文章大意：这是一篇科普说明文。作者介绍了减肥这样的事儿，不应关注目标，而应控制输入，也就是要注重过程中的具体的做法，例如每天吃什么，吃多少，如何锻炼。实验表明，当关注输入时，激励才发生作用。
1 . Millions of Americans began 2014 with the same resolution as they started 2013 with a goal of losing weight. However setting weight loss as a goal is a mistake.
To reach our goal of losing weight — the output, we need to control what we eat — the input. That is we tend to care about the output but not to control the input. This is a bad way to construct goals. The alternative is to focus your resolution on the input. Instead of resolving to lose weight, try an actionable resolution: “I’ll stop having desert for lunch” or “I’ll walk every day for 20 minutes.” Creating a goal that focuses on a well-specified input will likely be more effective than concentrating on the outcome.
Recently a new science behind incentives (激励) including in education has been discussed. For example researcher Roland Fryer wanted to see what works best in motivating children to do better in school. In some cases he gave students incentives based on input like reading certain books while in others the incentives were based on output like results on exams. His main finding was that incentives increased achievement when based on input but had no effect on output. Fryer’s conclusion was that the intensives for inputs might be more effective because students do not know how to do better on exam aside from general rules like “study harder.” Reading certain books on the other hand is a well-set task over which they have much more control.
As long as you have direct control over your goal you have a much higher chance of success. And it’s easier to start again if you fail because you know exactly what you need to do.
If you want to cut down on your spending, a good goal would be making morning coffee at home instead of going to a cafe for example. This is a well-specified action-based goal for which you can measure your success easily. Spending less money isn’t a goal because it’s too general. Similarly if you want to spend more time with your family don’t stop with this general wish. Think bout an actionable habit that you could adopt and stick to like a family movie night every Wednesday. In the long run these new goals could become a habit.
1. The writer thinks that setting weight loss as a goal is a mistake because _______ .
| A．it is hard to achieve for most Americans | B．it is dependent on too many things |
| C．it is focused too much on the result | D．it is based on actionable decisions |
2. In Roland Fryer’s research some students did better than the others because ______ .
| A．they obeyed all the general rules |
| B．they paid more attention to exams |
| C．they were motivated by their classmates |
| D．they were rewarded for reading some books |
3. According to the writer which of the following statements is a good goal?
| A．“I’ll study harder.” | B．“I’ll give up desert.” |
| C．“I’ll cut down my expense.” | D．“I’ll spend more time with my family.” |
4. The writer strongly believes that we should ________ .
| A．develop good habits and focus on the outcome |
| B．be optimistic about final goals and stick to them |
| C．set ambitious goals that can balance the input and output |
| D．pick specific actions that can be turned into good habits |
