1 . Why We Hate the Feeling of Failure and How It Affects Us
Loss aversion is the idea that a potential loss has greater weight in a person's mind than the possible gain. People seek to avoid failure and the negative feelings they expect will come from such a loss.
More recently, social scientists have turned their at tent on to how loss aversion can hinder people from performing in their daily lives.
Sports and athletic performance was one of the first areas of focus. A study in May 2023 looked at how adult athletes were hindered by a fear of failure. It found that athletes who feared failure tended to approach an athletic event and appraise(评估) it for potential losses.
Losses weren't just related to the final numbers on the scoreboard. Rather, some athletes approached a practice or a game and saw it as a potential to perform poorly and lose standing with their coach, teammates or fellow athletes.
Not surprisingly, procrastination was shown to decrease academic performance.
While our fear of loss may impact our mindset and whether or not we pursue something new, if we let that fear take hold, then we’ve already lost. There for, don’t let fear of failure keep you from trying something new.
| A．Researchers have examined how fear of failure can lead to-procrastination. |
| B．The loss was seen as humiliating and something the athlete feared or wanted to avoid. |
| C．Research has found this fear of failure drives people to stop pursuing their passions. |
| D．However, the study found that it wasn't due to students prioritizing their social life or Netflix queue. |
| E．Doubt has killed their dreams than failure ever will |
| F．Loss a version has long been used to study consumer psychology. |
2 . Armed with a toolkit of techniques and tricks to calm the mind and bring focus back to your body, you can stop stressful situations from sabotaging your day, says Katy Georgiou.
GROUND YOURSELF
Making contact with the ground is your baseline go-to response for stress. This technique can be especially helpful if you find your stress regularly turns into panic. Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, place your feet flat on the ground so that you feel stable, and then close your eyes. If you’re able to sit on the floor cross-legged or to lie down flat, then even better.
Think of this as earthing: really connect with the ground beneath your body. Some studies suggest that this simple act can help reduce or relieve symptoms of stress such as pain and fatigue, reduce blood pressure, and improve sleep. If you’re feeling disconnected from the world, it can also remind you that you belong to it and are a crucial part of it — the ground will always be there for you.
LOVE THYSELF
Adopting regular, daily or weekly routines for self-care can be very containing, creating consistency amid all sorts of stressful life events happening around you. Looking in the mirror each day can actually remind you that you exist, so feel free to factor some reflective gazing into your daily routine, whether it’s while applying moisturiser, shaving, or brushing your hair. Studies have shown that being confronted with your reflection can have powerful effects, taking us out of our heads and into the immediate present. For added effect, pay attention to the way your products interact with your hair and skin as you apply them.
Playing around with smells, colours and textures in your hands will also engage your senses. Using a scented shampoo or smoothing on body lotion after a warm bath can be easy ways to do this.
CLEAR YOUR MIND
Abandon all your thoughts and try to focus only on your surroundings. What can you see, hear, smell, taste and touch? Identify three things you can hear, one thing you can taste, four things you can see and two things you can feel on your skin. Pick out colours in the room you are sitting in, notice textures and different kinds of light. If somebody is with you, tell them what you are experiencing. The point here is that your senses are your best and easiest route back to feeling calm, by coming out of your head and rooting yourself back in the present. This is incredibly helpful if you’re having a panic attack or flop response.
1. If your friend Jane always feels worn out and suffers from sleep deprivation, which of the following techniques will you especially recommend to her?| A．Connect her body to the ground beneath her. |
| B．Adopt a daily gaze at her reflection in the mirror. |
| C．Exchange her scentless shampoo for an aromatic one. |
| D．Focus on what she can see, hear, smell, taste and touch. |
| A．Lying down flat can better relieve your stress. |
| B．Grounding yourself can give you a sense of belonging to the world. |
| C．Brushing your hair while looking in the mirror can remind you of your existence. |
| D．Those having a panic attack should shut their senses down. |
| A．help people understand themselves better |
| B．introduce some practical methods for stress management |
| C．emphasize the significance of exploiting multiple senses |
| D．promote a mindset of living in the moment |
3 . Back in 1964, in his book Games People Play, psychiatrist Eric Berne described a pattern of conversation he called “Why Don’t You — Yes But”, which remains one of the most annoying aspects of everyday social life. The person adopting the strategy is usually a chronic complainer. Something is terrible about their relationship, job, or other situation, and they complain about it endlessly, but find some excuse to dismiss any solution that’s proposed. The reason, of course, is that on some level they don’t want a solution; they want to be validated (认可) in their position that the world is out to get them. If they can “win” the game — dismissing every suggestion until interlocutor (对话者) gives up in annoyance — they get to feel pleasurably righteous (正当的) in their anger and excused from any obligation to change.
