When women sit together to watch a movie on TV, at the same time they usually talk about a lot of subjects, including children, men, careers and what’s happening in their lives. When groups of men and women watch a movie together, the men usually end up telling the women to shut up. Men can either talk or watch the screen---they can’t do both---and they don’t understand that women can. Besides(此外), women think that the point of all getting together is to have a good time and develop relationships--not just to sit there like couch potatoes staring (盯着) at the screen.
During the ad breaks, a man often asks a woman to explain the plot(the story that is told in a novel or play or movie etc.) and tell him where the relationship between the characters is going. He is unable, unlike women, to read the small body language signals that show how the characters are feeling emotionally(情绪上). Since women originally spent their days with the other women and children in the group, they developed the ability to communicate successfully because they want to keep relationships. For a woman, speech continues to have such a clear purpose: to build relationships and make friends. For men, to talk is to connect to the facts.
Men see the telephone as a communication tool for sending facts and information to other people, but a woman sees it as a way of keeping relationship. A woman can spend two weeks on vacation with her girlfriend and, when she returns home, telephone the same girlfriend and talk for another two hours.
There is no convincing(令人信服的)evidence that social conditioning, the fact that girls’ mothers talked them more, is the reason why girls talk more than boys. Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Lewis, author of Social Behaviour and Language Acquisition, conducted experiments that found mothers talked to and looked at baby girls more often than baby boys. Scientific evidence shows parents reply to the brain differences of their children. Since a girl’s brain is better organized to send and receive speech, we talk to them more. As a result, mothers who try to talk to their sons are usually pointed to receive only short complaints in reply.
【小题1】While watching TV with others, women usually talk a lot because they ___________.

Stone is all around us．Stone is usually very hard,  1   it can also be soft．Stones have many uses．

    In some   2  , artists carve （雕刻） beautiful things out of soft stones, because they can be shaped easily．In ancient times, people carved   3   persons or animals out of soft stones, which could be carried along with．While in some European countries, statues （雕塑） are carved   g 4   hard stones and they do not change easily．In summer, the hot sun   5   on these statues and in winter the snow falls on them, but they   6   remain beautiful．

   Stone is strong and long-lasting．So, it is   7   enough for buildings．A house built of stone does not catch fire as easily as   8   made of wood．Some stones are coloured, so they make the   9   look wonderful．People can also get a fire with stones．Besides, some kinds of stones can be used to   10   jewellery （珠宝）．We’ve found stones are really amazing．

1．A．and                      B．but                       C．or                        D．so

2．A．countries               B．cities                     C．factories               D．parks

3．A．young                   B．old                        C．small                    D．big

4．A．into                       B．of                         C．for                       D．from

5．A．shines                 B．drops                C．puts                  D．fits

6．A．even                      B．still                       C．never                    D．often

7．A．good                     B．big                        C．long                    D．old

8．A．this                       B．none                     C．one                      D．it

9．A．stones                   B．buildings               C．fire                      D．wood

10．A．find                     B．sell                       C．buy                      D．make