Choosing the Right Resolution (决定) Millions of Americans began 2014 with the sam
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Choosing the Right Resolution (决定)
Millions of Americans began 2014 with the same resolution they started 2013 with, a goal of losing weight. However, setting weight loss as a goal is a mistake.
To reach our goal of losing weight --- the output, we need to control what we eat --- the input ( 输入). That is, we tend to care about the output but not to control the input. This is a bad way to construce goals. The alternative is to focus your resolution on the input. Instead of resolving to lose weight, try an actionable resolution: “I’ll stop having desert for lunch,” or “I’ll walk every day for 20 minutes.” Creating a goal that focuses on a well-specified input will likely be more effective than concentrating on the outcome.
Recently a new science behind incentives (激励) , including in education, has been discussed. For example, researcher Roland Fryer wanted to see what works best in motivating children to do better in school. In some cases, he gave students incentives based on input, like reading certain books, while in others, the incentives were based on output, like results on exams. His main finding was that incentives increased achievement when based on input but had no effect on output. Fryer’s conclusion was that the intensives for inputs might be more effective because do not knoe how to do better on exam, aside from general rules like “study harder.” Reading certain books, on the other hand, is a well-set task over which they have much more control.
As long as you have direct control over your goal, you have a much higher chance of success. And it’s easier to start again if you fail, because you know exactly what you need to do.
If you want to cut down on your spending, a good goal would be making morning coffee at home instead of going to a cafe, for example. This is a well-specified action-based goal for which you can measure your success easily. Spending less money isn’t a goal because it’s too general. Similarly, if you want to spend more time with your family, don’t stop with this general wish. Think bout an actionable habit that you could adopt and stick to, like a family movie night every Wednesday.
In the long run, these new goals could become a habit.
小题1:The writer thinks that setting weight loss as a goal is a mistake because _______ .| A．it is hard to achieve for most Americans | | B．it is focused too much on the result | | C．it is dependent on too many things | | D．it is based on actionable decisions |
小题2:In Roland Fryer’s research, some students did better than the others because ______ .| A．they obeyed all the general rules | | B．they paid more attention to exams | | C．they were motivated by their classmates | | D．they were rewarded for reading some books |
小题3:According to the writer, which of the following statements is a good goal?| A．“I’ll give up desert.” | | B．“I’ll study harder.” | | C．“I’ll cut down my expense” | | D．“I’ll spend more time with my family” |
小题4:The writer strongly believes that we should ________ .| A．develop good habits and focus on the outcome | | B．be optimistic about final goals and stick to them | | C．pick specific actions that can be turned into good habits | | D．set ambitious goals that can balance the input ang output |
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答案
小题1:B
小题2:D
小题3:A
小题4:C |
解析
【文章大意】本文是一篇科普文章，从2014年美国人的减肥计划开始，谈到减肥成功的关键。由此，作者引出Roland Fryer做的一项实验，该实验表明，当关注输入（开始）时，激励才发生作用。要想达到目标，必须重视目标，而不是根据结果调整行动。
小题1:B 考查细节理解。根据文章第二段中“we tend to care about the output but not to control the input”和“concentrating on the outcome”我们知道，我们失败或错误的根据是过分关注output/outcome（输出/结果）而不是“input”。
小题2:D 考查细节理解。根据文章第三段内容，我们知道Roland Fryer把“input”（即阅读）和“output”（考试结果）作为两种激励变量，得到的结果是input的效果好于output。所以本题答案应选D。
小题3:A 考查细节理解。根据全文内容可知，“losing weight”、“results on exams”、“study harder”、 “cut down on your spending”、“spend more time with your family”都强调结果，是太泛的目标，不易达到成功；而“control what we eat”、“stop having desert” 、“ walk every day”、“making morning coffee at home”、“a family movie night”等强调行动，是一种输入，所以更容易成功。故本题选A。
小题4:C 考查推理判断。根据文章最后一段“This is a well-specified action-based goal for which you can measure your success easily”可知，作者实际上是建议人们采取可形成好习惯的行动来实现目标。A项错在后半部分，聚焦结果是作者力图劝阻的。B项也是错误答案，要更关注输入和行动；D项为无效信息，文章中没有提到平衡输出和输入的关系。 |
举一反三
Parents feel that it is difficult to live with teenagers. Then again, teenagers have feelings about their parents, saying that it is not easy living with them. According to a recent research, the most common between parents and teenagers is that regarding untidiness and daily routine tasks. On the one hand, parents go mad over rooms, clothes thrown on the floor and their children’s refusal to help with the . On the other hand, teenagers lose their patience continually when parents blame them for the towel in the bathroom, not cleaning up their room or refusing to do the shopping at the supermarket.
