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Today and every day we are the targets of salespeople, marketers, advertisers, fundraisers and politicians trying to persuade us to buy something, do something or think a certain way. Over the years, they've learned a lot about which features to build into a communication to increase its success. But, by concentrating on the message itself, they've missed a crucial component of the process. Research done in the last 15 years shows that the best persuasion is achieved through good pre-suasion: the practice of arranging for people to agree with a message before they know what's in it.
Pre-suasion works by focusing people's preliminary (开始的) attention on a selected concept—let's say softness—which encourages them to overvalue related opportunities that immediately follow. In one study, visitors to an online sofa store were sent to a site that illustrated either soft clouds or small coins in the background of its landing page. Those who saw the soft clouds were more likely to prefer soft, comfortable sofas for purchase, whereas those who saw the small amounts of money preferred inexpensive models.
A following study showed the pre-suasive mechanism. Subjects became three times more likely to help a researcher who "accidentally" dropped some items if, immediately before, they'd been exposed to images of figures standing together in a friendly pose. If this tripling of helpfulness doesn't seem remarkable enough, consider that the subjects were 18 months old—hardly able to reason or review or reflect.
Long before scientists started studying the process, a few notable communicators had an understanding of it.
In February 2015, the financial investor Warren Buffett had a problem. It was 50 years since he had taken control of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., guiding it to amazing levels of value, along with his brilliant partner Charlie Munger. Many investors were worried that, because Buffett and Munger were getting older, these levels couldn't be maintained in the future, perhaps making it time to sell Berkshire stock.
To respond to these concerns, Buffett wrote a letter to shareholders in which he described various reasons for confidence in Berkshire's continuing profitability. But, before the description of strengths, he declared with characteristic sincerity that what he was about to state was "what I would say to my family today if they asked me about Berkshire's future." The result was a flood of favorable reaction to the letter as well as a per-share increase for the year of nearly five times that of the S&P.
With considerable success, practitioners of social influence have always placed persuasive prods (刺激)—small gifts, emotional draw, last-chance opportunities- inside their appeals. Perhaps because of that success, they've mostly missed an accompanying truth. For maximum impact, it's not only what you do; it's also what you do just before you do what you do.
Passage outline | Supporting details |
A 1. in communication | People often fail to realize the secret to 2. people doesn't lie in the message itself, but in the key moment before it is delivered. |
Meaning of pre-suasion | It's a practice where people are made to 3. to a message before it is conveyed. |
Studies about pre-suasion | ●When it comes to buying sofas, customers' 4. is related to the background he saw before. ●With some 5. to friendly pictures, subjects are more likely to do others a 6.. |
A typical 7. | ●8. Berkshire's success, investors intended to sell the stock, doubting continuing profitability. ●In the letter 9. to the concerns, Buffett got across what he would say to his family to investors, for which he got all credit. |
Conclusion | Practitioners should keep in mind that pre-suasion can enhance the power of 10.. |
Two weeks earlier, my son, Ben, had got in touch, he’d moved to England with his mum when he was three and it had been 13 years since I’d _________ seen him. So imagine my _________ when he emailed me saying he wanted to come to visit me.
I was _________! I arrived early at Byron Bay where we were supposed to _________. The bay was _________ in sunshine, and there was a group of kayakers around 150m off the shore. Getting a little _________. I realized one kayak（皮划艇）was in _________. “Something’s not _________!” I took off my T-shirt and _________ into the water. I saw there were two instructors on board and a man lying across the middle. He was __________ violently. Linking arms with one of the instructors. I helped __________ the young man out of the water. He was unconscious and as I looked at his face, something __________ to me. Those brown eyes were very __________. “What’s his name?” I asked the instructor. “Ben,” he replied, and immediately I __________. That stranger was my son!
The instructors called for an ambulance. __________, after a brief stay in hospital, Ben was well enough to be allowed to __________ and later the family met up for dinner. We chatted about everything and then Ben __________ to me. “I just want to say thank you,” he said, “You __________ my life!”
I still can’t believe what a __________ it was. I’m just so glad I was there __________ to help my son.
