Emotions are like our best friend. They have always been a part of our lives and have been influencing our personalities from the very beginning. However, this begs the question — where do emotions come from?
Evolutionary (进化论的) psychologists believe that emotions are adaptations that have evolved in response to the challenges faced by our ancestors. They believe that emotions are innate (先天的), meaning that we are born with them wired into our brains.
Some psychologists restrict their claims to a small set of “basic” emotions, which are called the Big Six — happiness, sadness, fear, surprise, anger and disgust.
Critics of evolutionary psychology argue that emotions are socially constructed. They reject the evolutionary theory of emotions being involuntary; instead, they believe that emotions are voluntary choices we trick ourselves into treating as involuntary.
Defendants of this view believe that our culture influences how we should feel and what we should do in a given situation. When we feel an emotion and act on it, we engage in a behavior that is prescribed by our culture.
People argue that our presumption that emotions are involuntary, such as anger, may just be a convenient illusion (幻觉). To be angry, we need to understand something as offensive (冒犯的), which is likely based on culturally informed moral judgments. In that case, how can anger be an animal reflex (本能反应)?
Moreover, anger is not seen in all cultures. In Inuit culture, people rarely show any signs of anger, probably since threatening responses would be too risky in a small culture surviving in harsh conditions. The Malay language of Malaysia doesn’t even have a word meaning “anger”!
The fact that culture can affect the incidence and intensity of our emotions makes them look less like biological truths and more like the product of social constructs.
From my perspective, evolutionary psychologists underestimate the contributions of culture and learning, whereas social constructionists over-emphasize the same. Basically, we need an explanation that can steer between both these extremes.
The next time you feel a complex emotion bubbling up (冒出), the key is to determine the underlying basic emotions so you can take action that is the most helpful in keeping you balanced and emotionally under control!
1. What do evolutionary psychologists believe?| A．We are born with emotions. |
| B．Personalities influence emotions. |
| C．Emotions are learned. |
| D．Humans have six different emotions. |
| A．Copied. |
| B．Remembered. |
| C．Translated. |
| D．Required. |
| A．Emotions play a major role in survival. |
| B．People in poor circumstances have emotions. |
| C．People solve problems with the help of emotions. |
| D．Emotions are socially constructed. |
| A．Finding out the real core emotions. |
| B．Taking action to ignore basic emotions. |
| C．Striking a balance between life and work. |
| D．Making efforts to build confidence. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Stop Being Angry and Live Happily
Anger is the most destructive emotion. When you are in a temper, you make quick ill-considered decisions that you will probably regret. Anger arrives quickly, in response to an event or action.
You have to accept that sometimes things do go wrong and that people are not always lovely. Try to accept that other people do behave in ways that will make you both frustrated and angry.
Anger management used to be promoted as a way of dealing with anger, but all that happens is that the anger is suppressed (压制).
It is much harder to stay calm, to walk away from conflict, or to take a deep breath and act normally. That,however, is what you must do if you are to stop anger from becoming your master.
| A．By contrast, anger is slow to pass. |
| B．Anger, controlled properly, can promote self-improvement. |
| C．A much better way of facing up to anger is to identify the root cause. |
| D．This way,your anger will not get the emotional food it needs to survive. |
| E．Realizing that no-one is perfect is a good start to avoiding getting angry. |
| F．Anger,channeled constructively,can be powerful to make positive changes. |
| G．When you give instructions that are not followed,instead of getting angry,look for the reason why. |
Many people would say that this question does not need an answer. But Professor Deiner has one anyway. “If you’re a cheerful, happy person, your marriage is more likely to last, and you’re more likely to make money and be successful at your job. On average, happy people have stronger immune systems, and there is some evidence that they live longer.”
So who are the world’s happiest people? It depends on how the word is defined. There is individual happiness, the sense of joy we get when we do something we like. But there is also the feeling of satisfaction we get when we know that others respect us and approve of how we behave. According to Professor Deiner, the Western world pursues individual happiness while Asia prefers mutual satisfaction.
“In the West, the individualistic culture means that your mood matters much more than it does in the East. People ask themselves if they are doing what is fun or interesting. They become unhappy when they can’t do any of these things. If you ask people from Japan or China if they are happy, they tend to look at what has gone wrong in their lives. If not much has gone wrong, then they are satisfied.”
People from Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries had the happiest culture, Professor Deiner found. “The biggest cultural difference is to do with pride and shame. Hispanic (西班牙语言的) cultures report much more pride and much less shame than others.”
Income also made a big difference to people’s happiness, but only at the lowest levels. Average income earners in the US were much happier than people in poverty. But millionaires were only a little bit happier than people on average incomes. It seems that money makes us happy when we have enough to feel secure.
