By now you’ve probably heard about the “you’re not special” speech, when English teacher David McCullough told graduating seniors at Wellesley High School: “Do not get the idea you’re anything special, because you’re not.” Mothers and fathers present at the ceremony — and a whole lot of other parents across the Internet — took issue with McCullough’s ego-puncturing words. But lost in the uproar was something we really should be taking to heart: our young people actually have no idea whether they’re particularly talented or accomplished or not. In our eagerness to elevate their self-esteem, we forgot to teach them how to realistically assess their own abilities, a crucial requirement for getting better at anything from math to music to sports. In fact, it’s not just privileged high-school students: we all tend to view ourselves as above average.
Such inflated self-judgments have been found in study after study, and it’s often exactly when we’re least competent at a given task that we rate our performance most generously. In a 2006 study published in the journal Medical Education, for example, medical students who scored the lowest on an essay test were the most charitable in their self-evaluations, while high-scoring students judged themselves much more strictly. Poor students, the authors note, “lack insight” into their own inadequacy. Why should this be? Another study, led by Cornell University psychologist David Dunning, offers an enlightening explanation. People who are incompetent, he writes with coauthor Justin Kruger, suffer from a “dual burden”: they’re not good at what they do, and their very incapability prevents them from recognizing how bad they are.
In Dunning and Kruger’s study, subjects scoring at the bottom of the heap on tests of logic, grammar and humor “extremely overestimated” their talents. What these individuals lacked (in addition to clear logic, proper grammar and a sense of humor) was “metacognitive skill”: the capacity to monitor how well they’re performing. In the absence of that capacity, the subjects arrived at an overly hopeful view of their own abilities. There’s a paradox here, the authors note: “The skills that lead to competence in a particular domain are often the very same skills necessary to evaluate competence in that domain.” In other words, to get better at judging how well we’re doing at an activity, we have to get better at the activity itself.
There are a couple of ways out of this double bind. First, we can learn to make honest comparisons with others. Train yourself to recognize excellence, even when you yourself don’t possess it, and compare what you can do against what truly excellent individuals are able to accomplish. Second, seek out feedback that is frequent, accurate and specific. Find a critic who will tell you not only how poorly you’re doing, but just what it is that you’re doing wrong. As Dunning and Kruger note, success indicates to us that everything went right, but failure is more ambiguous: any number of things could have gone wrong. Use this external feedback to figure out exactly where and when you screwed up.
If we adopt these strategies — and most importantly, teach them to our children — they won’t need parents, or a commencement (毕业典礼) speaker, to tell them that they’re special. They’ll already know that they are, or have a plan to get that way.
1. Which can be the best title of this passage?| A．Special or Not? Teach Kids To Figure It Out |
| B．Let’s Admit That We Are Not That Special |
| C．Tips On Making Ourselves More Special |
| D．Tell The Truth: Kids Overestimate their Talents |
| A．we don't know whether our young people are talented or not |
| B．young people don't know how to assess their abilities realistically |
| C．no requirement is set up for young people to get better |
| D．we always tend to consider ourselves to be privileged |
| A．They usually give themselves high scores in self-evaluations. |
| B．They tend to be unable to know exactly how bad they are. |
| C．They are intelligently inadequate in tests and exams. |
| D．They lack the capacity to monitor how well they are performing. |
| A．know how to cultivate clear logic and proper grammar |
| B．tend to underestimate their performance because they know their limits |
| C．tend to regard themselves as competent due to their strict self-judgement |
| D．tend to be very competent in judging their performance in their high-scoring fields. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】When you’re depressed (抑郁的), it often feels like nothing in the world can make you feel better.
★Be active
★
Feeling embarrassed or self-hating over your depression will only increase your symptoms. It also discourages you from seeking help. It’s important to have sympathy for yourself at those difficult times.
★Seek professional help
Talking is a powerful way of beating your depression. If you feel bad, don’t let anyone tell you it’s no big deal or that you’ll just get it over. There is nothing shameful about recognizing you have a problem that you alone cannot solve and seeking the help of an expert. Asking for help is a brave act.
| A．Don’t punish yourself for feeling bad |
| B．Put yourself in a social atmosphere to lift your spirits |
| C．Be curious, open, accepting and loving toward yourself |
| D．Depression will drop your energy levels and make you passive |
| E．However, depression is a common and highly treatable disorder |
| F．Speaking to an expert is a healthy, productive and beneficial attempt |
| G．Anything that makes you laugh can help convince your brain you are happy |
【推荐2】Creativity is always about finding inspiration. If you think your well of ideas has dried up, you need to look at the little things in life.
