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. “Elevators are socially very interesting but often very awkward (尷尬的) 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, lift users 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 (對角線地) across from each other to create distance.

When a third person enters, you will unconsciously form a triangle（三角形）. 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 according to their decisions. Once in, for most people the rule is simple – look down, or look at your phone.

Why are we so awkward 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 understood as threatening or odd. “The easiest way to do this is to avoid eye contact(接觸) ,” she said.

1.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. try to keep a distance from other people

D. make eye contact with those in the elevator

2.Which of the following describes how people usually stand when there are at least two people in an elevator? (The point in the chart refers to one person.)

3.The underlined phrase “size up” in Paragraph 7 is closest in meaning to _____.

A. ignore B. judge C. put up with D. make the best of

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

A. the lack of space

B. someone’s odd behaviors

C. their unfamiliarity with one another

D. their eye contact with one another

 

Answer 1

1.C

2.C

3.B

4.A

【解析】

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

1.1】細(xì)節(jié)題：根據(jù)第三段“If someone else comes in, we may have to move. ...liftusers unthinkingly go through a set pattern of movements.”可知，人們往往面對電梯門站立，當(dāng)有人進(jìn)來時，里面的人會無意識地挪動一下，與進(jìn)來的人保持距離，故選C。

2.2】根據(jù)第五段“If there are two of you, you go into different corners, standing diagonally (對角線地) 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)電梯里有兩個人時，他們往往會站在不同的角落里，呈對角線的形狀來保持距離，三個人會形成三角，四個人站成正方形，第五個人站在中間，故選C。

3.3】猜詞題：從第七段的句子： 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，電梯門打開的那一刻，他需要權(quán)衡當(dāng)前的形勢，以作出決定自己該站在什么位置，“size up”的意思是“判斷”。故選B。

4.4】細(xì)節(jié)題：根據(jù)第七段“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，是因為電梯里沒有足夠的空間，故選A。

考點：考查日常生活類短文