Talking to yourself may seem a little shameful. According to the well-known saying, talking to yourself is the first sign of madness, 1 ． Talking to ourselves, whether out loud or silently in our heads, is a valuable tool for thought.
Far from being mentally ill, self-talk allows us to plan what we are going to do, manage our activities, regulate our emotions and even create a description of our experience 2 ．
As children, according to the Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky, we use private speech to regulate our actions in the same way that we use public speech to control the behavior of others. 3 ． Psychological experiments have shown that the private speech can improve our performance on tasks ranging from judging what other people are thinking to sorting images into categories. One recent study suggested that self-talk is most effective when we address ourselves in the second person, as “you” rather than “I”.
4 ． If you want proof, turn on the sports channel. You’re certain to see an athlete or two cheering themselves up with a bitter phrase or scolding themselves after a bad shot.
Conduct a dialogue with ourselves. 5 ． The private speech seems to be a particularly good way of solving problems and working through ideas. The to-and-fro between different points of view means our thoughts can end up in expected places, just like a regular dialogue can, and might turn out to be one of the keys to human creativity.
A ． What is private speech?
B ． But there is no need for embarrassment.
C ． Psychologists refer to this as private speech.
D ． Ask questions of the self and provide answers.
E.We do a lot of private speech when we are young.
F.As we grow older, we make the private speech become the way of blinking,
G.Although the private speech is effective, we never entirely put away the out-loud speech.
1 ． B
2 ． C
3 ． F
4 ． G
5 ． D
【分析】
这是一篇说明文。自言自语似乎显得有点丢人。 自言自语非但不代表精神失常，而且恰恰相反，它有助于我们规划要做的事情和管控自己的各种活动和情绪，甚至还能创作一段关于自己经历的故事。
1 ．根据上文 “ 用人们熟知的话来说，自言自语是变疯的第一迹象。 ” 以及空格后 “ 自言自语 —— 无论是大声说出还是在心中默念 —— 都很有价值，是思考的一种工具。 ” 得知空格处表示转折，尽管大家以为自言自语不好，但你不必感到尴尬。故选 B 。
2 ．根据上文 “ 自言自语有助于我们规划要做的事情和管控自己的各种活动和情绪，甚至还能创作一段关于自己经历的故事。 ” 得知空格处表示总结：心理学家将这种行为称作私下话语。故选 C 。
3 ．根据下文 “ 心理学实验已经表明，这种所谓的内在言语可以提高我们处理一些事情的能力，比如从判断别人在想什么，到把图片分门别类。 ” 得知空格处表示过渡：随着我们年龄的增长，我们并没有放弃这个体系 —— 我们把它内化了。故选 F 。
4 ．根据下文举例 “ 打开体育频道，你一定会看到有那么一两个运动员在对自己说着鼓劲儿话，或是在没投中球后狠狠地责备自己。 ” 得知空格处表示转折：我们内化了在孩童时期使用的私下话语，但我们却从未完全放弃大声说出的方式。故选 G 。
5 ．根据空上文 “ 与自己进行对话。 ” 得知空格处承接上文表示：自问自答似乎是一种很好的解决问题和理清想法的方式。故选 D 。