1 . We’ve 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 is 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 important 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. “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 stranger. |
| D．Impatience with slow service. |
| A．Showing good manners. | B．Relating to other people. |
| C．Focusing on a topic. | D．Making business deals. |
| A．Big business doesn’t need to have small talk. |
| B．communicating with others is the most important thing. |
| C．Small talk can benifit a lot. |
| D．Silence is necessary in daily life. |
| 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. |
2 . Are you new to experiencing relationships? Well, let me give you advice on how to have a healthy and possibly long-term relationship.
Be an honest person with them.
Make sure you give them respect. Now respect isn’t just simply treating them nicely. There’s a lot more to it. You have to learn to get used to their liking. Basically, learn to study your partners’ moods, wants and needs.
Make sure you are encouraging your partner.
Make sure you have a good sense of humor with them.
| A．Do not hide things from them, and do not lie. |
| B．Show them your personality. |
| C．Laughter is the key to happiness. |
| D．Always be willing to help and encourage them. |
| E．Make sure the communication is good. |
| F．Don’t start to neglect them and make them feel unwanted. |
| G．Don’t just think about yourself, but think about what your partners need out of it as well. |
Living with other people can be difficult, especially when each person comes from a different background and has their own ideas about how they want to live. Though having a roommate can be challenging at times, it can also be enjoyable and fun.
You can discuss your expectations ahead of time. Get together before or on the first day you move in together and talk about what each of you needs and wants from the other.
You should agree to respect each other’s privacy. This is especially important.
You can also be considerate of your roommate in your life. Understand what’s going on in your roommate’s life. You should aim to be flexible and accommodating. Your roommate may have a big test coming up.
| A．You can discuss each of your preferences for privacy. |
| B．Spending time with your roommate is also important. |
| C．This is your best chance to set boundaries with your roommate. |
| D．Make sure that everyone is clear on the rules and responsibilities. |
| E．This is what you should know to respect your roommate’s privacy. |
| F．Then in this case you should probably be quiet and let them study. |
| G．The following steps will help you live in harmony with your roommate. |
4 . Apologizing for a mistake might seem difficult, but it will help you repair and improve your relationships with others after that offense (冒犯).
Acknowledge the offense. This is an essential element of a good apology.
Express regret.
Tell them how you’ll change. Let them know how you’ll change and what you’d do to make that possible. For instance, if you’ve been late once again, instead of just apologizing, share how you’d keep an early alarm to be on time!
| A．Provide a proper explanation. |
| B．Express your intention clearly. |
| C．But many apologies don’t do this enough. |
| D．When you hurt someone, it’s natural to feel shame or regret. |
| E．A true apology is one where you promise it won’t be repeated again. |
| F．This might show that you aren’t taking full ownership for what happened. |
| G．This will enable you to know what means the most to the offended person. |
5 . Look up how to increase your life expectancy (预期寿命), and you will probably see plenty of results recommending that you have a healthy diet, get sufficient sleep, work out and cut out tobacco and too much alcohol consumption. But what many of us don’t know is that our relationships also affect our life expectancy. Social integration is associated with greater life satisfaction, better health and increased life expectancy. People with wide social networks are more likely to be happy, experience fewer health issues, enjoy better mental health and to live a lot longer.
Now this doesn’t mean that we should dive head first into a relationship whenever we’re lonely in order to avoid dying young. Harmful relationships can be as isolating as being alone, so who we choose to break bread with is absolutely vital to our overall health.
Have you ever wondered why some people are single and happy, while others are drowning in suffering? Or why some married couples exist in a consistent state of bliss, while others are practically enemies?
Research shows that marriage has greater benefits for men than it does for women. Being coupled allows men to receive the essential emotional support that they would lack if they were single. They also get the added benefit of being physically taken care of thanks to the gender roles society still subscribes to.
Women, on the other hand, don’t have as much luck when it comes to being coupled. A woman in a harmful relationship is likely to experience the mental, emotional and physical consequences that come with that. On the contrary, a woman in a healthy relationship is likely to live well. Research shows that the women who are happily married tend to be coupled with partners who take on their fair share of household responsibilities.
But that’s not all, age gaps also need to be factored in to determine relationship satisfaction. Couples with wider age gaps are more likely to be harmonious compared to their peers.
1. What does the writer intend to emphasize in Paragraph 1?| A．Some health problems. |
| B．Ways to increase life expectancy. |
| C．The effect of sleep on people’s health. |
| D．The importance of human relationships. |
| A．Happiness. | B．Kindness. |
| C．Loneliness. | D．Friendliness. |
| A．Marriage benefits men and women equally. |
| B．Women benefit more from marriage than men. |
| C．Men are better taken care of because of the gender roles. |
| D．Good relationship can effectively prevent people from dying lonely. |
| A．The influence of a harmonious marriage. |
| B．Relationship satisfaction for older couples. |
| C．Gender differences in marriage satisfaction. |
| D．The benefits of wider age gaps in marriage. |
6 . Researchers set up an experiment in which 5-year-olds were tested with their fellows under different circumstances of transparency (透明) and different audiences. They set up a sticker machine that in some settings was transparent, and other settings in which only the giver of stickers knew how many stickers he could give. They had children give out stickers in both settings. The results were striking: children were consistently generous only when the receiver and audience of the stickers were fully aware of the donation options. Children were notably ungenerous when the receiver of stickers couldn’t see the options.
