试题出自试卷《东北财经大学2010年考博英语真题》

Assertiveness involves acting in one’s own best interests by expressing one’s thoughts and feelings directly and honestly. Essentially, assertiveness involves standing up for your rights when someone else is about to infringe on them. To be assertive is to speak out openly.
The nature of assertive communication can best be clarified by contrasting it with submissive communication and aggressive communication. Submissive communication is consistently giving in to others on points of possible contention. Submissive people tend to let others take advantage of them. Typically, their biggest problem is that they cannot say “no” to unreasonable requests. A common example is the college students who can’t tell her roommate not to borrow her clothes. They also have difficulty in voicing disagreement with others and making requests themselves. In traditional trait terminology, they are timid. Although the roots of submissiveness have not been investigated fully, they appear to lie in excessive concern about gaining the social approval of others. However, the strategy of not making waves is more likely to garner others’ contempt than their approval. Moreover, individuals who use this style often feel bad about themselves and resentful of those who they allow to take advantage of them. These feelings often lead the submissive individual to try to punish the other person by withdrawing or crying. These manipulative attempts to get one’s own way are sometimes referred to as “passive aggression” or “indirect aggression”.
It is sometimes difficult to differentiate between assertive communication and aggressive communication. In principle, the distinction is fairly simple. Aggressive communication involves an intention to hurt or harm other people. Assertive behavior includes no such intention to do harm, but it does involve defending your rights. The problem in real life is that assertive and aggressive behavior may overlap. When someone is about to infringe on their rights, people often fight back at the other party while defending their rights. The challenge, then, is to learn to be firm and assertive without going a step too far and becoming aggressive.
Advocates of assertive communication argue that it is much more adaptive than either submissive or aggressive communication. They maintain that submissive behavior leads to poor self-esteem, self-denial; emotional suppression, and strained interpersonal relationships. They assert that aggressive communication tends to promote guilt, alienation, and disharmony. In contrast, assertive behavior is said to foster high self-esteem and satisfactory interpersonal relationships.
Of course, behaving assertively does not ensure that you will always get what you want. The essential point with assertiveness is that you are able to state what you want clearly and directly. Being able to do so makes you feel good about yourself and will usually make others feel good about you, too. And, although being assertive doesn’t guarantee your chances of getting what you want, it certainly enhances them.
1. The best title for this passage is______.
2. A contrast is made in the passage with a view to_______.
3. The roots to submissiveness seem to lie in______.
4. The chief difference between assertive and aggressive communication lies in ________.
5. The most important thing about being assertive, compared to submissive and aggressive communication is that_______.