Personality, Emotions and Attitudes

Personality and Maturity

性格 (xìnggé: personality) is a stable quality of a person. To identify someone's personality, you must look at how that person speaks, works and treats others, not rely on appearance.

外貌 (wàimào: appearance) such as height, hairstyle or wearing glasses is only an outward feature and does not answer questions about personality. Phrases such as 个子高 (gèzi gāo: tall), 个子矮 (gèzi ǎi: short), 头发卷 (tóufa juǎn: curly hair) and 戴眼镜 (dài yǎnjìng: wear glasses) are often used as distractor answers.

Voice is also an outward feature. 声音很轻 (shēngyīn hěn qīng: the voice is very soft) only shows the way someone speaks and is not enough to draw conclusions about personality.

Common words for describing personality:

• 有耐心 (yǒu nàixīn: patient) — speaks slowly, is not hasty, and is willing to explain for a long time. Example: 他教孩子写字时很有耐心。
• 细心 (xìxīn: careful, meticulous) — pays attention to details and makes few mistakes; contrasts with 粗心 (cūxīn: careless, inattentive). Example: 她核对账目很细心，从来不漏掉小错。
• 认真 (rènzhēn: serious, diligent) — emphasizes attitude toward work. In the test, 做事认真 is considered equivalent to 做事仔细 (zuòshì zǐxì: works carefully).
• 用心 (yòngxīn: attentive, wholehearted) — works with full concentration and not in a careless way. Example: 他每次写报告都很用心。
• 有计划 (yǒu jìhuà: has a plan) — thinks about how to do something before starting. Example: 他做项目前总会先列出步骤。
• 懂事 (dǒngshì: sensible, well-behaved) — knows how to act appropriately for the situation. Example: 孩子越来越懂事了，会帮家里分担一些事情。
• 自觉 (zìjué: self-motivated) — does work on their own without anyone having to remind them. Example: 他不用老师催，自觉完成了作业。
• 主动 (zhǔdòng: proactive) — does something voluntarily without waiting for others to ask. Example: 他看到同事忙不过来，主动过来帮忙。
• 开朗 (kāilǎng: cheerful, open) — often smiles and is easy to talk to. Contrasts with 内向 (nèixiàng: introverted, quiet).
• 容易相处 (róngyì xiāngchǔ: easy to get along with) — quickly starts conversations with everyone and is liked by many people.

Maturity is often expressed with sentence patterns that show change or repeated habits:

• 以前…，现在… (yǐqián…, xiànzài…: before… now…) — compares the past and the present to show change. Example: 以前他总是拖延，现在他每天按时完成任务。
• 越来越 + tính từ (yuèlái yuè: more and more) — expresses gradual progress. Example: 她越来越自信了。
• 从小就 + 习惯 (cóng xiǎo jiù xíguàn: has been used to it since childhood) — shows a habit that was formed a long time ago. Example: 他从小就习惯自己整理房间。
• 每次…都… (měi cì…dōu…: every time… always…) — used to show a habit, from which a personality trait can be inferred. Example: 她每次开会都提前十分钟到场。

When doing the exercises, the answer about personality is usually a general word (such as 细心, 开朗, 懂事) derived from a specific detail in the listening passage. You need to infer the quality from the behavior, and you must not choose an answer just because it mentions a detail that appears in the passage.

Positive and negative emotions

情绪 (qíngxù: emotion) is divided into positive 积极 (jījí: positive) and negative 消极 (xiāojí: negative) emotions. When listening, you need to identify the speaker's emotion correctly and distinguish between words with similar meanings.

Positive emotions:

• 开心 / 高兴 (kāixīn / gāoxìng: happy) — two words that can be used almost interchangeably to describe a joyful mood.
• 满意 (mǎnyì: satisfied) — satisfied with a result or service; the opposite of 不满 (bù mǎn: dissatisfied). Example: 对这次服务，我非常满意。
• 放松 (fàngsōng: relaxed, at ease) — not tense, feeling comfortable. Example: 周末在家睡一觉，心情很放松。
• 兴奋 (xīngfèn: excited) — very eager about something that is about to happen. Example: 听说要去海边，孩子兴奋得睡不着。

Negative emotions: