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 ___________.

When I was young, I always helped my grandfather in the fields. As I worked beside him, he   １  to tell a story about a man named Joe, and his wife, who moved to a new farm with their three sons. They were setting into the new place   ２  a nearby farmer told Joe that there was gold in the earth. Joe was very   3 , and told his sons about it.

They began to dig in one corner, and they got to the end of the field. At the same time, Joe thought he would   4  some crops where the earth had been   5 . The plants included corn, tomatoes, potatoes, etc. His sons continued to dig through the soil, made up their mind to find the gold. Since   6  soil was being turned, Joe could plant more crops. Joe had never farmed before, but it had always been his   7 .

As different crops came ready to be harvested, Joe started to   8  that there were more vegetables than he and his family could ever   9 . One of Joe’s neighbors suggested that he   10  a vegetable shop. Joe and his wife did that very thing. They called it Joe and Family Vegetable. Joe even had to leave some crops in the fields,   11  he had more than enough to supply the vegetable shop.

This went on for years, and Joe and his wife became quite   12  from their little vegetable shop. They were even able to   13  their sons to college.

Remember the beginning of the story, when Joe was told by his new neighbor that there was gold in the land? Well, the truth is, Joe’s   14 of the English language was less than perfect. His new neighbor friend actually meant that his land had rich   15 . So you can see where the concept（概念）of gold comes from.

1.                A．feared         B．agreed         C．used D．failed

2.                A．while          B．as             C．when D．after

3.                A．happy          B．disappointed     C．angry D．calm

4.                A．harvest         B．plant           C．water    D．feed

5.                A．controlled      B．burned         C．destroyed D．turned

6.                A．more          B．most           C．much D．few

7.                A．job            B．problem        C．pity  D．dream

8.                A．realize         B．promise        C．relate    D．regret

9.                A．feed           B．sell            C．plant D．eat

10.               A．take up         B．set up          C．turn up    D．make up

11.               A．now           B．though         C．so    D．because

12.               A．careful         B．rich           C．alone D．cheerful

13.               A．bring          B．take           C．send  D．make

14.               A．understanding   B．knowledge      C．thinking   D．skills

15.               A．mud           B．gold           C．soil   D．material

---When shall we leave for Shanghai?

---We won’t 　　　 we have visited all the places of interest in Nanjing.

— When shall we leave for China?

— We won’t          we have visited all the places of interest here.