Question

【题目】请认真阅读下列短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入一个最恰当的单词。

注意：请将答案写在答题卡上相应题号的横在线。每个空格只填1个单词。

Today and every day we are the targets of salespeople, marketers, advertisers, fundraisers and politicians trying to persuade us to buy something, do something or think a certain way. Over the years, they’ve learned a lot about which features to build into a communication to increase its success. But, by concentrating on the message itself, they’ve missed a crucial component of the process. Research done in the last 15 years shows that the best persuasion is achieved through good presuasion: the practice of arranging for people to agree with a message before they know what’s in it.

Presuasion works by focusing people’s preliminary(开始的) attention on a selected concept—let’s say softness—which encourages them to overvalue related opportunities that immediately follow. In one study, visitors to an online sofa store were sent to a site that illustrated either soft clouds or small coins in the background of its landing page. Those who saw the soft clouds were more likely to prefer soft, comfortable sofas for purchase, whereas those who saw the small amounts of money preferred inexpensive models.

A following study showed the primitiveness of the presuasive mechanism. Subjects became three times more likely to help a researcher who “accidentally” dropped some items if, immediately before, they’d been exposed to images of figures standing together in a friendly pose. If this tripling of helpfulness doesn’t seem remarkable enough, consider that the subjects were 18 months old — hardly able to reason or review or reflect.

Long before scientists started studying the process, a few notable communicators had an intuitive understanding of it.

In February 2015, the financial investor Warren Buffett had a problem. It was 50 years since he had taken control of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., guiding it to amazing levels of value, along with his brilliant partner Charlie Munger. Many investors were worried that, because Buffett and Munger were getting older, these levels couldn’t be maintained in the future, perhaps making it time to sell Berkshire stock.

To respond to these concerns, Buffett wrote a letter to shareholders in which he described various reasons for confidence in Berkshire’s continuing profitability. But, before the description of strengths, he declared with characteristic sincerity that what he was about to state was ‘what I would say to my family today if they asked me about Berkshire’s future.” The result was a flood of favorable reaction to the letter as well as a per-share increase for the year of nearly five times that of the S&P.

With considerable success, practitioners of social influence have always placed persuasive prods(刺激)—small gifts, emotional draw, last-chance opportunities—inside their appeals. Perhaps because of that success, they’ve mostly missed an accompanying truth. For maximum impact, it’s not only what you do; it’s also what you do just before you do what you do.

Passage outline	Supporting details
A 【1】 in communication	People often fail to realize that the secret to 【2】 people over doesn’t lie in the message itself, but in the key moment before it is delivered.
Meaning of pre-suasion	It’s a practice where people are made to 【3】 to a message before it is conveyed.
Studies about pre-suasion	●When it comes to buying sofas, customers’ 【4】 is related to the background he saw before. ●Having received some 【5】 to friendly pictures, subjects are ore likely to do others a 【6】.
A typical 【7】	●Despite Berkshire’s success, investors intended to sell the stock, 【8】 continuing profitability. ●In the letter 【9】 to the concerns, Buffett got what he would say to his family across to investors, for which he got all credit.
Conclusion	Practitioners should keep in mind that pre-suasion can enhance the power of 【10】.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】phenomenon

【2】winning

【3】subscribe/consent

【4】preference

【5】exposure

【6】favor/favour

【7】example/case

【8】doubting

【9】responding

【10】influence/impact

【解析】

这是一篇议论文。人们每天都面临被说服买某物，做某事等等，经过长达15年的研究发现最好的说服是拥有先发影响力，即在人们还未了解这个东西之间就已经对它表示赞同。

【1】主题词概括，这里是在沟通界的一种现象。故填phenomenon。

【2】win sb over与第一段原文的persuade同义替换，句中to是介词，后用动名词。故填winning。

【3】根据It’s a practice where people are made to ___3___ to a message before it is conveyed.(这是一个惯例，人们在一个信息被传达前就被说服同意它)，句中用subscribe/ consent to (同意)与第一段倒数第二行的agree with 同义替换。故填subscribe/consent。

【4】根据When it comes to buying sofas, customers’___4___ is related to the background he saw before.

(当谈到买沙发，消费者的偏好与他之前看到的背景有密切联系)，句中customers’后接名词，故此处是词性转换，第二段最后的prefer转换为preference。故填preference。

【5】根据Having received some ___5___ to friendly pictures, subjects are ore likely to do others a ___6___.(已经看到了一些友好的图片，这些东西就更有可能帮到忙)，句中some之后接名词，所以此处是原文第2段最后一行的expose词性转换。故填exposure。

【6】根据Having received some ___5___ to friendly pictures, subjects are ore likely to do others a ___6___.(已经看到了一些友好的图片，这些东西就更有可能帮到忙)，do sb a favor 与第三段第二行的help 同义替换。故填favor/favour。

【7】根据第五段的内容可知，本段是在举例说明第四自然段的说法，所以是a typical example。故填example/case。

【8】根据文中Many investors were worried that, because Buffett and Munger were getting older, these levels couldn’t be maintained in the future可知，股民们对巴菲特股票的盈利性表示怀疑。故填doubting。

【9】倒数第二段respond to与responding to属于词性转换。故填responding。

【10】enhance与原文的maximum，influence与原文的impact同义替换，impact 应该也可以。故填influence/impact。