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?
A. Betty was talkative.
B. Betty was an interrupter.
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?
A. Americans. B. Israelis. C. The British. D. The Finns.
3.We can learn from the passage that ______.
A. communication breakdown results from short pauses and fast pacing
B. women are unfavorably stereotyped in eastern cities of the US
C. one's inability to speak up is culturally determined sometimes
D. one should receive training to build up one's confidence
Is your family interested in buying a dog? A dog can be a pleasant companion（伙伴） to your family, but if you choose the wrong kind of dog，you will have a lot of troubles.
Families should sit down and thoroughly discuss the possible problems before buying a dog. Even if the children in your family are the ones who want the dog, the parents are the ones who are really responsible for seeing that the animal is properly cared for. If you don’t know much about dogs, it is a good idea to go to the library for books about different kinds of dogs, as well as books about how to train a young dog. In reading about the different breeds(种类)you should know that a dog described(描述)as very alert(机敏灵活的)may be too active. When a book describes a dog as an excellent hunting dog, it probably means that the dog won’t be happy living in a small house. Dog breeds vary(变化)in popularity as the years go by. One of the most popular dogs these days is the German shepherd（牧羊犬）. This is because it provides protection as well as companionship（陪伴）. The family should be warned that these dogs grow up to be very big, and may be too powerful for children to control. If space is limited, a toy dog may be a good choice. These dogs are very small and easy to train. They don’t need to be walked daily, since they can exercise in the home.
1.According to the passage, one can get information about different kinds of dogs .
A. by going to the library
B. by asking someone who has enough experience about different kinds of dogs
C. by buying a dog and training it
D. by reading books about dogs
2.The German shepherd is a popular dog .
A. because it is easy to train
B. because it is big and strong
C. because it is powerful and friendly
D. because it is alert and active
3.Which is the best topic of the passage?
A. The care and proper selection of dogs for families.
B. Different breeds of dogs.
C. Responsibility for seeing that dogs are properly cared for.
D. Different kinds of books about dogs.
We often talk about ourselves as if we have permanent genetic defects(缺陷) that can never be changed. “I’m impatient.” “I’m always behind.” “I always put things !” You’ve surely heard them. Maybe you’ve used them to describe .
These comments may come from stories about us that have been for years—often from childhood. These stories may have no in fact. But they can set low expectations for us. As a child, my mother said to me, “Marshall, you have no mechanical （操作机械的） skills, and you will never have any mechanical skills for the rest of your life. ” How did these expectations my development? I was never to work on cars or be around . When I was 18, I took the US Army’s Mechanical Aptitude Test. My scores were in the bottom for the entire nation!
Six years later, , I was at California University, working on my doctor’s degree. One of my professors, Dr. Bob Tannbaum, asked me to write down things I did well and things I couldn’t do. For my strong points, I down, “research, writing, analysis, and speaking. ” For the , I wrote, “I have no mechanical skills. ”
Bob asked me how I knew I had no mechanical skills. I explained my life and told him about my performance on the Army test. Bob then asked, “ is it that you can solve mathematical problems, but you can’t solve easy mechanical problems?”
Suddenly I realized that I didn’t from some sort of genetic defect. I was just living out expectations that I had chosen to . At that point, it wasn’t just my family and friends who had been my belief that I was mechanically hopeless. And it wasn’t just the Army test, either. I was the one who kept telling myself, “You can’t do this!” I realized that as long as I kept saying that, it was going to remain true. , if we don’t treat ourselves as if we have genetic defects that we can never get over, we can do well in almost we choose.
1.A. away B. off C. up D. down
2.A. them B. myself C. yourself D. others
3.A. said B. spoken C. spread D. repeated
4.A. as long as B. as far back as C. as well as D. as much as
5.A. evidence B. wisdom C. cause D. meaning
6.A. lead B. improve C. affect D. change
7.A. encouraged B. demanded C. hoped D. agreed
8.A. means B. tools C. facilities D. hammers
9.A. therefore B. somehow C. instead D. however
10.A. settled B. turned C. took D. got
11.A. short B. other C. weak D. latter
12.A. experiences B. trips C. roads D. paths
13.A. unexpected B. poor C. excellent D. average
14.A. When B. What C. How D. Why
15.A. challenging B. advanced C. common D. normal
16.A. handle B. separate C. suffer D. come
17.A. believe B. doubt C. adopt D. receive
18.A. weakening B. strengthening C. questioning D. accepting
19.A. As a result B. At the same time C. In addition D. Instead
20.A. everything B. something C. nothing D. none
Laughter, along with an active sense of humor, ______ protect you against a heart attack, according to a recent study.
A. have helped B. helped C. help D. helps
To some degree, uncontrolled information from the Internet that many people turn ______ false.
A. to turn out B. to turns out C. turn out D. turns out
There are two thousand students in this college, ______ are from the countryside.
A. one-third of them B. one-third of which
C. one-third of whom D. one-third in which
