1 . 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. |
2 . 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. |
3 . 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. |
What to say to a rude person
As the British doctor Lord Robert Winston took a train from London to Manchester, he found himself becoming steadily annoyed. A woman had picked up her phone and began a loud conversation,
Winston’s tale is something of a microcosm of our age of increasing rudeness,
Studies have shown that rudeness spreads quickly and virally, almost like the common cold.Just witnessing rudeness makes it far more likely
The rage and injustice we feel at the rude behavior of a stranger
We must instead combat rudeness head on.When we see it occur in a store, we must step up and say something.If it happens to a colleague, we must point it out.We must defend strangers in the same way we’d defend our best friends. But we can do it with grace, by handling it without a trace of aggression and without being rude
5 . Will Covid-19 Kill the Handshake?
The handshake might date back to the 14th century, when knights and soldiers would extend their unclenched (松开的) right hands toward each other in greeting to show that they were carrying no weapons.
Now that a novel coronavirus is spreading fast, our hands are being cast in a new, doubtful light.
Could this be the end of the handshake? In fact, the tradition of shaking hands isn’t the only greeting to take a fresh look. A Maori tribe in New Zealand put the brakes on hongi, the traditional nose-to-nose hello.
COVID-19 is a real threat, and we shouldn’t take the warning lightly. We may, indeed, need to keep our hands to ourselves for the time being.
| A．Could we hug each other or nod? |
| B．As we all know, shaking hands has become a habit. |
| C．But we’re not ready to send handshake into the dustbin of history. |
| D．After all, our friendly intentions were not to infect or be infected by others. |
| E．These days, it would seem, the potential weapon isn’t a knife, but the hand itself. |
| F．We’re being drilled in hand washing techniques as if we were all second-graders. |
| G．The French have been advised to abandon the familiar kiss on the cheek greeting. |
6 . We all know that honesty is an important value and that lying is wrong, but who can say they’ve never told a lie?
We’ve surely had the experience of someone cooking a meal that we don’t like. Most of us of course lie that the food is “delicious”. Or we may tell a friend their new haircut is “great!”, even if we think it’s awful. Why?
One of the main reasons for telling a white lie is to make others feel better.
Finally, we may also tell a white lie when we want to protect others from bad news. If you’ve had a bad day, do you tell your parents about it, or do you hide your tears and lie that your day was “fine”?
We may find even white lies have results we cannot know in advance. Perhaps the meal you said was “delicious” will be served every time you visit. Would your friend trust your opinion again if he found out you had lied about his “wonderful” singing?
| A．But to what degree can we tell white lies? |
| B．Another reason for telling a white lie is to give encouragement. |
| C．Perhaps we comfort ourselves that most of our lies are “white lies”. |
| D．If the latter (后者), wouldn’t it be better to respect their concern for you and ask for their advice? |
| E．As we can see, honesty is the best policy, so never ever tell a lie, even if it is a white lie. |
| F．How would you expect others to truly understand your emotions if you only shared good news? |
| G．However, when we lie that someone’s haircut looks "good"or that the meal is “delicious”, are we really hoping to improve the situation for someone else? |
How often do you say “thank you” to someone? Expressing we respect the persons we are grateful to can make our relationship
Expressing gratitude shows we care for the person who receives the gratitude. When we say “thank you” to another, we often respond with
In addition to serving as a response to a good deed, it is clear that sharing in feelings of kindness in our relationship
Expressing gratitude
Expressing gratitude makes us feel happy,
The American writer Mark Twain once
Compliments also play
It is also important to know how to accept a compliment
9 . I was never very neat, while my roommate Kate was extremely organized. Each of her items had its place, but mine always hid somewhere. She even labeled(做标记)everything. I always looked for everything. Over time, Kate got neater and I got untidier. She would push my dirty clothing over, and I would lay my books on her tidy desk. We both got tired of each other. War broke out one evening. Kate came into the room. Soon, I heard her shouting, “Take your shoes away! Why under my bed!” Deafened, I saw my shoes flying at me. I jumped to my feet and started yelling. She yelled back louder.
The room was filled with anger. We could not have stayed together for a single minute but for a phone call. Kate answered it. From her end of the conversation, I could tell right away her grandma was seriously ill. When she hung up, she quickly crawled(爬)under her covers, crying. Clearly, that was something she should not go through alone. All of a sudden, a warm feeling of pity rose up in my heart.
Slowly, I collected the pencils, took back the books, made my bed, cleaned the socks and swept the floor, even on her side. I got so into my work that I even didn’t notice Kate had sat up. She was watching, her tears dried and her expression one of disbelief. Then, she reached out her hands to grasp mine. I looked up into her eyes. She smiled at me, “Thanks.”
Kate and I stayed roommates for the rest of the year. We didn’t always agree, but we learned the key to living together: giving in, cleaning up and holding on.
1. How is Paragraph 1 mainly developed?| A．By explaining causes. | B．By showing differences. |
| C．By describing a process. | D．By following time order. |
| A．she was frightened by Kate’s anger. | B．she hated herself for being so untidy. |
| C．she wanted to show her care. | D．she was asked by Kate to do so. |
| A．My Friend Kate | B．Hard Work Pays Off |
| C．How to Be Organized | D．Learning to Be Roommates |
On my first job as a sports editor for the Montpelier Leader Enterprise (MLE), I didn’t get a lot of fan mail, so my attention was caught by letter on my desk one morning.
When I opened it, I read: “Sweet piece of writing on the Tigers. Keep up the good work.” It was signed by Don Wolfe, the sports editor. Because I was a teenager, his words couldn’t have been more inspiring. I kept it in my drawer until it got old. Whenever I doubted I had the right stuff to be a writer, I would reread Don’s note and walk on air again.
Later, when I got to know him, I learned that Don made a habit of writing a quick, encouraging note to people in all walks of life. “when I made others feel good about themselves,” he told me, “I feel good, too.”
Over the years, I’ve tried to copy Don and write uplifting words, in a world too often cold and unresponsive, such notes bring warmth.
Why are positive note writers in such short supply? My guess is that people who shy away from the practice are too self-conscious. They are afraid they will be misunderstood. Also, writing takes time; it is far easier to pick up the phone. The drawback(缺点) of phone calls, of course, is that they do not last. And it sounds insincere on the phone. A note attaches more importance to our well-wishing. It is a matter of record, and our words can be read more than once, savored (品味) and treasured, and they bring strength and love to us.
Today I sent а warm letter to my old boss. I don’t know if it will make his day, but it made mine. As my friend Don Wolfe said, “Making others feel good about themselves makes me feel good too.”
1. What does the underlined part “walk on air” in Paragraph 2 probably mean? (No more than 5 words)2. According to the author, why aren’t people willing to write letters? (No more than 15 words)
3. Why did the author write to his old boss? (No more than 15 words)
4. What’s the text mainly about? (No more than 10 words)
5. Have you ever been encouraged by someone? And how? (No more than 20 words)
