What comes to mind when you hear the word--diversity? Issues of race or gender mayspring to mind.Equal rights? Or minority issues?

I encourage people to look at a much wider definition of the word.1 would tend to saydiversity is “differentness” in any form.A good example of this kind of diversity has beenexperienced by every person who ever left behind the comforts of home and moved intouncharted territory.Issues of diversity are informed not only by your cultural background andcontext，but also by your religion，age，field of work，family situation， personality，andcountless other factors that make us unique.Diversity affects everyone.

It’s for this reason that diversity has become such a buzz word.The buzz happens becauseit’s all about how you handle it.It’s very much like the job a composer has when creating a greatmusical composition.If the composer understands what each unique note and dynamic mark iscapable of in combination with the other parts，the result achieved is extraordinary.If,however，none of the parts is communicating with the others，we’re left with a cacophony(刺耳的声音).

On a personal level.it’s this understanding and acceptance of “the other” which rests at thecore of diversity.Whether we’re talking about navigating through a multicultural urbanenvironment or uprooting and moving to a new foreign social context，it is necessary to set asiderigid assumptions about “the other” and put oneself in the other’s shoes. So how do we make thisleap? It’s often as simple as asking questions and being careful not to assume that what you see isnecessarily what the other side sees.

Often in my workshops I give a magic lesson to the audience to illustrate this principle. I firstpresent the magic and accomplish the "impossible". The participants receive the same props butsimply can’t manage. We look more carefully at the situation and realize that the assumptionsthey made about it actually blocked them from achieving this feat; a feat they suddenly areempowered to do which, moments ago, was impossible.

The goal in being sensitive to diversity is to cultivate a culture of respect for people’sdifferences and understand that such an environment is beneficial to everyone involved.

Diversity awareness is an evolution. We can’t get there by snapping our fingers, and it isn’t amatter of training people to have textbook politically correct attitudes. Instead it’s a case oflooking at the big picture of how we see the world, understanding why we see it that way, andthen making sure we do our part to genuinely value difference and benefit from it.

1. According to the author, diversity is

A. confusing.

B. extraordinary.

C. quite common.

D. universal.

2. "It" in Paragraph Three refers to

A. diversity.

B. the buzz.

C. how to handle diversity.

D. the formation of diversity.

3. The author believes that

A. to handle diversity one should put himself in others’ shoes.

B. when you are in a foreign environment, do as the Romans do.

C. diversity can hardly be defined.

D. diversity derives from cultural difference.

4. The example of a magic lesson is to show

A. everyone can do magic.

B. magic is nothing but a feat.

C. what blocks people from handling diversity.

D. it is possible to achieve anything.

5. How to raise diversity awareness according to the author?

A. By living in an unfamiliar environment.

B. By having politically correct attitudes.

C. By being sensitive to everything one experiences.

D. By understanding people’s differences.