1 . In the fictional worlds of film and TV, artificial intelligence （AI） has been described as so advanced that it is indistinguishable from humans. But what if we're actually getting closer to a world where Al is capable of thinking and feeling?
Tech company UneeQ is heading for its "digital humans", which appear life like on the screen not only in terms of language, but also because of facial movements: raised eyebrows, a smile, even a nod. They look close to a human, but not quite.
What lies beneath UneeQ9 s digital humans? Their 3D faces are modeled on actual human features. Speech recognition enables them to understand what a person is saying, and natural language processing is used to work out a response. Meanwhile, another Al company, Soul Machines, is taking a more biological approach, with a "digital brain", that imitates aspects of the human brain to adjust the emotions "felt" and "expressed" by its "digital people".
Shiwali Mohan, an Al scientist at the Palo Research Center, is skeptical of these digital beings. "They're humanlike in their looks and the way they sound, but that in itself is not being human," she says. "Human qualities also involve how you think, how you approach problems, and how you break them down; and that takes a lot of algorithmic (算 法)design. Designing for human-level intelligence is a different attempt than designing images that behave like humans." She then continues, “If something looks like a human, we have high expectations of them, but they might behave differently in ways that humans just instinctively (直觉地)know how other humans react.
Yet the demand is there, with UneeQ seeing high adoption of its digital employees across the financial, health care, and commercial sectors （行业）. "Unless these sectors make their business models much more efficient digitally, they might be left behind," says Chetan Dube, UneeQ9s CEO.
Some other companies are taking their digital beings a step further, enabling organizations and individuals to create digital humans themselves using free-access platforms they provide. "The biggest motivation for such platforms is to popularize Al," Dube says.
Mohan is cautious about this approach, yet she supports the purpose behind these digital beings and is optimistic about where they are headed. "As we develop more advanced Al technology, we would then have to use new ways of communicating with that technology,she says. "'Hopefully, all of that is designed to support humans in their goals."
1. According to Para. 2, in what respect（s） do UneeQ9s "digital humans" resemble human beings?| A．In the way they move around. |
| B．In the way they act and react. |
| C．In observation and analysis. |
| D．In speech and facial expressions. |
| A．leams to make proper emotional responses |
| B．tends to imitate human beings' tone vividly |
| C．recognizes the speech sounds it receives |
| D．processes the natural language it hears |
| A．Calculating brain. |
| B．Language skills. |
| C．Instinctive judgements. |
| D．Problem-solving ability. |
| A．The fear of falling behind in efficiency. |
| B．The urgency to promote e-commerce. |
| C．The wish to spread digital technology. |
| D．The need to upgrade the health care system. |
| A．It's well planned. |
| B．It is promising. |
| C．It is uncertain. |
| D．It's quite hopeless. |
2 . I love making art and looking at artworks. I’ve found myself wondering how we gain pleasure from art. And now neuroaesthetics, a combination of neuroscience (神经科学) and aesthetics (美学), may provide an answer.
Neuroaesthetics is a relatively young field of research on what happens in the brain when we make aesthetic assessments. Researchers use brain imaging technique to see which brain areas light up when we view paintings that we consider beautiful. Similar research has been done to understand the “neuronal fireworks” that occur when we look at inspiring sculptures, attractive faces, impressive dance, etc.
But why do we find some art beautiful and other art ugly? According to research, it all comes down to the “aesthetic triad (三元组合)”.
The first part of the triad is sensory-motor. This involves perceiving things like colours, shapes and movements. Movement in art has an interesting role. If you see a painting of a movement, like of a man pulling his arm away after being bitten by a dog, you feel like going through a similar experience. The part of your brain that controls your own movements lights up in response.
Second is emotion-valuation. This is how a piece of art makes you feel, and whether or not you appreciate or enjoy that feeling. The part of the brain related to pleasure is activated in response to something we find beautiful. This system can be affected in fascinating ways, as found by research using transcranial magnetic stimulation(TMS) (经颅磁刺激). If TMS is applied to a specific part of your brain behind your forehead that is particularly important for decision-making, you suddenly like different kinds of art. Such stimulation produces significant changes in aesthetic appreciation of faces, bodies and artworks.
