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雅思閱讀練習(xí)題：幸福的科學(xué)解釋
Can Scientists tell us: What happiness is?
A
Economists accept that if people describe themselves as happy, then they are happy. However, psychologists differentiate between levels of happiness. The most immediate type involves a feeling; pleasure or joy. But sometimes happiness is a judgment that life is satisfying, and does not imply an emotional state. Esteemed psychologist Martin Seligman has spearheaded an effort to study the science of happiness. The bad news is that we're not wired to be happy. The good news is that we can do something about it. Since its origins in a Leipzig laboratory 130 years ago, psychology has had little to say about goodness and contentment. Mostly psychologists have concerned themselves with weakness and misery. There are libraries full of theories about why we get sad, worried, and angry. It hasn't been respectable science to study what happens when lives go well. Positive experiences, such as joy, kindness, altruism and heroism, have mainly been ignored. For every 100 psychology papers dealing with anxiety or depression, only one concerns a positive trait.
B
A few pioneers in experimental psychology bucked the trend. Professor Alice Isen of Cornell University and colleagues have demonstrated how positive emotions make people think faster and more creatively. Showing how easy it is to give people an intellectual boost, Isen divided doctors making a tricky diagnosis into three groups: one received candy, one read humanistic statements about medicine, one was a control group. The doctors who had candy displayed the most creative thinking and worked more efficiently. Inspired by Isen and others, Seligman got stuck in. He raised millions of dollars of research money and funded 50 research groups involving 150 scientists across the world. Four positive psychology centres opened, decorated in cheerful colours and furnished with sofas and baby-sitters. There were get-togethers on Mexican beaches where psychologists would snorkel and eat fajitas, then form "pods" to discuss subjects such as wonder and awe. A thousand therapists were coached in the new science.
C
But critics are demanding answers to big questions. What is the point of defining levels of happiness and classifying the virtues? Aren't these concepts vague and impossible to pin down? Can you justify spending funds to research positive states when there are problems such as famine, flood and epidemic depression to be solved? Seligman knows his work can be belittled alongside trite notions such as "the power of positive thinking". His plan to stop the new science floating "on the waves of self- improvement fashions" is to make sure it is anchored to positive philosophy above, and to positive biology below.
D
And this takes us back to our evolutionary past. Homo sapiens evolved during the Pleistocene era (1.8 m to 10,000 years ago), a time of hardship and turmoil. It was the Ice Age, and our ancestors endured long freezes as glaciers formed, then ferocious floods as the ice masses melted. We shared the planet with terrifying creatures such as mammoths, elephant-sized ground sloths and sabre-toothed cats. But by the end of the Pleistocene, all these animals were extinct. Humans, on the other hand, had evolved large brains and used their intelligence to make fire and sophisticated tools, to develop talk and social rituals. Survival in a time of adversity forged our brains into a persistent mould. Professor Seligman says: "Because our brain evolved during a time of ice, flood and famine, we have a catastrophic brain. The way the brain works is looking for what's wrong. The problem is, that worked in the Pleistocene era. It favoured you, but it doesn't work in the modem world."
E
Although most people rate themselves as happy, there is a wealth of evidence to show that negative thinking is deeply ingrained in the human psyche. Experiments show that we remember failures more vividly than successes. We dwell on what went badly, not what went well. Of the six universal emotions, four anger, fear, disgust and sadness are negative and only one, joy, is positive. The sixth, surprise, is psychologist Daniel Nettle, author of Happiness, and one of the Royal Institution lecturers, the negative emotions each tell us "something bad has happened" and suggest a different course of action.
F
What is it about the structure of the brain that underlies our bias towards negative thinking? And is there a biology of joy? At Iowa University, neuroscientists studied what happens when people are shown pleasant and unpleasant pictures. When subjects see landscapes or dolphins playing, part of the frontal lobe of the brain becomes active. But when they are shown unpleasant images a bird covered in oil, or a dead soldier with part of his face missing the response comes from more primitive parts of the brain. The ability to feel negative emotions derives from an ancient danger-recognition system formed early in the brain's evolution. The pre-frontal cortex, which registers happiness, is the part used for higher thinking, an area that evolved later in human history.
