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 odd (奇怪的),” Gray told the BBC.“The elevators 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 understood as threatening or odd.“The easiest way to do this is to avoid eye contact,” she said.

1.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. make eye contact with those in the elevator

D. try to keep a distance from other people

2.Which of the following describes how people usually stand when there are at least two people in an elevator?

A.

B.

C.

D.

3.According to the article,people feel awkward in lifts because of _____.

A. someone’s odd behaviors

B. a lack of space

C. their unfamiliarity with one another

D. their eye contact with one another

【小题】What’s the passage mainly about _____.

A. Bad manners in the elevator

B. Some unwritten rules of elevator etiquette

C. An interesting but awkward elevator ride

D. The strange behaviors in the elevator

根据短文内容,从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。选项中有两项为多余选项。

Do you have a spare room in your house? Do you like to share your drive way in front of your garage with others? Both of these can help you make money. 1.

Perhaps the best-known example of a company in this field is Airbnb – an American web business which allows you to rent out your spare room to holidaymakers. It says it operates in 34,000 cities and it has 800,000 listings of rooms and apartments. 2.

A British company is doing something with parking spaces. JustPark’s founder, Anthony Eskinaizi, says, “when I had the original idea, I spotted a driveway close to a sports stadium. It would have been so convenient if I could have just parked in the driveway rather than in a commercial car park.” 3. Around 20,000 people have advertised their spaces on the website, and he says around half a million drivers use it.

4. They are people who run things like traditional hotels and commercial car parks. They are afraid of ending up losing money.

5. Regulations for these new businesses are unclear. How will renting out your driveway affect your neighbour? Because this a new business world, those rules aren’t there yet.

A. And there is another problem.

B. A commercial car park is inconvenient.

C. And his great idea has proved a success.

D. But the new business of renting has its competitors.

E. They seem to have occupied the majority of the market.

F. But the government says no to the new business of renting.

G. Many people are benefiting from this new business of renting.

Jeanne Calment, a French woman, became a record breaker on 17 October of 1995, when at the age of 120 years and 238 days, she became the longest-lived human being on record. A Japanese man died in 1986 at the age of 120 years and 237 days.

Jeanne Calment lives in a small old people’s home in the south of France; her husband, her only child and her grandson have all died. She is nearly blind and deaf and is always in a wheelchair, but her doctor describes her as being more like a 90-year-old in good health than someone of 120. She still has a lively sense of humor. When asked on her 120th birthday what she expected of the future, she replied: A very short one. She also remarked that she thought the good Lord had forgotten all about her.

So what is the key to a long life? According to some doctors, diet, exercise and no smoking are the three important factors. Jeanne Calment has followed two of the tips. She has always eaten a healthy diet, and she used to do exercise every day until she broke her leg at the age of 115. However, until recently she drank two glasses of strong red wine a day, and she does smoke (now only a little). Besides, Jeanne Calment might have got very good genes from her parents. Her father lived to the age of 94 and her mother to 86.

A local lawyer bought her house when she was 80 under an agreement that he would pay her some money every year until her death. It must have seemed a good move at the time, but so far the lawyer has paid her at least three times the value of the house. Every year on her birthday Jeanne Calment sends him a card saying:

Sorry, I’m still alive!

1.How does Jeanne Calment feel about her old age?

A. She is miserable and unhappy.

B. She is cheerful and humorous.

C. She would like to live much longer.

D. She feels she is going to die very soon.

2.Jeanne Calment owes her good health and long life to _______.

A. smoking only a little every day

B. her giving up smoking and drinking

C. drinking two glasses of strong red wine every day

D. the good genes from her parents, a healthy diet and some exercise

3.Which of the following could best replace the word “move” in the fourth paragraph?

A. deal B. trick C. march D. sport

4.Why does Jeanne Calment say “Sorry, I’m still alive” to the local lawyer every year on her birthday?

A. Because she had an agreement at 80 with the lawyer which was to her advantage.

B. Because she has asked the lawyer to pay her more rent than they first agreed.

C. Because the lawyer has paid her much more money than the value of the house.

D. Because the house she sold to the lawyer isn’t worth the money he has already paid.

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