Pacing and Pausing
Sara tried to befriend her old friend Steve's new wife, but Betty never seemed to have anything to say. While Sara felt Betty didn't hold up her end of the conversation, Betty complained to Steve that Sara never gave her a chance to talk. The problem had to do with expectations about pacing and pausing.
Conversation is a turn-taking game. When our habits are similar, there's no problem. But if our habits are different, you may start to talk before I'm finished or fail to take your turn when I'm finished. That's what was happening with Betty and Sara.
It may not be coincidental that Betty, who expected relatively longer pauses between turns, is British, and Sara, who expected relatively shorter pauses, is American. Betty often felt interrupted by Sara. But Betty herself became an interrupter and found herself doing most of the talking when she met a visitor from Finland. And Sara had a hard time cutting in on some speakers from Latin America or Israel.
The general phenomenon, then, is that the small conversation techniques, like pacing and pausing, lead people to draw conclusions not about conversational style but about personality and abilities. These habitual differences are often the basis for dangerous stereotyping (思维定式). And these social phenomena can have very personal consequences. For example, a woman from the southwestern part of the US went to live in an eastern city to take up a job in personnel. When the Personnel Department got together for meetings, she kept searching for the right time to break in --- and never found it. Although back home she was considered outgoing and confident, in Washington she was viewed as shy and retiring. When she was evaluated at the end of the year, she was told to take a training course because of her inability to speak up.
That's why slight differences in conversational style --- tiny little things like microseconds of pause --- can have a great effect on one's life. The result in this case was a judgment of psychological problems --- even in the mind of the woman herself, who really wondered what was wrong with her and registered for assertiveness training.
1.What did Sara think of Betty when talking with her?
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A．Betty was talkative. |
B．Betty was an interrupter. |
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C．Betty did not take her turn. |
D．Betty paid no attention to Sara. |
2.According to the passage, who are likely to expect the shortest pauses between turns?
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A．Americans. |
B．Israelis. |
C．The British. |
D．The Finns. |
3.We can learn from the passage that ______.
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A．communication breakdown results from short pauses and fast pacing |
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B．women are unfavorably stereotyped in eastern cities of the US |
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C．one's inability to speak up is culturally determined sometimes |
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D．one should receive training to build up one's confidence |
4.The underlined word "assertiveness" in the last paragraph probably means ______.
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A．being willing to speak one's mind |
B．being able to increase one's power |
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C．being ready to make one's own judgment |
D．being quick to express one's ideas confidently |
Open Letter to an Editor
I had an interesting conversation with a reporter recently --- one who works for you. In fact, he's one of your best reporters. He wants to leave.
Your reporter gave me a copy of his resume(简历) and photocopies of six stories that he wrote for you. The headlines showed you played them proudly. With great enthusiasm, he talked about how he finds issues(问题), approaches them, and writes about them, which tells me he is one of your best. I'm sure you would hate to lose him. Surprisingly, your reporter is not unhappy. In fact, he told me he really likes his job. He has a great assignment (分工), and said you run a great paper. It would be easy for you to keep him, he said. He knows that the paper values him. He appreciates the responsibility you've given him, takes ownership of his profession, and enjoys his freedom.
So why is he looking for a way out?
He talked to me because he wants his editors to demand so much more of him. He wants to be pushed, challenged, coached to new heights.
The reporter believes that good stories spring from good questions, but his editors usually ask how long the story will be, when it will be in, where it can play, and what the budget is.
He longs for conversations with an editor who will help him turn his good ideas into great ones. He wants someone to get excited about what he's doing and to help him turn his story idea upside down and inside out, exploring the best ways to report it. He wants to be more valuable for your paper. That's what you want for him, too, isn't it?
So your reporter has set me thinking.
Our best hope in keeping our best reporters, copy editors, photographers, artists --- everyone --- is to work harder to make sure they get the help they are demanding to reach their potential. If we can't do it, they'll find someone who can.
1.What does the writer think of the reporter?
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A．Optimistic. |
B．Imaginative. |
C．Ambitious. |
D．Proud. |
2.What does the reporter want most from his editors in their talks?
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A．Finding the news value of his stories. |
B．Giving him financial support. |
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C．Helping him to find issues. |
D．Improving his good ideas. |
3.Who probably wrote the letter?