The third part is meaning-knowledge. This is to do with how we can connect with a piece of art and what meaning we can create in it. Art is deeply personal, because when two people see the same artwork, our perception can create vastly different experiences of meaning. If we find meaning, then we often find pleasure. We also get enjoyment from the knowledge of how something was made. For the images that an artist creates, viewers will probably get far more enjoyment once they know the process used to create them.
Informed by neuroaesthetics, the next time I create my art I will value the process even more, enjoying the activation of the aesthetic triad in my brain as I admire the vivid images that I have created.
1. What does “neuronal fireworks” in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．A beautiful painting or sculpture. |
| B．The lighting-up of specific brain areas. |
| C．An advanced brain imaging technology. |
| D．The aesthetic assessment of modern art. |
| A．Certain part of their brain is activated. |
| B．Their experience of pain is reduced. |
| C．Their aesthetic sense is sharpened. |
| D．Their body reactions are delayed. |
| A．raised memory capacity |
| B．enhanced painting skills |
| C．changed artistic taste |
| D．improved decision-making ability |
| A．Knowing how it is created. |
| B．Having a pleasant personality. |
| C．Learning how science develops. |
| D．Understanding the meaning of life. |
| A．To propose an abstract theory of art making. |
| B．To reveal the beauty of science in an artistic way. |
| C．To share some personal understanding of artworks. |
| D．To introduce a new research field for art appreciation. |
3 . When people ask me how I started writing, I find myself describing an urgent need that I felt to work with language. Having said that, I did not know for a long time what I was looking for. It was not until I followed this feeling to its source that I discovered I had a passion for writing. With some encouragement from my colleagues, I had one of my poems published. This bit of success, however, was the point where my problem began.
Back in 1978, I had to travel between three different campuses in the morning, teaching freshman composition. Afternoons I spent taking my daughter to her ballet and horse-riding lessons. I composed my lectures on the way, and that was all the thinking time I had. When I returned home, there was not enough of me left for writing after a full working day.
As a way out, I decided to get up two hours before my usual time. My alarm was set for 5:00 A.M. The first day I shut it off because I had placed it within arm's reach. The second day I set two clocks, one on my night table, and one out in the hallway. I had to jump out of bed and run to silence it before my family was awoken. This was when my morning writing began.
Since that first morning in 1978, I have been following the habit to this day, not making or accepting many excuses for not writing. I wrote my poems in this manner for nearly ten years before my first book was published. When I decided to write a novel, I divided my two hours: the first for poetry, the second for fiction. Well or badly, I wrote at least two pages a day. This is how my novel, The Line of the Sun. was finished. If I had waited to have the time, I would still be waiting to write my novel.
What I got out of getting up in the dark to work is the feeling that I am in control. For many people, the initial sense of urgency to create easily dies away because it requires making the tough decision: taking the time to create, stealing it from yourself if ifs the only way.
1. What motivated the author to start her writing career?| A．Her strong wish to share. |
| B．Her keen interest in writing. |
| C．Her urgent need to make a living. |
| D．Her passionate desire for fame. |
| A．She was too exhausted to write after a busy day. |
| B．She had trouble in deciding on her writing style. |
| C．She had to take time to discipline her daughter. |
| D．She was unsure about her writing skills. |
| A．In case the clock in her room broke down. |
| B．In case she failed to hear the ringing. |
| C．To force herself out of bed. |
| D．To wake up her family. |
| A．By sticking to writing every morning. |
| B．By writing when her mind was most active. |
| C．By drawing inspirations from classic novels. |
| D．By reducing her teaching hours at school. |
| A．It is never too late to change your job. |
| B．Imaginative ideas die away if not taken in time. |
| C．A tight schedule is no excuse for lack of action. |
| D．Daily life provides ideas for creative writing. |
4 . Dear boss — You have always tried to attract young consumers, and our consultants have always come up with new ways to label them. The trouble is that coming up with rules to define a group of humanity is more art than science. It is likely to become an exercise in applying stereotypes; not every youngster is drinking kombucha in a Brooklyn storehouse. Luckily you have me, and I’m here to tell you that much of what is written about marketing to today’s most prized consumers is a myth.
