In our contemporary culture,the prospect of communicating with--or even looking at--a stranger is virtually unbearable.Everyone around us seems to agree by the way they fiddle with their phones,even without a 1 underground.It's a sad reality--our desire to avoid interacting with other human beings--because there's 2 to be gained from talking to the stranger standing by you.But you wouldn't know it,3 into your phone.This universal armor sends the 4:"Please don't approach me."What is it that makes us feel we need to hide 5 our screens?One answer is fear,according to Jon Wortmann,executive mental coach.We fear rejection,or that our innocent social advances will be 6 as"creepy,".We fear we'll be 7.We fear we'll be disruptive.Strangers are inherently 8 to us,so we are more likely to feel 9 when communicating with them compared with our friends and acquaintances.To avoid this anxiety,we 10 to our phones."Phones become our security blanket,"Wortmann says."They are our happy glasses that protect us from what we perceive is going to be more 11.”But once we rip off the bandaid,tuck our smartphones in our pockets and look up,it doesn't 12 so bad.In one 2011 experiment,behavioral scientists Nicholas Epley and Juliana Schroeder asked commuters to do the unthinkable:Start a 13.They had Chicago train commuters talk to their fellow 14."When Dr.Epley and Ms.Schroeder asked other people in the same train station to 15 how they would feel after talking to a stranger,the commuters thought their 16 would be more pleasant if they sat on their own,"the New York Times summarizes.Though the participants didn't expect a positive experience,after they 17 with the experiment,"not a single person reported having been snubbed."18,these commutes were reportedly more enjoyable compared with those sans communication,which makes absolute sense,19 human beings thrive off of social connections.It's that 20:Talking to strangers can make you feel connected.15选？
词义辨析【直击答案】本空要填一个动词，how they would feel aftertalking to a stranger为其宾语，从该宾语从句的谓语动词would feel可以判断为过去将来时，所以要填入的单词应该包含时间概念，C项predict（预测）满足要求。另外下一句Though the participants didn't expect a positive experience中的expect也可作为解题线索，为近义复现。【命题思路】本题需要利用句内线索或根据上下文提示来确定要选填的动词。【干扰排除】其余选项语义均不符合句意。
