Every day, in hundreds of ordinary situations, actions speak far louder than words. We talk with our mouth, but we communicate with our facial expressions, our tone of voice and our whole body.
By understanding how to use body language, you can communicate more effectively. Here is how:
Work on your handshake.
Use eye contact. Eye contact is very important in forming an impression of someone. You should have the ability to keep direct eye contact if you want to be taken seriously. But some people feel uncomfortable when it is too strong.
Be yourself. Nonverbal (非言语的) messages come from deep inside you, from your own sense of self-respect. If you are comfortable with yourself, it shows.
| A．Use hand gestures carefully. |
| B．Pay attention to your body-talk. |
| C．A mirror can be useful to examine facial expressions. |
| D．People who know who they are have a relaxed way of talking and moving. |
| E．In the business world, the handshake shows important messages about power. |
| F．Understanding body language is one of the most useful skills you can develop. |
| G．To avoid this problem, change your focus so that you look at somewhere between the eyes and the chin. |
In recent years, many writers have begun to speak of the ‘decline of class ’ and ‘classless society ’ in Britain. And in modern day consumer society everyone is considered to be middle class.
But pronouncing the death of class is too early. A recent wide-ranging study of pubic opinion found 90 percent of people still placing themselves in a particular class; 73 percent agreeed that class was still a vital part of British society.; and 52 percent thought there were still sharp class differences. Thus, class may not be culturally and politically obvious, yet it remains an imprtant part of British society. Britain seems to have a love of stratification.
One unchanging aspect of a British person’s class position is accent. The words a person speaks tell her or his class. A study of British accents during the 1970s found that a voice sounding like a BBC newsreader was viewed as the most attractive voice. Most people said this accent sounds ‘educated ’ and ‘soft ’. The accents placed at the bottom in this study, on the other hand, were regional(地区的) city accents. These accents were seen as ‘common ’ and ‘ugly ’. However, a similar study of British accents in the US turned these results upside down and placed some regional accents as the most attractive and BBC English as the least. This suggests that British attitudes towards accent have deep roots and are based on class prejudice.
In recent years, however, young upper midder-class people in London, have begun to adopt some regional accents, in order to hide their class origins. This is an indication of class becoming unnoticed. However, the 1995 pop song ‘ Common People ’ puts forward the view that though a middle-class person may ‘ want to live like common people ’ they can never appreciate the reality of a working class life.
1. A recent study of pubic opinion shows that in modern Britain_________.
| A．it is time to end class distinction |
| B．most people belong to middle class |
| C．it is easy to recognize a person’s class |
| D．people regard themselves socially different |
| A．variety | B．division |
| C．authority | D．qualification |
| A．regional | B．educated |
| C．prejudiced | D．unattractive |
| A．have a long tradition |
| B．are based on regional status |
| C．are shared by the Americans |
| D．have changed in recent years |
| A．The middle class is expanding. |
| B．A person’s accent reflects his class. |
| C．Class is a key part of British society. |
| D．Each class has unique characteristics. |
3 . You may not pay much attention to your daily elevator ride. Many of us use a lift several times during the day without really thinking about it. But Lee Gray, PhD, of the University of North Carolina, US, has made it his business to examine this overlooked form of public transport. He is known as the “Elevator Guy”.
“The lift becomes this interesting social space where etiquette (礼仪) is sort of odd (奇怪的),” Gray told the BBC. “They [elevators] are socially very interesting but often very awkward places.”
We walk in and usually turn around to face the door. If someone else comes in, we may have to move. And here, according to Gray, liftusers unthinkingly go through a set pattern of movements. He told the BBC what he had observed.
He explained that when you are the only one inside a lift, you can do whatever you want – it’s your own little box.
If there are two of you, you go into different corners, standing diagonally (对角线地) across from each other to create distance.
When a third person enters, you will unconsciously form a triangle. And when there is a fourth person it becomes a square, with someone in every corner. A fifth person is probably going to have to stand in the middle.
New entrants to the lift will need tosize upthe situation when the doors slide open and then act decisively. Once in, for most people the rule is simple – look down, or look at your phone.
Why are we so awkward ( adj. 尴尬的) in lifts?
“You don’t have enough space,” Professor Babette Renneberg, a clinical psychologist at the Free University of Berlin, told the BBC. “Usually when we meet other people we have about an arm’s length of distance between us. And that’s not possible in most elevators.”
In such a small, enclosed space it becomes very important to act in a way that cannot be construed (理解) as threatening or odd. “The easiest way to do this is to avoid eye contact,” she said.
1. The main purpose of the article is to _____.| A．remind us to enjoy ourselves in the elevator |
| B．tell us some unwritten rules of elevator etiquette |
| C．share an interesting but awkward elevator ride |
| D．analyze what makes people feel awkward in an elevator |
| A．turn around and greet one another |
| B．look around or examine their phone |
| C．make eye contact with those in the elevator |
| D．try to keep a distance from other people elevator? |
| A．A | B．B | C．C | D．D |
| A．judge | B．ignore | C．put up with | D．make the best of |
| A．someone’s odd behaviors |
| B．the lack of space |
| C．their unfamiliarity with one another |
| D．their eye contact with one another |
