Bonus（奖金） culture has become the subject of many studies nowadays. Many people have been angered by the way some bankers and high officials seem to have been rewarded for failure. Others find the idea of offering many-million-dollar bonuses morally disgusting.

But few have asked whether performance-related bonuses really do improve performance. The answer seems so obvious that even to ask the question can appear ridiculous. Indeed, in spite of all the complaints about them, financial encouragements continue to be introduced in more and more areas, from healthcare and public services to teaching and universities.

So it may come as a shock to many to learn that paying for results can actually make people perform badly in many circumstances, and that the more you pay, the worse they perform.

No one is arguing that bonuses can help companies and institutions attract and keep the best staff. Nor does anyone argue against the idea that you can encourage people to do specific tasks by linking payments to those tasks. Rather, the point is about how to get the best out of people. Do employees really perform better if you promise to pay them more for getting results?

There are some obvious reasons why such payments can fail. It has been argued, for instance, that cash bonuses contributed to the financial crash, because traders had little enthusiasm to make sure that their companies enjoyed long-term survival.

Most bonus projects are poorly designed, says Professor Malcolm Higgs. He thinks the reason is that organizations try to keep bonus arrangements simple. Nevertheless, he thinks bonus projects can work as long as they link the interests of individual employees with the long-term goals of a business.

Bonuses can also encourage cheating. “Once you start making people’s rewards dependent on outcomes rather than behaviors, the evidence is people will do whatever they can to get those outcomes,” says Professor Edward Deci. “In many cases the high officials simply lied and cheated to make the stock (股票) price go up so they got huge bonuses.”

But the work of Deci and others suggests the problem with bonuses runs far deeper than poor design or cheating. In 1971, he asked students to solve puzzles, with some receiving cash prizes for doing well and others getting nothing. Deci found those offered cash were less likely to keep working on puzzles after they had done enough to get paid.

These studies suggest that offering rewards can stop people doing things for the pure joy of it. This was the basis for a series of books by Kohn in which he argues that rewarding children, students and workers with grades, scholarships and other “bribes” (贿赂) leads to low-quality work in the long run.

Those who believe in the power of bonuses fail to distinguish between inner drive and outside pressure — wanting to do something because you like it for itself in contrast to doing something because you want the reward, Kohn says. “It’s not just that these two are different, it’s often that the more you reward people for doing something, the more their inner drive tends to decline.”

A “do this and get that” approach might improve performance in the short term, but over longer periods it will always fail, Kohn says. People who receive bonus will naturally play safe, become less creative, cooperate less and feel less valued, he adds. What’s more, the studies also suggest that offering rewards can also stop people taking responsibility.

71. The effect of performance-related bonuses has not been well studied because people _______.

A. take the function of bonuses for granted

B. see that bonus offering is done everywhere

C. think financial encouragement is disgusting

D. are shocked by the practice of rewarding for failures

72. According to Malcolm Higgs, designs that _________ are the good ones.

A. drive people to finish short-term tasks

B. help to attract and keep good employees

C. link financial rewards with the quality of the outcomes

D. connect individual interests with long-term business goals

73. If a person plays safe to get a bonus, he is probably being ________.

A. more enthusiastic                   B. more risk-taking

C. less daring                              D. less responsible

74. Which of the following do you think the author would most probably agree with?

A. Companies should make their bonus projects simple.

B. The benefit of bonus helps to get the best out of people.

C. The biggest problem with bonus is it creates cheating.

D. Bonus offering can stop people doing things for pure joy.

75. Which do you think is the best title of the passage?

A. What Is Bonus?                           B. Does Bonus Work?

C. Why Bonus Offered?                   D. How Bonus Works?

Three years ago I listened to a lecture on cognition(认知) that changed the way I think about intelligence. There are two types of cognition. The first is normal cognition: the ability to regain knowledge from memory. The second type of cognition: the ability to know whether or not you know.

Does this affect intelligence? In traditional education, intelligence is measured by cognitive ability. Some people can easily produce everything they know on a test. But others are awarded with poor grades and considered inferior.  But does this inability make them any less intelligent? If the question came up on a task, they could refer to a book or a quick Google search. In reality they’re just as effective as the people that ace(擅长) a test. They just can’t prove it as easily.