1. According to the passage, happy people enjoy the following benefits EXCEPT ______.
| A．a long marriage |
| B．better health |
| C．profession success |
| D．respect from others |
| A．Asians focus more on others’ respect and approval than westerners |
| B．Westerners care more about mutual satisfaction than Asians |
| C．Asians have a culture to enjoy individual happiness |
| D．Westerners value individual happiness as much as mutual satisfaction |
| A．Hispanic cultures lay stress on pride and shame. |
| B．Spanish people take too much pride in themselves. |
| C．Attitude towards pride and shame results in Spanish happiness. |
| D．If you are from Spain, you are the happiest. |
| A．poor people enjoy the same happiness as millionaires. |
| B．the higher income one gets, the happier life he lives |
| C．enough money can make us feel safe and happy |
| D．average income earners live the happiest life |
| A．Hispanic cultures |
| B．reasons for happiness |
| C．the happiest culture |
| D．benefits of happiness |
That night I wrote a short sad poem about broken dreams and mailed it to the Capri’s Weekly newspaper. To my astonishment, they published it and sent me two dollars. I was a published and paid writer. I showed it to my teacher and fellow students. They laughed. “Just plain dumb luck,” the teacher said. I tasted success. I’d sold the first thing I’d ever written. That was more than any of them had done and if it was just dumb luck, that was fine with me.
During the next two years I sold dozens of poems, letters, jokes and recipes. By the time I graduated from high school, with a C minus average, I had scrapbooks filled with my published work. I never mentioned my writing to my teachers, friends or my family again. They were dream killers and if people must choose between their friends and their dreams, they must always choose their dreams.
I had four children at the time, and the oldest was only four. While the children slept, I typed on my ancient typewriter. I wrote what I felt. It took nine months, just like a baby.
A month later Crying Wind, the title of my book, became a best seller, was translated into fifteen languages and Braille and sold worldwide. I appeared on TV talk shows. I traveled from New York to California and Canada on promotional tours. My first book also became required reading in native American schools in Canada.
People ask what college I attended, what degrees I had and what qualifications I have to be a writer. The answer is: “None.” I just write. I’m not a genius. I’m not gifted and I don’t write right. To all those who dream of writing, I’m shouting at you: “Yes, you can. Yes, you can. Don’t listen to them.” I don’t write right but I’ve beaten the odds. Writing is easy, it’s fun and anyone can do it. Of course, a little dumb luck doesn’t hurt.
1. Why did many students laugh after hearing what the writer said?
| A．Because they didn’t like him |
| B．Because they wished he could be successful as a writer |
| C．Because their teacher laughed, too |
| D．Because they felt it impossible for him to succeed |
| A．he had become a famous writer |
| B．he had made progress in his studies. |
| C．his classmates and teachers changed their attitudes towards him |
| D．he decided he wouldn’t become a writer |
| A．The characters in his story. | B．His teacher. |
| C．His early experience. | D．His parents. |
| A．It is difficult for a person, who cares about what others say, to succeed. |
| B．It is important for a person to tell others what he wants to do. |
| C．It is necessary for a person, who wants to succeed, to take others’ advice. |
| D．It is impossible for an ordinary person to be a writer in the future. |
| A．A famous writer |
| B．I Hate My Classmates and Teachers |
| C．I Never Write Right |
| D．A Genius Can Be a Writer |
【推荐1】If a child is playing sport, they should have fun. However, I believe learning that sometimes you lose is just as important.
There is a school of thought that if children are playing for fun, they should not keep score, which seems a bit backwards to me. Participation is great, but let’s also give them a goal to reach.
Sport has winners and losers, which is an important part of its make-up. I believe the greatest joy you can get from sport is when you play hard and produce a win, when you and your teammates work together for your goal.
I am a competitive person, but I don’t think you’re ever too young to start learning that putting effort into something can result in reward. I’m not saying winning should be the be-all and end-all of the experience for children, but it should at least be a choice.
Michael Jordan once said. “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
Without learning how it feels to win, and just as importantly how it feels to lose, we will bring up children who expect life to be easy. Life is not easy and I believe the sooner children learn that, the better off they are in the long run. But, there does need to be a balance. There are parents who always want to see their children win and will punish them when they make mistakes.
I believe the key is to teach children that they should give their all in an effort to be victorious. It does need to be fun or they won’t be interested, but they should be graceful (优雅的) in failure. Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios is an example of someone who appears to have gone too far the other way, always in the news for his terrible attitude on court.
1. Which of the following will the author agree with?| A．Fewer kids play sport nowadays. | B．It is participation that matters most. |
| C．Competitive sport is important for kids. | D．Kids often have unrealistic goals in sport. |
| A．Life lies in sport. | B．Nothing is impossible. |
| C．Great hopes make great men. | D．Failure is the mother of success. |
| A．The difficulty of life. | B．The role of hard work. |
| C．The power of teamwork. | D．The need for dreaming big. |
| A．He is not skilled. | B．He is not graceful. |
| C．He sets a good example for kids. | D．He pays little attention to success. |
【推荐2】An advance in electronic publishing could make the ebook you are reading seem as dated as a silent film. Publishers hope to explore the growing success of ebooks by releasing versions with added soundtracks and musical accompaniments.
