The language we use affects the decisions we ...

The language we use affects the decisions we make, according to a new study. Participants made more reasonable decisions when money-related choices were given in a foreign language that they had learned in a classroom setting than when they were asked in a native tongue.

To study how language affects reasoning, University of Chicago psychologists looked at a well-known phenomenon: people are more risk-taking when a decision irrelevant to their own feelings (such as which medicine to give to a sick elephant) is presented in terms of a potential gain than when it is framed as a potential loss even when the outcomes are the same. In the study, native English speakers who had learned Japanese, native Korean speakers who had learned English and native English speakers studying French in Paris all showed the expected tendency when they were asked the question in their native tongue. In their foreign language, however, the tendency disappeared.

A second set of experiments tested another cognitive (认知的) prejudice –we expect a personal loss will be more painful than the same amount of gain will be pleasant, so the benefit of winning must be disproportionately large for us to take a bet(打赌) (such as gambling with our own money). Again, the foreign-language effect was obvious in two different experiments, one with native Korean speakers and one with native English speakers. The Koreans took more theoretical bets in English than Korean, and the native English speakers took more real bets in Spanish than they did in English.

“When people use a foreign language, their decisions tend to be less prejudiced, more analytic, more systematic, because the foreign language provides psychological distance,” lead author Boaz Keysar suggests. Cognitive prejudices are rooted in emotional reactions, and thinking in a foreign language helps us disconnect from these emotions and make decisions in a more economically reasonable way. This study did not consider, however, the cases in which emotional engagement improves, rather than prevents, our choices: “We have an emotional system for a good reason,” Keysar says.

1.What is the foreign language effect discussed in this passage?

A. People make more reasonable decisions in a foreign language than in their native tongues.

B. Foreign languages play more important roles in making decisions than native languages do.

C. Emotional engagement can prevent reasonable decision makings but improve them as well.

D. Cognitive prejudices are more likely to appear in a foreign language than in a native tongue.

2.What does the underlined sentence mean?

A. People need to win a large sum of money before they decide to take a bet.

B. People are advised not to take a bet if they are not ready for the pain of losing.

C. People don’t take a bet unless they would win much more than they would lose.

D. People will feel more pleasant winning a bet than winning a large sum of money.

3.According to Keysar, what is the reason of the foreign language effect in this research?

A. Foreign languages have great effect on decision makings.

B. People are less prejudiced when thinking in a foreign language.

C. People are more risk-taking in a foreign language environment.

D. Personal feelings have little influence in foreign language thinking.

高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析

Could the device, smartphone or PC, which you re using affect the moral decisions you make when using it? To test it, researchers presented multiple dilemmas to a sample set of 1,010 people. The participants were assigned a device at random.

One case of the questions participants were asked is the classic “trolley(有轨电车) problem”: A runaway trolley is headed towards five people tied up on a-set of train tracks. You can do nothing, resulting in the deaths of five people, or push a man off a bridge, which will stop the trolley. The practical response is to kill one man to save five lives, which 33. 5 percent of smartphone users chose, compared to 22.3 percent of PC users.

“What we round in our study is that when people used a smartphone to view classic moral problems, they were more likely to make more unemotional, reasonable decisions when presented with a highly emotional dilemma, “Dr Albert Barque-Duran, the lead author of the study, told City, University of London. “This could be due to the increased time pressure often　 present with smartphones and also the increased psychological distance which can occur when we use such devices compared to PCs.”

As for why the researchers started this study, Dr Barque-Duran noted, “Due to the fact that our social lives, work and even shopping take place online, it is important to think about how the contexts where we typically face moral decisions and are asked to engage in moral behavior have changed, and the impact this could have on the hundreds of millions of people who use such devices daily. “it’s clear that we need more research on how our devices affect our moral decision making because we’re using screens at an ever increasing rate.

1.Why did the author mention the trolley problem?

A.To introduce a difficult problem to readers.

B.To introduce the aim of carrying out the study.

C.To show an example of the questions in the study

D.To show the difficulty in dealing with dilemmas.

2.How do the smartphone users of the study behave in dealing with emotional dilemmas?

A.Calmly. B.Cruelly.

C.Hesitantly. D.Enthusiastically.

3.Dr Albert believes that compared with PCs, smartphones 　　　　 .

A.help people bear more pressure

B.help people make decisions quick

C.make people feel more mentally distant

D.make people stay happier to solve problems

4.What can we infer from the text?

A.Shopping online has a great effect on making moral decisions.

