Marketers assume the more choice they offer, the more likely customers will be able to find just the right thing. For instance, offering fifty styles of jeans instead of two increases the chances that shoppers will find a pair they really like. Nevertheless, research now shows when there is too much choice, consumers are less likely to buy anything at all, and if they do buy, they are less satisfied with their selection.
It all began with jam. In 2000, psychologists Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper published a remarkable study. On one day, shoppers saw a display table with 24 varieties of jam. Those sampling the jam received a coupon for $1 off any jam. On another day, shoppers saw a similar table, but only six varieties of jam were on display. The large display attracted more interest than the small one. But when the time for purchase came, people seeing the large display were one-tenth as likely to buy as people seeing the small one.
Other studies have confirmed this result that more choice is not always better. As the variety of snacks, soft drinks and beers offered at convenience stores increases, for instance, sales volume and customer satisfaction decrease. These results challenge our opinions about human nature and the determinants of well-being.
Choice is good for us, but its relationship to satisfaction appears to be more complicated than we assumed. What’s more, psychologists and business academics have largely ignored another outcome of choice: More of it requires increased time and effort and can lead to anxiety, regret, excessively high expectations and self-blame if the choice doesn’t work out.
Without doubt, having more options enables us, most of the time, to achieve better objective outcomes. Again, having fifty styles of jeans rather than two increases the likelihood that customers will find a pair that fits. But the subjective outcome may be that shoppers will feel dissatisfied, which creates a significant challenge for retailers and marketers. Choice can no longer be used to justify a marketing strategy. More isn’t always better, either for the customer or for the retailer.
1. How does the author mainly support the topic?| A．By quoting sayings. | B．By giving examples. |
| C．By stating arguments. | D．By making comments. |
| A．It always wastes customers’ time. | B．It’s difficult to accept the bad results. |
| C．It may result in some negative feelings. | D．It makes the business more complicated. |
| A．More choice leads to shopping themselves. |
| B．Choice plays an important role in marketing strategies. |
| C．Having fifty styles of jeans is extremely better than two. |
| D．More choice causes the decline in consumption to some degree. |
| A．Less choice does harm | B．More isn’t always better |
| C．More purchase is better | D．Less choice favors consumption |
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【推荐1】You definitely don’t want to have your head in the clouds when making an important business decision. But who could have thought our decisions are really influenced by height?
As in, what floor you happen to be on when thinking something over. If it’s a high elevation (海拔), like the top floor of an office tower, chances are you’ll take more risks than you would on the ground floor, according to researchers from Miami University.
The study suggests you may want a business advisor to work from a ground-floor office rather than the office on the top of a building. And it gives new emphasis to the idea that you should stay calm when making big decisions. “When you increase the elevation, there is a subconscious (潜意识的) effect on the sense of power,” lead author Sina Esteky, PhD said. “This heighted feeling of power results in more risk-seeking behavior.”
For the study, Esteky’s team interviewed people as they were moving up and going down in the glass elevator of a tall building. They found the direction of the elevator strongly influenced the level of risk among participants. They were more likely, for instance, to take more risks on the way to the 74th floor —— but their decisions became far more grounded as they neared the ground.
Another experiment focused on people who were either on the ground floor or the third floor of a university building. Each group was asked to make 10 decisions of different risk levels. Guess which group made the most risky decisions?
What was it about higher elevations that gave the participants more courage? Researchers thought it could have something to do with the idea that the elevation gives people a sense of power. When participants were told their decisions were being influenced by the elevation, they didn’t make risky decisions anymore. Likewise, “elevation effect” wasn’t a factor for people caught in small space who couldn’t see how high up they were.
“The important lesson is that when people become aware of the possible influence of the elevation, it doesn’t happen anymore,” Esteky says. “The brain is very easily affected by small situational factors, but also really good at correcting such effects, so awareness can help us be more rational in our decisions.”
1. What is the best title for the passage?| A．How to make up one’s mind in the elevator. |
| B．You’d better make decisions on the high floors. |
| C．Don’t make big decisions at high elevations. |
| D．How to use elevation effect when making decisions. |
| A．may give more helpful suggestions |
| B．are more likely to give some risky advice |
| C．think that height can help them think effectively |
| D．may have a sense that shows they are better than others |
| A．Their decisions were more meaningless. |
| B．Their decisions were more reasonable and practical. |
| C．Their decisions were more stupid with less judgement. |
| D．Their decisions were based on their personal experience. |
| A．they won’t make decisions in the elevator |
| B．they will continue making risky decisions |
| C．the elevation effect can be overcome as the elevator goes up |
| D．the effect of the elevation on decisions will disappear |
| A．The awareness of life. | B．Our surrounding situation. |
| C．Our brain’s consciousness. | D．Our effort to correct mistakes. |
【推荐2】How Room Designs Affect Our Work and Feelings
Architects have long had the feeling that the places we live in can affect our thoughts, feelings and behaviors. But now scientists are giving this feeling an empirical（经验的，实证的） basis. They are discovering how to design spaces that promote creativity, keep people focused and lead to relaxation.
Researches show that aspects of the physical environment can influence creativity. In 2007, Joan Meyers-Levy at the University of Minnesota, reported that the height of a room's ceiling affects how people think. Her research indicates that higher ceilings encourage people to think more freely, which may lead them to make more abstract connections. Low ceilings, on the other hand, may inspire a more detailed outlook.
In additions to ceiling height, the view afforded by a building may influence an occupant's ability to concentrate. Nancy Wells and her colleagues at Cornell University found in their study that kids who experienced the greatest increase in greenness as a result of a family move made the most gains on a standard test of attention.
Using nature to improve focus of attention ought to pay off academically, and it seems to, according to a study led by C. Kenneth Tanner, head of the School Design & Planning Laboratory at the University of Georgia. Tanner and his team found that students in classrooms with unblocked views of at least 50 feet outside the window had higher scores on tests of vocabulary, language arts and maths than did students whose classrooms primarily overlooked roads and parking lots.
Recent study on room lighting design suggests than dim（暗淡的） light helps people to loosen up. If that is true generally, keeping the light low during dinner or at parties could increase relaxation. Researchers of Harvard Medical School also discovered that furniture with rounded edges could help visitors relax.
So far scientists have focused mainly on public buildings. "We have a very limited number of studies, so we're almost looking at the problem through a straw（吸管）," architect David Allison says. "How do you take answers to very specific questions and make broad, generalized use of them? That's what we're all struggling with."
1. What does Joan Meyers-Levy focus on in her research?| A．Light. | B．Ceilings. | C．Windows. | D．Furniture. |
| A．the shape of furniture may affect people's feelings |
| B．lower ceilings may help improve students' creativity |
| C．children in a dim classroom may improve their grades |
| D．students in rooms with unblocked views may feel relaxed |
| A．the problem is not approached step by step |
| B．the researches so far have faults in themselves |
| C．the problem is too difficult for researchers to detect |
| D．research in this area is not enough to make generalized patterns |
CP: Central Point P: Point SP: Sub-point（次要点） C: Conclusion
A． | B． | C． | D． |
【推荐3】Half of US dog owners and 62 percent of American cat owners share the sheets with their pets, a practice that sleep experts warn can lead to sleep deprivation (剥夺). Besides，Mayo Clinic found that more than half of the patients seeking consultations at its sleep clinic were pet owners whose sleep was disturbed by their cats or dogs in 2014.
However, a 2018 study found that is not the case. Researchers from Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, surveyed 150 of the patients who visited the facility’s center for sleep medicine. Every participant received a piece of paper and answered questions on it about their sleeping habits, their pets’ behavior, sleeping locations and how their pets affected their nightly sleep.
The researchers found that 56 percent of the study participants shared their bed or bedroom with their cat or dog. However, while 20 percent reported disturbed sleep because of their pets, 41 percent said that their pets presence in bed actually helped them sleep better.
Those who reported sleeping more soundly when their pets were present said that having them in the bedroom or on the bed offered them relaxation and provided a sense of companionship and security. Single sleepers were especially likely to report that sharing a bed with a cat or dog helped them get some shut-eye.
“Participants described feeling secure, content and relaxed when their pet slept nearby,” the study authors wrote. “The value of these experiences, although poorly understood, cannot be dismissed because sleep is dependent on a state of physical and mental relaxation.”
A similar small study published by the researchers from the University of Alberta found that having pets in bed can help people with chronic (慢性的) pain sleep better, while also easing feelings of loneliness and anxiety.
“They liked the physical contact with their dogs — cuddling before bed, and how it distracted them from feeling anxious about being alone at night,” researcher Cary Brown said. “They felt more relaxed and safer, so they weren’t anxious as they were trying to sleep.”
1. What is the 2018 study based on?| A．A controlled experiment of sleep. |
| B．A questionnaire survey of the patients. |
| C．The comparison of the patients’ sleeping habits. |
| D．The long-term observation of all the participants. |
| A．Sleeping with pets is beneficial. |
| B．It is painful to sleep with pets. |
| C．Some people suffer from loneliness. |
| D．Physical relaxation is important to our health. |
| A．Distracted. | B．Crowded. |
| C．Calm. | D．Nervous. |
| A．Sleeping has something to do with health |
| B．Owners can get on well with their pets |
| C．It is hard for people to sleep soundly |
| D．Pets may help you sleep better |
【推荐1】“Beauty is only skin deep” it is said. This means that a person’s appearance is not as important as their character. Yet it is strange why people and especially women are willing to spend a fortune on making themselves more attractive physically.
Attractive people are more popular generally. Beauty draws a positive response from the people around. This is obvious with children. For example, based on observation, there is a tendency for adults to treat good-looking children better. This favorable treatment continues into adulthood, as attractive people are more likely to be chosen for leadership positions and given more opportunities.
Another important benefit that good-looking people enjoy is that they find a husband or wife more easily.
On the other hand, beauty has a number of disadvantages as well. Firstly, a good-looking person tends to attract unwanted attention from all kinds of people. The admirer may have bad intentions and cause problems for the target.
While every individual should take care of their outward appearance and look their best, they should not neglect (忽视) their inner beauty or character.
| A．Life is not always easy for beautiful people. |
| B．The skincare industry is a multi-billion dollar business. |
| C．It turns out being conventionally beautiful has its benefits. |
| D．It is a fact that people are first attracted to outward appearance. |
| E．They should not place such importance on beauty that they become proud. |
| F．Being well-treated gives attractive people more confidence and they perform better. |
| G．Another problem faced by good-looking people is that they may not be taken seriously. |
【推荐2】Everywhere you go, it seems like people are using something to reduce the noise in their lives. They wear over-ear headphones on public transportation, during long flights, or in open-plan offices, or use colored earplugs (耳塞) at concerts. Silence is now big business, with the global market for noise-cancelling headphones bringing $13.1 billion in 2021. Experts predict that this figure will triple by 2031. While these market-based solutions are becoming popular, they raise a question: Are there physical and social effects to shutting out the world around us?
Noise-cancelling technology was first developed in the 1950s to reduce cockpit noise for pilots. The headphones today use technology known as active noise control. However, too much of a good thing also has its downsides. Many studies have shown that constant earplug wearing, day and night, over just one week can lead to a condition known as tinnitus (耳鸣). “When you stop listening to outside sounds, your brain starts to turn up its ‘internal volume’ so that it can still pick up on things.” McAlpine says. “If you stop the sound going into your ears, it’s like messing with how your brain is supposed to work naturally.”
When it comes to distraction (干扰), the type of noise may matter as much as volume. Moderate (适中的) background noise, around 70dB, has been found to advance performance on creative tasks, for example. “Some people can work really effectively in buzzy cafes and even airports, and yet they can’t focus in the same way in an office. Even if it isn’t as noisy,” McAlpine says. “Your brain in the office is automatically paying attention to all those other conversations — because they might be about something you need to know.”
How, then, can we deal with all the loud distractions in our modern lives? An over-dependence on noise-cancelling technology is not necessarily the solution, says McAlpine. “We have given more control to outside sources over our sound environment compared to our visual environment,” he says. If people started wearing AR/VR goggles and living in their own virtual worlds instead of focusing on improving the physical environment, “And that’s problematic.”
1. What is the purpose of noise-cancelling headphones?| A．To pick up the sounds. |
| B．To reduce the rate of tinnitus. |
| C．To improve performance on creative tasks. |
| D．To create a sense of silence in noisy environments. |
| A．Wearing noise-cancelling headphones has no physical or social costs. |
| B．Creative task performance can be improved by the moderate background noise. |
| C．Noise-cancelling technology was first developed in the 1950s for concertgoers. |
| D．The global market for noise-cancelling headphones is believed to drop by 2031. |
| A．Lively. | B．Advanced. | C．Interesting. | D．Quiet. |
| A．Negative. | B．Objective. | C．Optimistic. | D．Indifferent. |
【推荐3】For most thinkers since the Greek philosophers, it was self-evident that there is something called human nature, something that constitutes the essence of man. There were various views about what constitutes it, but there was agreement that such an essence exists—that is to say, that there is something by virtue of which man is man. Thus man was defined as a rational being, as a social animal, an animal that can make tools, or a symbol-making animal.
More recently, this traditional view has begun to be questioned. One reason for this change was the increasing emphasis given to the historical approach to man. An examination of the history of humanity suggested that man in our time is so different from man in previous times that it seemed unrealistic to assume that men in every age have had in common something that can be called “human nature.” The historical approach was reinforced, particularly in the United States, by studies in the field of cultural anthropology (人类学). The study of primitive peoples has discovered such a diversity of customs, values, feelings, and thoughts that many anthropologists arrived at the concept that man is born as a blank sheet of paper on which each culture writes its text. Another factor contributing to the tendency to deny the assumption of a fixed human nature was that the concept has so often been abused as a shield behind which the most inhuman acts are committed. In the name of human nature, for example, Aristotle and most thinkers up to the eighteenth century defended slavery. Or in order to prove the rationality and necessity of the capitalist form of society, scholars have tried to make a case for acquisitiveness, competitiveness, and selfishness as natural human characters. Popularly, one refers cynically to “human nature” in accepting the inevitability of such undesirable human behavior as greed, murder, cheating and lying.
Another reason for skepticism about the concept of human nature probably lies in the influence of evolutionary thinking. Once man came to be seen as developing in the process of evolution, the idea of a substance which is contained in his essence seemed untenable(站不住脚). Yet I believe it is precisely from an evolutionary standpoint that we can expect new insight into the problem of the nature of man.
1. Most philosophers believed that human nature ________.| A．is the quality distinguishing man from other animals |
| B．consists of competitiveness and selfishness |
| C．is something partly innate and partly acquired |
| D．consists of rationality and undesirable behavior |
| A．the emergence of the evolutionary theory |
| B．the historical approach to man |
| C．new insight into human behavior |
| D．the philosophical analysis of slavery |
| A．emphasize that he contributed a lot to defining the concept of “human nature” |
| B．show that the concept of “human nature” was used to justify social evils |
| C．prove that he had a profound influence on the concept of “human nature” |
| D．support the idea that some human characters are inherited |
| A．have some characters in common |
| B．are born with diverse cultures |
| C．are born without a fixed nature |
| D．change their characters as they grow up |
【推荐1】This August, we'll welcome guests from all over the world. Some of them follow their own special cultural traditions. It's important for us to know about them.
In many countries, such as Thailand, India and Malaysia, people believe that the left hand is unclean. So, it's not proper to use one's left hand to hold food, touch others or pass objects. Doing so may offend some guests.
Some Westerners may be offended if you touch them or their personal things-even by accident. If this happens, say sorry politely.
Some elderly Westerners may be offended if you try to help them without their agreement.
People think numbers can be lucky or unlucky. Some Westerners avoid the number 13 because they believe it is unlucky.
Muslims do not eat pork, and words like pigs are not considered proper.
People from Brazil, Italy and Pakistan do not give handkerchiefs as gifts. They believe a handkerchief is closely connected with unhappy feelings.
Wine is not sent as a gift in many parts of western and middle Asia, where most Muslims live.
