Question

You may not pay much attention to your daily elevator ride. Many of us use a lift several times during the day without really thinking about it. But Lee Gray, PhD, of the University of North Carolina, US, has made it his business to examine this overlooked form of public transport. He is known as the “Elevator Guy”.

“The lift becomes this interesting social space where etiquette（礼仪）is sort of strange,” Gray told the BBC. “They are socially very interesting but often very awkward places.”

We walk in and usually turn around to face the door. If someone else comes in, we may have to move. And here, according to Gray, liftusers unthinkingly go through a set pattern of movements. He told the BBC what he had observed.

He explained that when you are the only one inside a lift, you can do whatever you want – it’s your own little box.

If there are two of you, you go into different corners, standing diagonally（对角线地）across from each other to create distance.

When a third person enters, you will unconsciously form a triangle. And when there is a fourth person it becomes a square, with someone in every corner. A fifth person is probably going to have to stand in the middle.

New entrants to the lift will need to size up the situation when the doors slide open and then act decisively. Once in, for most people the rule is simple – look down, or look at your phone.

Why are we so awkward in lifts?

“You don’t have enough space,” Professor Babette Renneberg, a clinical psychologist at the Free University of Berlin, told the BBC. “Usually when we meet other people we have about an arm’s length of distance between us. And that’s not possible in most elevators.”

In such a small, enclosed space it becomes very important to act in a way that cannot be construed（理解）as threatening or strange. “The easiest way to do this is to avoid eye contact,” she said.

1.The main purpose of the article is to _______.

A. share an interesting but awkward elevator ride

B. tell us some unwritten rules of elevator etiquette

C. analyze what makes people feel awkward in an elevator

B. remind us not to behave strangely when in an elevator

2. According to Gray, when people enter an elevator, they usually _______.

A. turn around and greet one another

B. look around or examine their phone

C. try to keep a distance from other people

D. make eye contact with those in the elevator

3.Which of the following describes how people usually stand when they are in the elevator?

4.The underlined phrase “size up” in Paragraph 7 is closest in meaning to _______.

A. judge B. ignore

C. put up with D. make the best of

 

Answer 1

1.B

2.C

3.C

4.A

【解析】

试题分析: 文章主要分析了人们乘坐电梯时的行为。平时乘坐电梯时，很少有人会注意到自己的行为。人们进入电梯后，都会无意识地与他人保持距离，当电梯变得拥挤时，人们就会觉得很尴尬。

1.B主旨题：根据The lift becomes this interesting social space where etiquette (礼仪) is sort of odd (奇怪的),” Gray told the BBC. “They [elevators] are socially very interesting but often very awkward places.及短文的大意可知告诉我们一些电梯不成文的礼仪，故选B

2.C细节理解题。根据If there are two of you, you go into different corners, standing diagonally (对角线地) across from each other to create distance.试图彼此之间要保持一定的距离，故选C

3.C细节理解题。根据when there is a fourth person it becomes a square, with someone in every corner. 当有四个人在电梯中的时候经常这四个人各站一个角，故选C。

4.A猜词题 根据第七段的句子New entrants to the lift will need to size up the situation when the doors slide open当有人要进入电梯，电梯门打开的那一刻，他需要权衡当前的形势，以作出决定自己该站在什么位置，“size up”的意思是判断。故选B。

考点：日常生活类阅读。