B.The people using smartphones are more than those using PCs.

C.People who often use smartphones or PCs always meet with dilemmas,

D.It is common for people to be involved in making moral decisions in daily life.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Could the device, smartphone or PC, which you re using affect the moral decisions you make when using it? To test it, researchers presented multiple dilemmas to a sample set of 1,010 people. The participants were assigned a device at random.

One case of the questions participants were asked is the classic “trolley(有轨电车) problem”: A runaway trolley is headed towards five people tied up on a-set of train tracks. You can do nothing, resulting in the deaths of five people, or push a man off a bridge, which will stop the trolley. The practical response is to kill one man to save five lives, which 33. 5 percent of smartphone users chose, compared to 22.3 percent of PC users.

“What we round in our study is that when people used a smartphone to view classic moral problems, they were more likely to make more unemotional, reasonable decisions when presented with a highly emotional dilemma, “Dr Albert Barque-Duran, the lead author of the study, told City, University of London. “This could be due to the increased time pressure often　 present with smartphones and also the increased psychological distance which can occur when we use such devices compared to PCs.”

As for why the researchers started this study, Dr Barque-Duran noted, “Due to the fact that our social lives, work and even shopping take place online, it is important to think about how the contexts where we typically face moral decisions and are asked to engage in moral behavior have changed, and the impact this could have on the hundreds of millions of people who use such devices daily. “it’s clear that we need more research on how our devices affect our moral decision making because we’re using screens at an ever increasing rate.

1.Why did the author mention the trolley problem?

A. To introduce a difficult problem to readers.

B. To introduce the aim of carrying out the study.

C. To show an example of the questions in the study

D. To show the difficulty in dealing with dilemmas.

2.How do the smartphone users of the study behave in dealing with emotional dilemmas?

A. Calmly.　　 B. Cruelly.

C. Hesitantly.　　 D. Enthusiastically.

3.Dr Albert believes that compared with PCs, smartphones 　　　　 .

A. help people bear more pressure

B. help people make decisions quick

C. make people feel more mentally distant

D. make people stay happier to solve problems

4.What can we infer from the text?

A. Shopping online has a great effect on making moral decisions.

B. The people using smartphones are more than those using PCs.

C. People who often use smartphones or PCs always meet with dilemmas,

D. It is common for people to be involved in making moral decisions in daily life.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Decision-making under Stress

A new review based on a research shows that acute stress affects the way the brain considers the advantages and disadvantages, causing it to focus on pleasure and ignore the possible negative (负面的) consequences of a decision.

The research suggests that stress may change the way people make choices in predictable ways. “Stress affects how people learn,” says Professor Mara Mather. “People learn better about positive than negative outcomes under stress.”

For example, two recent studies looked at how people learned to connect images(影像) with either rewards or punishments. In one experiment, some of the participants were first stressed by having to give a speech and do difficult math problems in front of an audience; in the other, some were stressed by having to keep their hands in ice water. In both cases, the stressed participants remembered the rewarded material more accurately and the punished material less accurately than those who hadn’t gone through the stress. This phenomenon is likely not surprising to anyone who has tried to resist eating cookies or smoking a cigarette while under stress –at those moments, only the pleasure associated with such activities comes to mind. But the findings further suggest that stress may bring about a double effect. Not only are rewarding experiences remembered better, but negative consequences are also easily recalled.

The research also found that stress appears to affect decision-making differently in men and women. While both men and women tend to focus on rewards and less on consequences under stress, their responses to risk turn out to be different. Men who had been stressed by the cold-water task tended to take more risks in the experiment while women responded in the opposite way. In stressful situations in which risk-taking can pay off big, men may tend to do better, when caution weighs more, however, women will win.

This tendency to slow down and become more cautious when decisions are risky might also help explain why women are less likely to become addicted than men: they may more often avoid making the risky choices that eventually harden into addiction.

1.We can learn from the passage that people under pressure tend to ______.

A. keep rewards better in their memory

B. recall consequences more effortlessly

C. make risky decisions more frequently

D. learn a subject more effectively

2. According to the research, stress affects people most probably in their ______.

A. ways of making choices          B. preference for pleasure

C. tolerance of punishments      D. responses to suggestions

3.The research has proved that in a stressful situation, ______.

A. women find it easier to fall into certain habits

B. men have a greater tendency to slow down

C. women focus more on outcomes

D. men are more likely to take risks

高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析

Decision-making under Stress

　A new review based on a research shows that acute stress affects the way the brain considers the advantages and disadvantages, causing it to focus on pleasure and ignore the possible negative (负面的) consequences of a decision.