The noises in the first multimedia books- released in Britain on Friday - include rain hitting a window in a Sherlock Holmes tale. When the plot of a book reaches the most exciting part, background scores will create tension. In America, works by Shakespeare and Jane Austen have already been released with music and background noise so that, for example, readers can hear tea cups clinking in Mr. Darcy's garden as they read Pride and Prejudice.
Supporters argue that sound effects are the next logical development for ebooks and will add excitement for younger readers. Critics, however, will argue that the noise will ruin the simple pleasure of having the imagination stimulated by reading.
Caroline Michel, chief executive of the literary agency, said the new generation of computer-literate readers was used to multiple sensory input. She said, “Young people have split computer screens where they may be watching television and replying to an email at the same time. If that's what the market wants then we should respond to the market.”
Booktrack's sound effects work by estimating the user's reading speed. Each time you “turn” a page, the software reassesses where you have reached in the text and times the sounds to switch on accordingly. If the soundtrack becomes out of synch(同步), a click on any word will re-set it.
Some authors fear that a soundtrack could destroy the peace and quiet of libraries and ruin the pleasure of reading. David Nicholls, author of One Day, the bestseller now released as a film, said, “This sounds like the opposite of reading. I have enough trouble reading an ebook because I’m constantly distracted by emails.”
Stuart MacBride, the crime writer whose novel Shatter the Bones was an ebook bestseller, sells 18% of his books as electronic downloads. He said, “If I’m reading, I will do the noise in my head. I don't need someone to tell me what tea cups clinking sounds like. That would irritate me.”
1. What's the passage mainly about?| A．Opinions about ebooks with soundtracks. |
| B．Response to the need of the book market. |
| C．Reasons for traditional ebooks becoming outdated. |
| D．Suggestions on encouraging readers' imagination. |
| A．Help to release an ebook as a film. |
| B．Help readers improve reading speed. |
| C．Add tension at a book's exciting point. |
| D．Get readers familiar with the background. |
| A．Mr. Darcy. | B．Caroline Michel. |
| C．David Nicholls. | D．Stuart MacBride. |
| A．He was a person who was easy to get angry. |
| B．He knew a great deal about tea and tea culture. |
| C．Eighty-two percent of his books described crime. |
| D．He imagined sounds related to the story when reading. |
The study’s authors, psychology professors, Aurora Sherman of Oregon State University and Eileen Zurbriggen at UC Santa Cruz, describe their findings as significant. “This is one of the first studies to investigate how playing with sexualized dolls affects young girls, and also one of the first to look at the impact of such play on achievement or career aspirations (愿望), rather than body image,” said Zurbriggen. Sherman suggests that Barbie and similar dolls are part of the burden of early and inappropriate sexuality placed on girls.
Sherman and Zurbriggen used girls’ doll play to study the impact of fender role socialization, a process through which children learn to follow cultural norms and which encourages gender stereotypical(约定俗成的) behavior.
Thirty-seven girls from the age of four to seven from an Oregon college town were randomly arranged to play for five minutes with either a sexualized Doctor Barbie or Fashion Barbie doll, or with a more neutral (中性的) Mrs. Potato Head doll. The girls were then shown photographs of ten occupations and asked how many they themselves or boys could do in the future.
The girls who played with a Barbie doll saw themselves in fewer occupations, compared with boys. Those girls who played with Mrs. Potato Head reported nearly as many career options available for themselves as for boys.
The two Barbie dolls were the same except for clothing, with unrealistic bodies, extremely youthful and attractive faces, and long full hair. The researchers believe that the doll itself has more of an effect on girls than the role or career aspirations suggested by its costume.
“It’s significant that a few minutes of play with a Barbie doll had an immediate impact on the number of careers that girls saw as possible for themselves,” Zurbriggen said. “And it didn’t matter whether the Barbie doll was dressed as a model or as a doctor, suggesting that the doll’s sexualized shape and appearance might have more of an effect than whatever accessories (装饰品) are packaged with her.”
1. Which of the following is TRUE?
| A．Playing with dolls affects the academic performance of young children. |
| B．Body image has a big influence on girls’ career options. |
| C．Researchers used doll play to study the impact of gender role socialization on girls. |
| D．Boys who played with a Fashion Barbie doll found more career options than girls. |
| A．The method adopted by the study. |
| B．The significance of the study. |
| C．The purpose of the study. |
| D．The process of the study. |
| A．Why Barbie dolls are the world’s best-selling dolls. |
| B．That playing with Barbie dolls could limit girls’ career choices. |
| C．What negative effects Barbie dolls have on young girls in the long term. |
| D．That Barbie dolls make girls want to be thin. |