Start with the idea that, glued to smartphones, youngsters barely notice the physical world and passively follow the latest hit from Instagram or TikTok. It’s true that the days of marketing chiefly through television, newspapers and magazines are long gone. However, social media has not just changed the ways people discover brands; it has weakened the power of marketing as a whole. Online, talk is cheap and prices are readily Googled. Digital natives, therefore, can easily fact-check our suspicious marketing claims and ads. Surveys suggest that young Americans are among the most price-sensitive food shoppers, even though they have accumulated less wealth than earlier generations had by the same age.
There is a similar urge to think that physical shops no longer matter. Young consumers love their Amazon deliveries. It makes sense for our company to make sales via social media and ship directly to customers’ homes. But what works best is the close integration of the digital and physical worlds. Remember those online-only beauty brands like Glossier, which took the world by storm during the pandemic. It turns out that they struggle to get repeat business and have had to pair up with physical shops. What really matters is avoiding insincerity. Dishonesty is easily exposed online, where everyone loves a takedown. Remember the strong resistance to Boohoo, a fast-fashion firm, when it appointed Kourtney Kardashian, a celebrity leading a luxurious life, as a “sustainability ambassador”? And commit only to causes you can tangibly support and be frank when you are putting profits first. Anyway, nobody is perfect. To pretend otherwise is so 2013.
1. Why is there trouble with finding rules to define a group of people?| A．Because fixed ideas may be inappropriately employed. |
| B．Because not everybody is into drinking tea at a storehouse. |
| C．Because art is more challenging to learn than science. |
| D．Because the consultants are not as expert as the author. |
| A．To reveal their incompetence in saving money. |
| B．To illustrate they are sensitive to the prices of food online. |
| C．To demonstrate marketing has a great impact on their spending habits. |
| D．To prove they are not passive receivers of online marketing tricks. |
| A．Celebrities work as reliable ambassadors. |
| B．Young customers don’t visit physical shops. |
| C．Dishonesty in marketing was not rare in 2013. |
| D．Traditional media still play a major role in marketing. |
| A．How to Expand Youth Market: From Ideas to Practice |
| B．How to Sell to the Young: From Myth to Truth |
| C．How to Attract Young Customers: Honesty and Profits |
| D．How to Increase Sales Online: Labeling and Marketing |
5 . Given the buzz it’s created, there’s a good chance you’ve heard about ChatGPT. It’s an interactive chatbot powered by machine learning. The technology has basically devoured the entire Internet, reading the collective works of humanity and learning patterns in language that it can recreate. All you have to do is give it a prompt (提示), and ChatGPT can do an endless array of things: write a story in a particular style, answer a question, explain a concept, compose an email—write a college essay-and it will spit out coherent, seemingly human—written text in seconds. The technology is both awesome and terrifying.
22-year-old Edward Tian is working feverishly on a new app to combat misuse of ChatGPT.
Over the last couple years, Tian has been studying an AI system called GPT-3, a predecessor to ChatGPT that was less user-friendly and largely inaccessible to the general public because it was behind a paywall. As part of his studies this fall semester, Tian researched how to detect text written by the AI system while working at Princeton’s Natural Language Processing Lab.
Then, as the semester was coming to a close, OpenAI, the company behind GPT-3 and other AI tools, released ChatGPT to the public for free. For the millions of people around the world who have used it since, interacting with the technology has been like getting a peek into the future; a future that not too long ago would have seemed like science fiction.
