1 . Tricks To Becoming A Patient Person
Here’s a riddle: What do traffic jams, long lines and waiting for a vacation to start all have in common? There is one answer.
In the Digital Age, we’re used to having what we need immediately and right at our fingertips. However, research suggests that if we practiced patience, we’d be a whole lot better off. Here are several tricks.
●Practice gratitude (感激)
Thankfulness has a lot of benefits: Research shows it makes us happier, less stressed and even more optimistic.
● Make yourself wait
Instant gratification (满足) may seem like the most “feel good” option at the time, but psychology research suggests waiting for things actually makes us happier in the long run. And the only way for us to get into the habit of waiting is to practice.
●
So many of us have the belief that being comfortable is the only state we will tolerate, and when we experience something outside of our comfort zone, we get impatient about the circumstances. You should learn to say to yourself, “
A.Find your causes |
B.Start with small tasks |
C.Accept the uncomfortable |
D.All this adds up to a state of hurry |
E.It can also help us practice more patience |
F.This is merely uncomfortable, not intolerable |
G.They’re all situations where we could use a little extra patience |
2 . Self-esteem is the ruling view you have of yourself. This includes your beliefs about your inner qualities and how you think others see you.
People with healthy self-esteem don't need to boast about themselves to others. People with low self-esteem may tell you how much everyone loves them, what a great job they do at work, and how amazing they are at pretty everything under the sun even though they really wonder if it's true. People may see them as obnoxious or “full of themselves”.
If you're starting to think you may have low self-esteem, you can work on the way you talk to yourself. When you turn off negative self-talk, you can open the floor to positive reinforcements and access the courage to show different sides of yourself. It isn't going to feel good at first, though. Keep going until it becomes less and less and maybe even a few awkward laughs in the mirror may help.
However, in serious cases of low or even non-existent self-esteem, you may want to call in a professional or a specialist. Good mental health is important, and professionals doing psychotherapy do not pass judgement or give corrections.
A.Self-esteem is not always rooted in reality, though. |
B.You have the power to shape a new self-perception. |
C.This encourages you to speak openly without worry. |
D.The real test of character is whether they can learn from their mistakes. |
E.Self-esteem refers to a person's overall sense of his or her value or worth. |
F.People with a healthy level of self-esteem present themselves with a casual confidence. |
G.With some practice and persistence, you will win this internal struggle to see your self-worth. |
3 . Your emotion helps you make sense of the world. At the core of an emotion is a subjective experience of the valence of it — what emotion scientists call “affect” (情感). Generally speaking, affect is what we are most focused on. Do you have chocolate cake in front of you? That’s good! Do you see a spider on the table! That’s bad!
Your affective reactions tell you which experiences are desirable, and which aren’t, but the total emotional experience includes all you do and think. You can learn a lot by observing and describing them. You can also learn a lot by appreciating their secret life.
The problem is: the affective features of emotions tend to dominate. Our subjective valence of emotion is almost all we can see. When emotions are only about what is pleasant or unpleasant in subjective experience right now, the more important features of emotion disappear.
If you can slow down and expand; if you stop running or clinging (沉浸其中) and adopt a sense of curiosity, emotions become more subtle and different. When fear comes up, don’t walk away so that fear dissipates. Instead, stay. Allow yourself to feel the nervousness, the sweating, and everything else that comes along with it. It is one of the hardest things to do in life, but it’s also one of the most rewarding. If you run, you are telling basic parts of your brain, “I guess this threat really was real. I better stay away from it.” You are training yourself to fear, regardless of that situation. If you cling, you are saying, “Escape from this emotion is a threat”, and since it is not a happy experience, happiness slips through your hands like sand.
Note that you can not fool yourself. Just allow the full emotion. You will never enter into their secret life until you stop running or clinging. To control your life, you need to actively train your emotions to be your ally (同盟). Observe. Describe. Appreciate. Do that and you may find you have allies for healthy living that were there all along.
1. Why does the author mention “chocolate cake” and “spider” in paragraph 1?A.To explain the complex response of emotions. |
B.To show the subjective experience of emotions. |
C.To indicate the goodness and badness of the world. |
D.To emphasize the significance of emotions in life. |
A.The present feelings are less obvious. |
B.The subjective emotions are less powerful. |
C.The overall picture of emotions is easier to ignore. |
D.The observation and description of emotions are easier. |
A.Deepens. | B.Spreads. | C.Disappears. | D.Sticks. |
A.The secret of emotions. | B.The subjective experience. |
C.The importance of allies in life. | D.Magical functions of emotions. |
That night the boss came home to his 14-year-old son. The father
“My days are really busy and I don ‘t pay a lot of attention to you,”
5 . One of the cores of emotional intelligence is self-regulation, an important skill in the workplace. Like any skill, mastery of emotional self-control requires intentionality and practice.
Pause to Mentally Distance
When you notice your typical physiological experiences associated with strong negative emotion, what should you do? Mentally step out of your immediate experience. Asking yourself any question, or imagining what you might look like to others right now, will do the trick. At that point, although still physiologically keyed up, you will be able to ask yourself, “What is the best course of action right now?” or “What advice would I give someone else who is in my shoes?”
Take Control of Your Self-Talk
We’re frequently unaware of how much self-chatter is going on in the background of our minds. Such self-talk might not be in fully articulated (铰接式的) words or phrases, but instead little flashes of thought. Becoming aware of your self-talk can be difficult. Why is this an important skill to develop?
Seek Support from Partners
Ask others you trust to help you recognize when your emotions seem to be getting the best of you.
Cultivate (培养) Curiosity
Our brains are wired to draw conclusions and form judgments at lightning speed, and those are frequently the cause of our negative emotions.
