参考答案：handle / control / manipulate / utilize etc.

解析：[听力原文] 1-20
This is "Psychology Wednesday." Today, we’ll be discussing EQ—not IQ, EQ: emotional intelligence quotient. We’ve been hearing a lot about EQ lately, and in fact you might have seen Daniel Goleman’s best-selling book about it in the bookstore. Your emotional intelligence quotient seems to include both intra- and interpersonal relationships—in other words, how well you handle your own emotions, and how well you respond to others.
EQ is not exactly a new idea. I mean, we all know a lot of old proverbs about thinking before you act, and that kind of thing. That’s true, but the term itself is a new one, and it shows that people have realized the way you control your feelings is just as important as your education—maybe even more important. But what’s really interesting, and the focus of today’s session, is, can you learn EQ We have been talking to some people recently, and they are all educators. We try to get their perspective on this issue. For example, some elementary school teachers really think that some kids have higher EQ’s than others. Even at five or six years old, some of the kids tend to be much more patient and easygoing than others. And then others are prone to shout and make a big fuss. I don’t want to use this example to make it sound as if it’s bad to be spirited, or anything, but if you can’t control your emotions, even at that age, you can have a lot of problems. That means, if you can’t deal with setbacks, you don’t make progress, and if you’re always impatient, your peers don’t like you.
Another example is how kids deal with frustration. Imagine a child who is having trouble doing a math problem. She gets frustrated with the problem, throws her pencil down, yells angrily, "This is a stupid problem! I hate it!" Another child, with a higher EQ, might be able to handle the situation better. She might try different ways to approach the problem, or ask for help, and so on. And she will be more successful because she won’t let her negative feelings get in the way of her task.
Another question I’d like to talk about is: Can you learn to have a higher EQ People seem to have different views on this question. Most of the people we have been talking to believe that the answer to this question is: Yes. They believe this EQ idea is definitely important. Let’s face it, when the going gets tough, it’s much better for one to have a positive, enthusiastic attitude than to dwell on failures. For example, they say, kids can be taught to have patience and not to give up when things go wrong. They learn to respond well to their emotions. They learn how to sit still and listen, and how to respect others: And these people don’t believe we are born with a high emotional intelligence quotient. They think we have to learn those skills.
But others don’t agree. They find that some people never learn to improve their EQ. OK, maybe you can teach children, but frankly, adults can hardly change. We talked to a company president, who said: "I work with a lot of managers, and the good ones are sharp, perceptive people who respond well to change. I don’t think the others can learn that." Why not Well, part of the problem is that people with a low EQ have a difficult time seeing how their behavior affects other people. They see no reason to change. Their behavior has negative effects—for themselves and for others—but they don’t see it that way. They tend to blame other people for the problems they are having. People like this just don’t work well with other people. I’d say they have a lower EQ and they’ll probably never adjust their behavior.