Ways to make a great first impression

You’ve heard it a million times already, but it really does take a few seconds to make that all-important first impression. Here are some easy ways for you to impress your classmates or teachers.

● 【小题1】

Before you shake hands with somebody, make sure that your hands are clean. The handshake should not be too strong or weak. Most people use their right hands, unless they have a reason to use the left. 【小题2】.

● Be on time

When meeting someone for the first time, arriving on time is as important as breathing. You may have an excuse, but that will leave the person who hardly knows you with a bad impression. 【小题3】 It’s better to be hanging around the place than be stuck in traffic.

● Introduce yourself and ask for names

Make sure you properly introduce yourself. Ask for their names in a polite way. 【小题4】 This will increase the chances of their remembering your name in the future. Always remember to stand up when greeting someone and be sure to introduce them to anyone you’re with.

● Make good conversations

To get the most out of your discussion, try to find something common between the two of you. 【小题5】 A person will feel more comfortable with someone they can relate to.

   Determined to keep my private life from the census taker（人口普查员），I locked the front door. After several more days of _________to answer the door，one afternoon I _________ to my car. The census taker，who had been _________all week to catch me，spotted me and ran up to _________.I told the man firmly I would not answer his questions. He glared at me and _________ walked away.

A week went by. All my neighbours had _________their census questions，and the census taker _________. Then one afternoon there came a knock at the door. I answered the door and found a middle-aged lady. Suddenly，I realized my _________."I'm Carla with the US Census Bureau，"she said，_________herself the way the former one had. Only there was something __________：she was smiling.

So I let her in, offered her a bottle of water, and waited for the __________. But first, she asked about my family. __________she told me about her own family and something else. I __________ a lot about Carla, as she was in no hurry to get to the __________. She was pleasant and relaxed. And so was I. After about an hour, she put away her _________ and thanked me for the water, __________as she got into her car. I realized I didn't __________her visit at all.

Carla would call every few months, asking if our __________had changed. We always talked about our families and lives __________we were friends.

   Driving home from work every day on a long winding country road, I passed a house where an elderly man sat on his front porch (走廊). I had been _____ to him only when I first moved into my home. For these past fifteen years, I have _____ my window, waved, and shouted, “Hi, Charlie.“ I felt _____ to greet him in this way because I couldn’t _____ going through a day without hearing someone say my name. I felt he also needed to hear his name _____ by someone else.

I used to _____ his wife, too, when she was out walking their dog. She was a _____ woman in a long wool coat0, whatever the _____. I didn’t know her name, but I’d _____ and say “Hi, Grandma“ and she’d smile and wave back.

But then came the day when she was not ______ walking their dog; instead, Charlie was doing so. I realized he was alone, and the desire to greet him grew ______. My window was rolled down before I came around the corner, and ______ he was not on the porch, I’d shout to him, hoping that in his ______ he’d hear me. As long as there was a ______ on in the house, I felt that he was all right.

But that day came when he had to sell his belongings; Charlie’s pickup truck was ______ on the front lawn. A few days later, a sign was ______, and I knew Charlie was gone. I still wave and ______, “Hi, Charlie” as I pass just as I did in the past. The house is dark now.

It is my ______ that all of us need to be greeted at least once a day and that we need to hear our names spoken aloud by another person, to know someone sees us and ______ the truth of our being. I believe it is our duty to greet each other each day, in this way to prove that ______.

   I live in an apartment building in a planned community, including private roads. I have lived in this _______ of mostly professionals and retirees for over three years, but I had met only a few of my _______.

After the _______ had stopped falling, we were left to _______ ourselves because the city and state services didn't work. I went out to the parking lot to dig out my and my girlfriend's _______. I took a large metal piece of my desk to _______ as a shovel. After about 30 minutes of digging, some of the neighbors _______ with snow shovels and told me if I helped them, they would _______ me. I agreed and we dug out each other's cars. The streets were _______ due to a state of emergency declared by the governor, so we had ________ to go.

As I said, I only know my ________ neighbor, one who is elderly. But we all (we were 10 guys, all together, in the beginning) put our heads together and figured out who was too ________ or too ill to dig themselves ________ and went about, as a team, helping them. ________ the day went on, more and more people ________ us, men and women. We became an army of snow ________. Our only motivation was concern for the people who were ________ and our growing friendship.

Everyone was concerned for each other. Someone asked me if I had enough ________ to get by. It was typical of the spirit of the day. I ________ a lot of friends that day and we were planning a party to be held at the club house in spring.

Kindness and ________ for others has countless rewards!

   What can help you make a fortune in the future？Graduating from atop university might not be enough. A new study from the University of Essex in Britain has shown that the more friends you have in school，the more money you'll earn later.

The idea that popularity could have a serious influence on one's earning potential（潜力）shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. The researchers noted that if you want to get ahead in life，social skills and networking are easily as powerful as talent and hard work.

"If a person has lots of friends，it means that he or she has the ability to get along with others in all kinds of different situations，"said Xu Yanchun，17，from a high school in Shenzhen，who totally agreed with the recent finding." Also，friends always help each other. They not only create wider social circles for you but lift your mood when you are occasionally in low spirits，"said Xu. She believed that all this helps you "earn a higher salary".

Maybe that's why some people think the younger generations are in the age of Friendaholism. A woman even complained that the networking website Facebook's 5，000-friend limit was too low for her large reserve（储备）of social contacts.

But what does a friend mean？Should friends be regarded as a form of money？

"Call me uncool，but I think of a friend as an actual person with whom I have an actual history and whom I enjoy actually seeing. It seems，however，that this is no longer the meaning of a friend，"said Meghan Daum，who works with the Los Angeles Times in the US.

Daum disliked the idea that quantity trumps quality in the age of Friendaholism. Although she agreed that social ties grease（给……加润滑油）the wheels of life，she also warned，"Too bad one thing money can't buy is a real friend."