| A．Impatient. | B．Confused. | C．Sincere. | D．Comfortable. |
2 . To tease apart these features of emotion regulation, Varma designed an experimental situation in which they put participants into an “emotion induction (引导)” treatment. Participants read a story that was intended to cause a negative emotion such as a hit-and-run car accident or the death of your dog.
The underlined phrase “tease apart” (Para 3, Line 1) is closest in meaning to _________.
| A．identify | B．combine | C．emphasize | D．dominate |
3 . Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize in no more than 60 words the main idea of the passage and how it is illustrated. Use your own words as far as possible.
It’s no laughing matter
Much research has been conducted about why humans laugh and what they laugh at—not only by psychologists, but also by philosophers, for the study of laughter crosses many disciplines. So, why do we laugh?
The general belief is that humans laugh as a social bonding mechanism. Studies have shown that humans are over 30 times more likely to laugh with others than alone. Even “laughing gas” works more effectively on a group of people than on a single person. We all know that laughter can be very infectious.
Some researchers believe that laughter in humans was born out of the relief our ancestors felt after danger had passed. If smiling in humans is considered an extension of the “fear” face in primates (灵长类动物), then laughter is a signal that the fear has gone. When we laugh, our “fight or flight” reaction to danger is temporarily switched off, further indicating that we now feel relaxed. So laughter is a way of discharging stress and anxiety.
Although laughter is universal, people don’t always laugh at the same things, and what people find funny often changes as they get older. Children find a lot to laugh about, as they are encountering so many things for the first time, which offers constant surprises. Teenagers often like jokes that adults find annoying, while adults often laugh at jokes about funny things in their own everyday lives. Furthermore, because a lot of our humor comes from a shared cultural background, countless jokes don’t cross language and cultural barriers, with the result that what’s funny in Australia may well not be in Austria.
Regardless of what different people find funny, people ought to laugh as much as they can. While we’re laughing, we increase the killer cells that destroy viruses. So, the next time someone tells you they nearly died laughing, tell them it’s far from the truth!
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Working Out Worries by Writing
After his father was driven to the hospital for emergent treatment, 43-year-old Yanatha Desouvre began to panic. So, he did one thing that he knew would calm himself: He wrote. Over the next few weeks, Desouvre filled several notebooks, writing about his worry as well as his happy memories with his dad. “Writing allowed me to face my fear and process my pain,” he says. Psychologists refer to that kind of writing as “expressive writing”. People do it by recording their deepest thoughts and feelings. However, different from writing in a journal, expressive writing is to reflect honestly and thoughtfully on a particular frustration or challenge.
A well-known psychology professor says that hundreds of studies have looked at the potential benefits of expressive writing and found it can help reduce pain and improve mood, sleep and memory. It may even help reduce symptoms of various illnesses, and prevent colds and flu.
Expressive writing takes effect because translating a painful experience into language allows people to make meaning out of it, some experts say. The process forces them to organize their thoughts and offers a sense of control, thus completing the pursuit of value from such an experience. Another research suggested that during expressive writing, the act of labeling a feeling can lessen the activity relating to nerves in the threat area of the brain. With these nerves relaxed, people can lower the symptoms of their diseases, enhance their appreciation for life, and increase the acceptance of various experiences in their lives.
What can’t be ignored is that it shouldn’t be used as a replacement for other medical treatments. And people coping with a severe depression may not find it useful to do on their own, without therapy. Yet, it can be a powerful coping tool for many, in large part because it helps battle against their reluctance to face negative emotions.
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5 . What happens when we experience emotions?
In brief, emotional responses have four parts. There is a bodily (physiological) response, an interpretation in the mind, feelings, and an effect on behaviour. These do not happen in any special order - they happen at the same time and affect each other.
To understand the physiological response, imagine you are frightened by an aggressive, noisy dog. Your brain sends messages throughout your body. It does this by releasing a chemical called adrenaline, which the blood carries to other parts of the body. Then, the bodily sensations of being frightened begin. Blood drains from your stomach (giving a feeling we describe as a "knot in the stomach"). The blood vessels（血管）in the face become narrower (which makes you become white). Similar processes exist for other emotions.
The second aspect of emotion is interpretation in the ind of events and feelings. This is both conscious and unconscious. In fact, the more you think about the dog, the more frightened you become. Thinking like this sends both your feelings and your physical arousal to new heights.
Finally, emotions can also affect behavior.
| A．The “feeling” aspect of emotions comes from two sources. |
| B．We will illustrate this process with the most carefully studied of all emotions: fear. |
| C．In response to the aggressive dog, this could be the so-called "fight-or-flight" response which appears to be part of our biology. |
| D．We should make clear, however, that emotions are not completely fixed by our biology. |
| E．With anger, for example, more blood flows to the hands, and more energy is released. |
| F．Fear, for example, undoubtedly helped people thousands of years ago to respond to dangerous situations. |
Are your children getting on your last nerve? Did a coworker's comment rub you the wrong way? There's no need to plug the steam coming out of your ears. In fact, science now gives you full permission to release those emotions; you might actually be happier for it. If that seems counter—intuitive(违反直觉的), hear us out. A new study suggests that people tend to be happier if they can feel and express emotions as they want. That goes for unpleasant emotions like anger and hatred, too.
An international team of researchers recruited 2,300 university students from the United States, Brazil, China, Germany, Ghana, Israel, Poland, and Singapore. They then asked the participants to tell them which emotions they desired and which ones they actually felt, and then compared those responses to how the participants rated their overall happiness or life satisfaction.
The results showed an interesting trend. While participants wanted to experience more pleasant emotions, they reported higher life satisfaction if the emotions they experienced matched those they desired. More surprising still, 11 percent of people wanted to feel less of positive emotions, such as love and empathy, and 10 percent of people wanted to feel more negative emotions, such as hatred and anger.
At first glance, these result might seem confusing. But there's a simple explanation, according to the study's authors. Happiness is "more than simply feeling pleasure and avoiding pain," they write. It is also learning to release negative emotions when you feel them, instead of ignoring them or bottling them up.
"If you feel emotions you want to feel, even if they're unpleasant, then you're better off," lead researcher Dr Maya Tamir from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem told the BBC News website. 71
