1 . For some people charm (吸引力) is a natural gift, but for others being charming is a skill that they need to acquire in order to survive. If you want to charm someone, here are some ways on how to do it.
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3. Show respect. By showing respect, you are expressing sincerity to that person. Learn how to politely introduce yourself. You don’t want to create an impression that you are overconfident. A handshake may be the most common way to do it. However, other traditions involve other forms of introductory gestures.
4. Always smile. Smiling is one of the basic ways to charm a person. By smiling a lot, you are creating a positive image for the person you wish to charm. Smiling is also a way of showing that person how glad you are to meet him. Remember to show a sincere and honest smile.
| A．Establish eye contact. |
| B．Avoid pretending to smile. |
| C．Show interest and enthusiasm. |
| D．Learn something about the person you wish to charm. |
| E．Try to find out his tradition and follow it accordingly. |
| F．When the person sees that you have the same interests, you can easily charm him. |
| G．When you are having a conversation, make him feel that he is in control of the conversation. |
2 . When you set a foot outside of your door to drop trash, go to a social event or go for a walk, thoughts like “I hope I don’t see anyone I know” or “please don’t talk to me” may run through your mind. I’ve also said such things to myself. Sometimes the last thing you want to do is to talk with someone, especially someone new.
Why do we go out of our ways to avoid people? Do we think meeting new people is a waste of time? Or are we just lazy, thinking that meeting someone new really is a trouble?
Communication is the key to life. We have been told that many times. Take the past generations, like our parents, for example. They seem to take full advantage of that whole “communication” idea because they grew up talking face to face while Generation-Y grew up staring at screens. We spend hours of our days sitting on Facebook. We send messages to our friends and think about all of the things we want to say to certain people that we don’t have the courage to do in reality.
Nowadays, we are so caught up in our little circle of friends—our comfort zone. We love it that they laugh at our jokes, understand our feelings and can read our minds. Most importantly, they know when we want to be alone. They just get us.
Holding a conversation with someone new means agreeing with things that you don’t really believe and being someone you think they want you to be—it is, as I said before, a trouble. It takes up so much energy, and at some point or another, it is too tiring.
But meeting new people is important. Life is too short, so meet all the people you can meet, make the effort to go out and laugh. Remember, every “hello” leads to a smile—and a smile is worth a lot.
1. What do we learn about the author?| A．He likes to meet someone new. | B．He feels stressed out lately. |
| C．He’s active in attending social events. | D．He used to be afraid of talking to others. |
| A．They rely on the Internet to socialize. | B．They are less confident in themselves. |
| C．They have difficulty in communicating. | D．They are unwilling to make new friends. |
| A．They think it troublesome. | B．They are busy with their study. |
| C．They fear to disappoint their friends. | D．They want to do meaningful work. |
| A．To stress the importance of friends. |
| B．To give tips on how to meet new people. |
| C．To encourage people to meet new people. |
| D．To display the disadvantages of Generation-Y. |
3 . About 72% of Americans use social media, where it’s common to make new friends, build relationships, or share photos of your daily life.
Social media allows people to connect in ways that wouldn’t otherwise be possible, and can often expand (扩展) people’s social circles, says Kathryn Moore, Ph. D., a psychologist at Providence Saint John’s Child and Family Development Center in Santa Monica. On social media, you can connect with those people in similar situations and share worries, fears, and celebrations, Moore says. According to her research, up to 64% of teens report they have made a new friend online, for example, and 83% of teens report that social media makes them feel more connected with their friends.
Social media can negatively impact relationships when you start comparing yourself to other people, including your friends, just based on their social media, Moore says. For example, some may fear their lives aren’t as good as their friends’ and take friendships away because they feel they’re not good enough. Problems with self-esteem (自尊) can also appear when posting about some relationships on social media, but not all of them. “People might feel left out that they’re not as important if they’re not being shared on social media,” Moore says. Cyberbullying (网络霸凌) can also negatively impact relationships, whether you are receiving mean comments or sending them to someone else.
In order to grow a relationship that started online you should show the real you. To deepen a relationship that started on social media, Moore suggests talking on the phone or meeting in person. This allows for more fluid (流畅的) conversations, where you can communicate in real time. Remember that the people who you meet online can become an important part of your life.
“If a relationship created through online resources is treated with respect and consideration, it can be a great way to meet someone you might never have had the chance to meet,” says Don Grant, Ph. D., chairman of the American Psychological Association’s Device Management & Intelligence Committee.