1.A. also B. often C. even D. last
2.A. delight B. relief C. anger D. worry
3.A. scared B. shocked C. thrilled D. ashamed
4.A. talk B. stay C. meet D. settle
5.A. bathed B. clean C. deep D. formed
6.A. faster B. closer C. heavier D. wiser
7.A. trouble B. advance C. question D. battle
8.A. real B. right C. fair D. fit
9.A. stared B. sank C. dived D. fell
10.A. arguing B. fighting C. Shouting D. shaking
11.A. lead B. persuade C. carry D. keep
12.A. happened B. occurred C. applied D. appealed
13.A. sharp B. pleasant C. attractive D. familiar
14.A. agreed B. hesitated C. doubted D. knew
15.A. Fortunately B. Frankly C. Sadly D. Suddenly
16.A. return B. relax C. speak D. leave
17.A. joked B. turned C. listened D. pointed
18.A. created B. honored C. saved D. guided
19.A. coincidence B. change C. pity D. pain
20.A. on board B. in time C. for sure D. on purpose
Practical ways to get motivated
Be mindful of your "why".
If I need to clean the floor, but I really don't like cleaning, then I won't feel very motivated to do it. However, if I have a big enough reason to do it—because I'm having some guests to come over, or I love the feeling of having a clean floor, then that "bigger purpose" can be strong enough to get me to act, even though I don't enjoy cleaning. If I stay mindful of why I'm doing it, I can get motivated to do it. 1.
Celebrate your successes.
It's easy to get down on yourself because you haven't reached your goal yet. You may overlook all of the hard work and small goals that you've accomplished. Remember to reward yourself and to celebrate your successes. 2. In the same way, how can you motivate yourself if you're not going to reward yourself and celebrate your successes?
3.
Imagine how good you'll feel when you've reached your goal. Take a moment and think about how you'll feel and what you'll think after you've achieved it. What does it feel like? 4. Focus on that feeling, and use it to drive you right now to move towards your goal. Just think of how good it will be.
Get inspired.
Read stories, watch movies, listen to other people who have achieved what you want to achieve. Imagine what they had to go through to get to where they are. Imagine how big the heart is of some of your biggest heroes and how badly they wanted what they achieved. 5.
A. Imagine having already achieved it.
B. Get help and support when you're not feeling motivated.
C. So remind yourself of why you're doing what you're doing.
D. What kind of self-talk would you use to motivate yourself?
E. Let them inspire you to access your own great desire within.
F. You might feel proud, happy, satisfied, or any other emotion.
G. Would you be able to properly train a dog without rewarding him?
The position of a car's fuel door (if you can actually remember where it is) remains one of the greatest unsolved motoring mysteries.
Do car company engineers draw straws (抽签) to decide what side of the car the fuel door goes on? No. According to Ford spokesman Mark Schirmer, as reported on the Allstate Blog, engineers are free to place fuel doors on the side of the car that offers the easiest packaging. And while one on each side would be rather convenient, we're not likely to see double fuel doors anytime soon—there's neither the room nor the demand for them.
"The placement of the fuel door is mainly a factor of fuel tank design, location, and underbody packaging," Nissan's Steve Yaeger told the Allstate Blog." With all of the structure and components located underneath the vehicle, engineers would quickly encounter restrictions in trying to route the filler tube to the same side on every vehicle."
Schirmer says Americans prefer fuel doors on the left side of their cars, probably because it makes it easier for them to place their car's left fender close to the fuel pump. For this reason, itˈs possible that drivers in the U. K., Australia, New Zealand, India, and other countries who drive on the left side of the road favor a right-hand-side fuel door. But thereˈs nothing to confirm that driver preference is a factor. There are regulations about where the fuel door should be positioned, but these donˈt specify the right or left side of the car.
If you canˈt remember the location of your fuel door, simply look at the little diamond-shaped arrow on the fuel gauge (燃油量表) on your dashboard—it points to the side of the car where the fuel door is. Do it before you pull up to the pump, to avoid the embarrassment of having to get back into your car and drive to another pump.
1.Why don't all cars have gas tanks on the same side?
A.Engineers place fuel doors where they like.
B.Drivers ask for its position due to their driving habits.
C.It troubles engineers if they are on the same side.
D.There are regulations about which side it should be positioned.
2.Why do Americans prefer fuel doors on the left side?
A.They are left-handed.
B.Itˈs convenient for their fuel filling.
C.It is easier to place their carˈs right fender near the fuel pump.
D.There are many cars with a right-hand-side fuel door in America.
3.What does the underlined word "it" in the last paragraph refer to?
A.The fuel door. B.The fuel gauge.
C.The dashboard. D.The diamond-shaped arrow.
4.What is the best title for the text?