Write down every moment. The best moments pass by so fast that many people fail to notice and appreciate them. This is not the case for creative types. There is inspiration in every encounter and conversation. For example, you could look at a man at a cafe reading a newspaper and come up with an interesting background story about him.
Take time to meditate (冥思). Look for a quiet and secluded (僻静的) place. Take a seat, close your eyes and focus on your breathing.
Search the web. Apart from focusing on your inner self, you should also look for external inspiration.
| A．Find more inspiration |
| B．Learn to deal with stress |
| C．Every moment is worth recording |
| D．Try to empty your mind of any distracting thoughts |
| E．Here is how you can source creative inspiration each day |
| F．Creative types turn out to be appealing to those people around you |
| G．You can find tons of ideas that will stimulate your creativity online |
【推荐3】Anyone working in a business can benefit from personal growth.
Not all personal growth has to be lengthy processes. Sometimes quick strike efforts will do. Combining my experience of leaving corporate to become a businessman, I can share some tips for enabling personal growth.
1. How you feel is not how things are
Growth stops when you're not in the mood to invest in it. I tell myself when I'm in a bad mood that it's just a bad mood, and it reminds me that I don't actually have bigger problems
2. Stress your own good
The next time you find yourself about to face a challenging experience, remind yourself of all the advantages you have, like your strengths and your experience.
3.
Before engaging in your next conversation, remind yourself to focus on what the other person has to say, not what you could say next.
4. Listen to understand, not to convince
A moment is all it takes to spur on doses of personal growth
| A．Be interested,not interesting |
| B．Forget and forgive what you say |
| C．I have to power through and stay open to new things |
| D．When arguing for our view,we're listening the least |
| E．We tend to try our best to feed our curiosity |
| F．There's much to learn when you start your own thing |
| G．Resist the temptation to focus on the things you don't have |
【推荐1】There is a man who I’d like to tell you about. His name is Sandy Greenberg. Sandy was a very good student, but he came from a poor family. And so he went to Columbia University, but while there, he became blind.
But something else happened to Sandy that may surprise you. Sandy said that when he lost his sight, his roommate would read his textbooks to him, every night. As a result, Sandy went on to graduate. He got a scholarship, and he went off to study at Oxford.
One day, Sandy got a call at Oxford, and his former roommate said, “Sandy, I’m really unhappy. I really don’t like being in graduate school, and I don’t want to do this.”
So Sandy asked, “Well, what do you want to do?”
And his roommate told him, “Sandy, I really love to sing. I have a high school friend who plays the guitar. And we would really like to try the music business. But we need to make a record, and in order to do that I need $500.”
So Sandy Greenberg told me he took all his life savings and sent it to his roommate. He told me, “You know, what else could I do? He made my life; I needed to help make his life.”
I almost forgot. You probably are wanting to know who Sandy’s roommate was. I think you’ve heard of him. Sandy’s roommate was a fellow by the name of Art Garfunkel, and he teamed up with another musician by the name of Paul Simon. That $500 helped them make a record that eventually became “The Sound of Silence.”
I hope you’ll remember the power of doing well by doing good. Each of you, in your own lives, will be faced with challenges and problems that you didn’t expect. How you are able to deal with adversity will be influenced by how you deal with others along the way. What you get will depend a lot on what you give. And that’s the end of the story of doing well, by doing good.
More importantly, when you get to be my age, you will find yourself beginning to ask, did my life make a difference? I think the only way to face this question is to consider, every day of your life: How can I do something for somebody else? How can I give back to others? It may be teaching, it may be becoming a doctor, you may be successful in business — no matter what your career path, there will always be the opportunity to give back. The chance will present itself to give your time, give your money, but mostly, to give your own heart and soul.