1. What can we say about social media according to Moore’s research?| A．It has become the most important way for teens to make friends. |
| B．It prevents people from making friends in real life. |
| C．It can help teens to develop real relationships. |
| D．It makes teens feel more lonely and lost. |
| A．Social media may influence relationships in a bad way. |
| B．Building relationships online is not a piece of cake. |
| C．Relationship online makes people less connected. |
| D．Social media increases the risk of cyberbullying. |
| A．It leads people to lose chances to meet face to face. |
| B．It is more respectable than the relationship in real life. |
| C．It can be meaningful if dealt with properly. |
| D．It can be developed in an informal way. |
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
4 . How to Communicate With a Deaf Person
Communicating with a deaf person doesn’t have to be as difficult as it might seem. The trick is to be patient, straightforward, and to remember that deaf people communicate visually.
Method1:Starting Your Conversation
Position yourself carefully. Make sure that the light in the room is shining directly onto your face, and that you’re not standing with your back to a light.
Find out how the person prefers to communicate. Some deaf people are better lip-readers than others. Some deaf people may prefer to write back and forth or to use an interpreter. Man interactions between the deaf and the hearing require a combination of these methods.
Method2:Communicating Through Lip-reading.
Keep your sentences simple and use plain language.
When someone else is speaking, don’t turn away from the deaf person in your group.
| A．Get the person’s attention. |
| B．It’s important not to talk too quickly. |
| C．Or, they’ll miss parts of the conversation. |
| D．If so, it’ll make them feel left out of the conversation. |
| E．Stand directly in front of the person,at a normal distance. |
| F．The best way to know which methods are most effective is to ask. |
| G．Try not to be too difficult when using your words in the beginning. |
5 . 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 2021 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; he 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(外围的) 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 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. |
| 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. |
| A．Conversation Counts |
| B．Ways of Making Small Talk |
| C．Benefits of Small Talk |
| D．Uncomfortable Silence |
| A．Addiction to smartphones. |
| B．Inappropriate behaviours in public places. |
| C．Absence of communication between strangers. |
| D．Impatience with slow service. |
6 . How Helping Others Benefits You
Everyone wants to lead a happy and fulfilling life, so it’s natural to want to put yourself and your health first! However, helping other people can also directly help you at the same time.
Here are a few ways that helping others can benefit you：
·Attract more back to you.
When you give, you’re more likely to receive. You don’t necessarily need to keep the receiving in mind when you decide to give, but nature may just take its course.
·Bring you a good feeling.
If you volunteer your time to help others, you’re sharing your blessings with those less fortunate, which is a wonderful gift to give! You’ll likely return home after volunteering with a smile on your face.
·Heighten self-esteem.
When you help others, you may be helping yourself to a heightened self-esteem. A positive result for your good deeds enables you to feel pride in your accomplishments.
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After you’ve done something nice, you may also find that your confidence increases. The fact that your helpful acts have turned out so positive might lead you to the confidence you need in your own life.
·Be more positive about your own situation.
Sometimes you’ll find that you’re your own worst critic. You might accept the faults of others, but you may be less likely to accept your own. Helping others can help you to accept your own situation and your own faults.
Seek out opportunities, today, to help others. You’ll be glad you did!
| A．Strengthen confidence. |
| B．Make a difference. |
| C．It may help you to start seeing everything in a more positive light. |
| D．Maybe a friend will unexpectedly return a favor. |
| E．It also builds confidence in bigger and better things. |
| F．Just by completing a giving act, you receive positive feelings in your life. |
| G．It makes you feel surprised to know that you’ve made a difference in the world. |
7 . Eyes can speak
Much meaning can be conveyed, clearly, with our eyes, so it is often said that eyes can speak.
The same is true in our daily life. If you are stared at for more than necessary, you will look at yourself up and down to see if there is anything wrong with you.
Looking too long at someone may seem to be rude and aggressive.
However, when two people are engaged in a conversation, the speaker will only look into the listener’s eyes from time to time to make sure that the listener does pay attention to what the former is speaking.
Actually, eye contact should be made based on specific relationships and situations.
| A．That’s what normal eye contact is all about. |
| B．But things are different when it comes to staring at the opposite sex |
| C．Therefore, continuous eye contact is limited to lovers only. |
| D．On the contrary, it will give him away. |
| E．After all, nobody likes to be stared at for quite a long time. |
| F．Do you have such kind of experience? |
| G．If nothing goes wrong, you will feel annoyed at being stared at that way. |
8 . A study by a team of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) psychologists has found a link between extraverts (外向的人) and their word choices. The finding highlights the need for stronger linguistic indicators to be developed for use in online personality prediction tools, which are being rapidly adopted by companies to improve digital marketing strategies.
