【任务4：请宿主在6h内完成本次阅读真题，并保证正答率高于60%。任务奖励：200积分。】
来了，新的任务又来了。
岑越崎摩拳擦掌，经过近几日的高强度学习，他的英语终于佳境，这一次的任务来得正是时候。
迫不及待翻开试卷，岑越崎凝神阅读起来。
The lifesaving power of gratitude
A) Gratitude may be more beneficial than we commonly suppose.
One recent study asked participants to write a note of thanks to someone and then estimate （估计）how surprised and happy the recipient would feel an impact that they consistently underestimated. Another study assessed the health benefits of writing thank-you notes.The researchers found that writing as few as three weekly thank-you notes over the course of three weeks improved life satisfaction, increased happy feelings and reduced symptoms（症状） of depression.
B)While this research into gratitude is relatively new, the principles involved are anything but.Students of mine in a political philosophy course at Indiana University are reading Daniel Defoe's 300-year-old Robinson Crusoe, often regarded as the first novel published in English.
Left alone on an unknown island with no apparent prospect of rescue or escape, Crusoe has much to lament（哀叹）. But instead of giving in to despair, he makes a list of things for which he is grateful, including the fact that he is the sole survivor from the shipwreck and has been able to salvage many useful items from the wreckage.
C) Defoe's masterpiece（杰作）, which is often ranked as one of the world's greatest novels, provides a portrait of gratitude in action that is as timely and relevant today as it has ever been.It is also one with which contemporary（当代） psychology and medicine are just beginning to catch up.Simply put, for most of us, it is far more helpful to focus on the things in life for which we can express gratitude than those that incline us toward resentment（愤恨） and lamentation.（哀叹）
D) When we focus on the things we regret, such as failed relationships, family disputes, and setbacks in career and finance, we tend to become more regretful.Conversely, when we focus on the things we are grateful for, a greater sense of happiness tends to spread through our lives.And while no one would argue for cultivating a false sense of blessedness,（祝福） there is mounting evidence that counting our blessings is one of the best habits we can develop to promote mental and physical health.
E) Gratitude has long enjoyed a privileged position in many of the world's cultural traditions.For example, some ancient Western philosophers counsel （忠告）gratitude that is both enduring and complete, and some Eastern thinkers portray （描绘）it as not merely an attitude but a virtue to be put into practice.
F) Recent scientific studies support these ancient teachings.Individuals who regularly engage in gratitude exercises, such as counting their blessings or expressing gratitude to others, exhibit（显示） increased satisfaction with relationships and fewer symptoms of physical illness. And the benefits are not only psychological and physical.They may also be moral-those who practice gratitude also view their lives less materialistically（物质上的） and suffer from less envy.
G) There are multiple explanations for such benefits of gratefulness.One is the fact that expressing gratitude encourages others to continue being generous, thus promoting a virtuous（善良的） cycle of goodness in relationships.Similarly, grateful people may be more likely to reciprocate （报答）with acts of kindness of their own.Broadly speaking, a community in which people feel grateful to one another is likely to be a more pleasant place to live than one characterized by mutual （共同的）suspicion （怀疑）and resentment.The beneficial effects of gratitude may extend even further.For example, when many people feel good about what someone else has done for them, they experience a sense of being lifted up, with a corresponding（相应的） enhancement （增大 ）of their regard for humanity.Some are inspired to attempt to become better people themselves, doing more to help bring out the best in others and bringing more goodness into the world around them.
H) Gratitude also tends to strengthen a sense of connection with others.
When people want to do good things that inspire gratitude, the level of dedication（奉献） in relationships tends to grow and relationships seem to last longer.And when people feel more connected, they are more likely to choose to spend their time with one another and demonstrate （展示）their feelings of affection in daily acts.
I) Of course, acts of kindness can also foster discomfort.For example, if people feel they are not worthy of kindness or suspect that some ulterior（将来的） motive lies behind it, the benefits of gratitude will not be realized.Likewise, receiving a kindness can give rise to a sense of indebtedness（债务）, leaving beneficiaries feeling that they must now pay back whatever good they have received.Gratitude can flourish（蓬勃发展） only if people are secure enough in themselves and sufficiently trusting to allow it to do so. Another obstacle（障碍） to gratitude is often called a sense of entitlement（权利）.Instead of experiencing a benefaction as a good turn, people sometimes regard it as a mere payment of what they are owed, for which no one deserves any moral credit（道德称赞）.