Part of the trouble here is the so-called responsibility/fault fallacy (谬误). When you’re feeling hard done by — taken for granted by your partner, say, or obliged to work for a stupid boss — it’s easy to become attached to the position that it’s not your job to address the matter, and that doing so would be an admission of fault. But there’s a confusion here. For example, if I were to discover a newborn at my front door, it wouldn’t be my fault, but it most certainly would be my responsibility. There would be choices to make, and no possibility of avoiding them, since trying to ignore the matter would be a choice. The point is that what goes for the baby on the doorstep is true in all cases: even if the other person is 100% in the wrong, there’s nothing to be gained, long-term, from using this as a justification to evade responsibility.
Should you find yourself on the receiving end of this kind of complaining, there’s a clever way to shut it down — which is to agree with it. Psychotherapist Lori Gottlieb describes this as “over-validation”. For one thing, you’ll be spared further complaining, since the other person’s motivation was to confirm her beliefs, and now you’re confirming them. But for another, as Gottlieb notes, people confronted with over-validation often hear their complaints afresh and start arguing back. The concept that they’re utterly powerless suddenly seems unrealistic, not to mention rather annoying — so they’re prompted instead to generate ideas about how they might change things.
“And then, sometimes, something magical might happen, ” Gotlieb writes. The other person “might realize she’s not as trapped as you are saying she is, or as she feels. ” Avoiding responsibility feels comfortable, but turns out to be a prison; whereas assuming responsibility feels unpleasant, but ends up being freeing.
1. What is the characteristic of a chronic complainer, according to Eric Berne?| A．They are angry about their ill treatment and feel bitter towards whoever tries to help. |
| B．They are habitually unhappy and endlessly find fault with people around them. |
| C．They constantly dismiss others’ proposals while taking no responsibility for dealing with the problem. |
| D．They lack the basic skills required for successful conversations with others. |
| A．People tend to think that one should not be held responsible for others’ mistakes. |
| B．It is easy to become attached to the position of overlooking one’s own fault. |
| C．People are often at a loss when confronted with a number of choices. |
| D．A distinction should be drawn between responsibility and fault. |
| A．Stop them from going further by agreeing with them. |
| B．Listen to their complaints attentively and sympathetically. |
| C．Ask them to validate their beliefs with further evidence. |
| D．Persuade them to clarify the confusion they caused. |
| A．What is the responsibility/fault fallacy for chronic complainers? |
| B．How can you avoid dangerous traps in everyday social life? |
| C．Who are chronic complainers and how to deal with them? |
| D．Why should we stop being a chronic complainer and assume responsibility? |
4 . Noah reached for his guitar, remembering his father as he did so, thinking how much he missed him. He strummed once, adjusted the tension on two strings, then strummed again. This time it sounded about right, and he began to play.
Soft music, quiet music. He hummed for a little while at first, then began to sing as night came down around him. He played and sang until the sun was gone and the sky black. It was a little after seven when he quit, and he settled back into his chair and began to rock. By habit, he looked upward and saw Orion and the Big Dipper, Gemini and the Pole Star, twinkling in the autumn sky. He started to run the numbers in his head, then stopped. He knew he’d spent almost his entire savings on the house and would have to find a job again soon, but he pushed the thought away and decided to enjoy the remaining months of restoration without worrying about it. Besides, thinking about money usually bored him. Early on, he’d learned to enjoy simple things, things that couldn’t be bought, and he had a hard time understanding people who felt otherwise. It was another trait he got from his father.
Clem, his hound dog, came up to him then and nuzzled his hand before lying down at his feet. “Hey, girl, how’re you doing?” he asked as he patted her head, and she whined softly, her soft round eyes peering upward. A car accident had taken her leg, but she still moved well enough and kept him company on quiet nights like these. He was thirty-one now, not too old, but old enough to be lonely. He hadn’t dated since he’d been back here, hadn’t met anyone who remotely interested him. It was his own fault, he knew. There was something that kept a distance between him and any woman who started to get close, something he wasn’t sure he could change even if he tried. And sometimes in the moments right before sleep came, he wondered if he was destined to be alone forever.
The evening passed, staying warm, nice. Noah listened to the crickets and the rustling leaves, thinking that the sound of nature was more real and aroused more emotion than things like cars and planes. Natural things gave back more than they took, and their sounds always brought him back to the way man was supposed to be. “It’ll keep you from going crazy,” his father had told him the day he’d shipped out. “It’s God’s music and it’ll take you home.” He finished his tea, went inside, found a book, then turned on the porch light on his way back out. After sitting down again, he looked at the book. It was old, the cover was torn, and the pages were stained with mud and water.
It was Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, and he had carried it with him throughout the war. It had even taken a bullet for him once. He rubbed the cover, dusting it off just a little. Then he let the book open randomly and read the words in front of him: This is thy hour O Soul, thy free flight into the wordless. Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done. Thee fully forth emerging, silent, gazing, pondering the themes thou lovest best. Night, sleep, death and the stars. For some reason Whitman always reminded him of New Bern, and he was glad he’d come back. Though he’d been away from fourteen years, this was home and he knew a lot of people here, most of them from his youth. Like so many southern towns, the people who lived here never changed, they just grew a bit older.