The research, conducted by St. George University, shows that different parents have different to these problems. However, some approaches are more than others. For example, those parents who yell at their children for their untidiness, but clean the room for them, have fewer chances of changing their children’s . On the contrary, those who let teenagers experience the of their actions can do better. For example, when teenagers who don’t help their parents with the shopping don’t find their favorite drink in the refrigerator, they are forced to their actions.
Psychologists say that is the most important thing in parent-child relationships. Parents should to their children but at the same time they should lend an ear to what they have to say. Parents may their children when they are untidy but they should also understand that their room is their own private space. Communication is a two-way process. It is only by listening to and each other that problems between parents and children can be settled.
| 小题1: | | A．natural | B．strong | C．guilty | D．similar |
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| 小题2: | | A．interest | B．argument | C．link | D．knowledge |
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| 小题3: | | A．noisy | B．crowded | C．messy | D．locked |
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| 小题4: | | A．homework | B．housework | C．problem | D．research |
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| 小题5: | | A．washing | B．using | C．dropping | D．replacing |
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| 小题6: | | A．approaches | B．contributions | C．introductions | D．attitudes |
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| 小题7: | | A．complex | B．popular | C．scientific | D．successful |
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| 小题8: | | A．later | B．deliberately | C．seldom | D．thoroughly |
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| 小题9: | | A．behavior | B．taste | C．future | D．nature |
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| 小题10: | | A．failures | B．changes | C．consequences | D．thrills |
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| 小题11: | | A．defend | B．delay | C．repeat | D．reconsider |
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| 小题12: | | A．communication | B．bond | C．friendship | D．trust |
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| 小题13: | | A．reply | B．attend | C．attach | D．talk |
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| 小题14: | | A．hate | B．scold | C．frighten | D．stop |
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| 小题15: | | A．loving | B．observing | C．understanding | D．praising |
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Scientists today are making greater effort to study ocean currents (洋流) . Most do it using satellites and other high-tech equipment. However, ocean expert Curtis Ebbesmeyer does it in a special way -- by studying movements of random floating garbage. A scientist with many years’ experience, he started this type of research in the early 1990s when he heard about hundreds of athletic shoes washing up on the shores of the northwest coast of the United States. There were so many shoes that people were setting up swap meets to try and match left and right shoes to sell or wear.
Ebbesmeyer found out in his researches that the shoes — about 60,000 in total — fell into the ocean in a shipping accident. He phoned the shoe company and asked if they wanted the shoes back. As expected, the company told him that they didn"t. Ebbesmeyer realized this could be a great experiment. If he learned when and where the shoes went into the water and tracked where they landed, he could learn a lot about the patterns of ocean currents.
The Pacific Northwest is one of the world"s best areas for beachcombing(海滩搜寻) because winds and currents join here, and as a result, there is a group of serious beachcombers in the area. Ebbesmeyer got to know a lot of them and asked for their help in collecting information about where the shoes landed. In a year he collected reliable information on 1, 600 shoes. With this data, he and a colleague were able to test and improve a computer program designed to model ocean currents, and publish the findings of their study.
As the result of his work, Ebbesmeyer has become known as the scientist to call with questions about any unusual objects found floating in the ocean. He has even started an association of beachcombers and ocean experts, with 500 subscribers from West Africa to New Zealand. They have recorded all lost objects ranging from potatoes to golf gloves.
