太奇名師齊轍解析2015管理類聯考英語完形真題(2)

2014-12-29 16:49 | 太奇MBA網

　　原文及答案：

　　While the subway's arrival may be ambiguous, one thing about your commute is certain: No one wants to talk to each other. In our contemporary culture, the prospect of communicating with -- or even looking at -- a stranger is virtually unbearable. Everyone around us seems to agree by the way they fiddle with their phones, even without a 1 signal underground.

　　It's a sad reality -- our desire to avoid interacting with other human beings -- because there's 2 much to be gained from talking to the stranger standing by you. But you wouldn't know it,3 plugged into your phone. This universal armor sends the 4 message: 'Please don't approach me.'

　　What is it that makes us feel we need to hide 5 behind our screens?

　　One answer is fear, according to Jon Wortmann, executive mental coach and author of 'Hijacked by Your Brain: How to Free Yourself When Stress Takes Over.' We fear rejection, or that our innocent social advances will be 6 misinterpreted as 'creepy,' he told The Huffington Post. We fear we'll be 7 judged. We fear we'll be disruptive.

　　Strangers are inherently8 unfamiliar to us, so we are more likely to feel 9 anxious when communicating with them compared with our friends and acquaintances. To avoid this anxiety, we 10 turn to our phones. 'Phones become our security blanket,' Wortmann says. 'They are our happy glasses that protect us from what we perceive is going to be more 11 dangerous.'

　　But once we rip off the bandaid, tuck our smartphones in our pockets and look up, it doesn't12 hurt so bad. In one 2011 experiment, behavioral scientists Nicholas Epley and Juliana Schroeder asked commuters to do the unthinkable: Start a 13 conversation. The duo had Chicago train commuters talk to their fellow14 passengers. 'When Dr. Epley and Ms. Schroeder asked other people in the same train station to15 predict how they would feel after talking to a stranger, the commuters thought their16 ride would be more pleasant if they sat on their own,' the New York Times summarizes. Though the participants didn't expect a positive experience, after they17 went through with the experiment, 'not a single person reported having been snubbed.'

　　18 In fact, these commutes were reportedly more enjoyable compared with those sans communication, which makes absolute sense, 19 since human beings thrive off of social connections. It's that 20 simple: Talking to strangers can make you feel connected. The train ride is a fortuity for social connection -- 'the stuff of life,' Wortmann says. Even seemingly trivial interactions can boost mood and increase the sense of belonging. A study similar in hypothesis to Eply and Schroder's published in Social Psychological & Personality Science asked participants to smile, make eye contact and chatwith their cashier. Those who engaged with the cashier experienced better moods -- and even reported a better shopping experience than those who avoided superfluous conversation.

　　分析：文章節選自2014.5.16 赫芬頓郵報，難度與2014/2013持平，明顯比模考時的文章容易。選項ABCD各出現五次。