1. When Sandy Greenberg lost his sight, ____________.| A．he had thoughts of quitting college | B．he overcame the difficulties on his own |
| C．he borrowed a friend’s notes | D．a friend helped him with his study |
| A．Sandy had a difficult time at Oxford |
| B．Sandy and his roommate both went on studying after their graduation |
| C．singing was one of Sandy’s hobbies |
| D．Sandy’s roommate was a great success at graduate school |
| A．to encourage us to face difficulties bravely |
| B．to tell us to change our path in life if we want to |
| C．to show that disabled people can succeed with help |
| D．to tell us that by helping others, we can also help ourselves |
| A．difficulty | B．generosity | C．kindness | D．friendship |
| A．helping others to make sure that we are successful |
| B．using our life to make a difference to others |
| C．being a teacher so that we can give back to others |
| D．starting to be generous when we become older |
【推荐2】One Sunday, my family had gathered at my parents’ house to feast upon Mom’s wonderful cooking. During the normal dinner chatter, I noticed that my father was slurring (说话含混) his words. No one mentioned this during dinner, but I felt compelled to discuss it with my mother afterward.
We decided that there was something seriously wrong and that Dad needed to see the doctor.
Mom phoned me two days later. The doctor found a brain tumor (肿瘤). It’s too large at this point to operate. Maybe they can do something then, but the odds are long.
Even with the treatment, my father’s condition worsened, and the doctor finally informed us that this condition was terminal. During one of his stays in the hospital, we brought our baby daughter Chelsey with us when we visited him. By this time he had great difficulty speaking. I finally figured out that he wanted Chelsey to sit on his stomach so he could make faces at her.
Watching the two of them together, I realized I was living an experience that would stay with me forever. Though grateful for the times they could share, I couldn’t shake the feeling of a clock ticking in the background.
On the visit to my parents’ home during what we all know was my father’s last days, my mother took Chelsey from my arms and announced, “Your father would like to see you alone for a minute. ”
I entered the bedroom where my father lay on a rented hospital bed. He appeared even weaker than the day before.
“How are you feeling, Dad?” I asked. “Can I do anything for you?”
He tried to speak, but he couldn’t make out a word.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t understand you,” I said.
With great difficulty he said, “I love you.”
We don’t learn courage from heroes on the evening news. We learn true courage from watching ordinary people rise above hopeless situations. In many ways my father was a strict, uncommunicative man. He found it difficult to show emotion. The bravest thing I ever saw him do was overcome that barrier to open his heart to his son and family at the end of his life.
1. Which of the following statements is TRUE?| A．The writer accompanied his father to a medical examination. |
| B．The writer’s father got worse after the removal of the brain tumor. |
| C．The writer’s father had known about his illness before the writer discovered it. |
| D．The writer was quick to notice the strange condition of his father. |
| A．It takes a long time for Father to recover. |
| B．There’s little possibility for Father to recover. |
| C．Father needs love and care from his family. |
| D．They need a proper time to operate on Father. |
| A．he was not used to openly showing his emotions |
| B．he was not so attached to the writer |
| C．he thought there was no need to tell the writer |
| D．he believed in strictness and punishment |
| A．Life is short, so live your life to the fullest. |
| B．Don’t wait to see a doctor till it is too late. |
| C．Bravely express your love for your family. |
| D．We don’t often value health until we lose it. |
There is one particular blue flower that has always caught my eye. I've noticed that it blooms only in the morning hours; the afternoon sun is too warm for it. Every day for approximately two weeks, I see those beautiful flowers.
This spring, I started a wildflower garden in our yard. I can look out of the kitchen window while doing the dishes and see the flowers. I've often thought that those lovely blue flowers from the ditch would look great in that bed alongside other wildflowers. Every day I drove past the flowers thinking, "I'II stop on my way home and dig them." "Gee, I don't want to get my good clothes dirty.,." Whatever the reason, I never stopped to dig them. My husband even gave me a folding tool one year for my trunk to be used for that expressed purpose.
One day on my way home from work, I was upset to see that the highway department had removed the ditches
and the pretty blue flowers were gone. I thought to myself, "Way to go, you waited too long. You should have done
it when you first saw them blooming this spring."
A week ago we were shocked and sad to learn that my oldest sister-in-law has a serious brain disease. She is20 years older than my husband and unfortunately, because of age and distance, we haven't been as close as we all would have liked. I couldn't help but see the connection between the pretty blue flowers and the relationship between my husband's sister and us. I do believe that God has given us some time left to plant some wonderful
memories that will bloom every year for us.
And yes, if I see the blue flowers again, you can bet I'll stop and transplant them to my wildflower garden.
