题目内容
In the 19th century, there used to be a model of how to be a good person. There are all these torrents of passion flowing through you. Your job, as captain of your soul, is to erect dams to keep these passions in check. Your job is to just say no to laziness, lust, greed, drug use and the other sins.
These days that model is out of fashion. You usually can’t change your behavior by simply resolving to do something. Knowing what to do is not the same as being able to do it. Your willpower is not like a dam that can block the torrent of self-indulgence. It's more like a muscle, which tires easily. Moreover, you're a social being. If everybody around you is overeating, you’ll probably do so, too.
The 19th-century character model was based on an understanding of free will. Today, we know that free will is bounded. People can change their lives, but ordering change is not simple because many things, even within ourselves, are beyond our direct control.
Much of our behavior, for example, is guided by unconscious habits. Researchers at Duke University calculated that more than 40 percent of the actions we take are governed by habit, not actual decisions. Researchers have also come to understand the structure of habits—cue, routine, reward.
You can change your own personal habits. If you leave running shorts on the floor at night, that'll be a cue to go running in the morning. Don’t try to ignore your afternoon snack craving. Every time you feel the cue for a snack, insert another routine. Take a walk.
Their research thus implies a different character model, which is supposed to manipulate the neural networks inside.
To be an effective person, under this model, you are supposed to coolly examine your own unconscious habits, and the habits of those under your care. You are supposed to devise strategies to alter the cues and routines. Every relationship becomes slightly manipulative, including your relationship with yourself. You're trying to arouse certain responses by implanting certain cues.
This is a bit disturbing, because the important habitual neural networks are not formed by mere routine, nor can they be reversed by clever cues. They are burned in by emotion and strengthened by strong yearnings, like the yearnings for admiration and righteousness.
If you think you can change your life in a clever way, the way an advertiser can get you to buy an air freshener, you’re probably wrong. As the Victorians understood, if you want to change your life, don’t just look for a clever cue. Commit to some larger global belief.
1.Which of the following is the first-to-none element in the 19th-century character model?
A. Action. B. Capacity. C. Resolution.D. Enthusiasm.
2.The research at Duke University indicated that ________
A. One’s behavior is tough to change.
B. Habit has an unidentified structure.
C. Habit plays a vital role in one's behavior.
D. Both habit and will power are of significance.
3.According to the new character model, personal behavior could be altered through
A. techniques to break old routines.
B. techniques to provide different physical cues.
C. cues to change all the former unconscious habits.
D. cues to manipulate the habitual neural responses.
1. C
2. C
3. B
【解析】
试题分析:文章对比了19世纪的性格典范和现在的新的性格典范之间的差异。新的性格典范重视习惯改变的神经和心理的方面。
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考点:考查社会现象类短文
HARVARD, the top university in the United States, is a dream place for many students. Imagine being able to see how unique Harvard students are. Asking them what they learn. And how their classes are conducted.
This month, 300 students from different parts of China had an opportunity to spend a week with Harvard students. They gathered in the High School Attached to Fudan University in Shanghai where the Harvard College Association for US-China Relations Summit for Young Leaders in China (HSYLC 2007) took place. Over 40 Harvard undergraduates took part in it!
Around 2,000 Chinese students applied online for the program, which included various activities. Wang Wenjing, 17, from Shanghai Jingye High School was one of the 300 participants to be selected.
Seminars (研讨会)
Every day, the schedule was very busy filled with seminars, lectures, workshops (研习班), games and parties. Wang liked the seminars most.
Seminars are small classes with no more than 10 students. Wang could choose six from 40 different seminars to attend. A Harvard student led each one.
"They explored international issues such as US immigration (移民). We were allowed lively discussion and sometimes the only thing we did in a class was debate," Wang said. "To prepare for the next seminar, we often stayed up late doing research. No one could keep silent and it was fun to share ideas with others."
Celebrities’(名人) lectures
Each day, two or three lectures were given. Wang was excited that the lecturers were famous figures that before she had only seen on TV.
"I finally know why people are crazy about Yi Zhongtian. He is intelligent and eloquent (有口才的). Pu Bajia taught me how to overcome difficulties and plan for the future. All the lectures were inspiring," she said.
At the closing ceremony, Wang and her partner from Nanjing presented their workshop project. It was a survey of how Chinese view Americans, as an article about how Americans view Chinese is popular on the Internet.
"The program taught me what I could not otherwise learn in the classroom. Harvard students also let me know how important to be creative," she said.
Background information | 300 Chinese students had an opportunity to spend a week with students of Harvard University, the most _1.______ one in the USA, being able to see how unique the Harvard students are, what they learn and how their classes are 2.___ out. | |
The programme was _3.____ in the PRC, with over 40 Harvard undergraduate students _4.____ part in it. | ||
About 2000 Chinese students applied online, but only 300 were luckily chosen. | ||
__5. __ | Seminars | Seminars are small classes with only 10 students, __6._____ by a Harvard student. |
There were 40 different seminars for participants to choose from. | ||
The Chinese students had to __7. _____ or debate in class. | ||
Everyone had to stay up late, __8. ___ for the next one. | ||
Celebrities’ lectures | Every day two or three _9.____ lectures were given by famous figures who once appeared on TV, such as Yi Zhongtian. | |
Conclusion | Participants had to present their workshop projects, intended to encourage their ___10.___. | |