J) There are a number of practical steps anyone can take to promote a sense of gratitude.One is simply spending time on a regular basis thinking about someone who has made a difference, or perhaps writing a thank-you note or expressing such gratitude in person.Others are found in ancient religious disciplines, such as reflecting on benefactions received from another person or actually praying for the health and happiness of a benefactor（恩人）.In addition to benefactions received, it is also possible to focus on opportunities to do good oneself, whether those acted on in the past or hoped for in the future.Some people are most grateful not for what others have done for them but for chances they enjoyed to help othes.In regularly reflecting on the things in his life he is grateful for, Defoe's Cruse believes that he becomes a far better person than he would have been had he remained in the society from which he originally set out on his voyage（启程）.
K)Reflecting on generosity and gratitude, the great basketball coach John Wooden once offered two counsels to his players and students.First, he said, "It is impossible to have a perfect day unless you have done something for someone who will never be able to repay （回报）you."
In saying this, Wooden sought to promote purely generous acts, as opposed to those performed with an expectation of reward.
Second, he said, "Give thanks for your blessings every day."
L)Some faith traditions incorporate （融入）such practices into the rhythm of daily life.For example, adherents（信徒） of some religions offer prayers of thanksgiving every morning before rising and every night before lying down to sleep.Others offer thanks throughout the day, such as before meals.Other less frequent special events, such as births, deaths and marriages, may also be heralded （宣示）by such prayers.
M) When Defoe depicted 描述）Robinson Cruse making thanksgiving a daily part of his island life, he was anticipating findings in social science and medicine that would not appear for hundreds of years.Yet he was also reflecting the wisdom of religious and philosophical traditions that extend back thousands of years.Gratitude is one of the healthiest and most nourishing（有营养的） of all states of mind, and those who adopt it as a habit are enriching not only their own lives but also the lives of those around them.
1.It does us far more good to focus on things we can be grateful for than what makes us sad and resentful.
2.The beneficial impacts of gratitude can extend from individuals to their community and to the wider society.
3.The participants in a recent study repeatedly underestimated the positive effect on those who received thank-you notes.
4.Good deeds can sometimes make people feel uncomfortable.
5.People who regularly express gratitude can benefit in moral terms.
6.A basketball coach advocated performing generous acts without expecting anything in return.
7.More and more evidence shows it makes us mentally and physically healthier to routinely count our blessings.
8.Of all states of mind, feeling grateful is considered one of the most healthy and beneficial.
9.The principles underlying the research into gratitude are nothing new at all.
10.Gratitude is likely to enhance one's sense of being connected with other people.
Key: C-G-A-I-F-K-D-M-B-H
The problem with being perfect
A) When psychologist Jessica Pryor lived near an internationally renowned university, she once saw a student walking into a library holding a sleeping bag and a coffee maker.She has heard of graduate students spending 12 to 18 hours at a time in the lab.Their schedules are meant to be literally punishing: If they are scientists-in-training, they won't allow themselves to watch Netflix until their experiments start generating results."Relationships become estranged- people stop inviting them to social gatherings or dinner parties, which leads them to spend even more time in the lab," Pryor told me.
B)Along with other therapists, Pryor, who is now with the Family Institute at Northwestern University, is trying to sound the alarm （警告）about a tendency among young adults and college students to strive for perfection in their work sometimes at any cost.Though it is often portrayed（描绘） as a positive trait, Pryor and others say extreme perfectionism can lead to depression, anxiety, and even suicide.
C)What's more, perfectionism（完美主义） seems to be on the rise.In a study of thousands of American, Canadian, and British college students published earlier this year, Thomas Curran of the University of Bath and Andrew Hill of York St. John University found that today's college students report higher levels of perfectionism than college students did during the 1990s or early 2000s.They measured three types of perfectionism: self-oriented,（自我导向性） or a desire to be perfect; socially prescribed, or a desireto live up to others' expectations; and other-oriented, or holding others to unrealistic standards.From 1989 to 2016, they found, self-oriented perfectionism scores increased by 10 percent, socially prescribed scor- es rose by 33 percent, and other-oriented perfectionism increased by 16 percent.
D) A person living with an other-oriented perfectionist might feel criticized by the perfectionist spouse for not doing household chores exactly the "right" way."One of the most common things couples argue about is the proper way of loading the dishwasher（洗碗机）" says Amy Bach, a psychologist（心理学家） in Providence, Rhode Island.
E) Curran describes socially prescribed perfectionism as "My self-esteem is contingent on what other people think-"His study didn't examine（考察） the causal reasons for its rise, but he assumes（认为） that the rise of both standardized testing and social media might play a role.These days, LinkedIn （商业化关系网）alerts us when our rival gets a new job, and Instagram can let us know how well "liked" our lives are compared with a friend's.In an opinion piece earlier this year, Curran and Hill argue that society has also become more dog-eat-dog."Over the last 50 years, public interest （利益）and civic responsibility have been progressively（逐渐） eroded（侵蚀）," they write, "replaced by a focus on self-interest and competition in a supposedly （可能）free and open marketplace." We strive for perfection, it seems, because we feel we must in order to get ahead.Michael Brustein, a clinical psychologist in Manhattan, says when he first began practicing in 2007, he was surpri- sed by how prevalent （流行的）perfectionism was among his clients, despite how little his graduate training had focused on the phenomenon.He sees perfectionism in, among others, clients who are entrepreneurs（企业家）, artists, and tech employees."You're in New York because you're ambitious, you have this need to strive," he says."But then your whole identity gets wrapped into a goal."
