1 . First impressions can set a lasting tone, but there is often something doubtful. Psychologists have documented a phenomenon known as the liking gap, by which two people meeting for the first time routinely underestimate how much their counterparts (对应方) like them. A new study finds that the liking gap occurs in group settings too and hinders how well groups function.
In one experiment, the researchers divided 159 participants into groups of three and asked them to have a conversation. They then surveyed the participants individually about how much they liked each of their partners, how much they thought each partner liked them, and how much they thought their partners liked each other. On average, people liked their partners more than they believed their partners liked them, and thought themselves to be the least liked in the group.
In a subsequent experiment, the researchers asked similar questions of engineering students who had worked together in design competitions for varying lengths of time. Here, too, people tended to underestimate the degree to which they were liked, regardless of how long they had known their teammates — and their dim views of their own likability reduced their willingness to ask others for help, give honest feedback, and work together in the future.
A final experiment involving a broad sample of workers showed that the misperceptions (误解) were strongest among teammates and that they decreased team effectiveness and job satisfaction. It also found a possible explanation for the liking gap: People tend to focus on positive thoughts when reflecting on how much they like someone else (“I’m happy that she got a promotion”) but fall victim to more negative ones when considering how others view them (“I got a promotion, so she might be green with envy”).
Managers should think carefully not just about how teammates regard one another but about how team members think they themselves are regarded, the researchers say; correcting misperceptions could boost team satisfaction and performance. “If only people knew how positively their teammates actually felt about them, they might communicate better, feel more included on their teams, and be happier overall with their jobs,” they write.
1. What does the liking gap refer to?| A．Misjudging others’ opinions on us. |
| B．Approval among different age groups. |
| C．A type of common social anxiety disorder. |
| D．Preventing others’ evaluations of us. |
| A．People were shy to give honest comments. |
| B．People tended to think little of their partners. |
| C．People were quite demanding towards others. |
| D．People were not very confident about themselves. |
| A．Employees’ viewpoints on themselves. |
| B．The relationship between team members. |
| C．Employee performance and job satisfaction. |
| D．Communication between leaders and members. |
| A．How Much Counterparts Like Us |
| B．Why First Impressions Can Last Long |
| C．What Perceptions Teammates Correct |
| D．How the “Liking Gap” Affects Group Work |
1. How old might the speakers be?
| A．In their teens. | B．In their 30s. | C．In their 70s. |
| A．Play games inside. | B．Relax and live simply. | C．Go to school and work hard. |
| A．Playing cards. | B．Listening to music. | C．Surfing the Internet. |
3 . Schools in England will be offering British Sign Language (BSL) as a general certificate of secondary education(GCSE) subject as a way of boosting life skills and social inclusion (包容). This is something that comes after a decade of efforts that were backed by celebrities including Rose Ayling-Ellis, the stage and TV actor and model Tasha Ghouri, who has a hearing disability.
Ghouri has been encouraging people to learn sign language and told The Guardian that people often feel uncomfortable trying to speak to others who are deaf or hearing impaired (受损的). That’s because, she said, “they don’t know how to communicate”.
One in five people in the UK are deaf or hearing impaired according to the RNID organization. This includes at least 50,000 deaf children. It is estimated that 25,000 people use BSL as their main language.
Daniel Jillings started an activity when he was 12 to allow British Sign Language to be a core subject in school. Earlier in 2023, Daniel spoke to the government about the importance of deaf awareness in schools. Teaching BSL in the schools will allow hearing students to learn and that will lead to more social inclusion. “This is a significant moment in the history of the British deaf community, as it is a powerful step to equality,” he said.
While it is too late for Daniel, who was born without a cochlea (耳蜗), so he cannot use hearing aids and cannot speak, it is a welcome change for other students. The first GCSE courses are set to begin in 2025.
There are concrete benefits for students. Education secretary Gillian Keegan said, “Studying British Sign Language can open so many doors for young people, giving pupils an understanding of how thousands of people communicate and ultimately even expanding job prospects.”