Today, marketing companies use predictive algorithms (算法) to help them forecast what consumers want based on their online behaviors. For example, an extravert consumer might be attracted to marketing messages that match their personality, and retail brands could then choose to target such consumers by using more extraverted and creative language to advertise their products. However, personality prediction tools available today that are used by marketing firms are not entirely accurate due to a lack of theoretically sound designs. This may lead to a weakness affecting the performance of the machine learning algorithms. This begs the question—how should we create robust and accurate personality predictions?
The study found a correlation between extraverts and their tendency to use certain categories of words. The results showed a small strength of relationship between extraversion and the use of “positive emotion words” and “social process words.”
Positive emotion words are defined as words that describe a pleasant emotional state, such as “love”, ”happy”, or “blessed”, or that indicate positivity or optimism, such as “beautiful” or “nice”. Social process words include words containing personal pronouns except “I”, and words showing social intentions, such as “meet”, “share” and “talk”.
Moving forward, the NTU research team will investigate the relationship between extraversion and other word categories. They hope their work will provide clarity on the types of words that can help guide the development of more accurate machine learning tools for personality prediction.
1. We learn from the passage the findings of the study can be used to help ______.| A．observe consumers’ behavior |
| B．forecast the need of companies |
| C．create practical personality predictions |
| D．find correlation between extraverts and ads |
| A．Renewable. | B．Forceful. | C．Doubtful. | D．Variable. |
| A．Dispute. | B．Interaction. | C．Disaster. | D．Loneliness. |
| A．The direction of future research. |
| B．The theoretical basis of the study. |
| C．The strength of business strategies. |
| D．The development of machine learning tools. |
Introduce Yourself
It’s not necessary to be clever when you introduce yourself. Simply focus on being genuine and sincere. When you approach the other person to start the conversation, give him a warm smile and clearly state your name.
Begin the Conversation
Continue the Conversation
If you are building a rapport(关系), feel free to move on to a bit more personal topics to continue the conversation.
When you have run out of things to say or need to move on to do something else, prepare your exit strategy. You may say that you need to use the bathroom or catch up with someone else. Let the other person know how much you enjoyed talking to her.
| A．End the Conversation. |
| B．Bring up a general topic to begin the conversation. |
| C．This will help keep the conversation flowing freely. |
| D．If appropriate, make plans to talk again at a later date. |
| E．Your conversational partner will feel valued and appreciated. |
| F．Explain who you are and why you want to have the conversation. |
| G．You may want to ask about his favourite hobby, his career, his classes or upcoming events. |
Putting on weight could be a side-effect of loneliness, research suggests. Women, who feel lonely, are hungrier, and they even find a big meal less satisfying. This could be the body’s way of telling them to seek company, for eating has been a sociable activity throughout human evolution.
The researchers asked 42 women not to eat overnight, and then gave them a large breakfast. The women rated their hunger before and after their meal and blood samples which revealed their levels of ghrelin --- the “hunger hormone (激素)”. As expected, levels of ghrelin fell after eating and then started to rise. However, the rise was much quicker in the lonely women, and they made much more of the hormone. They also said they felt hungrier. They said: “The need for social connection is essential to human nature. As a result, people may feel hungrier when they feel socially disconnected.”
Interestingly, loneliness only makes thin women hungrier. It has no effect on the appetite of those who are corpulent. It isn’t clear why this is, but it is possible that the shame related with being fat makes socializing less valuable for them. Other studies suggest you should choose your company carefully at mealtimes. It has been shown that we tend to mimic (模仿) our dining companion’s eating habits, taking mouthfuls at the same time and eating more when our companion does. The link with appetite could help explain the range of devastating effects loneliness can have on health.
Being cut off from friends and family can raise blood pressure, stress and the risk of depression, as well as weakening the immune system (免疫系统) and a person’s resistance to disease (早老性痴呆). Overall, loneliness is as damaging as smoking or not exercising.
1. How will the lonely people react, according to Paragraph 1? (no more than 5 words)2. What does the body want to tell by being hungry? (no more than 7 words)
3. What is essential to human nature? (no more than 5 words)
4. What does the underlined word “corpulent” probably mean? (1 word )
5. What do you tend to do while feeling lonely? (no more than 30 words)