For many users of the new technology, wonderment quickly turned to alarm. How-many jobs will this kill? Will this empower nefarious (恶意的) actors and further corrupt our public discourse (公共话语)? How will this disrupt our education system? What is the point of learning to write essays at school when AI-which is expected to get exponentially better in the near future-can do that for us?
Tian had an idea. What if he applied what he had learned at school over the last couple years to help the public identify whether something has been written by a machine?
Tian already had the know-how and even the software on his laptop to create such a program. Ironically, this software, called GitHub Co-Pilot, is powered by GPT-3. With its assistance, Tian was able to create a new app within three days. It’s a testament to the power of this technology to make us more productive.
On January 2nd, Tian released his app GPTZero. It basically uses ChatGPT against itself, checking whether “there’s zero involvement or a lot of involvement” of the AI system in creating a given text.
When Tian went to bed that night, he didn’t expect much for his app. When he woke up, his phone had blown up. He saw countless texts and DMs from journalists, principals, teachers, you name it, from places as far away as France and Switzerland. His app, which is hosted by a free platform, became so popular it crashed. Excited by the popularity and purpose of his app, the hosting platform has since granted Tian the resources needed to scale the app’s services to a mass audience.
1. Which of the following statements is TRUE about GPT-3?| A．It’s designed and researched by Edward Tian in Princeton University |
| B．Not many ordinary people have used it because it is not free. |
| C．It is in the same AI system series as ChatGPT and GPTZero. |
| D．It used to be less user-friendly than ChatGPT but has outdone it now. |
| A．AI may replace human beings in the future when it comes to writing essays. |
| B．Actors may turn bad or even evil if the new technology is adopted in acting. |
| C．The education system may be badly impacted by the misuse of the new technology. |
| D．Many people may be out of employment because of the new technology. |
| A．the app is hosted by a free platform which is very popular. |
| B．they know many journalists are also very interested in it. |
| C．they are eager to share the resources Edward Tian is granted. |
| D．they are worried about the possibility of students cheating in writing. |
| A．Harm set, harm get. | B．Birds of a feather flock together. |
| C．Fight a man with his own weapon. | D．Great minds think alike. |
6 . Most of Florida is a flat peninsula (半岛) with water on three sides and houses built as close to the shoreline as possible. For one thing we are more frequently the target of hurricanes than any other state; for another, our geography makes us more easily to be hurt by rising seas.
A news story about climate change in Florida popped up. Historically, scientists believed mangroves (红树林) didn’t live farther north than Cedar Key, in the middle of Florida’s Big Bend. But that’s not the case anymore. Samantha Chapman, a biology professor who’s been studying how Florida’s mangroves have been migrating (迁移), found them up near the St Mary’s River, which forms the border between Florida and Georgia. It seems that they soon be marching through Georgia and becoming a thriving new component of coastal habitats.
But a coastal biologist named Blair Witherington took issue on the matter. The mangroves weren’t spreading into a new territory, he pointed out. They were entering areas that had been classified as saltmarsh (盐沼), where the landscape was dominated by cordgrass. Saltmarsh and mangrove create very different habitats that attract a very different set of animals. “When one community replaces the other, this diversity is lost,” Witherington remarked. Changing the animals’ habitat has the potential to influence the whole food chain, making a widespread difference.
What was driving this? “Mangroves can survive a short freeze, but not a prolonged, hard freeze. By combing through the weather records kept by the state’s orange juice industry, biologists have been able to document that Florida is having fewer prolonged hard freezes than it used to. Then the mangroves have adapted by expanding their range.” Samantha explained.
“They’ve adapted in another way, too. Not only are the mangroves spreading into areas that once were unfriendly to them, but they have also changed their life cycle to speed things up. Normally it takes them about 15 years of growth before they start making seeds. Now, as they get into these marshes, they’re producing seeds when they’ re only a couple of years old,” Samantha said.
The problem with having too many mangroves by the sea is that climate change may overwhelm them. A study by the US Geological Survey said sea level rise could wipe out mangroves all along the Florida coast. So, here’s the question we humans have to consider: Nature is finding ways to adapt to how we’ve changed the climate. What are we doing to adapt to it? Or at least slow it down?