G
Our difficulty, according to Daniel Nettle, is that the brain systems for liking and wanting are separate. Wanting involves two ancient regions the amygdala and the nucleus accumbens that communicate using the chemical dopamine to form the brain's reward system. They are involved in anticipating the pleasure of eating and in addiction to drugs. A rat will press a bar repeatedly, ignoring sexually available partners, to receive electrical stimulation of the "wanting" parts of the brain. But having received brain stimulation, the rat eats more but shows no sign of enjoying the food it craved. In humans, a drug like nicotine produces much craving but little pleasure.
H
In essence, what the biology lesson tells us is that negative emotions are fundamental to the human condition, and ifs no wonder they are difficult to eradicate. At the same time, by a trick of nature, our brains are designed to crave but never really achieve lasting happiness.
Question 14-20
The reading passage has seven paragraphs A-H.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter A-H, in boxes 14-20 on your answer sheet.
14 An experiment involving dividing several groups one of which received positive icon
15 Review of a poorly researched psychology area
16 Contrast being made about the brain’s action as response to positive or negative stimulus
17 The skeptical attitude toward the research seemed to be a waste of fund
18 a substance that produces much wanting instead of much liking
19 a conclusion that lasting happiness are hardly obtained because of the nature of brains
20 One description that listed the human emotional categories
Question 21-25
Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage, using no more than four words from the Reading Passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 21-25 on your answer sheet.
A few pioneers in experimental psychology study what happens when lives go well. Professor Alice divided doctors, making a tricky experiment, into three groups: beside the one control group, the other two either are asked to read humanistic statements about drugs, or received …21... The latter displayed the most creative thinking and worked more efficiently. Since critics are questioning the significance of the …22…for both levels of happiness and classification for the virtues. Professor Seligman countered in an evolutional theory: survival in a time of adversity forged our brains into the way of thinking for what's wrong because we have a…23…
