题目内容

The Purpose of Boredom Being bored can encourage people's creativity-partly to escape the horrible,frustrated.And meaningless feeling of boredom-recent studies find.It could even be true at work.

Psychologists at the University of Central Lancashire had participants copy numbers out of the telephone book for 15 minutes,while others went straight into a standard creativity task.

Both groups were asked to come up with as many different uses as they could for a plastic cup.The group that felt more bored came up with more uses.

Dr.Sandi Mann,one of the study's authors said." Boredom at work has always been seen as something to he removed.hut perhaps we should be welcoming it in order to encourage our creativity.What we want LO do next is to see what the practical implications of this finding are.Do people who are bored at work become more creative in other areas of their work-or do they go home and write novels?"

In a later study,Dr.Sandi Mann found that creativity was reduced when people were still bored but didn't have the chance to daydream.

While we tend to think of boredom as something;that certainly leads to trouble-drinking,gambling.and antisocial behavior,this research suggests different possibilities.

More than anything,the feeling of boredom is a 8trong signal that we are stuck in some kind of rut and we need to seek out new goals.In the study above,this research led participants to new ideas.

Usually people will do anything to avoid being bored.as it's such an aversive experience.But creative people,like writers,sometimes talk about seeking out boredom.

Here is the comedy writer Graham Linehan talking about boredom Lo The Cuardian."I have to use all these programs that cut off the Internet,force me to be bored,because being bored is an essential part of writing,and the Internet has made it very hard to be bored.The creative process requires a period of boredom ,of being stuck.That's actually a very uncomfortable period that a lot of people mistake for writer's block,but it's actually just part of a long process."

So,when you start to feel bored ,instead of g7ancing at your smartphone.,try being bored for a bit.Who knows what creative thought might come of it?

1.From the study of Dr.Sandi Mann,we can learn that________.

A. boring tasks make people creative

B. daydreaming may increase creativity

C. plastic cups can be used very creatively

D. copying numbers might be very interesting

2.The underlined word "aversive" in Paragraph 8 probably means________

A. common B. unpleasant

C. unusual D. personal

3.According to Craham Linehan________.

A. glancing at a smartphone is a solution.

B. he is forced to feel bored by the Internet

C. the boredom period is a block for writers

D. being stuck for a period benefits him a lot

4.What is the author's attitude towards boredom?

A. Critical B. Cautious

C. Positive D. Unclear

练习册系列答案
相关题目

Once in a busy street, a middle-aged businessman found his wallet missing. There was a lot of money in it. So he made a promise, "If someone finds my wallet and returns it to me, I'll give half the money to him."

The wallet was found by a dustman in a dustbin. He sent it back to the loser. But the businessman changed his mind.

"There was still a diamond ring in my wallet," said the loser, "I won't give half the money in my wallet to you until you return it to me!"

"I've never seen a diamond ring in the wallet," said the dustman.

They began to quarrel. The businessman refused to do what he had said. The dustman became angry and took him before a judge.

After the judge heard what had happened to them, he said to the businessman, "I'm sure you are an honest man. It's true that you have lost a wallet in which there was a diamond ring. But it's also clear that there is only a lot of money in this wallet. I don't think it's yours. Wait for some time. Perhaps someone will be able to return your wallet to you!"

Then the judge turned to the dustman and said, "Take the wallet home. If the loser doesn't go to get it back in three days, it will belong to you!"

1.The wallet the businessman lost ________.

A. was found in a shop

B. was sent to the judge

C. was found in a dustbin

D. was never to be found

2.The businessman was eager to get back the wallet because _________.

A. there was the address of an important judge in it

B. he put in it a diamond ring he had just bought

C. there was a lot of money in it

D. it was a very expensive one

3.Having heard what had happened, the judge _________ .

A. took the side of the businessman

B. did not know what to do

C. took pity on the loser

D. made a wise decision

When Armida Armato’s daughter, Alexia, came home from school one day last year keen to go on a school trip to Ecuador, she wasn’t too sure how to feel. She was happy that her daughter could experience something she never did as a teen but was fearful of letting her travel to such a remote part of the world.