1. Indians don't hold food with the left hand because they consider it _____.A．unclean | B．useless | C．valueless | D．unimportant |
| A．honor | B．help | C．hate | D．hurt |
| A．People from Pakistan like to send handkerchiefs as gifts. |
| B．All the elderly people in the West like being helped by others. |
| C．The number 13 is thought to be unlucky by some Westerners. |
| D．Westerners do not mind their personal things being touched. |
| A．lucky numbers. | B．Traditional food. |
| C．Culture differences. | D．Hands and handkerchiefs. |
【推荐2】How many friends do you have? Not counting the hundreds on Facebook or the names gathering dust in your address book. But real friends, the ones cast in stone. The kind who would lend you $100 without asking why, or accommodate you if you were kicked out of your house.
Anthropologist Prof Robin Dunbar feels he can put a number on it: five. No matter how much of a social butterfly you are, you can count your real pals on one hand, he says. To that he says you can add an ideal number of 15 “good friends”, the kind of people you would see in a group and would join for a drink if you bumped into them in the pub, and up to 150 “meaningful contacts”.
Prof Dunbar’s latest research is an exact formula (公式) for friendship: new friendships take 34 hours of one-on-one time to form, in which you’d spend an ideal duration of three hours and four minutes per interaction together over the course of six months. Note that this is to turn an acquaintance into a friend, not one of the close friends that makes up your inner circle of five—to do that, you’d have to devote 90 hours, according to a 2018 University of Kansas study.
According to the experts, the pandemic years have changed the number and nature of our friendship. It gave people more grounds for disagreement: over adherence ( 遵 守 ) to social-distancing rules, for example. Plenty of people lost relationships in the cracks. “We are always on the outlook for new and better friends, but lockdown has had a big effect in making people reevaluate,” says Dunbar. “Perhaps they’ve decided the time has come to part with some and therefore there’s an empty space to fill.”
The forecast for British friendship was already gloomy before the pandemic. Three million people said they feel lonely “often or always”, according to the Government’s 2019 community life survey. But the average British adult lost four friends over the course of the pandemic, according to the poll.
1. Who are real friends?| A．Those who we keep in contact. | B．Those who are interested in stones. |
| C．the one who is extremely generous. | D．Friends on social networks. |
| A．34 hours of one-on-one time. |
| B．90 hours of interaction. |
| C．Six months of one-on-one time. |
| D．Three hours and four minutes of interaction. |
| A．There is a limit to the number of real friends in your life. |
| B．It’s much easier for people to make friends online. |
| C．The more friends you make, the happier your life will be. |
| D．The more sociable you are, the more real friends you can make. |
| A．Whether to part with some old friends. |
| B．How to tackle loneliness during the pandemic. |
| C．Whether to obey social distancing. |
| D．How to make better friends. |
In 1983, Howard Gardner, a professor at Harvard, published Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. In the book, he presented one type of intelligence that everyone must develop if they want to be successful. That is emotional intelligence.
Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to recognize and control your own emotions. It means having a deep understanding of yourself, knowing your own strengths and weaknesses, and handling reactions and emotions wisely. Emotional intelligence is key to success in almost any field and it is especially important for high-stress environments, for example, when times are tough and when a person wants to quit or is fearful.
We all know highly emotional people. Rather than react wisely, they tend to let their emotions run their lives, often saying or doing something they may later regret. I’ve seen many people do this on social media, getting in arguments with loved ones over unimportant things because they have different opinions. This inability to master the self leads to many struggles and heartaches for people.
Emotional intelligence does not mean being void (没有) of emotions. It means you know it is okay to be angry, just not out-of-control angry. You know it’s okay to feel hurt, but it is not okay to do something stupid in the name of revenge (报复). Many of us know people who are very intelligent, but allow their emotions to damage their lives.
Now, think deeply on how you manage your emotions. Are you smart in the way you express what you’re feeling, especially when the pressure is on?
1. According to the passage, what is “emotional intelligence”?2. In what occasion is Emotional Intelligence especially important?
3. How do highly emotional people deal with their emotions?
4. In your daily life, what can you do to better manage your emotions? Please give some examples.