There is bountiful of evidence to show that negative thinking is deeply built in the human psyche. Later, at Iowa University, neuroscientists studied the active parts in brains to contrast when people are shown pleasant and unpleasant pictures. When positive images like…24…are shown, part of the frontal lobe of the brain becomes active. But when they are shown unpleasant image, the response comes from …25…of the brain.
Question 26
Write your answers in boxes 26 on your answer sheet.
Choose the correct letter. A, B, C or D.
According to Daniel Nettle in the last two paragraphs, what is true as the scientists can tell us about happiness
A Brain systems always mix liking and wanting together.
B Negative emotions can be easily rid of if we think positively.
C Happiness is like nicotine we are craving for but get little pleasure.
D The inner mechanism of human brains does not assist us to achieve durable happiness.
參考譯文：
科學(xué)家可以告訴我們什么是幸福嗎
A
經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家認(rèn)為，如果人們會(huì)把自己描述成幸福的，那么他們就是幸福的.然而 心理學(xué)家卻要區(qū)分不同幸福感之間的差別。幸福中等的水平是一種開(kāi)心或是快樂(lè)的感覺(jué)。但是有時(shí)幸福是對(duì)生活的一種評(píng)判，認(rèn)為生活是令人滿(mǎn)意的，而這似乎是不涉及感情范疇的。受人敬仰的心理學(xué)家Martin Seligman率先致力于關(guān)于幸福的研究。不幸的是，我們并不是天生就會(huì)感到幸福;而所幸的是，我們可以做一些關(guān)于幸福的事情。關(guān)于幸福的研究早要追溯 到130年前在Leipzig的實(shí)驗(yàn)室，那時(shí)心理學(xué)對(duì)“善良”和“滿(mǎn)足”還知之甚少， 大部分的心理學(xué)家都在研究“軟弱”和“痛苦”。圖書(shū)館里的書(shū)涉及的理論都是關(guān)于我們?yōu)槭裁磿?huì)悲傷，擔(dān)憂(yōu)和生氣這類(lèi)的情緒。研究生活乎順時(shí)發(fā)生的事情在當(dāng)時(shí)看來(lái)是不靠譜的。積極正面的體驗(yàn)，比如說(shuō)快樂(lè)，善良，利他主義和英雄主義在當(dāng)時(shí)常常是被人們忽略的。在每100篇關(guān)于焦慮和壓抑的心理學(xué)論文中，只有一篇會(huì)涉及積極的心理狀態(tài)。
B
少數(shù)的實(shí)驗(yàn)心理學(xué)家引領(lǐng)了有關(guān)幸福研究的潮流。康奈爾大學(xué)的Alice Isen教授和她的同事致力于研究正面的情感如何讓人們思維更敏捷以及更有創(chuàng)造力。為了展示正面的情感是怎樣迅速地提升一個(gè)人的智力，Isen教授通過(guò)一個(gè)巧妙的診斷將參加實(shí)驗(yàn)的醫(yī)生分為3組：一組收到了糖果，一組朗讀人本主義的宜言，一組則作為控制對(duì)照組，(實(shí)驗(yàn)結(jié)果表明，)收到糖果的醫(yī)生的思維更具創(chuàng)造性同時(shí)工作也更高效，受到Isen教授和其他人的啟發(fā)，Seligman也投身關(guān)于幸描的研究，他等集到了幾百萬(wàn)美金的研究經(jīng)費(fèi)，用以資助全世界150名科學(xué)家組成的50個(gè)研究小組。4家“積極心理學(xué)”中心成立，用令人愉悅的顏色裝飾， 配有沙發(fā)和保姆。心理學(xué)家聚集在墨西哥的沙灘上享受著潛水的樂(lè)趣，品嘗墨西哥菜肴f(wàn)ajitas，他們還分成小組討論有關(guān)“夸跡”和“敬畏"的話(huà)題。還有一千名臨床醫(yī)學(xué)家接受這項(xiàng)新科學(xué)項(xiàng)目的培訓(xùn)。
C
