Directions: Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)
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 cling to their phones, even without a ___1___ on a subway.
It's a sad reality – our desire to avoid interacting with other human beings – because there's ___2___ to be gained from talking to the stranger standing by you. But you wouldn't know it, ___3___ into your phone. This universal protection sends the ___4___: “Please don't approach me.”
What is it that makes us feel we need to hide ___5___ our screens?
是什么让我们觉得需要躲在屏幕后面？
One answer is fear, according to Jon Wortmann, an executive mental coach. We fear rejection, or that our innocent social advances will be ___6___ as “weird.” We fear we'll be ___7___. We fear we'll be disruptive.
Strangers are inherently ___8___ to us, so we are more likely to feel ___9___ when communicating with them compared with our friends and acquaintances. To avoid this uneasiness, we ___10___ 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___.”
But once we rip off the band-aid, tuck our smartphones in our pockets and look up, it doesn't ___12___ so bad. In one 2011 experiment, behavioral scientists Nicholas Epley and Juliana Schroeder asked commuters to do the unthinkable: Start a ___13___. They had Chicago train commuters talk to their fellow ___14___. “When Dr. Epley and Ms. Schroeder asked other people in the same train station to ___15___ how they would feel after talking to a stranger, the commuters thought their ___16___ 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 they ___17___ with the experiment, “not a single person reported having been embarrassed.”
___18___, these commutes were reportedly more enjoyable compared with those without communication, which makes absolute sense, ___19___ human beings thrive off of social connections. It's that ___20___: Talking to strangers can make you feel connected.
解析语境辨析。”our innocent social advances will be ___ as 'weird'”，意为善意的社交举动被”误解”为奇怪，misinterpreted（被误解）最贴切；misapplied（被误用）、misadjusted（被错误调整）、mismatched（不匹配）均不符合”将行为理解为weird”的语义。
7.
A) judged
B) fired
C) replaced
D) delayed
答案 A
解析语境推断。前文提到怕被拒绝、怕举动被误解为怪异，此处”We fear we'll be ___”与社交焦虑一致，judged（被评判）符合；fired（被解雇）、replaced（被取代）、delayed（被耽误）均与社交恐惧无关。
8.
A) unreasonable
B) ungrateful
C) unconventional
D) unfamiliar
答案 D
解析词义辨析。”Strangers are inherently ___ to us”，陌生人本质上对我们来说是”陌生的”，unfamiliar（不熟悉的）语义最准确；unreasonable（不讲理的）、ungrateful（忘恩负义的）、unconventional（非传统的）均不符合”与朋友相比，陌生人本质上……”的语境。
解析逻辑连词。”which makes absolute sense, ___ human beings thrive off of social connections”，since（因为）引出原因，说明”这完全合理”的原因是人类依赖社会联结；unless（除非）、whereas（然而）、if（如果）均不符合此处因果逻辑。
20.
A) funny
B) simple
C) logical
D) rare
答案 B
解析固定表达。”It's that simple”（就这么简单）是英语习语，强调道理简单明了；全文结尾点明主旨：与陌生人交谈能让你感到联结，道理很简单。funny（有趣）、logical（合乎逻辑）、rare（罕见）均不构成此固定表达。