1. Why does Ghouri encourage people to learn BSL?| A．To make people learn more basic life skills. | B．To meet the demands of some celebrities. |
| C．To make deaf people feel more comfortable. | D．To boost better communication with the deaf. |
| A．The situation of deaf people in the UK. | B．The number of deaf children in the school. |
| C．The worldwide influence of sign language. | D．The survey process of the RNID organization. |
| A．He is a celebrity with hearing disability. | B．He is an advocate for BSL teaching. |
| C．He revealed the cause of social inequality. | D．He has benefited a lot from modern medicine. |
| A．Deaf People Start A 10-year Project |
| B．Schools Need To Teach Students More Life Skills |
| C．Sign Language Is To Be Offered in English Schools |
| D．The Deaf Community Will Be Left Behind In Britain |
4 . We are encountering real-world examples of how AI can harm human relations. As digital assistants such as Alexa or Siri become popular, we become accustomed to talking to them as though they were alive. Writing in these pages several years ago, Judith Shulevitz described how some of us are starting to treat them as friends and therapists. Shulevitz herself says she confesses (忏悔) things to Google Assistant that she wouldn’t tell her husband. If we grow more comfortable talking to our devices about our secrets, what happens to our human marriages and friendships? Designers and programmers typically create devices whose responses make us feel better—but may not help us be self-reflective or think over painful truths. As Al goes deeper into our lives, we must face the possibility that it will prevent our emotions and deep human connects.
Besides, we will fight with some other challenges. The age of driverless cars, after all, is upon us. These vehicles promise to considerably reduce the exhaustion and distraction that put human drivers in danger, thus preventing accidents. But what other effects might they have on people? Driving is a very modern kind of social interaction, requiring high levels of cooperation. I worry that driverless cars, by taking away from us an occasion to exercise this ability, could contribute to its decline.
Not only will these vehicles be programmed to take over driving duties and hence to remove from humans the power to make moral judgments (for example, about which pedestrian to hit when a crash is unavoidable) , they will also affect humans with whom they’ve had no direct contact. For instance, drivers who have steered awhile alongside an autonomous vehicle traveling at a steady, changeless speed might drive less attentively, thus increasing their likelihood of accidents once they’ve moved to a part of the highway occupied only by human drivers. Alternatively, experience may reveal that driving alongside autonomous vehicles travelling in perfect accordance with (按照) traffic laws actually improves human performance.
Either way, we should be careful to launch new forms of AI without first taking such unexpected social effects into account. We must apply the same effort that we apply to the hardware and software that make self-driving cars possible to managing AI’s potential effects on those outside the car. After all, we install brake lights on the back of your car not just, or even primarily, for your benefit, but for the sake of the people behind you.
1. What can be inferred about human relationships from the first paragraph?| A．AI will lead to distant inter-personal relationships. |
| B．We will feel comfortable speaking to others online. |
| C．AI will enable people to communicate more with others. |
| D．We will be more self-reflective in interaction thanks to Al. |
| A．drivers’ interaction with the cars |
| B．drivers’ exhaustion and distraction |
| C．our ability to cooperate with others while driving |
| D．our ability to deal with emergencies while driving |
| A．They may be better at making more judgments than human drivers. |
| B．They need to vary their speed to make contact with human drivers. |
| C．They may make human drivers in other cars drive more safely. |
| D．They need to force human drivers to concentrate in the car. |
| A．To present the challenges brought by AI. |
| B．To explain the reason why AI may harm human relations. |
| C．To put forward how to solve the unexpected effect of AI. |
| D．To discuss the advantages and disadvantages of driverless cars. |
5 . Think of a city you know, and try to picture it five years from now. Will its streets be full of electric cars. some of them self-driving? If so, then the current problem facing electric vehicles (EVs) will be a minor problem. However, US sales have slowed well below the government’s target, EVs’ share of the British market has stopped growing and only 1. 2 percent of European passenger cars in 2022 were battery-powered. My bet is that, in cities at least, the c-car won’t gain the upper hand in the years to come.
