things that keep you from going out of your mind whenever you see someone driving by where children are playing.
But you shouldn’t just know what they look like. The next step is to know them well. What do they do? How do they act?You might be OK with them driving by the playground since they live in the neighborhood, but are you OK with them being on the playground?Knowing your neighbors helps with several things. First you find out what kind of people they are. This helps you know if you should let your child go out in an area that they gather. Let’s face it: you don’t want your child to play around people or people’s children that curse (咒骂) or hit each other. Sometimes you have to protect your child against your own neighbors.
Knowing them also makes them know you. Being neighbors is an interesting thing. You might not like them or have the same views as them, but we all usually protect those that we consider our own. If you know your neighbors, they know you. They will more probably look after the child of the nice lady down the street in the brick house, than the people in the house on the corner that no one ever sees.
1. This text is mainly to tell how to ________.| A．keep your child safe in the neighborhood |
| B．set a good example to your neighbors |
| C．get along with your neighbors |
| D．teach your child to protect himself |
| A．Becoming very excited. | B．Becoming very worried. |
| C．Becoming very sad. | D．Becoming very relaxed. |
| A．It is important for you to be polite to your neighbors. |
| B．People in the same neighborhood are quite different. |
| C．People like enjoying themselves on the playground. |
| D．Knowing your neighbors helps to keep your kids safe. |
| A．they are often encouraged | B．you are getting on well with them |
| C．you are the one nobody knows | D．they think you are a beautiful lady |
2 . We’ve all been there: in a lift, in line at the bank or on an airplane, surrounded by people who are, like us, deeply focused on their smartphones or, worse, struggling with the uncomfortable silence.
What’s the problem? It’s possible that we all don’t have enough conversational ability. It’s more likely that none of us start a conversation because it’s embarrassing and challenging, or we think it’s annoying and unnecessary. But the next time you find yourself among strangers, consider that small talk is worth the trouble. Experts say it’s a valuable social practice that leads to big benefits.
It is easy to consider small talk as unimportant, but we can’t forget that deep relationships wouldn’t even exist if there weren’t casual conversations. Small talk is the grease (润滑剂) for social communication, says Bernardo Carducci, director of the Shyness Research Institute at Indiana University Southeast. “Almost every great love story and each big business deal begins with small talk,” he explains. “The secret to successful small talk is learning how to connect with others, not just communicate with them.”
In a 2014 study, Elizabeth Dunn, professor of psychology at UBC, invited people to a coffee shop. One group was asked to interact (互动) with its waiter; the other, to speak only when necessary. The results showed that those who chatted with their server reported significantly higher positive feelings and a better coffee shop experience. “It’s not that talking to the waiter is better than talking to your husband,” says Dunn. “But interactions with peripheral (边缘的) members of our social network is important for our happiness and health.”
Dunn believes that people who reach out to strangers feel a greater sense of belonging, a link with others. Carducci believes developing such a sense of belonging starts with small talk. “Small talk is the basis of good manners,” he says.
1. What phenomenon is described in the first paragraph?| A．Addiction to smartphones. |
| B．Impatience with slow service. |
| C．Improper behaviors in public places. |
| D．Absence of communication between strangers. |
| A．Keeping in touch with other people. |
| B．Showing good manners. |
| C．Making business deals |
| D．Focusing on a topic |
| A．It improves family relationships. |
| B．It makes people feel good. |
| C．It raises people’s confidence |
| D．It matters as much as a formal talk. |
| A．Strengths of Small Talk |
| B．Ways of Making Small Talk |
| C．Conversation Counts |
| D．Uncomfortable Silence |
3 . Handwritten thank-you letters are such a simple way of making other people feel good, it is strange that so few people write them anymore. At work, a thank-you letter to employees is unbelievably effective. It costs little and has no side effects. The effort involved in writing letters very low. The pleasure on receiving them is very high.
Doug Conant, manager of Campbell’s Soup Company since 2001, knows the power of thank you letters. He said that every day he works with an assistant, searching the company for people deserving thanks.
In these days of such busy schedules and people running all over the place and trying to get ahead, sometimes we forget the simplest things in life are the most powerful and rewarding. You need to think to yourself about a time someone sent you a thank-you and how much it meant to you.
| A．He then writes them a thank-you letter. |
| B．Why are thank-you letters so important? |
| C．You may ask what side effects exactly mean. |
| D．This makes them an excellent way to reward and motivate staff. |
| E．But if these letters are so inspiring, why don’t more managers write them? |
| F．Always remember to “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you!” |
| G．Since no one ever writes them thank-you letters they don’t write any themselves. |
4 . “Don’t tell anyone”. We hear these words when someone tells a secret to us. But it can be hard to keep a secret. We often tend to “spill the beans”, even if we regret it later.