1. What can we learn about the state of Florida?| A．It could be affected by high tides easily. |
| B．Its geography fuels shipbuilding industry. |
| C．Its houses are built in a high-lying but flat area. |
| D．It is often hit by tornadoes and suffers huge losses. |
| A．They migrate to warmer regions. |
| B．They are marching into a new habitat. |
| C．They form the border between Florida and Georgia. |
| D．They are introduced into Florida to prevent flooding. |
| A．Saltmarsh is fragile and requires urgent protection. |
| B．Florida includes a rich diversity of natural habitats. |
| C．The benefits of the mangroves outweigh their troubles. |
| D．Everything in the ecosystem is connected complicatedly. |
| A．What mangroves had to face in their habitats. |
| B．Whether mangroves had influence on other plants. |
| C．How mangroves adapted to the changing environment. |
| D．Why mangroves had a different life cycle in marshes. |
| A．Human beings are supposed to worship nature. |
| B．It is urgent to grow more mangroves along coastlines. |
| C．Measures against mangroves’ migration are far from enough. |
| D．What we should do to stop the climate change is still up in the air. |
7 . The worldwide 20th century “Green Revolution”, which saw huge year-by-year increases in global grain yields (产量),was fueled by the development in the 1960s of new high-yielding dwarfed (矮小) varieties known as Green Revolution Varieties (GRVs).
These dwarfed GRVs are common all over the world in today’s wheat and rice crops. Because they are dwarfed, with short stems, GRVs devote relatively more resources than tall plants to the growth of grains rather than stems, and are less likely to suffer yield losses from wind and rain damage. However, the growth of GRVs requires farmers to use large amounts of nitrogen fertilizers (氮肥) in their fields. These fertilizers are costly to farmers and cause extensive damage to the natural environment. The development of new GRVs combining high yields with reduced fertilizer requirements is thus a global agricultural goal.
Researchers at the University of Oxford and the Chinese Academy of Science have discovered for the first time a gene that can help reach the goal. Comparing 36 different dwarfed rice varieties, the researchers identified a novel natural gene that helps increase the rate at which plants make use of nitrogen from the soil. This gene, called GRF4, can increase the amount of a protein (蛋白质) in plant cells. GRF4 is actually a promoter that encourages the activity of other genes—genes that promote nitrogen uptake (摄入). Professor Harberd said, “Increasing GRF4 levels could contribute to an increase in the grain yields of GRVs, especially at low fertilizer input levels.”
The researchers say the latest rice variety containing GRVs should now become a major target for farmers in increasing crop yields and fertilizer use efficiency, with the aim of achieving the global grain yield increases necessary to feed a growing world population at a reduced environmental cost. It is very urgent at the moment.
Professor Harberd added, “This study is an example of how studying fundamental science objectives can lead rapidly to potential solutions to global challenges. It shows how the discovery can enable chances for food security and future new green revolutions.”
1. What can we know about dwarfed GRVs?| A．They have higher yield and taller stems. |
| B．They are a “double-edged sword”. |
| C．They are environmentally friendly. |
| D．They can be easily affected by weather. |
| A．Increasing the rate of nitrogen use. |
| B．Producing cheaper nitrogen fertilizers. |
| C．Using fewer fertilizers to produce more grains. |
| D．Finding a gene to solve agricultural problems. |
| A．It promotes other genes' activity. |
| B．It increases the output of crops. |
| C．It takes in nitrogen from the soil. |
| D．It lowers fertilizer input levels. |
| A．Decreasing the amount of fertilizers required by GRVs. |
| B．Encouraging farmers to adopt the new rice variety. |
| C．Calling on farmers to use effective fertilizers. |
| D．Focusing on the improvement of GRF4. |
| A．GRVs—a potential measure to achieve global food security. |
| B．The influence of agricultural development on the environment. |
| C．The importance of raising public awareness of global issues. |
| D．GRF4—foundation for new green revolutions. |
8 . Some people say that the planet is getting smaller, that there are few places left to explore, and that the age of exploration will be over soon.