A.They are comfortable with all emotions |
B.Those judgments are not necessarily accurate |
C.Doing so provides you with choices as to how to act |
D.Explain your developmental goals and sincerely ask for help |
E.Stay focused on coming up with an answer and following through on it |
F.Because it is those background beliefs that fuel our emotional responses |
G.Here are four ways you can develop greater emotional self-management |
6 . The Science of Recreational Fear
From peek-a-boo to Halloween haunted houses, research shows that recreational fear can teach us to face scary situations. The “paradox of horror” is that being scared, under the right circumstances, can be fun.
Having fun with fear is an “extremely important tool for learning,” said Mathias Clasen, director of the Recreational Fear Lab at Aarhus University in Denmark. “We learn something about the dangers of the world. We learn something about our own responses: What does it feel like to be afraid? How much fear can I take?”
Horror movies have gotten more popular. And in one survey of more than 1,000 Americans, conducted by Clasen, 55% described themselves as horror fans.
Even babies like being a little spooked (惊的). Peek-a-boo is “an infant jump scare,” Clasen said.
After this rush, many people experience an uplifted mood. One study examined how 262 adults felt before and after they entered an extreme haunted house.
A.So why do we like it? |
B.Fifty percent of people said they felt better after the visit. |
C.And recreational fear, as it is rightly named, could benefit us, too. |
D.Playing with fear helps us learn what our body does under pressure. |
E.Horror, though, is not the only genre of what people find scary fun, he said. |
F.We define recreational fear broadly as a mixed emotional experience of fear and enjoyment. |
G.Classic childhood games of tag and hide-and-seek are just like the real scenes of predator vs. prey. |
7 . 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? |
8 . Walter Benjamin, the German philosopher, once noted that boredom was the “dream bird that hatches the egg of experience”. However, the creative flights of fancy which often arise from having little to do are being killed off by social media, researchers argued. Viewing mindlessly through attention-grabbing posts and videos prevents “profound (深层的) boredom” that can drive people on to new passions or skills. Instead, people find themselves in a state of “superficial boredom”, which does not motivate creative thought.
Dr Timothy Hill, leader of the research team at the University of Bath, said, “The problem we observed was that social media can ease superficial boredom. But that also consumes time and energy, and may prevent people progressing to a state of profound boredom, where they might discover new passions. Profound boredom may sound like a negative concept but, in fact, it can be intensely positive if people are given the chance for undisturbed thinking and development.
Researchers interviewed 15 people during the pandemic (流行病), when boredom was more likely because of restrictions. Many described being trapped in regularly daily walks and watching television, with many turning to social media to pass the time. But although the participants said that social media provided a temporary escape from superficial boredom, it also appeared to exacerbate it, leaving them feeling they had wasted their time.
The pandemic was a painful and consuming experience for thousands of less fortunate people. But there are stories of those in lockdown who found new hobbies, careers or directions in life. Switching off devices could help people reach the state of boredom which pushes them on to new hobbies or achievements.
This research has given us a window to understand how the “always-on”, 24/7 culture and devices that promise an abundance of information and entertainment may be fixing our superficial boredom but are actually preventing us from finding more meaningful things.
1. Why are Walter Benjamin’s words mentioned?A.To call for attention to the research on boredom. |
B.To comment on the strategies to face loneliness. |
C.To offer advice on developing creative thinking. |
D.To clarify the problem caused by social media. |
A.Profound boredom is of value. |
B.Social media can fuel passions. |
C.The research has some limitations. |
D.Creative thought is easily disturbed. |
A.Avoid. | B.Break. |
C.Inspire. | D.Worsen. |
A.Why people enjoy boredom |
B.How boredom helps kill time |
C.Why being bored may be good for you |
D.How social media blocks creative ideas |
9 . Perhaps you’ve stopped doing what you want because you’re afraid of what others think of you. You feel that you must do what they expect and that you must meet their expectations, otherwise you’ll lose their approval.
Think about yourself, about what you really like and are interested in. You must lead your life independently.
By surrounding yourself with people who think like you, you’ll realize that you don’t feel judged. Then, you’ll start doing what you really want.
To overcome your fear of what others think and of their non-approval, you should start talking about your plans, For instance, you might want to tell a handful of friends about your wishes and dreams.
It’s unavoidable that not everything will be plain sailing, and you’ll find obstacles along your way.
A.There is no need to think about what you want. |
B.You don’t have to change your circle of friends. |
C.Your life belongs to you, as well as your actions. |
D.By talking to them, you’ll be able to organize your plans and ideas. |
E.If this is the case, it’s time to start working on your self-esteem (自尊). |
F.You must do what you want without being affected by what others think. |
G.However, you must trust in yourself and seek the necessary strength to move forward. |
10 . For my daughter's 19th birthday, we bought her tickets to go and see Linkin Park, as they were playing in our city. We didn't really have the
The night before she was like a
Needless to say when they
Later that day they returned, with faces full of happiness and warmth. They presented my husband and me with a
This wasn't something
A.money | B.time | C.interest | D.news |
A.worker | B.baby | C.kid | D.parent |
A.dance | B.learn | C.walk | D.sit |
A.speak | B.sleep | C.stand | D.leave |
A.healthy | B.happy | C.pretty | D.surprised |
A.stayed | B.left | C.returned | D.turned |
A.worrying about | B.caring for | C.looking at | D.listening to |
A.lent | B.earned | C.saved | D.spent |
A.Still | B.Only | C.Just | D.Also |
A.continued | B.tried | C.decided | D.struggled |
A.kept | B.lost | C.realized | D.discovered |
A.gift | B.prize | C.ticket | D.picture |
A.richest | B.oldest | C.best | D.cleverest |
A.important | B.ordinary | C.new | D.valuable |
A.feelings | B.concerns | C.understandings | D.opinions |