According to Asim Shah, professor in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine, US, keeping a secret may well “become a burden”. This is because people often have an “obsessive and anxious urge to share it with someone”.
An earlier study, led by Anita E. Kelly, a scientist at the University of Notre Dame, US, suggested that keeping a secret could cause stress. People entrusted (受委托的) with secrets can suffer from depression, anxiety, and body aches, reported the Daily Mail.
But with secrets so often getting out, why do people share them at all?Shah explained that people often feel that it will help them keep a person as a friend. Another reason people share secrets is guilt over keeping it from someone close to them. A sense of distrust can develop when people who are close do not share it with each other. “Keeping or sharing secrets often puts people in a position of either gaining or losing the trust of someone,” according to Shah.
He added that talkative people could let secrets slip out (泄露). But this doesn’t mean that it is a good idea only to share secrets with quiet people. A quiet person may be someone who keeps everything inside. To tell such a person a secret may cause them stress, and make them talk about the secret.
Shah said that to judge whether to tell someone a secret, you’d better put yourself in their position. Think about how you would feel to be told that you mustn’t give the information away. Shah also recommended that if you accidentally give up someone’s secret you should come clean about it. Let the person know that their secret isn’t so secret anymore.
1. What does underlined words “spill the beans” mean?| A．Cut up beans. | B．Burst into laughter. |
| C．Let out the secret. | D．Keep the words. |
| A．It can help promote friendships between people. | B．It can result in mental and physical problems. |
| C．It can result in a sense of distrust between friends. | D．It can harm relationships between friends. |
| A．It’s not a good idea to share your secrets with others. |
| B．It’s better to share your secrets with quiet people. |
| C．Quiet people suffer less stress from keeping secrets. |
| D．Talkative people are unlikely to keep secrets. |
| A．Buy the person a gift as an apology. |
| B．Stay away from the person. |
| C．Exchange a new secret with the person. |
| D．Tell the affected person what happened. |
5 . Even with wonderful friends, family and a partner, I don't always want to be surrounded by people. “Table for one? Or will someone else be joining you?” A dinner reservation for one person never fails to raise a few eyebrows. I actively choose to spend time alone when possible. But not everyone has the luxury of choosing to be alone, of course, many are forced into one-on-one time because they have no one.
But for those of us who spend our days surrounded by colleagues in the workplace, our evenings and weekends with family, friends and partners, all the while being constantly bombarded by WhatsApp,social media and email, time to ourselves can be a rare treat. Time to yourself not only gives you the chance to do practical things you don't normally get round to but also the activities your pals don't want to do. In a less real way, spending time alone also allows-or perhaps forces- you to sit with your own thoughts, to think about things that might normally be drowned out by conversation and the noise of companionship. When you're alone you get time to think without purpose.
It is worth noting that I'm a real introvert(性格内向者）,so perhaps sitting alone with my thoughts-refilling my energy reserves-might just be indulging personality traits that others don't have. But I believe more people could benefit from it.
Given this constant social conditioning since childhood that we should be surrounded by people , it's no wonder many hesitate to press forward at the idea of spending time alone-a sign we've failed at climbing that social ladder. And if you're an extrovert who gets their energy from other people, this must be even harder. But as someone who has come to love spending time alone, even when there are many wonderful souls in my life I can spend time with, I wish more people would give solo a go.
Reservation for one, please.
1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?| A．The author wants to be alone all the time. |
| B．The author feels bored with family and friends. |
| C．Surrounded by people, the author still feels lonely. |
| D．Reserving a table for one will draw disapproving looks. |
| A．The benefits of alone time. |
| B．The weaknesses of social media. |
| C．The definition of being alone. |
| D．The ways of spending time alone. |
| A．By eating delicious food. |
| B．By reflecting on their own thoughts. |
| C．By socializing with others. |
| D．By reading their favourite books. |
| A．quote others' words |
| B．answer the waiter's question |
| C．excite the readers' appetite |
| D．stress the author's determination |
6 . 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 |
7 . “Communication is the most essential and sociable of all human behaviors”, which is absolutely true as for human community. Communication is the majority of everyone’s social life. “Without communication, life would be as cold as a rock.”
To start good communication, we can make certain adequate preparations, especially some relative questions.