　The research suggests that stress may change the way people make choices in predictable ways.

　“Stress affects how people learn,” says Professor Mara Mather. “People learn better about positive than negative outcomes under stress.”

　For example, two recent studies looked at how people learned to connect images(影像) with either rewards or punishments. In one experiment, some of the participants were first stressed by having to give a speech and do difficult math problems in front of an audience; in the other, some were stressed by having to keep their hands in ice water. In both cases, the stressed participants remembered the rewarded material more accurately and the punished material less accurately than those who hadn’t gone through the stress.

　This phenomenon is likely not surprising to anyone who has tried to resist eating cookies or smoking a cigarette while under stress –at those moments, only the pleasure associated with such activities comes to mind. But the findings further suggest that stress may bring about a double effect. Not only are rewarding experiences remembered better, but negative consequences are also easily recalled.

　The research also found that stress appears to affect decision-making differently in men and women. While both men and women tend to focus on rewards and less on consequences under stress, their responses to risk turn out to be different.

　Men who had been stressed by the cold-water task tended to take more risks in the experiment while women responded in the opposite way. In stressful situations in which risk-taking can pay off big, men may tend to do better, when caution weighs more, however, women will win.

　This tendency to slow down and become more cautious when decisions are risky might also help explain why women are less likely to become addicted than men: they may more often avoid making the risky choices that eventually harden into addiction.

1.We can learn from the passage that people under pressure tend to ______.

A．keep rewards better in their memory

B．recall consequences more effortlessly

C．make risky decisions more frequently

D．learn a subject more effectively

2.According to the research, stress affects people most probably in their ______.

A．ways of making choices                   B．preference for pleasure

C．tolerance of punishments                 D．responses to suggestions

3.The research has proved that in a stressful situation, ______.

A．women find it easier to fall into certain habits

B．men have a greater tendency to slow down

C．women focus more on outcomes

D．men are more likely to take risks

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

It's surprising how much simple movement of the body can affect the way we think. Using expansive gestures with open arms makes us feel more powerful, crossing your arms makes you more determined and lying down can bring more insights(领悟).

So if moving the body can have these effects, what about the clothes we wear? We're all well aware of how dressing up in different ways can make us feel more attractive, sporty or professional, depending on the clothes we wear, but can the clothes actually change cognitive(认知) performance or is it just a feeling?

Adam and Galinsky tested the effect of simply wearing a white lab coat on people's powers of attention. The idea is that white coats are associated with scientists, who are in turn thought to have close attention to detail.

What they found was that people wearing white coats performed better than those who weren't. Indeed, they made only half as many errors as those wearing their own clothes on the Stroop Test(one way of measuing attention). The reserchrs call the effect "enclothed cognition," suggesting that all manner of different clothes probably affect our cognition in many differnt ways.

This opens the way for all sorts of clothes-based experiments. Is the writer who wears a fedora more creative? Is the psychologist wearing little round glasses and smoking a cigar more insightful? Does a chef's hat make the restaurant food taste better?

From now on I will only be editing artcles for PsyBlog while wearing a white coat to help keep the typing error count low. Hopefully you will be doing your part by reading PsyBlog in a cap and gown(学位服).

1.What is the main idea of the text?

A. Body movements change the way people think.

B. How people dress has an influencee on their feelings.

C. What people wear can affect their cognitive performance.

D. People doing different jobs should wear different clothes.

2.Adam and Galinsky's experiment tested the effect of clothes on their wearers'______.

A. insights　　 B. movements

C. attention　　 D. appearance

3.How does the author sound in the last paragraph?

A. Academic.　　 B. Humorous.

C. Formal.　　 D. Hopeful.

高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析

It’s surprising how much simple movements of the body can affect the way we think. Using expansive gestures with open arms makes us feel more powerful, crossing your arms makes you more determined and lying down can bring more insights(领悟).

So if moving the body can have these effects, what about the clothes we wear? We’re all well aware of how dressing up in different ways can make us feel more attractive, sporty or professional, depending on the clothes we wear, but can the clothes actually change cognitive (认知的)performance or is it just a feeling?

Adam and Galinsky tested the effect of simply wearing a white lab coat on people’s powers of attention. The idea is that white coats are associated with scientists, who are in turn though to have close attention to detail.