EVs emit more carbon over their life cycle than any form of urban transport except petrol cars. They are still worthwhile for people in suburbs, who drive long distances every day and who will earn back the emissions and the financial expenses by never buying gas again.
EVs face many other obstacles. Cities are claiming back space from cars. Paris, where I live, is having a vote on February 4 on a special parking tax for heavier SUVs. In a few years, mayors might start handling self-driving cars. These are so convenient that if they ever became affordable for the mass market. almost everyone would buy one, and they would clog up (阻塞) cities.
Then there’s the problem of charging EVs. Suburbanites with home garages can install chargers, but the lack of public chargers on city streets hasn’t become a major issue yet only because so few people own EVs. Even if you find an urban charger that works, charging can take hours.
Crucially, most of the world’s EVs with high quality are made in China, so there won’t be an aggressive western lobby (游说团) casing their way. On the contrary, governments may well raise taxes to block them rather than let China outperform yet another western industry.
For a city-resident getting rid of a petrol car, the calculation then becomes: instead of an EV, can I buy a much cheaper, health-giving e-bike that I can charge in my flat, and supplement that with the odd taxi ride? That is the trend. Looking back in five years, we may conclude that electric cars were made for American suburbia and for almost nowhere else.
1. Paris is having a vote on a special parking tax. in order to ________.| A．increase taxes | B．spare some space |
| C．expand urban areas | D．reduce traffic jams |
| A．Because the governments needed to protect their domestic industries. A. Because the governments needed to protect their domestic industries. |
| B．Because EVs made in China didn’t reach the standard required. |
| C．Because the western lobby promoted EVs made in China. |
| D．Because China was desperate to export its goods. |
| A．EVs are eco-friendly. | B．EVs are costly for average people. |
| C．EVs will be in huge demand. | D．EV chargers are readily available. |
| A．EVs are not the future. | B．EVs are being replaced. |
| C．EVs affect the environment. | D．EVs have alarming problems. |
6 . Once upon a time, eating alone was just that: sitting down in a restaurant on one’s own and eating a meal. Everyone did it sometimes, and when they did so it might suggest that they didn’t have any family or friends, or didn’t like people. There was a kind of shame attached to it.
“Foodies”-people who have a passionate interest in different cuisines—do it because all they need for their pleasure is the chance to eat good food.
But for others, the appeal of eating alone is quite different.
| A．It’s an experience of freedom. |
| B．Therefore, they might be a little embarrassed. |
| C．Nowadays, however, there are more and more people eating alone. |
| D．Some people eat alone because it’s simply practical for them to do so. |
| E．Some people eat alone because they usually go to fast-food restaurants. |
| F．They don’t want company or conversation, but only the joy of eating some special dish. |
| G．Maybe they will bring a book or perhaps they will shyly spy on the people around them. |
1. What does the news say about big online spenders in the US?
| A．The number of them grows slowly. |
| B．There are more men than women. |
| C．They make up half of all shoppers. |
| A．$453 billion. | B．$990 billion. | C．$1,500 billion. |
| A．An adventure novel. | B．A software package. | C．A note by Mark Twain. |
8 . Olympian weight-lifter Thodoris Iakovidis shocked the public that he cannot continue with the multiple financial difficulties he faces.
“
Iakovidis’ statement shocked ordinary Greeks first of all. They launched a campaign on Twitter and Instagram to increase his followers and also attract sponsors.
Speaking to Open TV on Sunday, Iakovidis said thanking his new supporters: “The problem is not to fix my thing.
Stressing that he will continue if the conditions change, he added, “But I do not think it’s moral to continue with sponsors for another three years. Many others have to go through the same difficulties as now. I want the state mechanism to help all the athletes.”
| A．I’m sorry for my failure. |
| B．Real actions are a necessity. |
| C．There are so many other Thodoris. |
| D．He announced that he would end his career. |
| E．Dozens of companies are sponsoring the event. |
| F．Overnight his followers rose from 3, 000 to 120, 000. |
| G．I’m not crying because I did not have a good performance. |
Electric scooter safety
If you look around the streets of London, you’ll see the many methods people use to move around. Whether it’s on a commute to work, a trip to the shops, or a sightseeing excursion, there are people on buses, the Tube, cars, motorbikes, bicycles and even roller skates. The roads are already congested (jammed); and now there’s a new addition: electric, or “e-scooters”.