F) Perfectionism can, of course, be a positive force.Think of professional athletes（运动员）, who train aggressively for ever-higher levels of competition.In well-adjusted perfectionism, someone who doesn't get the gold is able to forget the setback and move on.In maladaptive perfectionism, meanwhile, people make an archive of all their failures.They revisit these archives constantly, thinking, as Pryor puts it, "I need to make myself feel terrible so I don't do this again."Then they double down, "raising the expectation bar even higher, which increases the likelihood of defeat, which makes you self-critical, so you raise the bar higher, work even harder," she says.Next comes failure, shame, and pushing yourself even harder toward even higher and more impossible goals. Meeting them becomes an "all or nothing"（全有或全无) premise.Pryor offered this example: "Even if I'm an incredible （出色的）attorney（律师）, if I don't make partner in the same pacing as one of my colleagues, clearly that means I'm a failure."
G) Brustein says his perfectionist clients tend to devalue （贬低）their accomplishments, so that every time a goal is achieved, the high lasts only a short time, like "a gas tank with a hole in it." If the boss says you did a great job, it's because he doesn't know anything.If the audience likes your work, that's because it's too stupid to know what good art actually is. But, therapists say, there are also different ways perfectionism manifests（表现方式）. Some perfectionists are always pushing themselves forward.But others actually fall behind on work, unable to complete assignments unless they are, well, perfect. Or they might handicap（阻碍） their performance ahead of time.They're the ones partying until 2 a.m. the night before the final, so that when the grade C rolls in, there's a ready excuse.
H)While educators and parents have successfully convinced students of the need to be high performing and diligent, the experts told me, they haven't adequately prepared them for the inevitability of failure.Instead of praises like "You're so smart," parents and educators should say things like "You really stuck with it," Pryor says, to emphasize the value of perseverance over intrinsic（本质的） talent.Pryor notes that many of her clients are wary she'll "turn them into some degenerate（退化） couch potato （堕落的人）and teach them to be okay with it."Instead, she tries to help them think through the parts of their perfectionism they'd like to keep, and to lose the parts that are ruining their lives.
I) Bach, who sees many students from Brown University, says some of them don't even go out on weekends, let alone weekdays.She tells them, "Aim high, but get comfortable with good enough."When they don't get some award, she encourages them to remember that "one outcome is not a basis for a broad conclusion about the person's intelligence, qualifications, or potential for the future."
J) The treatment for perfectionism might be as simple as having patients keep logs（记录） of things they can be proud of, or having them behave imperfectly in small ways, just to see how it feels."We might have them hang the towels crooked（歪的） or wear some clothing inside out," says Martin Antony, a professor in the department of psychology at Ryerson University in Toronto.
K) Brustein likes to get his perfectionist clients to create values that are important to them, then try to shift their focus to living according to those values rather than achieving specific goals. It's a play on the "You really stuck with it" message for kids.In other words, it isn't about doing a headstand （倒立）in yoga class; it's about going to yoga class in the first place, because you like to be the kind of person who takes care of herself.But he warns that some people go into therapy expecting too much - an instant transformation of themselves from a pathological （病态的）perfectionist to a (still high-achieving) non-perfectionist. They try to be perfect, in other words, at no longer being perfect.
1.Socially prescribed perfectionism is described as one's self-esteem depending on other people's opinion.
2.Jessica Pryor has learned that some graduate students work such long hours in the lab that they have little time for entertainment （娱乐）or socializing.
3.The author believes perfectionism may sometimes be constructive.
4.It is found that perfectionism is getting more and more prevalent among college students.
5.Some experts suggest parents and educators should prepare students for failures.
6.Some therapists warn that young adults tend to pursue perfection in their work.
7.Psychologist Amy Bach encourages her students to aim high but be content with something less than perfect.
8.A clinical psychologist finds perfectionism is widespread among his clients.
9.In trying to overcome perfectionism, some people are still pursuing perfection.
10.In pursuing perfection, some perfectionists fail to complete their tasks on time.
Key: E-A-F-C-H-B-I-E-K-G
Why we need tiny colleges
A)We're experiencing the rebirth（重生） of smallness.Farmers markets, tiny homes, and brew pubs（啤酒酒吧） all exemplify（例证） our love of smallness. So do charter schools, coffee shops, and local bookstores.Small is often (but not always) more affordable, healthier, and su
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