【易伯华独家】雅思阅读全真模考题:幸福决策论

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易伯华雅思名师讲堂从今天开始和大家分享一系列阅读仿真模拟题，可以说与雅思真题99%相似，是烤鸭在剑桥雅思之余的良好调剂品。烤鸭们可以先自己试着做一做，做完之后可以对下答案，再看看易伯华名师的悉心讲解。本篇阅读的标题：幸福决策论。

A

Americans today choose among more options

in more options in more parts of life than has ever been possible before. To

an extent, the opportunity to choose enhances our lives. It is only logical

to think that if some choice is good, more is better; people who care about

having infinite options will benefit from them, and those who do not can

always just ignore the 273 versions of cereal they have never tried. Yet

recent research strongly suggests that, psychologically, this assumption is

wrong. Although some choice is undoubtedly better than none, more is not

always better than less.

B

Recent research offers insight into why

many people end up unhappy rather than pleased when their options expand. We

began by making a distinction between "maximizers" (those who

always aim to make the best possible choice) and "satisficers"

(those who aim for "good enough," whether or not better selections

might be out there).

C

In particular, we composed a set of

statements- the Maximization Scale—to diagnose people's propensity to

maximize. Then we had several thousand people rate themselves from 1 to 7

(from "completely disagree" to "completely agree) on such

statements as "I never settle for second best." We also evaluated

their sense, of satisfaction with their decisions. We did not define a sharp

cutoff to separate maximizers from satisficers, but in general, we think of

individuals whose average scores are higher than 4 (the scale's midpoint) as

maximizers and those whose scores are lower than the midpoint as satisficers.

People who score highest on the test—the greatest maximisers—engage in more

product comparisons than the lowest scorers, both before and after they make

purchasing decisions, and they take longer to decide what to buy. When

satisficers find an item that meets their standards, they stop looking. But maximizers

exert enormous effort reading labels, checking out consumer magazines and

trying new products. They also spend more time comparing their purchasing

decisions with those of others.

D

We found that the greatest maximizers are

the least happy with the fruits of their efforts. When they compare

themselves with others, they get little pleasure from finding out that they

did better and substantial dissatisfaction from finding out that they did

worse. They are more prone to experiencing regret after a purchase, and if

their acquisition disappoints them, their sense of well-being takes longer to

recover. They also tend to brood or ruminate more than satisficers do.

E

Does it follow that maximizers are less

happy in general than satisficers? We tested this by having people fill out a

variety of questionnaires known to be reliable indicators of well-being. As

might be expected, individuals with high maximization scores experienced less

satisfaction with life and were less happy, less optimistic and more

depressed than people with low maximization scores. Indeed, those with extreme

maximization ratings had depression scores that placed them in the borderline

clinical range.

F

Several factors explain why more choice is

not always better than less, especially for maximizers. High among these arc

"opportunity costs." The quality of any given option cannot be

assessed in isolation from its alternatives. One of the “costs” of making a

selection is losing the opportunities that a different option would have

afforded. Thus an opportunity cost of vacationing on the beach in Cape Cod

might be missing the fabulous restaurants in the Napa Valley. EARLY

DECISION-MAKING RESEARCH by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky showed that

people respond much more strongly to losses than gains. If we assume that

opportunity costs reduce the overall desirability of the most preferred

choice, then the more alternatives there are, the deeper our sense of loss

will be and the less satisfaction we will derive from our ultimate decision.

G

The problem of opportunity costs will be

worse for a maximizer than for a satisficer. The latter's "good

enough" philosophy can survive thoughts about opportunity costs. In

addition, the "good enough" standard leads to much less searching

and inspection of alternatives than the maximizer's "best"

standard. With fewer choices under consideration, a person will have fewer

opportunity costs to subtract.

H

Just as people fed sorrow about the

opportunities they have forgone, they may also suffer regret about the option

they settle on. My colleagues and I devised a scale to measure proneness to

feeling regret, and we found that people with high sensitivity to regret are

less happy, less satisfied with life, less optimistic and more depressed than

those with low sensitivity. Not surprisingly, we also found that people with

high regret sensitivity tend to be maximizers. Indeed, we think that worry

over future regret is a major reason that individuals become maximizers. The

only way to be sure you will not regret a decision is by making the best

possible one. Unfortunately, the more options you have and the more

opportunity costs you incur, the more likely you are to experience regret.

I

In a classic demonstration of the power of sunk costs,

people were offered season subscriptions to a local theater company. Some

were offered the tickets at frill price and others at a discount. Then the

researchers simply kept track of how often the ticket purchasers actually

attended the plays over the course of the season. Full-price payers were more

likely to show up at performances than discount payers. The reason for this,

the investigators argued, was that the full-price payers would experience

more regret if they did not use the tickets because not using the more costly

tickets would constitute a bigger loss. To increase sense of happiness, We

can decide to restrict our options when the decision is not crucial. For

example, make a rule to visit no more than two stores when shopping for

clothing.

Questions 28-31

Use the

information in the passage to match the category (listed A-D) with descriptions

or deeds below. Write the appropriate letters A-D in boxes 28-31 on your answer

sheet.

A. Maximiser

B. Satisficer

C. Both

D. Neither of them

28. finish

transaction when the items match their expectation

29. buy the

most expensive things when shopping

30. consider

repeatedly until they make final decision

31. participate

in the questionnaire of the author

Questions

32-36

Do the following

statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3?

In

write

TRUE if the statement is true

FALSE if the statement is false

NOT

GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage

32. With

the society's advancement, more chances make our lives better and happier.

33. There

is difference of findings by different gender classification.

34. The feeling

of loss is greater than that of acquisition.

35. 'Good

enough' plays a more significant role in pursuing "best' standards of

maximizer.

36. There

are certain correlations between the "regret" people and the maximizers.

Questions

37-40

Choose the correct

letter, A, B, C, or D.

Write your answers

in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet

37 What is the subject of this passage?

A. regret

makes people less happy

B. choices

and Well-being

C. an

interesting phenomenon

D. advices

on shopping

38 According to conclusion of questionnaires,

which of the following statement is correct?

A. maximizers

are less happy

B. state

of being optimistic is important

C. uncertain

results arc found.

D. maximizers

tend to cross bottom line

39 The experimental on theater tickets

suggested:

A. sales

are different according to each season

B. people

like to spend on the most expensive items

C. people

feel depressed if they spend their vouchers

D. people

will feel regret more when they fail to use a higher price purchase

40 What is author's suggestion on how to

increase happiness:

A. focus

the final decision

B. be

sensitive and smart

C. reduce

the choice or option

D. read

label carefully