但是一些批評(píng)家要求心理學(xué)家回答一些重大的問(wèn)題，比如說(shuō)，什么是定義不同幸福水平的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)以及如何將這些特點(diǎn)分類(lèi)?這些關(guān)于幸福的概念難道不是糢糊不清而且無(wú)法被這實(shí)的嗎?當(dāng)四處還有饑荒，洪水和經(jīng)濟(jì)蕭條的時(shí)候，將這些研究基金用于積極心態(tài)的研究合適嗎?Seligman知道他的工作會(huì)被別人輕看，還可能會(huì)被人冠以諸如“積極思考的力量”此類(lèi)的陳詞濫調(diào)。因此，為了讓這樣新的科學(xué)研究不要浮于自我滿(mǎn)足的狀態(tài)，就要確保這項(xiàng)研完和“枳極心理學(xué)”相聯(lián)系，又以“枳極生物學(xué)”作為基礎(chǔ)。
D
這就需要我們回到人類(lèi)的進(jìn)化史，人類(lèi)是從更新世時(shí)代(180萬(wàn)到1萬(wàn)年前)開(kāi)始進(jìn)化的，那是一個(gè)充滿(mǎn)艱難和動(dòng)蕩的時(shí)代。在冰河世紀(jì)，我們的祖先先是忍受冰川形成的寒冷，然后是冰川消融時(shí)的泛濫的洪水。人們還得和那些令人毛骨悚然的生物比如說(shuō)猛犸象和體型如大象般巨大的地懶以及長(zhǎng)著銳利犬牙的貓共同生存。但是到了更新世的末期，所有的這些動(dòng)物都滅絕了，人類(lèi)卻進(jìn)化出了腦容量更大的大腦，并且通過(guò)自己的智力學(xué)會(huì)生火和制造較復(fù)雜的工具，還學(xué)會(huì)了說(shuō)話(huà)并且形成了一些社會(huì)禮儀。在逆境中生存將人類(lèi)變得更加有恒心和毅力。Seligman教授說(shuō)道：“因?yàn)槲覀兊拇竽X是在一個(gè)充滿(mǎn)冰川，洪水和饑荒的年代進(jìn)化來(lái)的，我們的大腦經(jīng)歷了太多患難—災(zāi)難性，所以我們的大腦的運(yùn)作模式就是 “發(fā)現(xiàn)哪里出了問(wèn)題”。但問(wèn)題是，這在更新世那樣的時(shí)代是起作用的，在那時(shí)這對(duì)人類(lèi)是有益的，但是在現(xiàn)代社會(huì)就不起作用了。
E
盡管大多數(shù)人評(píng)價(jià)自己很幸福，但是大量證據(jù)顯示消極的想法還是在人類(lèi)心中根深蒂固。實(shí)驗(yàn)顯示，較成功而言，失敗更容易被我們牢牢記住。我們總是在思想一些不順利的事情，而不是那些順利的好的事情。在6種基本的情緒中，有4種是消極的，它們是：生氣，害怕，厭惡和悲傷，而只有一種是積極的，它就是喜悅。(第6種情緒是驚奇，屬于中性。)心理學(xué)家同時(shí)也是《幸?！愤@本書(shū)的作者Daniel Nettle和皇家學(xué)院的一位學(xué)者認(rèn)為，消極的情緒總是告訴我們“一些不好的事情已經(jīng)發(fā)生了”，從而會(huì)讓我們采取不一樣的行動(dòng)。
F
究竟是什么樣的大腦結(jié)構(gòu)讓我們會(huì)傾向于有消極的想法呢?“快樂(lè)”這樣的情緒有生物學(xué)基礎(chǔ)嗎?愛(ài)荷華大學(xué)的神經(jīng)學(xué)家研究了當(dāng)人們看到令人愉悅的圖片和讓人不舒服的圖片時(shí)的情況。當(dāng)人們看到風(fēng)景或是海豚玩耍時(shí)，大腦的額葉會(huì)變得活躍。但是當(dāng)他們看到一些讓人不舒服的圖片比如說(shuō)一只小鳥(niǎo)被埋在土里時(shí)，或是一個(gè)戰(zhàn)死的戰(zhàn)士面部還有部分缺失時(shí)，大腦原始的部分會(huì)做出反應(yīng)。這種識(shí)別消極情緒的能力是從古時(shí)候大腦進(jìn)化早期形成的危險(xiǎn)識(shí)別系統(tǒng)來(lái)的。大腦前額葉皮質(zhì)是產(chǎn)生幸福感的部位，是用來(lái)進(jìn)行一些高級(jí)的思考，是人類(lèi)晚些時(shí)期進(jìn)化來(lái)的。
G
據(jù)Daniel Nettle所言，研究的困難在于大腦對(duì)于“喜歡”和“欲望”(wanting and liking)的機(jī)制是分開(kāi)的，“欲望”涉及兩個(gè)初大腦發(fā)育的部位，也就是扁桃體和神經(jīng)大腦區(qū)，它們通過(guò)化學(xué)多巴酚傳遞信息來(lái)形成大腦的獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)機(jī)制。它們常常是讓人們很期待吃完?yáng)|西的快感或是對(duì)藥品上癮。小白鼠會(huì)不停地?fù)舸驏艡趤?lái)獲取對(duì)大腦“欲望”情緒的電刺激，而忽略異性同伴，但是獲得大腦刺激的小白鼠雖然吃得更多，但是并沒(méi)有跡象表明它在吃到自己渴想的食物后有一種滿(mǎn)足感。對(duì)人而言，像尼古丁這樣的物質(zhì)會(huì)讓人想要攝取更多但是卻帶來(lái)很少的快感。
H
從本質(zhì)上來(lái)看，生物課可以告訴我們消極的情緒是人類(lèi)生存的基本情緒，所以難怪它很難根除。與此同時(shí)，讓人覺(jué)得很詭異的是，我們的大腦總是想要的很多，但是卻很難真正得到持續(xù)的幸福感。
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