Read the following passage carefully:
Listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the communication process.One of the greatest gifts any of us can ever receive is the gift of listening. It is also one of the greatest gifts we can ever give. Unfortunately, it appears to be a lost art. We live in a world where everyone is talking but few are listening. What often passes for listening is simply one person pausing to collect their thoughts for their next soliloquy.
Hearing refers to the sounds that you hear, whereas listening requires more than that: it requires focus. Listening means paying attention not only to the story, but how it is told, the use of language and voice, and how the other person uses his or her body. In other words, it means being aware of both verbal and non-verbal messages. Your ability to listen effectively depends on the degree to which you perceive and understand these messages.
Listening is a difficult task. Like every skill, the more you do it, the better you get. Listening can be developed through practice, or lost if not used regularly. Good listeners focus on what they are hearing. They pause to think about what they’ve heard before responding. They ask questions because they want to know the answers, not just to keep the conversation going
So often, we are distracted with other things. We try to listen while continuing to work on the computer or watch television. To be fully present means we eliminate these distractions and focus exclusively on the other person. It takes great effort to be fully in the moment, leaning forward, with your ears—and heart—open. Words are only part of the communication. Sometimes we need to experience the other person’* feelings to really understand. We need to listen with our heart as well as our mind. We must repeat back what the other person has said. When we do this—and do it accurately—we communicate that we understand. It also gives us an opportunity to re-calibrate our understanding if we have misunderstood something.
Plenty of people are good talkers. Few are good listeners. If you develop the latter skill, you will find yourself invited into amazing conversations that wouldn’t otherwise happen.
(a) The antonym of ‘interpret’ is:
(i) refer (ii) defer (iii) prefer (iv) infer
(b) The word ‘soliloquy’ means:
(i) monologue (ii) satisfaction (iii) dialogue (iv) dissatisfaction
(c) The word ‘eliminate’ means:
(i) eradicate (ii) predicate (iii) dedicate (iv) terminate
(d) The word ‘calibrate’ means:
(i) pretend (ii) amend (iii) suspend (iv) mend