1. Why does the writer want to start a wildflower garden in her yard?
| A．Because the flowers bloom only in the morning hours. |
| B．Because she can see the flowers every day for two weeks. |
| C．Because the flowers can remind her of her oldest sister-in-law. |
| D．Because she enjoys the way of life in company with the flowers. |
| A．The blue flowers in the ditches always draw my attention. |
| B．We don't get on well with the sister-in-law in practice. |
| C．I never stopped to dig the flowers for some reason. |
| D．The sister-in-law lives far from us. |
| A．stop to find the flowers whenever she drives along the highway |
| B．plant a variety of flowers in the garden in her yard in future |
| C．get as wonderful memories with the sister-in-law as before |
| D．get more close to the sister-in-law in the following days |
| A．Actions speak louder than words. |
| B．No sweets without sweat. |
| C．Time and tide wait for no man. |
| D．Opportunity belongs to whoever is prepared. |
【推荐1】We are fortunate to live in a city that encourages bicycling as a means of transportation.Our local government has promoted bicycling by improving bike lanes and increasing the number of them. The growing number of cyclists, however, brings this question to mind: should bicyclists be required to share the responsibilities of the road? Automobile drivers have to take competency tests, follow established regulations, and accept punishment for breaking rules. The city requests drivers to register and license their vehicles to ensure accountability (责任）. Bicyclists who use public roadways should be held accountable, too.
Let's look at what sharing the road means. For one thing, it should involve cost sharing.Auto registration and license fees are used, in part, for building and maintaining roadways. It seems only reasonable to ask bicyclists to contribute to transportation funding as well.
More importantly,sharing the road includes accountability. When drivers ignore the rules of the road, the police and other motorists have the opportunity to identify them by their license plate number and report their offenses (违法行为）。 This isn't true for bicyclists. I've seen bicyclists moving quickly between lanes.Because they show no identification, they feel protected by anonymity(匿名）。What good would it do to report to the police “I saw a guy on a red bike blow through the stoplight"? The simple act of making bicyclists identifiable would encourage safer, more responsible riding.
Of course,I've heard arguments against asking cyclists to register and license their bikes. Some people might say, “Little kids ride bikes. Would you require a six-year-old rider to take a test and pay a fee?" Obviously, the city could determine an age when cycling would be considered a "means of transportation on public roads." Other people argue that bicycle fees are unfair because bikes don't damage the roadways as cars do. Bicycle registration fees could be comparatively modest, and the method for displaying a license number could be simple.
Many U.S. cities and towns now implement bike registration and licensing. A statute(法规）from one. California town states that the laws regulating bicycles have a dual purpose, antitheft and safety. I'm eager to see more bicyclists on the road, and I'm hoping for riders who take their responsibilities seriously.
1. To advocate responsible cycling, the author suggests| A．increasing the number of bike lanes |
| B．giving competency tests to all cyclists |
| C．identifying cyclists through registration |
| D．reporting cycling offenses more frequently |
| A．To explain how bicycle registration and licensing work. |
| B．To provide solutions to reduce irresponsible cycling of kids. |
| C．To respond to people's doubts about holding cyclists accountable. |
| D．To argue against requiring cyclists to register and license their bicycles. |
① Using examples
② Quoting professionals
③ Comparing and contrasting
④ Appealing to readers' emotions
| A．①② |
| B．②④ |
| C．③④ |
| D．①③ |
| A．Should we encourage more cycling in the city? |
| B．Should cyclists register and license their bikes? |
| C．What does "sharing the road" mean to cyclists? |
| D．How can road safety be guaranteed for cyclists? |
【推荐2】In America, seldom do you go anywhere without hearing a principle called WIN-WIN. It sounds strange to me at first because throughout my childhood, I have always been taught to try everything possible to win an upper-hand, rather than to help other people win. However, as time goes by, I have gradually understood the essence (真谛) of WIN-WIN principle — it is the attitude of seeking mutual benefits.
When I was little, I used to play Chinese checkers (跳棋) which includes two basic tactics: One is to create paths for yourself; the other is to block the passages of your rival. Players may apply these two totally different approaches in the game, but the key for the player to win is to continuously create paths for him even if his opponent may take advantage of it. Finally he can always reach the destination a few steps ahead of the other player. Meanwhile, some player may take another approach to prevent his opponent from moving forward at all costs. In this way, he may get a short-term benefit, but couldn’t fix attention on the final goal. Thus, he would never truly develop further.