This traditional children’s vehicle has become more sophisticated over the years. And now, with the addition of a small electric motor, it’s become a cheap and easy mode of transport. Scooting around town can be fun and doesn’t involve much effort, so it’s no wonder they’re becoming increasingly popular in cities around the world. But following what’s believed to be the first fatal accident involving an electric scooter in the UK, questions are being asked about their safety and whether traffic laws should be changed.
Some scooter riders have been seen on pavements; others on the road jumping red traffic lights, adding to the frustration of motorists stuck in jams. In the UK, the law states that riding one on the public highway or pavement is forbidden. Riders currently face a £300 fixed-penalty notice and six points on their driving licence for doing so. But, despite this, it seems the increasing popularity of e-scooters means they can be seen everywhere. And now users are calling on regulations to be changed.
The UK government is looking at how safely they can be used on the road and is ‘reviewing’ the law. But its transport minister, Michael Ellis, has told the BBC that: “Micromobility products are appearing in countries across the globe and are an exciting innovation for which we know there is demand. However, safety must always be our top priority when considering their use on public highways in this country.”
There’s no doubt there are dangers in riding a two-wheeled scooter. Despite the fact that some of them can exceed 30mph, they sometimes only have one brake and no lights. They also become unstable if the rider hits a pothole, and however confident the rider may be, larger vehicles on the road make them vulnerable (easy to be hurt). So it seems more work needs to be done to give e-scooters a safe and legal space to travel in.
1. What is it that makes an e-scooter easy to ride?2. Why are motorists annoyed by those e-scooter riders?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement. Then underline it and explain why.
To answer the call of e-scooter users, the UK government is preparing to change the law about where e-scooters can be used.
4. Do you think e-scooters should be allowed on public roads? Why? (In about 40 words)
10 . I am one of the many city people who are always saying that given the choice we would prefer to live in the country away from the dirt and noise of a large city. I have managed to convince myself that if it weren’t for my job I would immediately head out for the open spaces and go back to nature in some sleepy village buried in the country. But how realistic (现实的) is the dream?
Cities can be frightening places. The majority of the population live in huge tower blocks, noisy, dirty and unfriendly. The sense of belonging to a group tends to disappear when you live fifteen floors up. Strangely enough, nowadays people on the same floor don’t even say hello to each other.
Country life, on the other hand, differs in that a sense of group generally unites the people of small villages together. People have the advantage of knowing that there is always someone to turn to when they need help. But it is also true that you are cut off from the exciting and important events that take place in cities. Shopping becomes a major problem, and for anything slightly out of the ordinary you have to go on a trip to the nearest large town. The city people are often worried by a sense of unbearable stillness and quiet.
What, then, is the answer? The country has the advantage of peace and quiet, but suffers from the disadvantage of being cut off. The city raises a feeling of loneliness, and constant noise beats the senses. But you are at the centre of things, and that life doesn’t come to an end at half-past nine at night. Some people have found or rather bought a solution between the two: they have expressed their preference for the “quiet life” by leaving the cities and moving to villages within commuting (通勤) distance of large cities.
What then of my dream? I’m eager for the idea, but you see there’s my cat, Toby. I’m not at all sure that he would take to all that fresh air and exercise in the long grass. I mean, can you see him mixing with all those energetic males down the farm? No, he would rather have the electric fire any evening.
1. Which of the following makes city people unhappy?| A．Colorful life. | B．A sense of group. | C．Close neighborhood. | D．A feeling of loneliness. |
| A．Designer clothes. | B．Farming tools. | C．Daily supplies. | D．Fresh vegetables. |
| A．enjoys living in huge tower blocks | B．is in two minds |
| C．will continue his life in the city | D．will move to the country |
