【听英文对话做选择】你在听我说话吗

原文：

Wife: Hi. Hi Sweetie. I'm home. Um, I'm home!

Husband: Oh, hi honey. Welcome home. How was you day? [ Well . . . ] That's good.

 

Wife: It was terrible. The company is going to lay off about 50 people, and I might be one of them.

 

Husband: Oh, that's nice.

 

Wife: That's nice? You're not even listening.

 

Husband: What?

 

Wife: So, what did I tell you?

 

Husband: Um, you said that the company . . . something about 60 employees, um . . . and you might be one of them . . . or something like that.

 

Wife: No, that's not what I said. [ Oh? ] The problem is you never listen. Never! So look. I bought you this book. Here. Read it.

 

Husband: What? Now what? Big Egos¹, Little Ears: Getting Your Husband Out of the Clouds. What's this? What? And you paid $35 dollars for it?

 

Wife: No. YOU did. I used YOUR credit² card.

 

Husband: Oh, whatever. Um, so, what great secrets does the book contain that I don't know already?

 

Wife: Okay. First of all . . . .

 

Husband: Okay. I know, I know. I know what you're going to say.

 

Wife: No, you DON'T know. The first thing is not to interrupt and think you know what I'm going to say. Hold your tongue for once and give me a chance to share my feelings before you come up with some witty³ response.

 

Husband: Okay. I got it . . . I think.

 

Wife: I hope. Number two. Show me that you're listening. Stop checking Facebook while I'm talking to you, turn off the TV, look me in the eyes. Anything to show me that you're paying attention.

 

Husband: Right. Uh, so what's for dinner?

 

Wife: Tsk . . . see!

 

Husband: [ Laughing ] I'm sorry. I'm just joking.

 

Wife: It's not funny. It's not funny!! So QUIT LAUGHING!! And don't tell me what to do to fix my problems either. Most of the time, I don't need solutions. I just need you to listen to my feelings.

 

Husband: Okay. I guess I haven't listened enough, [ No. You don't listen very much. ] and I haven't shown much empathy [ No. ] And, well, how about if I read a couple of chapters and then we talk about it? Is that okay?

 

Wife: Yeah. That would be nice. Thank you.

1. What is the problem at the woman's workplace?

A. The business is going to fire workers.

B. The company is going to cut salaries.

C. The president is going to close stores.

2. The woman ______________ to help her husband learn the art of listening.

A. found a few Web sites

B. picked up a book

C. watched a TV program

 

3. The first skill of listening that the woman points out is to ________.

A. watch a person's body language

B. not cut in on a conversation

C. make meaningful comments 

 

4. The second point is to ________________. 

A. put aside distractions⁴

B. bring up similar concerns

C. smile and nod politely

 

5. According to the final point, some people who are experiencing issues in their lives don't want others to _______ their problems.

A. debate

B. solve

C. share

 

6. What is the husband going to do with his wife to improve his listening skills?

A. They are going to attend marital⁵ counseling⁶.

B. They are going to go on a trip in a couple of days.

C. They are going to discuss the information in the book.

 

正确答案：

1. The business is going to fire workers.

2. picked up a book

3. not cut in on a conversation

4. put aside distractions

5. solve

6. They are going to discuss the information in the book.

 

1 egos   

自我，自尊，自负( ego的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Their egos are so easily bruised. 他们的自尊心很容易受到伤害。
• The belief in it issues from the puerile egos of inferior men. 这种信仰是下等人幼稚的自私意识中产生的。

2 credit   

n.信用，荣誉，贷款，学分；v.归功于，赞颂，信任

参考例句：

• I credit him with a certain amount of sense.我认为他有一定的见识。
• He got the credit,and we did the dirty work.他得荣誉，我们做不讨好的工作。

3 witty   

adj.机智的，风趣的

参考例句：

• Her witty remarks added a little salt to the conversation.她的妙语使谈话增添了一些风趣。
• He scored a bull's-eye in their argument with that witty retort.在他们的辩论中他那一句机智的反驳击中了要害。

4 distractions   

n.使人分心的事[人]( distraction的名词复数 )；娱乐，消遣；心烦意乱；精神错乱

参考例句：

• I find it hard to work at home because there are too many distractions. 我发觉在家里工作很难，因为使人分心的事太多。
• There are too many distractions here to work properly. 这里叫人分心的事太多，使人无法好好工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 marital   

adj.婚姻的，夫妻的

参考例句：

• Her son had no marital problems.她的儿子没有婚姻问题。
• I regret getting involved with my daughter's marital problems;all its done is to bring trouble about my ears.我后悔干涉我女儿的婚姻问题, 现在我所做的一切将给我带来无穷的烦恼。

6 counseling   

n.咨询服务

参考例句：

• A multimillionaire media magnate has shocked his employees with his candor by telling them all that he's putting his business affairs on hold to enter an alcoholism-counseling program. 一位身份数百万的媒体大亨，坦诚地告诉他全体员工他将暂时搁置他的事业以便参加戒酒班，令员工大为惊愕。
• She will need medical help and counseling to overcome the tragedy. 她将需要医疗帮助和心理咨询来平复这场悲剧。