I would argue instead that there has never been a greater need to explore. That’s because the stage for all exploration is the natural world, and nature is experiencing a rapid decline. It is by exploring that we understand and when we understand we develop an appreciation for what is found. Ultimately, only the things we appreciate are worth protecting.
As the golden age of exploration weakens, so does the richness of life on Earth. It isn’t just that there are fewer blank areas on the map; it is that wild places and spaces have been progressively carved up (瓜分). Visiting the Okavango Delta or Kalahari Desert, for example, no longer implies a self-supported expedition ( 考 察 ). Field stations pop up in important national parks and remote sensing by satellite becomes commonplace.
In the next century, I believe we will need larger and wilder areas. We will need the wilderness, not just for the protection of it, but because it is an important part of the ecosystems from which we gain our necessities like clean water, food and materials. If we succeed, then expeditions — brief travels into the wild that seek to answer questions, monitor populations, and inspire action — will have a renewed sense of purpose. More importantly, they greatly help the public experience, understand and appreciate nature.
Based on my own research expedition which aims to understand “edge effects”— how the changes in temperature at forest edges impact animals, I find it important that today’s scientists continue to spend time in the field. It is here that they begin to understand how seemingly unrelated environmental interactions influence their study system. Sometimes, it’s difficult to know which is important to measure until you stand out there on the forest edge.
It is the young generation that is the main force to lead the next wave of expeditions. The measure of their success will be whether there are still well-preserved wild places for expeditions in the future. Their leadership is needed now, more than ever.
1. What’s the purpose of this text?| A．To suggest understanding nature by keeping exploring. |
| B．To advise people not to travel to unknown places. |
| C．To inform us about the reduced biodiversity. |
| D．To call on the public to support the study. |
| A．It is difficult for explorers to make progress. |
| B．It is more accessible with the help of technology. |
| C．It promotes the development of satellite technology. |
| D．It requires explorers to take sufficient heavy equipment. |
| A．Appear unexpectedly. |
| B．Close temporarily. |
| C．Develop quickly. |
| D．Differ greatly. |
| A．The significance of scientists’ field trip. |
| B．The difficulty of carrying out fieldwork. |
| C．The need to expand the edges of forests. |
| D．The influence of his study on the environment. |
| A．our knowledge of nature |
| B．the time spent in the field |
| C．the preservation of wild places |
| D．the study system of young generations |
9 . Like many people, in terms of socializing, I prioritize making time for my closest friends and family. When it comes to reaching out to people I don’t know as well I often find myself reluctant to engage. This could be a big mistake, though, according to a new study. Having different types of social interactions seems to be central to our happiness — something many of us may think little of.
In a series of surveys, researchers looked at how having a socially diverse network related to people’s well-being. In one survey, 578 Americans reported on what activities they had been engaged in, with whom and for how long over the past 24 hours, while also saying how happy with life they were. The researchers found that people with more diverse social networks were happier and more satisfied with life than those with less diverse networks — regardless of how much time they had spent socializing overall.
“The more you can broaden your social circle and reach out to people you talk to less frequently — like an acquaintance, a friend, a coworker, or even a stranger — the more it could have positive benefits for your well-being,” said the lead researcher Hanne Collins of Harvard Business School.
To further test this idea, she and her colleagues looked at large data sets from the American Time Use Survey and the World Health Organization’s Study on Global Aging and Adult Health. In both cases, they found that when people had a broader range of social interactions, they experienced greater happiness and well-being.
Then Collins and her colleagues did another analysis, using data from a mobile app that 21,644 French-speaking people used to report on their daily social activities and happiness. There, they found that when someone experienced greater-than-average social diversity one week, they were happier that week and the week after.
Why is that? It could be that being with different people contributes to different kinds of emotions, which may be a driving force in our happiness, says Collins. Alternatively, it could be that having a more diverse network allows you to get various social supports when you need it. Whatever the case, Collins hopes her research will inspire people to expand their social networks when they can.