In the 1990s, a strategy called WIN-WIN became widespread in the western world. Its core is to achieve your objective while giving other people some benefits, so there is no real loser. One example of applying the WIN-WIN principle is the voluntary system in the US. Most Americans advocate the spirit of social service and voluntary contribution. In the US, schools and children organizations usually encourage and support kids to be engaged in community service so that the voluntary spirit can be enrooted in their minds from childhood. Moreover, a crucial standard for universities to judge new students is whether they have worked for the community or not.
In China, it’s quite usual that some people are too selfish and never take people’s interests into consideration, while someone who really has courage to do something for the public is often called “foolish” or “stupid”. Actually helping other people can be of great delight for the helper, for he can also learn something crucial for his life such as sympathy, care, devotion, etc. So only if you take other people’s interests into earnest consideration can you assure your own gain.
1. The purpose of the author in writing the passage is _______.| A．to tell us the cultural differences between China and the US |
| B．to tell us the different educational systems in the US and China |
| C．to tell us the importance and meaning of WIN-WIN |
| D．to show that WIN-WIN is popular in the US and China |
| A．prevents his opponent from moving forward at all costs |
| B．creates the passages for his rival over and over |
| C．continuously creates paths for both himself and his rival |
| D．blocks the passages of his rival all the time |
| A．Criticism. | B．Encouragement. | C．Disagreement. | D．Doubt. |
| A．WIN-WIN: Thinking for Others |
| B．WIN-WIN: Reaching Your Goals |
| C．WIN-WIN: Defeating Your Rivals |
| D．WIN-WIN: Gaining Mutual Benefits |
【推荐3】“Assume you are wrong.” The advice came from Brian Nosek, a psychology professor, who was offering a strategy for pursuing better science.
To understand the context for Nosek’s advice, we need to take a step back to the nature of science itself. You see despite what many of us learned in elementary school, there is no single scientific method. Just as scientific theories become complex and change, so do scientific methods.
But methodological reform hasn’t come without some worries and friction. Unpleasant things have been said by and about methodological reformers. Few people like having the value of their life’s work called into question. On the other side, few people are good at voicing criticisms in kind and constructive ways. So, part of the challenge is figuring out how to bake critical self-reflection into the culture of science itself, so it unfolds as a welcome and integrated part of the process, and not an embarrassing sideshow (附带事件).
What Nosek recommended was a strategy for changing the way we offer and respond to critique. Assuming you are right might be a motivating force, sustaining the enormous effort that conducting scientific work requires. But it also makes it easy to interpret criticisms as personal attacks. Beginning, instead, from the assumption you are wrong, a criticism is easier to interpret as a constructive suggestion for how to be less wrong — a goal that your critic probably shares.
One worry about this approach is that it could be demoralizing for scientists. Striving to be less wrong might be a less effective motivation than the promise of being right. Another concern is that a strategy that works well within science could backfire (适得其反) when it comes to communicating science with the public. Without an appreciation for how science works, it’s easy to take uncertainty or disagreements as marks against science, when in fact they reflect some of the very features of science that make it our best approach to reaching reliable conclusions about the world. Science is reliable because it responds to evidence: as the quantity and quality of our evidence improves, our theories can and should change, too.
Despite these worries, I like Nosek’s suggestion because it builds in cognitive (认知的) modesty along with a sense that we can do better. It also builds in a sense of community — we’re all in the same boat when it comes to falling short of getting things right.
Unfortunately, this still leaves us with an untested hypothesis (假说): that assuming one is wrong can change community norms for the better, and ultimately support better science and even, perhaps, better decisions in life. I don’t know if that’s true. In fact, I should probably assume that it’s wrong. But with the benefit of the scientific community and our best methodological tools, I hope we can get it less wrong, together.
1. What can we learn from Paragraph 3?| A．People hold wrong assumptions about the culture of science. |
| B．The scientific community should practice critical self-reflection. |
| C．Scientists are unwilling to express kind criticisms. |
| D．Reformers tend to devalue researchers’ work. |
| A．The enormous efforts of scientists at work. |
| B．The public’s passion for scientific findings. |
| C．The improvement in the quality of evidence. |
| D．The reliability of potential research results. |
| A．misleading | B．ineffective | C．discouraging | D．unfair |
| A．reflective and persuasive | B．uncertain but sincere |
| C．authoritative and direct | D．disapproving but soft |