1. The underlined sentence in paragraph two is the equivalent of “_________”.| A．he hated those who were unable to appreciate simple things in life |
| B．he didn’t see eye to eye with people who liked to save money |
| C．he had difficulty in figuring out how he got this trait from his father |
| D．he didn’t understand why people were so materialistic |
| A．Noah often played the guitar and observed the stars. |
| B．Clem the dog showed great affection for her master. |
| C．Noah was destined to be alone since no woman seemed interested in him. |
| D．Noah planned to restore his house before landing himself a job. |
| A．Patients suffering from mental disorder can be cured by nature. |
| B．The closer you are to nature, the closer you are to your true self. |
| C．Where there is God’s music, there is home. |
| D．A good book is a man’s best company. |
| A．had been a treasure but was now too damaged to read |
| B．recorded the lives of New Bern’s people who never changed over the years |
| C．was beyond Noah’s understanding so he randomly picked up some words to read |
| D．stirred a feeling of nostalgia in Noah |
| A．To treat eating disorder during high school. |
| B．To increase confidence in herself. |
| C．To achieve external perfection. |
| D．To try to lose some weight. |
| A．She felt pleased to find a good husband. |
| B．She was upset about her unsatisfactory image. |
| C．She was anxious to read about the story of ancient Italians. |
| D．She was stressed about the tight wedding schedule. |
| A．Getting well along with friends. |
| B．Improving self-image through various ways. |
| C．Being devoted to meaningful activities. |
| D．Relying on people around her. |
| 假设你是明启中学高三学生李明，最近在一本英语杂志上读到一篇关于“happiness”的文章，其中列举了几位名人对这一话题的看法（如右所示）。你对此话题很感兴趣，给该杂志“读者来信”专栏写一封邮件，内容须包括： 1) 哪一位名人的看法最令你有同感； 2) 2)你的理由。 | Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence. — Aristotle Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will escape you. But if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder. — Henry David Thoreau The secret of happiness is not in seeking more, but in learning to enjoy less. — Socrates |
You must have been troubled by when to say “I love you” because it is one of the greatest puzzles in our life.
“A really good relationship
| A. content B. demands C. guard D. depressed E. prioritized F. fits G. failure H. meant I. competed J. mere K. independent |
Happiness, as the Brazilian poet Vinicius de Moracs put it, is “like a feather flying in the air. It flies light, but not for very long.”
Humans are not designed to be happy or even
Evolution has
In fact, experts in this field argue that nature’s
Our emotions are mixed and at times contradictory, like everything else in our lives. Research has shown that positive and negative emotions can coexist in the brain relatively
It’s worth remembering, then, that we are not designed to be consistently happy. Instead, we are designed to survive and reproduce. These are difficult tasks, so we are
So, if you are unhappy at times, this is not a shortcoming that
Say Thanks
If writing thank-you letters is a task you readily dismiss, you aren’t alone. However, saying thanks could be the best gift you can give, to yourself and others.
The benefits of gratitude have long been championed in philosophical thinking. In recent years, the science has been catching up: it shows that people who feel most grateful generally get a psychological boost (促进) as a result. They also have greater life satisfaction, fewer visits to the doctor and better sleep. This has led to gratitude being a part of our culture, inspiring an explosion of gratitude journals, in which you record things you are thankful for. It has also led to renewed interest in the neuroscience and psychology of gratitude.
However, the benefits of actually expressing this gratitude have received less attention. Now evidence is piling up that shows turning our inner gratitude into action can make our lives even better.
For instance, a simple thank you can build relationships, even with strangers. Take people who have received a note of thanks for something they have done from a peer they don’t know. They are more likely to share their contact details with that person in an attempt to continue the relationship than people who receive a note that doesn’t contain thanks. A simple thank you seems to signal interpersonal warmth.
But the benefits go further than just strengthening social relationships, they can have an impact on health, too. A study of more than 200 nurses working in two Italian hospitals found that gratitude expressed by patients could protect nurses from burnout. That was especially so in the emergency room, where personal interactions with patients are typically shorter and less rewarding. This positive feedback from patients reduced feelings of exhaustion among nurses, says Mara Martini at the University of Turin, who carried out the work.
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Red Alert
Anger triggers (引发) your body’s ‘fight or flight’ response. When you start to get angry, your brain triggers the release of a range of hormones
Health problems
If you get angry a lot, the flood of stress chemicals
Helpful ways to deal with anger
If you feel out of control, walk away from the situation
Recognise and accept angry feelings as normal and part of life.
Try to pinpoint the exact reasons
Do something physical-go for a run or play sport.
Long-term anger management
Keep a diary of your outbursts, to see
Learn some relaxation techniques,
Take regular exercise. It can improve your mood and reduce stress levels. Exercise boosts production of feel-good chemicals in your body, including endorphins.
See a psychologist if you still feel angry about events that