1. What does the author use as an introduction to the passage?| A．A personal communication skill. |
| B．A social trend against one’s will. |
| C．A common social phenomenon. |
| D．A culture many people neglect. |
| A．Its results were different from culture to culture. |
| B．Different results were obtained from the researchers’ three surveys. |
| C．The researchers collected large amounts of data from different platforms. |
| D．It focused on the impact of a more diverse social network on life satisfaction. |
| A．Any stranger or co-worker can bring you happiness. |
| B．Broad social circle contributes to more happiness. |
| C．Happiness depends only on social interactions. |
| D．Close relationship influences happiness badly. |
| A．By providing motivation for life. |
| B．By leading to one’s balanced life. |
| C．By arousing one’s positive emotions. |
| D．By making him / her sensitive to happiness. |
| A．Collins’s social life. |
| B．Collins’s conclusions. |
| C．Collins’s new research. |
| D．Collins’s specific suggestions. |
10 . Psychological science is full of interesting topics, many of which tell a coherent picture of human nature, but some of which create seemingly contradictory stories. A case in point is the tricky, and misunderstood, overlap between strength-based science and the research on narcissism (自恋).
There is now convincing evidence to show that narcissism is on the rise, especially in our youth. Some researchers have gone so far as to say that it is occurring in epidemic proportions, with about 25% of young people showing symptoms of narcissism. The inflated ego of Generation Me is reflected in reality TV, celebrity worship, out-of-control consumerism and materialism…perhaps even a new type of president.
We are correct to be concerned about this phenomenon but our fear that all kids are potential narcissists has caused an unhelpful counter-reaction to approaches that seek to make our children and teens feel good about themselves.
In my own research on strength-based parenting it is common for people to wrongly label this approach as a recipe for narcissism. Their argument seems to be that a child who knows their strengths will automatically view themselves as better than everyone else. It is argued that the self-assurance that comes with identifying and using their positive qualities will make a child arrogant, selfish and uncaring. Genuine confidence about one's strengths is categorized as over-confidence; desirable self-knowledge is branded as excessive self-admiration.
Why does this occur? It's partly because more is known about narcissism than strengths. While strengths psychology has largely stayed within the limit of academic journals or has been applied only within certain contexts such as the workplace, research on narcissism has made its way into the mass media and into our collective consciousness. The New York Times noted that narcissism is a favored "go-to" topic and that people everywhere are diagnosing others with it.
The fear that a strength-based approach will cause narcissism also occurs because we unknowingly fall prey to binary (非此即彼) thinking. We mistakenly believe that one cannot be both confident and humble. We focus on Donald Trump and Kim Kardashian rather than Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa. There's no way that Gandhi and Mother Teresa could have achieved what they did without confidence in their strengths, and yet they are both pillars of modesty and selflessness.
When we assume that strength-focus is the same as a self-focus, We fail to entertain the idea that people who know their strengths are, actually, more likely to be pro-social and focus on helping others.
It's tempting to conclude that every young person is at risk of becoming a narcissist but I'd like to stand up for the thousands of young kids I have worked with who are caring, thoughtful and humble — even when they use their strengths.
1. Why teenagers' strengths are often mistaken for narcissism?| A．Strengths psychology is less accessible to the general public. |
| B．Academic journals and mass media report more on narcissism. |
| C．There is a lack of strengths in our collective consciousness. |
| D．Numbers of people are diagnosed with narcissism by doctors. |
| A．they are both victims of binary thinking |
| B．one can be both modest and sure of himself |
| C．confidence is quite important for celebrities |
| D．public figures unknowingly fall prey to narcissism |
| A．Skeptical. |
| B．Favorable. |
| C．Neutral. |
| D．Cautious. |
| A．Teens' Strength Psychology |
| B．Teens' Narcissism Diagnosis |
| C．Teen's Anxiety and Depression |
| D．Teens' Confidence Misunderstood |