小题1:The underlined phrase swap meets in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ______________.| A．fitting rooms | | B．trading fairs | | C．business talks | | D．group meetings |
小题2:Ebbesmeyer phoned the shoe company to find out _____________.| A．what caused the shipping accident | | B．when and where the shoes went missing | | C．whether it was all right to use their shoes | | D．how much they lost in the shipping accident |
小题3:How did Ebbesmeyer prove his assumption?| A．By collecting information from beachcombers. | | B．By studying the shoes found by beachcomber. | | C．By searching the web for ocean currents models. | | D．By researching ocean currents data in the library. |
小题4:Ebbesmeyer is most famous for ___________________.| A．traveling widely the coastal cities of the world | | B．making records for any lost objects on the sea | | C．running a global currents research association | | D．phoning about any doubtful objects on the sea |
小题5:What is the purpose of the author in writing this passage?| A．To call people"s attention to ocean pollution. | | B．To warn people of shipping safety in the ocean. | | C．To explain a unique way of studying ocean currents. | | D．To give tips on how to search for lost objects on the beach. |
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Before I had my son, I spent two years working with children with disabilities. I learned that shouting and threats of punishment would result in a disaster. Coming up against their behaviour could only make the job harder and their behaviour more extreme. I found something that worked, though.
There was a very naughty boy in the nursery and a teacher who was generally very confident with the children was asked to take charge of him. One day the boy joined a session in the room next to mine. His appearance created an atmosphere of tension. He spent the entire session running around, hitting and kicking, and destroying property.
I was in the craft room working with some other children when my co-worker told me that this boy’s teacher was in tears, and could not get control of the situation. As we were talking，the boy ran in. I told my co-worker that I would take care of him.
I closed the door. He was full of energy, throwing things around and making a huge mess. But I could see that he was doing all these to annoy me. He needed connection, and this was the only way he knew how to ask for it. So I sat back down and kept quiet. Then he slowed down and began making a rocket. I talked to him about it. We continued like this for a few minutes before I slipped into the conversation:
“So what happened today?”
It was purely a question, no blame or anger in my tone. I believe that if I had criticized him, the gate that was slowly opening would have shut firmly closed. He told me that the teacher didn’t let him do what he knew well due to safety but asked him to do what he disliked. He also admitted that he had enjoyed making her run around and saw it as a game. I explained that his teacher had not seen it as a game and was very upset. This again was stated simply as a fact. I suggested that next time he had a session, he talk about what he hoped to do at the start，which might be easier for everyone. He agreed and was quiet for a moment. Then he looked at me with tears in his eyes before quietly asking if he could go to find his teacher to apologize.
小题1:The boy made trouble for his teacher because he_____ .| A．was accused of destroying property | | B．was told not to yell at other children | | C．was made to do things against his will | | D．was blamed for creating an air of tension |
小题2:Why didn’t the author do anything about the boy’s bad behavior at first?| A．She didn’t want to make it worse. | | B．She didn’t mind the huge mess at all. | | C．She was tired of shouting and threats. | | D．She hadn’t thought of a coping strategy. |
小题3:The author managed to get the boy to talk to her by _____.| A．playing games with him | | B．giving him a good suggestion | | C．describing his teacher’s feelings | | D．avoiding making critical remarks |
小题4:Why did the boy have tears in his eyes in the end?| A．He was sorry about his reputation. | | B．He was regretful about his behavior. | | C．He was fearful of the author’s warning. | | D．He was sad for the author’s misunderstanding. |
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The behaviour of a building’s users may be at least as important as its design when it comes to energy use, according to new research from the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC). The UK promises to reduce its carbon emissions (排放）by 80 percent by 2050, part of which will be achieved by all new homes being zero-carbon by 2016. But this report shows that sustainable building design on its own — though extremely important- is not enough to achieve such reductions: the behaviour of the people using the building has to change too.
The study suggests that the ways that people use and live in their homes have been largely ignored by existing efforts to improve energy efficiency (效率)，which instead focus on architectural and technological developments.
‘Technology is going to assist but it is not going to do everything,’explains Katy Janda, a UKERC senior researcher，‘consumption patterns of building users can defeat the most careful design. ’In other words，old habits die hard, even in the best-designed eco-home.
