1 . If writing a letter a hundred years ago was like sitting down with someone in a quiet room and talking face to face, writing an email today is like shouting at someone across a noisy crossroads while they’re rushing to a meeting. Everyone is too busy. We keep getting information from emails, text messages and the web. It’s very possible that your email will be read when the receiver is on a phone or doing other tasks.
This means, when writing an email, you should be clear.
I often receive emails from people who are interested in some sort of knowledge communication but never make it clear how they would like me to take action. Do they want to have a coffee? Do they want to make a phone call? It’s unclear. So I won’t respond (回复) at all.
It’s more possible for you to get a response from someone if it’s clear what the next step is. Let’s say you’re reaching out to a film director you admire for advice. Don’t just email him/her with:
I’ve been a fan of your films for years, and I’d love to ask you some advice. What do you say?
Instead, write something like the following :
I’m a longtime admirer of your films and have the greatest respect (尊重) for your filmmaking skills. I would love to ask you a few questions about how you made your first film. Would you be available to have a 15-20 minute phone call next week? My schedule is wide open all day on Thursday and Friday if you are free then. I know you’re very busy, so I promise to keep it short.
The second example explains the subject matter and the fact that you just want to make a phone call. This is more acceptable because you’ve already suggested a date. In other words, you’ve respected their time, and they now know that dealing with you won’t be a headache.
1. What does the first paragraph say?| A．Few people write letters nowadays. | B．People seldom talk face to face nowadays. |
| C．People are too busy to read an email carefully today. | D．People can deal with different tasks at the same time. |
| A．Because he is too busy with the task at hand. |
| B．Because he thinks it will waste too much time. |
| C．Because he doesn’t want to communicate with strangers. |
| D．Because he doesn’t know what the sender wants from him. |
| A．The email. | B．The phone call. | C．The film. | D．The meeting. |
| A．Because it includes detailed and clear information. |
| B．Because it makes the film director feel proud. |
| C．Because it is a more official email. |
| D．Because it sounds more polite. |
2 . As a young child, I was painfully shy. I’d watch other children play in the park, wishing I could join them, but I was too scared to approach. Eventually, my mother would come to the rescue. She’d ask the other kids if I could play, too. Today, I feel comfortable giving public lectures in large halls and having conversations in small groups, but I still tend to avoid situations in which I’m expected to spend time with a roomful of strangers.
There could be many reasons. For one thing, I might be carrying some childhood fear of rejection. But beyond that possibility, one likely element is that I tend to underestimate how much people like me after I meet them, as most of us do.
A new research paper reports that the common concern that new people may not like us, or that they may not enjoy our company, is largely unfounded.
Erica Boothby of Cornell University and her colleagues conducted a series of studies to find out what our conversation partners really think of us. In doing so, they discovered a new cognitive illusion (认知错觉) they call “the liking gap”: our failure to realize how much strangers appreciate our company after a bit of conversation.
The researchers observed the gap in a variety of situations: strangers getting acquainted in the research laboratory, first-year college students getting to know their dormitory mates over the course of many months, and community members meeting fellow participants in personal development workshops. In each circumstance, people consistently underestimated how much others liked them. For much of the academic year, as dormitory mates got to know each other and even started to develop enduring friendships, the liking gap persisted.
The data also revealed some of the potential reasons for the illusion: we are often more severe with ourselves than with others, and our inner critic prevents us from appreciating how positively other people evaluate us. Not knowing what our conversation partners really think of us, we use our own thoughts as a proxy (代理人). This is a mistake, because our thoughts tend to be more negative than reality.
1. Why does the author mention his childhood experience?| A．To show how his character changed. |
| B．To explain what he was like when he was young. |
| C．To show an example of why people are shy of communication. |
| D．To emphasize the important role of a mother in one’s childhood. |
| A．Careless. | B．Baseless. | C．Selfless. | D．Meaningless. |
| A．It indicates what strangers really think of us. |
| B．It begins and ends quickly among strangers. |
| C．It disappears when strangers get to know each other. |
| D．It states our misunderstanding of how much others like us. |
| A．People Like You More than You Know |
| B．How to Get Along Well with Strangers |
| C．The Way to Know What Others Think of Us |
| D．Having Conversations with Strangers Benefits Us |
3 . Having to deal with a rejection can be extremely difficult. But something that many people find even more difficult is to be the one who has to reject. Sometimes we accept out of politeness, in other cases because we simply don’t know in what possible way to say no.
Saying “no” in a proper way is quite difficult.
But due to the fact that we are no robots, it is not easy for us to make a decision based on whether we just like something or not.
Anytime you say “yes” when you know that you should have said “no”, no matter whether you rationalize (使合理化) it as a sign of friendship or kindness, in the end, it doesn’t change the fact that you have agreed to do something you absolutely do not want to do. That’s just because you don’t want to give others a reason to think negatively of you or believe that they will quit the friendship when you’re not doing everything they demand.
| A．If you don’t like it you just say “no” and reject it. |
| B．You can finally live the life the way you want it to. |
| C．As a result, we always end up with amounts of extra work. |
| D．It might help to see the situation just as emotionless as a robot. |
| E．Would you clearly express that you will not be able to do the extra work? |
| F．There will always be other factors that highly influence our decision-making process. |
| G．But actually a real friend will try to get his life straight without taking advantage of you. |
