1 . 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 have compromised conversational intelligence. It’s more likely that none of us start a conversation because it’s awkward 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 an invaluable social practice that results in big benefits.

Dismissing small talk as unimportant is easy, but we can’t forget that deep relationships wouldn’t

even exist if it weren’t for casual conversation. 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 key to successful small talk is learning how to connect with others, not just communicate with them.＂

In a 2014 study, Elizabeth Dunn, associate professor of psychology at UBC, invited people on their way into a coffee shop. One group was asked to seek out an interaction(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 matter for our well-being also.＂

Dunn believes that people who reach out to strangers feel a significantly greater sense of belonging, a bond 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．Inappropriate behaviours in public places.

C．Absence of communication between strangers.

D．Impatience with slow service.

2. What is important for successful small talk according to Carducci?

A．Showing good manners.	B．Relating to other people.
C．Focusing on a topic.	D．Making business deals.

3. What does the coffee-shop study suggest about small talk?

A．It improves family relationships.	B．It raises people’s confidence.
C．It matters as much as a formal talk.	D．It makes people feel good.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Conversation Counts	B．Ways of Making Small Talk
C．Benefits of Small Talk	D．Uncomfortable Silence

2 . An act of kindness doesn't have to be a grand gesture. Even those small acts of kindness can make a difference in someone's day. That was just the case for Amie Mickey when she____________a bumper sticker on her car reading: You Matter.

Amie started to do this several years ago. At first, she wondered if people would________________it. However, much to her surprise, she began seeing a flood of____________every time she hit the road. More often than not, people________________slowly near her car would roll down their windows, raising their____________________,waving and smiling. Sometimes, she even found some sticky notes left on her windshield saying things like “You________________too! “Once while she was driving down the highway, she became____________when a man driving a sports car at a high speed pulled his car alongside suddenly, waving and mouthing, “You matter!” Though it took her some time to recover from the________________, she still felt happy. Last year, someone____________________her car while she was waiting for her friend in the car by the roadside, saying to her, “It is a(an)________________sticker. I’ve seen various stickers before, but none of them have touched me as your sticker has done. “The two small words on the sticker seem simple enough, but they really struck a chord with many complete strangers who___________to catch sight of the sticker.

Stories like Amie's really________________the rest of us. Sometimes a kind word or gesture may lift our____________and it doesn't cost a thing except for a little extra thought. Maybe it means offering a friend a hug, praising the children when their children________________well in school, helping someone out or volunteering at animal shelters or shelters for the homeless. Acts of kindness are waiting everywhere. Small as they seem, they can make a____________impact on the world, and help form general goodness.

1.

A．tore up

B．picked up

C．fixed up

D．put up

2.

A．watch

B．overlook

C．notice

D．neglect

3.

A．attention

B．strangers

C．confusion

D．trouble

4.

A．running

B．driving

C．walking

D．riding

5.

A．voices

B．hats

C．shoulders

D．thumbs

6.

A．count

B．share

C．value

D．matter

7.

A．frightened

B．frustrated

C．embarrassed

D．disappointed

8.

A．parking

B．speed

C．incident

D．event

9.

A．approached

B．blocked

C．repaired

D．cleaned

10.

A．important

B．special

C．typical

D．skeptical

11.

A．happened

B．occurred

C．managed

D．offered

12.

A．shock

B．inspire

C．delight

D．satisfy

13.

A．feelings

B．thoughts

C．spirits

D．minds

14.

A．work

B．exercise

C．conduct

D．behave

15.

A．reliable

B．subjective

C．positive

D．brief

3 . One of the easiest things in the world is to become a fault-finder. However, life can be _______ when you are not busy finding fault with it.

Several years ago I _______ a letter from seventeen-year-old Kerry, who described herself as a world-class fault-finder, almost always _______ by things. People were always doing things that annoyed her, and _______ was ever good enough. She was highly self-critical and also found fault with her friends. She became a really _______ person.

Unfortunately, it took a horrible accident to change her _______. Her best friend was seriously hurt in a car crash. What made it almost _______ to deal with was that the day before the _______, Kerry had visited her friend and had spent the whole time criticizing her _______ of boyfriends, the way she was living, the way she related to her mother, and various other things she felt she needed to ________. It wasn’t until her friend was badly hurt that Kerry became ________ her habit of finding fault. Very quickly, she learned to appreciate life rather than to ________ everything so harshly(刻薄). She was able to transfer her new wisdom to other parts of her ________ as well.

