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 (禮儀) is sort of odd (奇怪的),” Gray told the BBC. “They [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 (對(duì)角線地) 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 ( adj. 尷尬的) 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 odd. “The easiest way to do this is to avoid eye contact,” she said.

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

A. remind us to enjoy ourselves in the elevator

B. tell us some unwritten rules of elevator etiquette

C. share an interesting but awkward elevator ride

D. analyze what makes people feel awkward 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. make eye contact with those in the elevator

D. try to keep a distance from other people elevator?

3.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

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

A. someone’s odd behaviors

B. the lack of space

C. their unfamiliarity with one another

D. their eye contact with one another

 

Answer 1

1.B

2.D

3.C

4.A

5.B

【解析】

試題分析：文章主要分析了人們乘坐電梯時(shí)的行為。平時(shí)乘坐電梯時(shí)，很少有人會(huì)注意到自己的行為。人們進(jìn)入電梯后，都會(huì)無(wú)意識(shí)地與他人保持距離，當(dāng)電梯變得擁擠時(shí)，人們就會(huì)覺(jué)得很尷尬。

1.You may not pay much attention to your daily elevator ride. ...without really thinking about it ...The lift becomes this interesting social space where etiquette (禮儀) is sort of odd (奇怪的),”可知，文章主要講的是被人們忽視的乘坐電梯時(shí)的禮儀行為，故選B。

2.If someone else comes in, we may have to move. ...liftusers unthinkingly go through a set pattern of movements.”可知，人們往往面對(duì)電梯門站立，當(dāng)有人進(jìn)來(lái)時(shí)，里面的人會(huì)無(wú)意識(shí)地挪動(dòng)一下，與進(jìn)來(lái)的人保持距離，故選D。

3.If there are two of you, you go into different corners, standing diagonally (對(duì)角線地) across from each other to create distance.”和第六段“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.”可知，當(dāng)電梯里有兩個(gè)人時(shí)，他們往往會(huì)站在不同的角落里，呈對(duì)角線的形狀來(lái)保持距離，三個(gè)人會(huì)形成三角，四個(gè)人站成正方形，我五個(gè)人站在中間，故選C。

4.New entrants to the lift will need to size up the situation when the doors slide open當(dāng)有人要進(jìn)入電梯，電梯門打開(kāi)的那一刻，他需要權(quán)衡當(dāng)前的形勢(shì)，以作出決定自己該站在什么位置，故選A。

5.Why are we so awkward ( adj. 尷尬的) in lifts?”和第八段““You don’t have enough space, ...”可知，人們的行為之所以變得古怪，是因?yàn)殡娞堇餂](méi)有足夠的空間，故選B。

考點(diǎn)：社交類短文閱讀