Metacognition is more important to success than cognition. A person with poor cognitive ability, but great metacognitive ability might do poorly in school, but when faced with a challenge, they understand their abilities and take the best course of action. For example, when faced with a question, a person with strong metacognitive ability will deal with it like this. If he knows the answer, but can’t come up with it, he can always do a bit of research. If he knows for sure that he doesn’t know, then he can start educating himself. Because he’s aware of his ignorance, he doesn’t act with foolish confidence. These people might not seem intelligent at first glance, but because they know what they know, they make better decisions and learn the most important things.

However, people with great cognitive ability but poor metacognitive ability may be considered excellent at a young age for acing every test and getting great SAT scores. Unfortunately, they’ve been ruined by poor metacognition: they think they know everything but they really don’t. They are arrogant (overconfident), fail to learn from mistakes, and don’t understand the slight differences of personal relationships, showing disregard for persons with lower cognitive ability. They may make the worst decisions.

The most important mental power is the ability to know what you don’t know. The recognition of a fault is the first step to improvement. Don’t try to hide a lack of knowledge. For intelligent people this is the toughest lesson to learn.

1.People with great cognitive ability tend to ________.

  A. do well in tests                   B. be considered inferior

C. be more effective than others      D. do research when faced with a task

2.The underlined phrase “take the best course of action” probably means ________.

A. starting educating himself     B. taking action during the course

C. making the right decision      D. coming up with many ideas

3.People with poor metacognition may not succeed because they ________.

  A. lack basic moral values            B. have improper self evaluation

C. fail to communicate with others    D. show little respect for others

4.The author probably supports the idea that ________.

  A. intelligence is measured by cognitive ability

B. cognition is the most important mental power

C. the toughest lesson is to distinguish the two types of cognition

D. the awareness of one’s ignorance contributes to one’s improvement

Three years ago I listened to a lecture on cognition (认知) that changed the way I think about intelligence. There are two types of cognition. The first is normal cognition: the ability to regain knowledge from memory. The second type of cognition is metacognition: the ability to know whether or not you know.

Does this affect intelligence? In traditional education, intelligence is measured by cognitive ability. Some people can easily produce everything they know on a test. But others are awarded with poor grades and considered inferior. But does this inability make them any less intelligent? If the question came up on a task, they could refer to a book or a quick Google search. In reality they’re just as effective as the people that ace a test. They just can’t prove it as easily.

Metacognition is more important to success than cognition. A person with poor cognitive ability, but great metacognitive ability might do poorly in school, but when faced with a challenge, they understand their abilities and take the best course of action. For example, when faced with a question, a person with strong metacognitive ability will deal with it like this. If he knows the answer, but can’t come up with it, he can always do a bit of research. If he knows for sure that he doesn’t know, then he can start educating himself. Because he’s aware of his ignorance, he doesn’t act with foolish confidence. These people might not seem intelligent at first glance, but because they know what they know, they make better decisions and learn the most important things.

However, people with great cognitive ability but poor metacognitive ability may be considered excellent at a young age for acing every test and getting great SAT scores. Unfortunately, they’ve been ruined by poor metacognition: they think they know everything but they really don’t. They are overconfident, fail to learn from mistakes, and don’t understand the slight differences of personal relationships, showing disregard for persons with lower cognitive ability. They may make the worst decisions.

The most important mental power is the ability to know what you don’t know. The recognition of a fault is the first step to improvement. Don’t try to hide a lack of knowledge. For intelligent people this is the toughest lesson to learn.

People with great cognitive ability tend to _________.

A. do well in tests                         B. be considered inferior

C. be more effective than others                D. do research when faced with a task

The underlined phrase “take the best course of action” probably means _________.

A. starting educating himself                   B. taking action during the course

C. making the right decision                    D. coming up with many ideas

People with poor metacognition may not succeed because they_________.

A. lack basic moral values                  B. have improper self-evaluation

C. fail to communicate with others              D. show little respect for others

The author probably supports the idea that _________.