What they found was that people wearing white coats performed better than those who weren’t. Indeed, they made only half as many errors as those wearing their own clothes on the Stroop Test( one way of measuring attention). The researchers call the effect “enclothed cognition,” suggesting that all manner of different clothes probably affect our cognition in many different ways.

This opens the way for all sorts of clothes-based experiments. Is the writer who wears a fedora more creative? Is the psychologist wearing little round glasses and smoking a cigar more insightful? Does a chef’s hat make the resultant food taste better?

From now on I will only be editing articles for PsyBlog while wearing a white coat to help keep the typing error count low. Hopefully you will be doing your part by reading PsyBlog in a cap and gown.(学位服).

1.What is the main idea of the text?

A. Body movements change the way people think

B. How people dress has an influence on their feelings

C. What people wear can affect their cognitive performance

D. People doing different jobs should wear different clothes

2.Adam and Galinsky’s experiment tested the effect of clothes on their wearers’___________.

A. insights　　 B. movements

C. attention　　 D. appearance

3.How does the author sound in the last paragraph?

A. Academic　　 B. Humorous

C. Formal　　 D. Hopeful

高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析

Foreign Minister of China used plain language to make the Chinese foreign policy__   to the        whole world at the press meeting last week．

A, get through                   B．get across

C．get over                     D．get around

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

Choosing the right job is probably one of the most important decisions we have to make in life, and it is frequently one of the hardest decisions we have to make. One important question that you might ask yourself is: "How do I get a good job?" ________1.________.

There are people who can answer an insignificant advertisement in the local paper and find the best job in the world; others write to all sorts of places all over the country, and never seem to get a reply at all. Still others believe that the in-person, door-to-door approach is by far the best way to get a job; and then there are those who, through no active decision of their own, just seem to be in the right place at the right time. ________2.________. He used to spend a lot of his free time down by the sea watching the tall ships, but never thinking that he might one day sail one of them. His father was a farmer, and being a sailor could never be anything for the boy but an idle dream. One day, on his usual wandering, he heard the captain of the ship complaining that he could not sail because one member of his crew was sick. Without stopping to think, the young man offered to take his place. ________3.________.

________4.________ . If the young man had gone home to ponder（考虑）his decision for a week, he may have missed his chance. It is one thing to be offered an opportunity; it is another thing to take it and use it well.

Sometimes we hear stories about people who break all the rules and still seem to get plum jobs（美差）. When you go for a job interview or fill out an application, you are expected to say nice things about the company to which you are applying. ________5.. And within a year this person had become general manger of the company.

E．But there was one person who landed an excellent job by telling the interviewer

all the company's faults.

F．He spent the rest of his life happily sailing the ships he had always loved.

G．It is very important to seize an opportunity when you are given one.

高三英语其他题中等难度题查看答案及解析

Choosing the right job is probably one of the most important decisions we have to make in life, and it is frequently one of the hardest decisions we have to make. One important question that you might ask yourself is: “How do I get a good job?”___71___.

There are people who can answer an insignificant advertisement in the local paper and land the best job in the world; others write to all sorts of places all over the country, and never seem to get a reply at all. Still others believe that the in person, door-to-door approach is by far the best way to get a job; and then there are those who, through no active decision of their own, just seem to be in the right place at the right time. ___72____. He used to spend a lot of his free time down by the sea watching the tall ships, but never thinking that he might one day sail one of them. His father was a farmer, and being a sailor could never be anything for the boy but an idle dream. One day, on his usual wandering, he heard the captain of the ship complaining that he could not sail because one member of his crew was sick. Without stopping to think, the lad(少年) offered to take his place. ___73___.

__74__. If the lad had gone home to ponder（考虑）his decision for a week, he may have missed his chance. It is one thing to be offered an opportunity; it is another thing to take it and use it well.

Sometimes we hear stories about people who break all the rules and still seem to land plum jobs（美差）. When you go for a job interview or fill out an application, you are expected to say nice things about the company to which you are applying. ___75___. And within a year this person had become general manger of the company.

A. This story also illustrates the importance of seizing an opportunity when it presents itself.

B. People find jobs in an infinite number of ways.

C. it’s almost impossible to find a good job by answering advertisement in newspapers

D. Take for example the young man who wanted to be a sailor.

E. But there was one person who landed an excellent job by telling the interviewer all the company’s faults.

F. He spent the rest of his life happily sailing the ships he had always loved.

G. It is very important to seize an opportunity when it presents itself.

高三英语简单题查看答案及解析