It is easy to confuse empathy with sympathy, but the concepts are different in two important ways. First, sympathy means you feel compassion for another person's predicament, whereas empathy means you have a personal sense of what that predicament is like. Consider the difference between sympathizing with an unwed mother or a homeless person and empathizing with them—imagining what it would be
like to be in their position. When you sympathize, it is the other's confusion, joy, or pain. When you empathize, the experience becomes your own, at least for the moment. Empathy is different from sympathy in a second way. We sympathize only when we accept the reasons for another's pain as valid, whereas it's possible to empathize without feeling sympathy. You can empathize with a difficult relative, a rude stranger, and even a criminal without feeling much sympathy for them. Empathizing allows you to understand another person's motives without requiring you to agree with them. After empathizing you will almost certainly understand them better, but sympathy won't always follow. Neither sympathy nor empathy is identical to the "I know how you feel" type of response that some people offer when faced with another's expression of emotion. Hearing someone else's account—of falling in love or losing a job, for example—might remind you of a similar experience, but it is highly unlikely that your experience matched his or hers. Furthermore, an "I know how you feel" response can be interpreted as a conversational "take-away" in which you disregard the other person's story and begin telling yours. There is no consistent evidence that suggests that the ability to empathize is better for one sex or the other. Some people, however, seem to have a hereditary capacity for greater empathizing than do others. Studies of identical and fraternal twins indicate that identical female twins are more similar to one another in their ability to empathize than are fraternal twins. Interestingly, there seems to be no difference between male twins. Although empathy may have a biological basis, the role of environment can still play an important role. For example, parents who are sensitive to their children's feelings tend to have children who also are sensitive to the feelings of others. The ability to empathize
a. is stronger in fraternal male twins than in identical male twins.
b. is often stronger in women than men.
c. has nothing to do with heredity.
d. is affected by a person's family environment.
D
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III. ¡A corregir!Tienes un amigo que está aprendiendo el español y te pide que le ayudes a corregir su tarea. Busca los cinco errores y corrígelos.Ayer fui al aeropuerto para recoger a mis padres. No hablan español bien; por eso les fue difícil entender al oficial de inmigración. Él les repetía "Muéstranme sus pasaportes. No denme todos sus papeles, sólo sus pasaportes." La mujer que estaba detrás de mis padres no parecía muy contenta por la demora (delay), pero por fin, mis padres entendieron lo que les pedía el oficial y pudieron entrar. Los amigos quienes vinieron conmigo nos ayudaron con las maletas y nos fuimos al coche. Mi padre exclamó: "¡No me dices te compraste un Mercedes! Pero, ¿con qué dinero?" Le contesté: "No, no papá, éste no es mi coche. Las personas
con que yo vivo me lo prestaron." What will be an ideal response?
Si une personne à mobilité réduite voulait savoir si un certain bâtiment lui était accessible, elle pourrait consulter le site Internet de l'association.
A. V B. F
Identify the complete subject in the following sentence. Driving a car requires skill
a. driving b. driving a car c. requires d. skill
Choose an appropriate answer to complete this conversation. A:??????????????? B:????
a. ????????????? b. ?????????????? c. ????????????? d. ???????????????