Perhaps most of us aren’t as extreme at fault-finding, ________ when we’re honest, we can be sharply ________ of the world. I’m not suggesting you ________ problems, or that you pretend things are ________ than they are, but simply that you learn to allow things to be as they are — ________ most of the time, and especially when it’s not a really big ________.

Train yourself to ＂bite your tongue＂, and with a little ________, you’ll get really good at letting things go. And when you do, you’ll get back your enthusiasm and love for life.

1.

A．lonely

B．great

C．quiet

D．uneasy

2.

A．received

B．answered

C．expected

D．rejected

3.

A．threatened

B．interrupted

C．bothered

D．spoiled

4.

A．anything

B．everything

C．something

D．nothing

5.

A．caring

B．boring

C．interesting

D．surprising

6.

A．attitude

B．plan

C．measure

D．explanation

7.

A．urgent

B．unnecessary

C．certain

D．impossible

8.

A．occasion

B．event

C．accident

D．adventure

9.

A．memory

B．notice

C．evidence

D．choice

10.

A．hear

B．contribute

C．express

D．admit

11.

A．aware of

B．afraid of

C．curious about

D．confused about

12.

A．discuss

B．realize

C．judge

D．settle

13.

A．family

B．life

C．career

D．education

14.

A．so

B．or

C．but

D．for

15.

A．proud

B．sure

C．hopeful

D．critical

16.

A．face

B．create

C．solve

D．ignore

17.

A．rarer

B．better

C．stranger

D．worse

18.

A．at least

B．at last

C．by far

D．so far

19.

A．task

B．deal

C．result

D．duty

20.

A．practice

B．speech

C．rest

D．pity

4 . How to Level up Your Self-Control

By definition, self-control is the ability to do something that benefits your long-term goals, instead of something that might satisfy your immediate desires.    1    --we end up sacrificing the well-being of our future selves all too easily.

    2    ?

Angela Duckworth, professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, says allocating resources between your present self and future self is an ongoing struggle. For example, exhibiting self-control over spending time on video games and social media, two of the most common temptations（诱惑）of the current era, means battling against age-old mechanisms in your brain.

If you're willing to look deeply into your tendencies and weak points, you can recognize the handful of problems that you need to work on.

    3    To improve self-control at work, Duckworth first recommends taking a future-oriented approach to your day, such as planning breaks and the time for checking emails in advance.

The problem of looking at your cell phone too often, say, can be solved by putting it on mute or, better yet, sticking it in your bag until lunch.    4    .

Finally, Duckworth advises laying a foundation of self-control that you can build of in the future.    5    because of too little sleep the night before, or an insufficient meal in the morning. By practicing healthier living away from the workplace, you can gather the strength and stamina（毅力）to help you control your worst urges when it matters most.

A．One place to start would be the office

B．What problems do you need to work on

C．We've all experienced unproductive workdays

D．But for many of us, short-term satisfactions are irresistible

E．Why is exercising proper self-control so tricky for some, and how to do better

F．If you can resist resigning you may achieve more on your overall self-control

G．Removing the temptation from sight is key to ensuring you're faithful to your mission

5 . As the parent of a 7-year-old boy, sometimes I feel like “no” is my most frequently said word. But if I look honestly at the big picture of my daily vocabulary, I probably would conclude that it actually contains too much “yes”. Saying yes means opening myself up to new experiences, inviting new or deeper relationships. But too much “yes” leaves any of us feeling anxious,   overcommitted (过分受约束的) and   powerless to set and maintain boundaries in our lives.

This had been on my mind when The Book of No: 365 Ways to Say It and Mean It－and Stop People-Pleasing.

Forever came across my desk. The new edition of this decade-old book by psychologist Susan Newman is a must-read book for those of us who struggle to say “no” with authenticity, confidence and kindness.

Newman calls people who feel forced to say yes all their way through life “people-pleasers”. The chief symptoms of this condition include associating helping others with your self-respect, holding expectations that you will care for others and feeling unwilling to state your own needs when a request comes your way. For people-pleasers, “yes is the path of least resistance and the way to avoid damaging your relationship with the asker,” Newman writes.