Alexia was 16 at the time, a student at Westwood High School. The school sponsored a humanitarian trip for 26 students and two teachers to spend 18 days living in a mountain village to build a one-room school. Even though Armato trusted her daughter, the other students and the teachers, she was worried about the side effects from the travel vaccines, possible accidents, and medical care.

Now that Alexia was home, Armato said she saw her daughter’s new maturity, greater confidence and independence. “This is the best thing I ever did,” Alexia said. “The experience was so eye-opening and life-changing. You’re with people who are not as lucky as you are. They live in very poor conditions but they’re so happy and outgoing. You say, ‘My God. I’m taking everything for granted back home.’”

She said they built a one-room school from scratch with no mechanical cement mixers. They used their hands, shovels and basic tools. She and another student lived with a local family in a small village about eight hours outside the capital, Quito. Despite the initial strangeness and knowing only basic Spanish, she said they grew very close and felt like a family.

Every year, groups of students at Montreal High School like Alexia pack their bags and fly off with classmates and teachers to developing countries where they volunteer for a variety of projects.

“Armato’s worries are very common among parents,” says Bill Nevin, a teacher at St. George’s High School. He organizes a humanitarian rip to India to the Sheela Bal Bhavan orphanage and says the three biggest fears families have are health, security and contact.

1.When hearing the news that her daughter would go on a school trip to Ecuador, Armato was _______.

A.proud and happy

B.supportive but concerned

C.fearful and nervous

D.excited but puzzled

2.The underlined phrase “from scratch” in Paragraph 4 probably means “______”.

A.having great help

B.using high technology

C.ending up in failure

D.starting from the beginning

3.What would be the best title for the text?

A.Volunteering helps students grow and develop.

B.School trips make parents worried about their children.

C.Ecuador is the most attractive travel destination in the world.

D.Brave Alexia dreams to work in Ecuador one day.

A device that stops drivers from falling asleep at the wheel is about to undergo testing at Department of Transport laboratories and could go on sale within 12 months.

The system,called driver Alert,aims to reduce deadly road accidents by 20%—40% that are caused by tiredness.Airline pilots can also use it to reduce the 30% of all pilot-error accidents that are related to fatigue.

Driver Alert is based on a computerized wristband.The device,worn by drivers or pilots gives out a sound about every four minutes during a car journey.After each sound the driver must respond by squeezing the steering wheel(方向盘).A sensor in the wristband detects this pressing action and measures the time between the sound and the driver’s response.

Tiredness is directly related to a driver’s response time.Usually,a watchful driver would take about 400 milliseconds to respond,but once that falls to more than 500 milliseconds,it suggests that the driver is getting sleepy.

In such cases the device gives out more regular and louder sounds,showing that the driver should open a window or stop for a rest.If the driver’s response continues to slow down,the sounds become more frequent until a nonstop alarm warms that the driver must stop as soon as possible.

The device has been delivered to the department’s laboratories for testing.If these tests,scheduled for six months’ time,are successful,the markers will bring the product to market within about a year.

1.According to the text,Driver Alert ______.

A. aims to reduce tiredness-related accidents

B. has gone through testing at laboratories

C. aims to prevent drivers from sleeping

D. has been on sale for 12 months

2.How should a driver respond to the sounds from Driver Alert?

A. By sounding a warning

B. By touching the wristband

C. By checking the driving time

D. By pressing the steering wheel

3.We can learn from the text that the driver needs to stop for a break when his response time is ______.

A. About 400 milliseconds

B. below 500 milliseconds

C. over 500 milliseconds

D. about 400 minutes

4.When the driver gets sleepy while driving,Driver Alert ______.

A. moves more regularly

B. stops working properly

C. opens the window for the driver

D. sounds more frequently and loudly

违法和不良信息举报电话:027-86699610 举报邮箱:58377363@163.com

精英家教网