The researchers said, “Children only showed consistently pro-social behavior in our study in the condition when they could see the receiver and their allocations (分配物) were fully visible; in all other conditions, children were statistically ungenerous, giving the receiver the smaller amount of stickers.”
They made the conclusions that at a very early age, children are learning how to position themselves socially. Well before they apprehend the sociology of their networks and what social reputation really means, they think strategically about giving as a function of how they can gain a reputation with a peer as a generous citizen or pro-social agent when the receiver observes them.
Children change their behavior in response to having an audience. Help children give to others in full view, delivering meals to families, and in private, dropping off treats or surprises for those who need support without signing their names. Also, children should be reminded that thank-you notes are lovely but unnecessary to receive. When we give gifts or lend help to others, try to help children remember why—to provide something for another. It really doesn’t have to be recognized. When a thank-you card doesn’t come, it doesn’t make a gift any less valuable or meaningful for those who were lucky enough to receive.
1. What did the researchers discover?| A．The givers’ behavior greatly inspired the receivers to help in return. |
| B．The children gave out an equal number of stickers in both settings. |
| C．The presence of an audience affected children’s decisions to give. |
| D．Donating helped children to become more generous in the future. |
| A．Observing the givers. | B．Donating more stickers. |
| C．Gaining a reputation. | D．Receiving more allocations. |
| A．Share. | B．Predict. | C．Confirm. | D．Understand. |
| A．To suggest recognizing others’ kindness. | B．To acknowledge the giver’s contribution. |
| C．To confirm the benefits of being grateful. | D．To advise inspiring generosity in children. |
| A．The woman is wasting his time. |
| B．The woman should use her time wisely. |
| C．He is eager to know the answer. |
| D．The woman does not need to hurry. |
| A．She always talks bad about her colleagues. |
| B．She has a good reputation for being honest. |
| C．She is good at handling complicated relationships. |
| D．She has good relations with people around her. |
9 . Having a good sense of humor makes you more enjoyable to be around.
●Surround Yourself with Humor
You learn more effectively when you fully expose yourself to a subject. Similarly, you can improve your sense of humor by surrounding yourself with humor. Watch stand-up comedians. Listen to programs that amuse you.Read humorous books.
●Learn What Amuses You
●Think About Timing and Audience
You don’t have to be funny all the time, so don’t expect that of yourself. When you catch yourself trying to be funny, slow down. Simply speak slower so you’re not as likely to stop and repeat yourself. Try speaking at 60-70 % of your usual rate.
●
You don’t need to seize every single opportunity to be funny. If you’re in the middle of a bad joke, just end it. “You know what, now that I’m telling it, it’s not as funny as it sounded in my head,” can be a bit of an awkward end and hurt your pride a little bit, but it saves everyone time and patience. In the long run, they’ll respect your taste.
| A．Be Creative, Not Silly |
| B．Pause in between sentences |
| C．There’s a lot of fun out there |
| D．You might also do better at work |
| E．Know When to Pull the Plug on Yourself |
| F．You can also try your hand in the real world |
| G．A lot of times, we say things purely to please others |
10 . When I was nine years old, I was desperately in love with a man who was 40 years my senior. Don’t worry; Mickey Dolenz of The Monkees didn’t even know I existed because he’d stopped being an actor 20 years earlier. But that didn’t stop me from decorating my books with love hearts.
The Monkees were entirely manufactured, but as a product they were a success: they used the media to develop a bond between an audience member and her target. In their TV show, they regularly broke the fourth wall, throwing knowing winks (眨眼) to camera, and shared their funny behind-the-scenes lives. They made us think we knew them, as a friend.
This kind of “parasocial relationship” (准社交关系) has long roots in media. Radio characters like Lonesome Gal started her program with, “Sweetie, I love you,” speaking directly to her listeners in the the 1950s. Each individual felt he had her undivided attention. She was an entirely virtual girlfriend, at a time when the word had nothing to do with technology.
Parasocial relationships have become a means to an end in the digital age, now that selling yourself has become a way of life. Using these relationships is how you gain followers, credibility and influence. But once you start to gain a critical mass, the relationship necessarily transforms—at least in the eye of the digital personality. You can speak directly to one fan, or even five. But it’s not possible to respond to the 10, 000 people who subscribe to your TikTok. What was once a close and friendly relationship turns into a business transaction (交易).
Rising social media stars have to manage themselves and their boundaries. That’s one of the most undeveloped skills in the digital age. Today’s parasocial relationships are surfing unknown territory, so it is expected that they—we—will make mistakes. And who is there to help when we’ve put ourselves out there online?
1. What do we know about a parasocial relationship?| A．It isn’t developed without mutual understanding. |
| B．It isn’t healthy or beneficial at all to either side. |
| C．It is a relationship that enjoys good interaction. |
| D．It is an imaginary relationship with a celebrity. |
| A．Stepped down from the stage. | B．Interacted with the audience. |
| C．Removed bricks of the wall. | D．Engaged with photographers. |
| A．The expansion of digital marketing. | B．The intentional ignorance of fans. |
| C．The increase in the number of fans. | D．The lack of communication skills. |
| A．To raise public concern. | B．To present a scientific study. |
| C．To give a full explanation. | D．To express personal feelings. |