The book offers brief dialogues for hundreds of scenarios in which “no” is the right answer, for reasons ranging from time management to financial pressures to emotional boundaries. Newman considers what came about among friends, at work, within families and in parenting. Reading through the scenarios, I realized they have some things in common－things that immediately started helping me improve my “no” skills.

Do you think this book might be helpful to you? It’s OK if the answer is “no”, but I do highly recommend it for your Positive Reading List shelf.

1. Why does the author include his own personal experience in Paragraph 1?

A．To blame himself.	B．To show how to guide kids.
C．To tell his likes and dislikes.	D．To help recommend a book.

2. What is mainly talked about in Paragraph 3?

A．How to deal with a request.

B．Why askers turn to others for a favor.

C．Why people-pleasers say “yes” too often.

D．How to strengthen relationships with askers.

3. What does the underlined word “scenarios” probably mean?

A．Occasions.	B．Processes.
C．Adventures.	D．Stories.

4. What does the author advise us to do?

A．Give no response to any demand.

B．Learn to say “no” in a positive way.

C．Keep open all channels of communication.

D．Say “yes” constantly without feeling guilty.

6 . It goes without saying that everyone has bad days at work. You hit an unexpected problem with a project you’ve been working on for weeks.     1    You are severely criticized by your boss in the company. Whatever your workplace problem is, one effect it has is to make you feel more alone. There are times when you feel as though your colleagues are upset and you can only rely on yourself.     2    

When you’re feeling upset about a problem at work, take a minute to think of someone in your life that you’re grateful to and write a sentence or two on a notepad about what you appreciate.     3     Why does it have such power? Gratitude is often a positive emotion you   feel when someone else has gone out of their way to do something helpful for you that they didn’t have to do. That person has done something selfless in order to make your life little---or perhaps a lot---better.

    4     It might be a relative who took care of you when you were little, a teacher who   helped you out in a tough situation or a colleague who put you up for a great opportunity.

Picking one of those folks out and reminding yourself of why you’re grateful to them has two benefits.     5     It also reminds you of the deep social connections you have so that you   don’t feel quite as isolated anymore.

A．You have a quarrel with your beloved.

B．In those moments, a little gratitude can help

C．Here are some reasons to explain these situations.

D．All of us have people in our lives who fit that bill.

E．Research shows practicing gratitude can make you happier.

F．You forget the appointment with a VIP customer and keep him waiting.

G．For one, it gets you thinking about something positive and lifts your mood

7 . I am a Korean-American growing up in Korea. My delayed first day at Wheaton College was my first time in the U.S. in more than 10 years.

From my first time eating at Chipotle to the endless variety of Scotch tapes on display at Target, culture shock affected me deeply. I was flooded with the rush of Starbucks caffeine (咖啡因).    1    

On that first day to-do list was a job interview for a worker position. The interviewer asked where l was from. Seoul.     2    English literature. He said, "Oh, you must be enthusiastic about coming all the way here to study English from Korea'!”

That comment annoyed me,in a way I couldn't describe then. It's clearer now:     3    The interviewer was measuring my passion without knowing anything about me, only based on where l was coming from.

That interview was a small example of what came after that first day of college, but I hesitate to tell the story because some people who made ridiculously ignorant(无知的) comments ended up being my good friends. This wasn't easy.       4    Through them,I learned to express my feelings clearly in words. To them,I owe this story.

We get to know some people and others we don't. We make decisions to involve in conversations or not.       5     otherwise, I would have stayed in my bubble, meeting only people who say things that sound right.

A．People think differently from me.

B．It taught me disagreements are unnecessary.

C．It took a lot of listening, patience and effort.

D．The comment was focused on my upbringing.

E．He then asked what l would be studying here.

F．I was excited and terrified but tried to act bravely.

G．In a way, I'm thankful that I had to take those extra steps from the first day.

8 . Asking for help is a sign of strength rather than weakness. In American culture, the independent individual is seen as their ideal. As the University of Missouri at St. Louis states on its website under the heading Key American Values, “Americans have been trained since very early in their lives to consider themselves as separate individuals who are responsible for their own situations in life and their own destinies.” The value also makes them think they can do everything themselves, and makes them feel bad about asking for help when they need it.

And when it comes to work situations, when they think about asking for help there, sometimes they fear that a request for help would make them look inept. While this has always been true for men, many women in the workplace have felt the need to try twice as hard as their male colleagues and do twice as much to get just as far and to prove their worth. Sometimes when we think about asking for help, our inner voices tell us, “See, if you admit you can’t do this on your own, they’ll see you for the imposter （骗子）you really are.”