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A．An editor. |
B．An artist. |
C．A reporter. |
D．A reader. |
4.The letter aims to remind editors that they should ______.
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A．keep their best reporters at all costs |
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B．give more freedom to their reporters |
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C．be aware of their reporters' professional development |
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D．appreciate their reporters' working styles and attitudes |
Goldie's Secret
She turned up at the doorstep of my house in Cornwall. No way could I have sent her away. No way, not me anyway. Maybe someone had kicked her out of their car the night before. "We're moving house.'; "No space for her any more with the baby coming." "We never really wanted her, but what could we have done? She was a present." People find all sorts of excuses for abandoning an animal. And she was one of the most beautiful dogs I had ever seen.
I called her Goldie. If I had known what was going to happen I would have given her a more creative name. She was so unsettled during those first few days. She hardly ate anything and had such an air of sadness about her. There was nothing I could do to make her happy, it seemed. Heaven knows what had happened to her at her previous owner's. But eventually at the end of the first week she calmed down. Always by my side, whether we were out on one of our long walks or sitting by the fire.
That's why it was such a shock when she pulled away from me one day when we were out for a walk. We were a long way from home, when she started barking and getting very restless. Eventually I couldn't hold her any longer and she raced off down the road towards a farmhouse in the distance as fast as she could.
By the time I reached the farm I was very tired and upset with Goldie. But when I saw her licking (舔) the four puppies (幼犬) I started to feel sympathy towards them. "We didn't know what had happened to her," said the woman at the door. "I took her for a walk one day, soon after the puppies were born, and she just disappeared." "She must have tried to come back to them and got lost," added a boy from behind her.
I must admit I do miss Goldie, but I've got Nugget now, and she looks just like her mother. And I've learnt a good lesson: not to judge people.
1.How did the author feel about Goldie when Goldie came to the house?
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A．Shocked. |
B．Sympathetic. |
C．Annoyed. |
D．Upset. |
2.In her first few days at the author's house, Goldie ______.
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A．felt worried |
B．was angry |
C．ate a little |
D．sat by the fire |
3.Goldie rushed off to a farmhouse one day because she ______.
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A．saw her puppies |
B．heard familiar barking |
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C．wanted to leave the author |
D．found her way to her old home |
4. The passage is organized in order of ______.
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A．time |
B．effectiveness |
C．importance |
D．complexity |
I met Mrs. Neidl in the ninth grade on a stage-design team for a play and she was one of the directors. Almost instantly I loved her. She had an Unpleasant voice and a direct way of speaking, 36 she was encouraging and inspiring. For some reason, she was impressed with my work and me.
Mrs. Neidl would ask me for my 37 . She wanted to know how I thought we should 38 things. At first I had no idea how to answer because I knew 39 about stage design! But I slowly began to respond to her 40 . It was cause and effect: She believed I had opinions, so I began to 41 them. She trusted me to complete things, so I completed them perfectly. She loved how 42 I was, so I began to show up to paint more and more. She believed in me, so I began to believe in myself.
Mrs. Neidl's 43 that year was, "Try it. We can always paint over it 44 !" I began to take 45 . I had been so afraid of failing but suddenly there was no failing --- only things to be 46 upon. I learned to dip my brush into the paint and 47 create something.
The shy, quiet freshman achieved success that year. I was 48 in the program as "Student Art Assistant" because of the time and effort I'd put in. It was that year that I 49 I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing stage design.
Being on that stage-design team 50 Mrs. Neidl changed me completely. Not only was I stronger and more competent than I had thought, but I also 51 a strong interest and a world I hadn't known existed. She taught me not to 52 what people think I should do: She taught me to take chances and not be 53 . Mrs. Neidl was my comforter when I was upset. Her 54 in me has inspired me to do things that I never imagined 55 .
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19.A. trust B. patience C. curiosity Do interest
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Would you mind not picking the flowers in the garden? They are ______ everyone's enjoyment.
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A．in |
B．at |
C．for |
D．to |
Up to now, the program ______ thousands of children who would otherwise have died.
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A．would save |
B．saves |
C．had saved |
D．has saved |