A. intelligence is measured by cognitive ability

B. cognition is the most important mental power

C. the toughest lesson is to distinguish the two types of cognition

D. the awareness of one’s ignorance contributes to one’s improvement

Three years ago I listened to a lecture on cognition (认知) that changed the way I think about intelligence. There are two types of cognition. The first is normal cognition: the ability to regain knowledge from memory. The second type of cognition is metacognition: the ability to know whether or not you know.
Does this affect intelligence? In traditional education, intelligence is measured by cognitive ability. Some people can easily produce everything they know on a test. But others are awarded with poor grades and considered inferior. But does this inability make them any less intelligent? If the question came up on a task, they could refer to a book or a quick Google search. In reality they’re just as effective as the people that ace a test. They just can’t prove it as easily.
Metacognition is more important to success than cognition. A person with poor cognitive ability, but great metacognitive ability might do poorly in school, but when faced with a challenge, they understand their abilities and take the best course of action. For example, when faced with a question, a person with strong metacognitive ability will deal with it like this. If he knows the answer, but can’t come up with it, he can always do a bit of research. If he knows for sure that he doesn’t know, then he can start educating himself. Because he’s aware of his ignorance, he doesn’t act with foolish confidence. These people might not seem intelligent at first glance, but because they know what they know, they make better decisions and learn the most important things.
However, people with great cognitive ability but poor metacognitive ability may be considered excellent at a young age for acing every test and getting great SAT scores. Unfortunately, they’ve been ruined by poor metacognition: they think they know everything but they really don’t. They are overconfident, fail to learn from mistakes, and don’t understand the slight differences of personal relationships, showing disregard for persons with lower cognitive ability. They may make the worst decisions.
The most important mental power is the ability to know what you don’t know. The recognition of a fault is the first step to improvement. Don’t try to hide a lack of knowledge. For intelligent people this is the toughest lesson to learn.
【小题1】People with great cognitive ability tend to _________.

Three years ago I listened to a lecture on cognition (认知) that changed the way I think about intelligence. There are two types of cognition. The first is normal cognition: the ability to regain knowledge from memory. The second type of cognition is metacognition: the ability to know whether or not you know.

Does this affect intelligence? In traditional education, intelligence is measured by cognitive ability. Some people can easily produce everything they know on a test. But others are awarded with poor grades and considered inferior. But does this inability make them any less intelligent? If the question came up on a task, they could refer to a book or a quick Google search. In reality they’re just as effective as the people that ace a test. They just can’t prove it as easily.

Metacognition is more important to success than cognition. A person with poor cognitive ability, but great metacognitive ability might do poorly in school, but when faced with a challenge, they understand their abilities and take the best course of action. For example, when faced with a question, a person with strong metacognitive ability will deal with it like this. If he knows the answer, but can’t come up with it, he can always do a bit of research. If he knows for sure that he doesn’t know, then he can start educating himself. Because he’s aware of his ignorance, he doesn’t act with foolish confidence. These people might not seem intelligent at first glance, but because they know what they know, they make better decisions and learn the most important things.

However, people with great cognitive ability but poor metacognitive ability may be considered excellent at a young age for acing every test and getting great SAT scores. Unfortunately, they’ve been ruined by poor metacognition: they think they know everything but they really don’t. They are overconfident, fail to learn from mistakes, and don’t understand the slight differences of personal relationships, showing disregard for persons with lower cognitive ability. They may make the worst decisions.

The most important mental power is the ability to know what you don’t know. The recognition of a fault is the first step to improvement. Don’t try to hide a lack of knowledge. For intelligent people this is the toughest lesson to learn.

1.People with great cognitive ability tend to _________.

A. do well in tests                         B. be considered inferior

C. be more effective than others                D. do research when faced with a task

2.The underlined phrase “take the best course of action” probably means _________.

A. starting educating himself                   B. taking action during the course

C. making the right decision                    D. coming up with many ideas

3.People with poor metacognition may not succeed because they_________.

A. lack basic moral values                  B. have improper self-evaluation

C. fail to communicate with others              D. show little respect for others

4.The author probably supports the idea that _________.

A. intelligence is measured by cognitive ability

B. cognition is the most important mental power

C. the toughest lesson is to distinguish the two types of cognition

D. the awareness of one’s ignorance contributes to one’s improvement