【易伯华出品】雅思阅读机经真题解析-Optimism and Health

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Optimism and Health

Mindset (心态) is all. How you start the year will set the template for 2009,

and two scientifically backed character traits hold the key: optimism and

resilience (if the prospect leaves you feeling pessimistically spineless, the

good news is that you can significantly boost both of these qualities).

A

Faced with 12 months of plummeting economics and rising human distress,

staunchly maintaining a rosy view might seem deucedly Pollyannaish. But here we

encounter the optimism paradox. As Brice Pitt, an emeritus professor of the

psychiatry of old age at Imperial College, London, told me: optimists are

unrealistic. Depressive people see things as they really are, but that is a

disadvantage from an evolutionary point of view. Optimism is a piece of

evolutionary equipment that carried us through millennia of setbacks.

BIt has been known that optimistic has something to do with the long life,

and optimists have plenty to be happy about. In other words, if you can convince

yourself that things will get better, the odds of it happening will improve -

because you keep on playing the game. In this light, optimism "is a habitual way

of explaining your setbacks to yourself', reports Martin Seligman, the

psychology professor and author of Learned Optimism. The research shows that

when times get tough, optimists do better than pessimists - they succeed better

at work, respond better to stress, suffer fewer depressive episodes and achieve

more personal goals.

CStudies also show that belief can help with the financial pinch. Chad

Wallens, a social forecaster at the Henley Centre who surveyed middle-class

Britons’ beliefs about income, has found that “he people who feel wealthiest,

and those who feel poorest, actually have almost the same amount of money at

their disposal. Their attitudes and behaviour patterns, however, are different

from one another.”

DOptimists have something else to be cheerful about – in general, they are

more robust. For example, a study of 660 volunteers by the Yale University

psychologist Dr Becca Levy, found that thinking positively adds an average of 7

years to your life. Other American research claims to have identified a physical

mechanism behind this. A Harvard Medical School study of 670 men found that the

optimists have significantly better lung function. The lead author, Dr Rosalind

Wright, believes that attitude somehow strengthens the immune system.

"Preliminary studies on heart patients suggest that, by changing a person's

outlook, you can improve their mortality risk," she says.

EFew studies have tried to ascertain the proportion of optimists in the

world. But a 1995 nationwide survey conducted for the American magazine Adweek

found that about half the population counted themselves as optimists, with women

slightly more apt than men (53 per cent versus 48 per cent) to see the sunny

side.

FAlthough some optimists may be accurate in their positive beliefs about the

future, others may be unrealistic-their optimism is misplaced, according to

American Psychological Association. Research shows that some smokers exhibit

unrealistic optimism by underestimating their relative chances of experiencing

disease. An important question is whether such unrealistic optimism is

associated with risk-related attitudes and behavior. We addressed this question

by investigating if one's perceived risk of developing lung cancer, over and

above one's objective risk, predicted acceptance of myths and other beliefs

about smoking. Hierarchical regressions showed that those individuals who were

unrealistically optimistic were more likely to endorse beliefs that there is no

risk of lung cancer if one only smokes for a few years and that getting lung

cancer depends on one's genes.

GOf course, there is no guarantee that optimism will insulate you from the

crunch's worst effects, but the best strategy is still to keep smiling and thank

your lucky stars. Because (as every good sports coach knows) adversity is

character-forming-so long as you practise the skills of resilience. Research

among tycoons and business leaders shows that the path to success is often

littered with failure: a record of sackings, bankruptcies and blistering

castigations. But instead of curling into a foetal ball beneath the coffee

table, they resiliency pick themselves up, learn from their pratfalls and march

boldly towards the next opportunity.

HThe American Psychological Association defines resilience as the ability to

adapt in the face of adversity, trauma or tragedy. A resilient person may go

through difficulty and uncertainty, but he or she will doggedly bounce back.

IOptimism is one of the central traits required in building resilience, say

Yale University investigators in the Annual Review of Clinical Psychology. They

add that resilient people learn to hold on to their sense of humour and this can

help them to keep a flexible attitude when big changes of plan arc warranted.

The ability to accept your lot with equanimity also plays an important role, the

study adds.

JOne of the best ways to acquire resilience is through experiencing a

difficult childhood, the sociologist Steven Stack reports in the Journal of

Social Psychology. For example, short men are less likely to commit suicide than

tall guys, he says, because shorties develop psychological defense skills to

handle the bullies and mickey-taking that their lack of stature attracts. By

contrast, those who enjoyed adversity-free youths can get derailed by setbacks

later on because they've never been inoculated against agro.

KLearning to overcome your fears. If you are handicapped by having had a

happy childhood, then practising proactive optimism can help you to become more

resilient. Studies of resilient people show that they take more risks; they

court failure and learn not to fear it. And despite being thick-skinned,

resilient types are also more open than average to other people. Bouncing

through knock backs is all part of the process. It's about optimistic

risk-taking - being confident that people will like you. Simply smiling and

being warm to people can help. It's an altruistic path to self-interest - and if

it achieves nothing else, it will reinforce an age-old adage: hard times can

bring out the best in you.

Questions 14-18

Summary

Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage.

Using no more than TWO words from the Reading Passage for each answer. Write

your answers in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.

Optimists generally are more robust. Yale University psychologist Dr Becca

Levy found that an extension of around 14 to your life will be achieved by

positive attitude toward life. A Harvard Medical School conduct a research which

study of 15 male volunteers found that the optimists have remarkably better 16

And Dr Rosalind Wright believes optimistic life may enhance the 17 some

initiative studies on 18 indicate that people can improve their mortality risk

by changing into a positive outlook.

Questions 19-23

Use the information in the passage to match the people or organization

(listed A-E) with opinions or deeds below. Write the appropriate letters A-E in

boxes 19-23 on your answer sheet.

A Brice Pitt

B American Psychological Association

C Martin Seligman

D Chad Wallens of Henley Centre

E Annual Review of Clinical Psychology

F Steven Stack

G American magazine Adweek

19 Different optimism result found according to gender.

20 There is no necessary relationship between happiness and money.

21 Excessive optimism may be incorrect in everyday life.

22 Optimists is advantageous for human evolution.

23 Occurrence of emergency assists resilient people in a positive way.

Questions 24-27

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading

Passage 2?

In boxes 24-27 on your answer sheet, write

YES if the statement is true

NO if the statement is false

NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage

24 The link between longevity and optimism has been known.

25 Optimists have better personal relationship than those pessimists.

26 People who had a happy childhood do not need to practise optimism.

27 Experience of difficulties will eventually help people accumulate the

fortune.

（转第二页）