The most important part of communication is to listen.
| A．Enjoy good communication, being friends with them. |
| B．It is usually said that eyes are windows to the soul. |
| C．It would make others feel uneasy and unwilling to continue talking. |
| D．They believe they wanna know and even convince us. |
| E．We should concentrate on others’ saying and think in their shoes. |
| F．It is considered to be fairly comfortable to be asked fine questions. |
| G．Furthermore, good communication is an interesting attraction in our daily life. |
8 . Claire Wyatt, a 24-year-old British volunteer, led eight Cambodians living with disabilities on a 155-mile bike ride from Phnom Penh, the nation’s capital, to Siem Reap to raise money and deliver supplies to those in need in the coronavirus pandemic(新冠病毒大流行).
“Leading this trip was an incredibly special experience for me,” said Claire. “Not only was I encouraged by the determination of each and every rider, but also the team taught me every day not to focus on their disability.”
When she was first asked to lead the trip, Claire admitted, she was feeling nervous about her team traveling such a distance in just a few days because cycling with a disability can come with added physical and emotional challenges.
One team member named Dy, who lost an arm in an accident, biked using just one arm to balance. Another named Vulta could only pedal on one side due to polio(小儿麻痹). Despite all the difficulties, Claire realized quickly that she didn’t have to worry about her team. She saw them deal with rough area that she had seen abled cyclists give up on before.
The volunteers covered the distance in just four days, not only helping so many people across the country, but also overcoming huge difficulties to get there.
“The best thing about this ride is that the riders have all volunteered their time to do this. They are so enthusiastic about Cambodia and raising money for others in need,” said Claire. “The money raised will feed 99 families in Siem Reap.”
Claire recalled her favorite moment of the experience, when one of the cyclists pushed an exhausted teammate up a hill for 2 miles. “One moment that stood out for me was when Naret, our only female rider, was feeling tired,” she said. “Her fellow rider gently put his hand on her back and pushed her for 2 miles! They were encouraging each other to push through the tiredness.”
1. Why did Claire and eight Cambodians cycle 155 miles?| A．To challenge themselves. | B．To help out needy people. |
| C．To take part in a competition. | D．To raise money for the disabled. |
| A．She might be injured on the road. | B．She would be unable to lead the team. |
| C．Her team might be looked down on. | D．Her team couldn’t finish the route. |
| A．Confident, calm and friendly. | B．Honest, patient and open-minded. |
| C．Strong-minded, brave and caring. | D．Curious, creative and experienced. |
| A．It could have taken less time. |
| B．It was amazing and inspiring. |
| C．It changed her idea about human nature. |
| D．It was more difficult than she had expected. |
9 . 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. |
10 . Conformity involves changing your behaviour to “fit in” or “go along” with the people around you. In some cases, this social influence might involve agreeing with or acting like the majority of people in a specific group, or involve behaving in a particular way to be viewed as “normal” by the group. Actually, conformity is something that happens regularly in our social world. Sometimes we’re aware of our behaviour, but in many cases it happens without much thought or awareness on our parts. And even in some cases we go along with things we disagree with or behave in ways we know we shouldn’t.
There are countless examples of conformity in life. For instance, a teenager dresses in a certain style because he wants to fit in with the rest of the teenagers in his social group. A woman reads a book for her book club and really enjoys it. When she attends her book club meeting, the other members all dislike the book. Rather than go against the group opinion, she simply agrees with the others that the book is terrible.
Why do we conform? In many cases, looking to the rest of the group for clues for how we should behave can actually be helpful. Others might have greater knowledge or experience than we do, so following their lead can actually be instructive. And in some cases, we conform to the expectations of the group to avoid looking foolish. This tendency can become especially strong in situations where we aren’t quite sure how to act. Additionally, there are some situations where we conform just in order to avoid punishments or gain rewards.
There are many factors that influence conformity. For example, not knowing how to perform a difficult task makes people more likely to conform. Personal characteristics such as motivation to achieve and strong leadership abilities are linked with a decreased tendency to conform. And people are more likely to conform in situations that involve between three and five other people.
1. What can we learn about conformity from the first paragraph?| A．Actually it is rare for us to conform. |
| B．Blind conformity should be criticized. |
| C．Sometimes people tend to conform unconsciously. |
| D．Conformity means changing your behaviour reluctantly. |
| A．Joining a certain organization. |
| B．Following the ongoing fashion. |
| C．Sharing something personal with others. |
| D．Giving up your creative ideas cautiously. |
| A．When we are at a loss. |
| B．When we are rejected. |
| C．When we feel threatened. |
| D．When we feel uncomfortable. |
| A．Conformity cannot be avoided by anyone. |
| B．Conformity is linked to the size of the group. |
| C．Conformity is a natural response to challenges. |
| D．Conformity isn’t related to individual differences. |
