Question

Do you want to become better at making small talk with new people? Do you want to become better at networking with others? Nothing will improve your networking ability and your ability to make a successful conversation with other people rather than your curiosity(好奇心) about them.

When you are curious about other people, you will want to discover some of the interesting ways that they are similar to you. When you are curious about them, you’ll also be interested to discover the ways in which they think differently and live differently from you.

When you have curiosity about others, you will be much less self-conscious and your conversations will work a lot better. Instead of worrying yourself, “What can I say next that won’t sound stupid?”, you will be focused on learning more about the other person.

Making small talk with strangers can be tricky. We’ve all heard the advice that we should pick something out of our immediate environment and use that as a main point to start our small talk with the other person.

It’s true that this can be a great starting point for a conversation. However, when you focus too much on discussing things like the weather in your city, you can bring the conversation to a painful end very quickly. The other person will sense that you are trying to make a conversation, but that you have no interest in really getting to know him or her.

How can you keep small talk from becoming boring?

One way is to watch the other person for clues.(線索）.The clues they will give you about what is really interesting to them. When you get these clues, use them to start making the conversation a bit more about their life, their opinions, and their experiences.

After you have had a couple of minutes to break the ice, try looking for ways to make the conversation a little bit more personal. Ask the other person for his or her opinion about something that is a bit more personal but not extremely so. The first few minutes of talking to someone new will not be the best time to ask the other person his or her opinion on religious（宗教的） or political（政治的） matters. However, he or she might be happy to discuss his or her favorite team or musical band.

1.In Paragraph 1, the writer mainly wants to tell us that___________.

A. curiosity can help us make a good talk

B. it’s hard to make a talk with new people

C. curiosity helps us know new people quickly

D. it’s hard to make a successful talk with others

2.The underlined word “self-conscious” in Paragraph 3 probably means_____.

A. self-centered B. self-controlled C. serious D. nervous

3.While carrying on a conversation, we should_____.

A. think about what won’t sound stupid

B. show our interests to the other person

C. try to learn more about the other person

D. discuss things like the weather in the city

4.What is the best title for the passage?

A. The way of starting small talk.

B. Improving our small talk with curiosity.

C. The importance of small talk in our life.

D. Improving our relationship through small talk.

Answer 1