8.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 speaker s 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 (思維定式).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.
64.What did Sara think of Betty when talking with her?C
A.Betty was talkative.
B.Betty was an interrupter.
C.Betty did not take her turn.
D.Betty paid no attention to Sara.
65.According to the passage,who are likely to expect the shortest pauses between turns?B
A.Americans.
B.Israelis.
C.The British.
D.The Finns.
66.We ca n learn from the passage thatC
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
67.The underlined word"assertiveness"in the last paragraph probably meansD
A.being willing to speak one's mind
B.being able to increase one's power
C.being ready to make one's own judgment
D.being quick to express one's ideas confidently.
分析 本文是一篇說明文,主要闡述是有關(guān)語速和停頓的相關(guān)信息.交談是一種輪回轉(zhuǎn)換的游戲,不同文化的人說話的節(jié)奏和方式都是不一樣的.說話語速和停頓是一個談話的技巧,是人們談話的個性和能力.習(xí)慣上的不同常常建立在危險的思維定式上,一些社會現(xiàn)象可能導(dǎo)致嚴重的個人后果.
解答 64.C 推理判斷題.根據(jù)文章第3段2,3行"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."可知,Sara發(fā)現(xiàn)自己很難插話,是因為Betty沒有按照說話的輪次來.導(dǎo)致兩個人說話總是被打斷.故C正確.
65.B 推理判斷題.根據(jù)文章第三段最后一句"Sara had a hard time cutting in on some speakers from Latin America or Israel."可知,美國人或者以色列人說話的停頓很短,Sara很難插話.以色列人說話的節(jié)奏和美國人說話的節(jié)奏是類似的,所以把這兩者放在一起進行比較.故B正確.
66.C 推理判斷題.根據(jù)文章第4段前3行"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 (思維定式).And these social phenomena can have very personal consequences."可知一個人講話的能力是受到他所在的文化和思維方式影響的.故C正確.
67.D 細節(jié)理解題.根據(jù)文章第五段"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"可知,她會在那個自信養(yǎng)成培訓(xùn)課程上被登記成什么樣.故選D.
點評 解答細節(jié)理解題時,一個常用的方法就是運用定位法,即根據(jù)題干和選項中的關(guān)鍵詞從原文中找到相關(guān)的句子,與選項進行比較從而確定答案;推理判斷題既要求學(xué)生透過文章表面文字信息推測文章隱含意思,又要求學(xué)生對作者的態(tài)度、意圖及文章細節(jié)的發(fā)展作正確的推理判斷,力求從作者的角度去考慮,不要固守自己的看法或觀點.