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Many years ago，when I was fresh out of school and working in Denver，I was driving to my parents’ home in Missouri for Christmas. I stopped at a gas station(加油站) about 50 miles from Oklahoma City，where I was planning to stop and visit a friend. While I was standing in line at the cash register(收款台)，I said hello to an older couple who were also paying for gas.
I took off，but had gone only a few miles when black smoke poured from the back of my car. I stopped and wondered what I should do. A car pulled up behind me. It was the couple I had spoken to at the gas station. They said they would take me to my friend’s. We chatted on the way into the city，and when I got out of the car，the husband gave me his business card.
I wrote him and his wife a thankyou note for helping me. Soon afterward，I received a Christmas present from them. Their note that came with it said that helping me had made their holidays meaningful.
Years later，I drove to a meeting in a nearby town in the morning. In late afternoon I returned to my car and found that I’d left the lights on all day，and the battery(电池) was dead. Then I noticed that the Friendly Ford dealership—a shop selling cars—was right next door. I walked over and found two salesmen in the showroom.
“Just how friendly is Friendly Ford？” I asked and explained my trouble. They quickly drove a pickup truck to my car and started it. They would accept no payment，so when I got home，I wrote them a note to say thanks. I received a letter back from one of the salesmen. No one had ever taken the time to write him and say thank you，and it meant a lot，he said.
“Thank you” — two powerful words. They’re easy to say and mean so much.
1.
The author planned to stop at Oklahoma City________.
A．to visit a friend B．to see his parents
C．to pay at the cash register D．to have more gas for his car
2.
The words “took off” underlined in Paragraph 2 mean “________”．
A．turned off B．moved off C．put up D．set up
3.
What happened when the author found smoke coming out of his car?
A．He had it pulled back to the gas station.
B．The couple sent him a business card.
C．The couple offered to help him.
D．He called his friend for help.
4.
The battery of the author’s car was dead because________.
A．something went wrong with the lights
B．the meeting lasted a whole day
C．he forgot to turn off the lights
D．he drove too long a distance
5.
By telling his own experiences，the author tries to show ________.
A．how to write a thankyou letter
B．how to deal with car problems
C．the kindheartedness of older people
D．the importance of expressing thanks
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Negative （消极的）self talk and negative energy can affect you m many ways and cause you additional stress. Because of this，developing more Positive self talk’s an important way to reduce stress in your life. You can help yourself maintain a positive frame of mind 一which will help with positive self talk一by surrounding yourself with positive energy in your life. You can get that by adding some elements to your life.
Listening to music that not only has a soothing melody，but an uplifting message，can be great for developing positive self talk. Have you ever had a song “stuck in your head” for a few hours or days，the lyrics repeating themselves in your mind?’’ If those lyrics were positive and inspirational，that would be a good thing. It’s a much better mental soundtrack to have than a running stream of complaints，criticisms of self-limiting thoughts，or even songs that had more depressing or sad lyrics.
Books on strength, personal power, enlightenment, or self help can be good resources to help you change your outlook and the things you say to yourself. Rather than bringing habitual self-defeating thoughts，you can find yourself thinking of new can-do concepts when times get tough.
One of the most important ways you can get and keep positive energy in your life is with the company you keep. Do your friends uplift you，or bring you down? Are they critical，or complementary? Ideal friendships provide support when you’re down, fun when you’re up，wisdom when you’re lost，and positive regard. Good friends can inspire you to reach greater heights，and see your strengths even when you don’t always. Pay attention to how your friends make you feel，and if they’re less than supportive，start putting your energy and time toward people who are better suited to be your friend.
In addition，positive affirmations （肯定） can certainly change your self talk from negative to positive. Now，why not begin working positive affirmations into your life in some creative ways?
1.
What does the passage mainly talk about?
A. Reducing stress by surrounding yourself with positive energy.
B. Adding some elements to your life.
C. Getting positive energy from the company you keep.
D. Changing your self talk with positive affirmation.
2.
How many ways does the author suggest to maintain a positive frame of mind?
A. 3. B. 4. C. 5. D. 6.
3.
If you have something “stuck in your head”。 you probably ________.
A. keep singing the same song for a long time
B. keep thinking of this thing all the time
C. regard the lyrics of a song as positive
D. are developing positive self-talk
4.
According to the passage，your best company should be those who __________.
A. uplift you or bring you down B. provide fun when you’re down
C. encourage you to do things even better D. are less than supportive
5.
What will probably be talked about in the following paragraph?
A. How negative self talk influences a person.
B. How positive self talk reduces stress in one’s life.
C. Some great ways of making great friends.
D. Some creative ways of practicing affirmation.
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Next time a customer comes to your office, offer him a cup of coffee. And when you’re doing your holiday shopping online, make sure you’re holding a large glass of iced tea. The physical sensation（感觉） of warmth encourages emotional warmth, while a cold drink in hand prevents you from making unwise decisions—those are the practical lesson being drawn from recent research by psychologist John A. Bargh.
Psychologists have known that one person’s perception（感知） of another’s “warmth” is a powerful determiner in social relationships. Judging someone to be either “warm” or “cold” is a primary consideration, even trumping evidence that a “cold” person may be more capable. Much of this is rooted in very early childhood experiences, Bargh argues, when babies’ conceptual sense of the world around them is shaped by physical sensations, particularly warmth and coldness. Classic studies by Harry Harlow, published in 1958, showed monkeys preferred to stay close to a cloth “mother” rather than one made of wire, even when the wire “mother” carried a food bottle. Harlow’s work and later studies have led psychologists to stress the need for warm physical contact from caregivers to help young children grow into healthy adults with normal social skills.
Feelings of “warmth” and “coldness” in social judgments appear to be universal. Although no worldwide study has been done, Bargh says that describing people as “warm” or “cold” is common to many cultures, and studies have found those perceptions influence judgment in dozens of countries.
To test the relationship between physical and psychological warmth, Bargh conducted an experiment which involved 41 college students. A research assistant who was unaware of the study’s hypotheses（假设）, handed the students either a hot cup of coffee, or a cold drink, to hold while the researcher filled out a short information form: The drink was then handed back. After that, the students were asked to rate the personality of “Person A” based on a particular description. Those who had briefly held the warm drink regarded Person A as warmer than those who had held the iced drink.
“We are grounded in our physical experiences even when we think abstractly,” says Bargh.
1.
According to Paragraph 1, a person’s emotion may be affected by ______.
A. the visitors to his office B. the psychology lessons he has
C. his physical feeling of coldness D. the things he has bought online
2.
The author mentions Harlow’s experiment to show that ______.
A. adults should develop social skills B. babies need warm physical contact
C. caregivers should be healthy adults D. monkeys have social relationships
3.
In Bargh’s experiment, the students were asked to ______.
A. evaluate someone’s personality B. write down their hypotheses
C. fill out a personal information form
D. hold coffee and cold drink alternatively
4.
We can infer from the passage that ______.
A. abstract thinking does not come from physical experiences
B. feelings of warmth and coldness are studied worldwide
C. physical temperature affects how we see others
D. capable persons are often cold to others
5.
What would be the best title for the passage?
A. Drinking for Better Social Relationships
B. Experiments of Personality Evaluation
C. Developing Better Drinking Habits
D. Physical Sensations and Emotions
主要原因
主要原因