Question

【題目】 A sign of weakness?“Sorry” is probably the most over-used word in the United Kingdom: whether they are sorry about the weather or sorry because someone else has accidently hit them. “The willingness of the English to apologize(道歉) for something they haven’t done is worthy of notice.” wrote Henry Hitchings in his aptly–titled Sorry!:

The English and their Manners.

So what about those situations when we realize that we really need to apologize to someone? Is it better to put aside your pride and say you’re sorry, or – as the American actor John Wayne put it – is apologising a sign of weakness?

“People worry that an apology may tell others that you have just done something wrong, rather than as an effort to understand the wronged party’s situation, problems, and feelings,” says Harvard Business School’s Alison Wood Brooks. But she adds, “A good apology is unlikely to have the opposite bad result, and is more likely to increase trust than not apologizing at all.”

As for how to do it, Edwin Battistella, a language expert from Southern Oregon University has the following advice: “The right way to apologize is the way your mother taught you.” Say you threw a stone at a cousin. “She’d have you go and look at them in the eye and say: ‘I’m sorry I threw the stone at you and I won’t do it again’. It’s important to name what you did wrong, to show yourself as being sorry in some way and to promise what might be different in the future,” Battistella says.

Just how many times you’ll need to repeat the apology may be different according to where you live. Wood Brooks and Harvard PhD student Grant Donnelly have collected data that suggests that, for a small mistake, the best number is a single “I’m sorry”. “If it is a big mistake, then making two apologies seems tobe the magic number for expressing empathy (同理心), getting back trust and liking,” Wood Brooks says. Ofcourse, if you’re British, you may need to double that. “A single ‘sorry’ does not count as an apology: we have to repeat it and embellish it with a lot of words, like terribly, truly etc.” says Professor Fox.

【1】From paragraph 1, we know that .

A.English people never say sorry for things they haven’t done

B.it’s unusual to say sorry about the weather in England

C.it’s common for English people to say sorry to others

D.English people are often hit by others accidently

【2】Wood Brooks may agree with that apologizing _.

A.is a sign of weaknessB.will make people feel more nervous

C.may have some bad resultsD.may help people trust each other more

【3】The underlined word “embellish” probably means .

A.break downB.compare with

C.look forward toD.make more attractive

【4】The last paragraph is mainly talking about .

A.the steps of making apologiesB.the best ways of apologizing

C.the right words for apologizingD.the importance of apologizing

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】C

【2】D

【3】D

【4】B

【解析】

文章大意：文章講的是在英國(guó)說(shuō)對(duì)不起是很常見的和多個(gè)學(xué)者對(duì)道歉的作用進(jìn)行的闡述，以及道歉的方式等。

【1】細(xì)節(jié)理解題，根據(jù)文章第一段第一、二行“Sorry” is probably the most over-used word in the United Kingdom: whether they are sorry about the weather or sorry because someone else has accidently hit them“對(duì)不起可能是英國(guó)最常用的一個(gè)詞：他們是為天氣感到抱歉，還是因?yàn)閯e人不小心撞到他們而感到抱歉”可知，英國(guó)人對(duì)其他人說(shuō)對(duì)不起是很常見的，故答案選C。

【2】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)文章第三段第三、四行A good apology is unlikely to have the opposite bad result, and is more likely to increase trust than not apologizing at all“一個(gè)好的道歉不太可能產(chǎn)生相反的壞結(jié)果，更可能增加信任，而不是根本不道歉。”可知，Wood Brooks同意道歉能幫助彼此更加信任，故答案選D。

【3】詞句推測(cè)題。根據(jù)文章最后一段的最后一行with a lot of words, like terribly, truly etc.” says Professor Fox“用一些單詞像非常地、真正地來(lái)修飾它”可推知，是為了讓它更吸引人，故答案選D。

【4】主旨大意題。根據(jù)文章最后一段第三、四行for a small mistake, the best number is a single “I’m sorry”. “If it is a big mistake, then making two apologies seems tobe the magic number for expressing empathy (同理心), getting back trust and liking“對(duì)于一個(gè)小錯(cuò)誤，最好的數(shù)字是一個(gè)單一的“對(duì)不起”。“如果這是一個(gè)大錯(cuò)誤，那么兩次道歉似乎是表達(dá)同理心、找回信任和喜歡的神奇數(shù)字”以及后面描述的是如果你是英國(guó)人，你可能需要加倍。�？怂菇淌谡f(shuō)：“一句‘對(duì)不起’不算道歉：我們必須重復(fù)一遍，用很多詞來(lái)修飾它，比如可怕的、真實(shí)的等等�！笨芍�，最后一段講的是道歉最好的方式們，故答案選B。

閱讀理解題中的細(xì)節(jié)理解題，首先找到問(wèn)句中的關(guān)鍵詞，然后根據(jù)關(guān)鍵詞定位到文章具體位置，然后選出正確答案即可。

例如題目2中，關(guān)鍵詞是Wood Brooks和 apologizing可定位到文章第三段第三、四行A good apology is unlikely to have the opposite bad result, and is more likely to increase trust than not apologizing at all“一個(gè)好的道歉不太可能產(chǎn)生相反的壞結(jié)果，更可能增加信任，而不是根本不道歉�！笨芍�，Wood Brooks同意道歉能幫助彼此更加信任，故答案選D。