You might think that if you’ve been born with working ears, listening shouldn’t be all that hard. But up to one in four leaders struggles with listening skills, and ifs common to be a bad listener in day-to-day life.

【小题1】One answer is that many of us listen to respond rather than to hear what’s being said. When we’re chatting with someone, we’re constantly thinking of what we’re going to say next instead of actually processing what the other party is saying.【小题2】

We do it because we want to be good conversationalists and avoid uncomfortable pauses (停顿) in the discussion.【小题3】The solution, according to psychologist Kenneth E. Miller, is incredibly simple. “Before you respond in a conversation, take a breath. Not an enormous, loud, obvious breath that screams out ‘I am trying a new technique for better listening!’ No, just a normal, simple, ordinary breath. That’s it.”

Could something so small make a difference? Yes, insists Miller.【小题4】“I find I interrupt people a lot less often,” he reports. “In response, people seem more relaxed when we are talking.” He’s not the only one to spot a difference. On New York Magazine’s blog, The Cut, Katie Heany describes a sort of natural experiment that shows the power of simply taking a breath before you respond. “A friend of a friend who currently lives in France often pauses a lot before she replies, mainly because her French is only somewhat fluent. As a result, all her French friends tell her she’s an amazing listener. This is not something she hears much in English,” she writes.

【小题5】All you need is this simple technique. Go ahead, give it a try and see if it works for you.

A new paper published in Environmental Research Letters has some warning news for people living in the lower 48 states: You may be at risk from river flooding and not even know it until the water starts to rise.

In fact, the study, estimates of present and future flood risk in the United States, found that 41 million U. S. residents are at risk from flooding along rivers. That’s three times more than current estimates based on the flood maps produced by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) , which primarily maps the areas at risk for 1-in-100-year floods in populous (人口众多的) river basins.

Why does the big difference come into being? As always, it’s all about the data. Generally, FEMA prioritizes risk-assessment areas based on their population; reserving expensive field-work methodologies (研究方法) for the more populous river basins, but many other rivers have not yet been mapped at all.

The size of the USA means that flood maps made in this way are incomplete. It would be too expensive and time-consuming to survey every river basin in America. The national-scale flood maps produced by FEMA leave the flood risk of many parts of the country unaccounted for.

For this research, scientists from The Nature Conservancy adopted a pioneering methodology that avoids the defects of the FEMA approach, where individual catchments (流域) are studied by making use of big data. The study used a new high-resolution model, produced by the flood-mapping organization Fathom, which copies floods on all rivers across the entire continental United States.

“We were all surprised by how many people are actually exposed to freshwater flooding in the USA,” said Oliver Wing, lead researcher on the study and a PhD student at the University of Bristol. “It’s particularly worrisome considering that most of these people aren’t even aware of the risk they face. This study helps fill that critical information gap.”

Imagine that you’ve got a deadline approaching. But other smaller jobs keep getting in the way. 【小题1】 Eventually, your failure delays the project. Here are five steps that will help you to meet it.

First, determine what the task is. Make sure you understand what’s expected of you and how much work is required. Depending on the type of the job, you need to create a clear road map of what needs to be done.

Next, check that you have the right resources. Before you start, ask yourself if you have the training, support, people, and equipment needed to complete the work on time. 【小题2】 Do not press ahead difficultly and silently. Instead, request for more time or seek help from others.

Leave room for error. Things don’t always go to plan. Staff absences, supply delays or competing responsibilities are common challenges. 【小题3】 For example, training up other coworkers could help in case anyone is absent.

【小题4】 Divide your work into smaller tasks and set a deadline to each. Not only will this help you to monitor your progress, but you’ll also be able to decide if the given time is achievable.

Finally, even the best-made plans can fall short. So if you do miss a deadline, try to limit the damage. Consider how you can avoid it happening again. 【小题5】 Take responsibility for the issue, agree on a new-deadline and explain clearly how you intend to meet it.