A.Tips to Identify the Location of the Fuel Door
B.The Popularity of a Right-hand-side Fuel Door to American Drivers
C.Reasons for Gas Tanks on Different Sides
D.The Motoring Mysteries
"I am my paintings," says Vincent van Gogh, played by Willem Dafoe in a career-best performance, in Julian Schnabelˈs At Eternityˈs Gate, which follows the artist through his last turmoil (动荡骚乱) and astonishingly prolific years in the late 1880s in the south of France. Watching this film, you can believe it.
Schnabel is, of course, a famous artist as well as a powerful, if powerfully uneven, filmmaker, and what he captures here is what it must have been like to be Van Gogh. Itˈs an artistˈs imagining of what another artist might have felt. He never does break away from the romantic, madness-of-genius cliché(陈词滥调) that has been with so many movies and comments about Van Gogh. Instead, he accepts it because he believes it proves the turmoil that goes into creating great art. Of course, turmoil can also create bad art, but such is Schnabelˈs enthusiasm that I bought into the reality even though I think Van Gogh was a great artist despite rather than because of his mental pain.
I have a bit less sympathy for the ways in which the filmmakers got guess and frank mythmaking into the narrative. But the film comes to a great and sorrowing finish when we hear Vincentˈs words, "I thought an artist has to teach a way to look at the rest of the world. Not anymore. Now I just think of my relationship with eternity. " One of the great achievements of this movie is that, in the end, Van Gogh's words enter into our soul with the same force as the paintings.
1.Who starred in At Eternity's Gate?
A.Vincent van Gogh. B.Julian Schnabel.
C.Willem Dafoe. D.Robert Gulaczyk.
2.What do we know about Julian Schnabel?
A.He tries to break away from the traditional style.
B.He is as good an artist as a film maker.
C.His film is better than the previous ones.
D.He thinks turmoil creates bad art.
3.What can we know from the last paragraph?
A.The film ends happily.
B.Van Gogh figured out his relationship with eternity.
C.What Van Gogh said has a major influence on us.
D.The film teaches us a way to look at the rest of the world.
4.From which is the text probably taken?
A.An art textbook. B.An art magazine.
C.A movie advertisement. D.A research paper.
It is 6:00 am on the first day of the school year. In Cherrybrook Technology High School, mathematics teacher Eddie Woo is already at work.
One of the first things before the first bell rings is to set up his tripod(三脚架) and iPad in the middle of the classroom. This technology is Mr. Woo's core tool of the trade. "I'm Mr. Woo. I record my lessons. I record all of them. In fact, I'm about to record this one," he explains to his new maths class.
The unique approach to teaching mathematics has not gone unnoticed. Mr. Woo is arguably the most famous teacher in Australia - a maths teacher by day and an internet sensation(轰动) by night.
He started posting videos online in 2012 for a student who was sick with cancer and missing a lot of school. Other students in the class then wanted to watch Mr. Woo's videos on his free YouTube channel and website, so he started sharing them across the country and beyond. Wootube now boasts more than 38,000 subscribersc用户 ) and has attracted almost 4 million views worldwide.
Cherrybrook Technology High School principal Gary Johnson said Mr. Woo was helping address a standing shortage of maths teachers in Australia, and making maths popular again. “ He has an ability to simplify mathematics to a level where kids can really understand it," Mr. Johnson said.
12-year-old student Emily Shakespear said Mr. Woo's teaching style made maths irresistible. "I don't want to say it, but he sucked me into maths," she said. Owen Potter, who attends high school in Cobar, agreed. "It's difficult to understand how someone in Sydney can influence thousands of people across the whole country," he said.
Mr. Woo won the 2017 University of Sydney Young Alumni Award for Outstanding Achievement, and he was one of 12 Australian teachers honored at the Commonwealth Bank Teaching Awards.
1.Eddie Woo set up an iPad in the middle of the classroom with the purpose of
A.listening to music B.playing a video
C.recording his class D.showing pictures
2.What can we infer from the statistics in the fourth paragraph?
A.Mr. Woo's teaching videos online are very popular.
B.Mr. Woo had made a lot of money by selling videos.
C.Mr. Woo posted videos online helping many adults.
D.Mr. Woo created his Wootube in 2012 in Sydney.
3.According to Gary Johnson, Mr. Woo's maths lessons are
A.difficult to follow B.easy to understand
C.simple to handle D.challenging to learn
4.What is the main idea of the last paragraph?
A.Mr. Woo is the most well-known maths teacher in Australia.
B.Mr. Woo graduated from the University of Sydney with honors.
C.Mr. Woo won the Commonwealth Bank Teaching Awards.
D.Mr. Woo's contributions to teaching have been recognized.
