Praise is like sunlight to the human spirit; we cannot flower and grow without it. And yet, 【B1】______ most of us are only too ready to 【B2】______ others the cold wind of criticism, we are somehow 【B3】______ to give our fellows the warm sunshine of praise. Perhaps it’’ s because few of us know how to accept compliments 【B4】______. Instead, 【B5】______ and shrug off(对......不屑一顾) the words we are really so glad to hear. Because of this defensive reaction, direct compliments are surprisingly difficult 【B6】______. That is why some of the most valued compliments are those which come to us indirectly, in a letter or 【B7】______ on by a friend. When one thinks of the speed 【B8】______ spiteful remarks are conveyed, it seems a pity that there 【B9】______ more effort to relay pleasing and flattering comments. Praise is particularly appreciated by those doing 【B10】______ jobs: gas station attendants, waitresses—even housewives. Do you ever go into a house and say, "What a tidy room!" 【B11】______ anybody does. That’’s why housework is considered such a boring job. Behavioral scientists have done countless experiments to prove that any human being 【B12】______ to repeat an act which has been immediately followed by a pleasant result. In one 【B13】______ experiment, a number of schoolchildren were divided into three groups and given arithmetic tests daily for five days. One group was 【B14】______ praised for its previous performance; 【B15】______ group was criticized; the third was ignored. Not 【B16】______, those who were praised improved dramatically. Those who were criticized improved also, but not so 【B17】______ And the scores of the children who were ignored hardly improved at all. To give praise 【B18】______ the giver nothing but a moment’’s thought and a moment’’s effort—perhaps a quick phone call to pass on a compliment, or five minutes 【B19】______ writing an appreciative letter. It is such a small investment—and yet consider the results it may produce. So, let’’ s be 【B20】______ to the small excellences around us—and comment on them.

A．alter
B．acceptable
C．alert
D．attractive