Another part of the problem is information. Households and bill-payers don’t have the knowledge they need to change their energy-use habits. Without specific information，it’s hard to estimate the costs and benefits of making different choices. Feedback (反馈） facilities, like smart meters and energy monitors，could help bridge this information gap by helping people see how changing their behaviour directly affects their energy use; some studies have shown that households can achieve up to 15 percent energy savings using smart meters.
Social science research has added a further dimension (方面），suggesting that individuals’behaviour in the home can be personal and cannot be predicted 一 whether people throw open their windows rather than turn down the thermostat (恒温器) , for example.
Janda argues that education is the key. She calls for a focused programme to teach people about buildings and their own behaviour in them.
小题1:As to energy use, the new research from UKERC stresses the importance of________.| A． zero-carbon homes | B．the behaviour of building users | | C． sustainable building design | D．the reduction of carbon emissions |
小题2:The underlined word “which” in Paragraph 2 refers to”________.”| A．the ways | B．their homes | | C． developments | D．existing efforts |
小题3:What are Katy Janda’s words mainly about?| A． The importance of changing building users, habits. | | B． The necessity of making a careful building design. | | C． The variety of consumption patterns of building users. | | D． The role of technology in improving energy efficiency. |
小题4:The information gap in energy use _______. | A． can be bridged by feedback facilities | | B． affects the study on energy monitors | | C． brings about problems for smart meters | | D． will be caused by building users’ old habits |
小题5:What does the dimension added by social science research suggest?| A． The social science research is to be furthered. | | B． The education programme is under discussion. | | C． The behaviour of building users is unpredictable. | | D． The behaviour preference of building users is similar. |
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Most damagingly, anger weakens a person’s ability to think clearly and keep control over his behaviour. The angry person loses objectivity in evaluating the emotional significance of the person or situation that arouses his anger.
Not everyone experiences anger in the same way; what angers one person may amuse another. The specific expression of anger also differs from person to person based on biological and cultural forces. In contemporary culture, physical expressions of anger are generally considered too socially harmful to be tolerated. We no longer regard duels (决斗) as an appropriate expression of anger resulting from one person’s awareness of insulting behaviour on the part of another.
Anger can be identified in the brain, where the electrical activity changes. Under most conditions EEG (脑电图) measures of electrical activity show balanced activity between the right and left prefrontal (额叶前部) areas. Behaviourally this corresponds to the general even-handed disposition (意向) that most of us possess most of the time. But when we are angry the EEG of the right and left prefrontal areas aren’t balanced and, as a result of this, we’re likely to react. And our behavioural response to anger is different from our response to other emotions, whether positive or negative.
Most positive emotions are associated with approach behaviour: we move closer to people we like. Most negative emotions, in contrast, are associated with avoidance behaviour: we move away from people and things that we dislike or that make us anxious. But anger is an exception to this pattern. The angrier we are, the more likely we are to move towards the object of our anger. This corresponds to what psychologists refer to as of ensive anger: the angry person moves closer in order to influence and control the person or situation causing his anger. This approach-and-confront behaviour is accompanied by a leftward prefrontal asymmetry (不对称) of EEG activity. Interestingly, this asymmetry lessens if the angry person can experience empathy (同感) towards the individual who is bringing forth the angry response. In defensive anger, in contrast, the EEG asymmetry is directed to the right and the angry person feels helpless in the face of the anger-inspiring situation.
小题1:The “duels” example in Paragraph 2 proves that the expression of anger ________.| A．usually has a biological basis | | B．varies among people | | C．is socially and culturally shaped | | D．influences one’s thinking and evaluation |
小题2:What changes can be found in an angry brain? | A．Balanced electrical activity can be spotted. | | B．Unbalanced patterns are found in prefrontal areas. | | C．Electrical activity corresponds to one’s behaviour. | | D．Electrical activity agrees with one’s disposition. |
小题3:Which of the following is typical of offensive anger?| A．Approaching the source of anger. | | B．Trying to control what is disliked. | | C．Moving away from what is disliked. | | D．Feeling helpless in the face of anger. |
小题4:What is the key message of the last paragraph?| A．How anger differs from other emotions. | | B．How anger relates to other emotions. | | C．Behavioural responses to anger. | | D．Behavioural patterns of anger. |
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