But the fact is, even though individualism is on the rise, we can’t do everything by ourselves and we shouldn’t try.

Apple founder Steve Jobs once told the Santa Clara Valley Historical Association about the power of asking for help, and how he “never found anybody who didn’t want to help me when I asked them for help”. He said, at the age of 12, he called Bill Hewlett, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard, on the phone after getting his number from the phone book and asking him for spare parts so he could build a frequency counter（计频器）And Hewlett agreed and offered young Jobs a summer job assembling frequency counters.

“If you’re afraid of failing, you won’t get very far,” Jobs said.

1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?

A．What key American values are.

B．Asking for help is a sign of strength.

C．Why Americans refuse to ask for help.

D．Americans are responsible for their life.

2. Which of the following can replace the underlined word “inept” in Paragraph 2?

A．incompetent	B．depressed
C．impolite	D．sensitive

3. What can be learned from this US cultural phenomenon?

A．Americans suffer a lot from mutual distrust.

B．Americans think highly of individual values.

C．Americans should learn to build up confidence.

D．Americans see weakness as a sign of strength.

4. What can we learn from Jobs’ words in the last paragraph?

A．Learn to cooperate with others.	B．Be brave to try whatever you want.
C．Never ask for help.	D．Don’t hesitate to ask for help.

9 . As each semester begins, my colleague greets his students wearing a jacket and tie.

“You make only one first impression, " he says. So, while the rest of the semester he teaches class in his usual, more casual clothes, the first week he presents a different image.

His thought is that students will remember their encounter positively and more readily think highly of him as the semester goes on because that favorable first impression has an influence on them. The big influence of first impressions is related to the halo effect, where the perception of the positive qualities in one thing or part gives rise to the perception of similar qualities in related things or in the whole.

Here is an example: You meet a friendly person at a party and later are asked to collect money for a worthy cause. You call that person because you think she will make a contribution. In reality, there is no connection between being pleasant and being generous. Yet the halo effect leads you to think that the two are related.

The halo effect is powerful, but is it questionable whether it matters much in long-term relationships, such as that between teachers and students? While dressing up may make students think the teacher must know his subject matter because he creates a professional first impression, the effect wears thin if the person turns out to be a poor teacher after all.

First impressions matter but they don't have the final word. Facts speak louder. If you had never seen or heard of Einstein, the first time you saw him your impression would most likely be negative. Now his face is connected with genius, not madness because he is the person who has come to define what genius is.

The problem is that few of us are Einstein and we often don't get the chance to change a negative first impression.

1. In the author's eyes, the halo effect_________.

A．is surprisingly powerful	B．may affect our judgment of others
C．matters more in the long run	D．makes some teachers irresponsible

2. The author uses the example of Einstein to show the importance of________.

A．appearance

B．impressions

C．truth

D．fairness

3. The author seems to advise readers________.

A．to mind their first impressions	B．not to judge a book by its cover
C．not to follow others’ judgment	D．to pay no attention to the halo effect

10 . How to Help Others in Your Community (社区)

Helping others in your community is a great way to spread joy to others and get the most out of life.     1    

You can choose to become a volunteer. Volunteering is great way to help others out in your community. Look around for a homeless shelter or soup kitchen and spend some time there doing whatever needs to be done.     2     For example, try tutoring homeless kids at the local shelter so that they can stay in school and not fall behind, and also you get a sense of achievement.

    3     You can give away money to some organizations that help others. If you don’t have money to spare, look through your unused items (物品) and see what you can part with that is in good condition. They are needed by a local food bank or shelter.

You can choose to redirect gifts.     4     You can invite them to do voluntary work to celebrate your birthday. You can also suggest they donate the money they intend to use to buy gifts for you.

You can stop to help. There are many cases where you can stop to give a helping hand. If you see people on the street struggling to carry all their groceries, stop to help     5     However, keep in mind that they may not always need help. But never feel discouraged when your kindness is turned down.

A．Usually they are grateful to accept your help.

B．You can choose to donate to important causes.

C．There are a number of chances you can take advantage of.

D．You can help your neighbors without spending much money.

E．Donate the gifts you receive to poor children in your community.

F．Not only will this help others, but also you will gain certain benefit.

G．Instead of getting new gifts every birthday, have your friends and family help others.