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     Poor listening skills form an obstacle to effective communication.  A study by Dr.  Paul Panklin at a

university found that 9 percent of communication time is devoted to writing,   16 percent to reading,   30

percent to speaking and 45 percent to listening.  

     We spend more time listening than we do in any other form of communication.  However,   most of

us don't pay much attention to it.  

      Research indicates that normal listening results in a 50percent retention immediately after a 10minute

presentation,   which then declines to only about 25 percent after 48 hours.  Extension Specialist Bob

Linda says the average person will hear 7.  5 minutes of a onehour presentation and will forget half of that.  

      One reason we listen so poorly is that our minds work much faster than our mouths.  The average

person thinks 600-700 words per minute but speaks at a rate of about 125.  His listeners' minds are

occupied with hearing only onefifth of the time he is speaking.  The listeners may consider and react to

what is being said during the other fourfifths of the time,   or become absorbed in coming up with his

response,   or think other thoughts and miss the rest of what is being said.  

      If we really listen,   we may be forced to accept a different perspective of reality.  Most of us have

a firmly developed view of reality that we do not want to change.  Carl Rogers,   the psychiatrist,   points

out that if you are really willing to listen to another,   to enter his private world and see reality as he sees

it,   you run the risk of being changed.  "This risk of being changed is one of the most frightening prospects most of us can face. "

1. From the passage,   we can learn that listening ______.  

A.  always forms a barrier to our communication

B. occupies the largest part in communication

C. will take the place of other ways of communication

D. is a difficult skill to master

2. The underlined word "retention" in the 3rd paragraph means "________".  

A. attention  

B. presentation

C. memory  

D. occupation

3. In normal listening,   the reason why an average person can only keep half of what the

    speaker says in mind is that ________.  

A. half of that will be forgotten

B. our mouths work much more slowly than our minds

C. most of us pay little attention to it

D. he is afraid of being changed

4. According to Carl Rogers,   ________.  

A. we should let listeners enter our private world

B. the opinions of the speakers may affect us if we listen to them willingly

C. we shouldn't make us changed while listening

D. it is wrong that we don't want to change while listening