Question

Decision-making under Stress

　　A new review based on a research shows that acute stress affects the way the brain considers the advantages and disadvantages, causing it to focus on pleasure and ignore the possible negative (负面的) consequences of a decision.

　　The research suggests that stress may change the way people make choices in predictable ways.

　　“Stress affects how people learn,” says Professor Mara Mather. “People learn better about positive than negative outcomes under stress.”

　　For example, two recent studies looked at how people learned to connect images(影像) with either rewards or punishments. In one experiment, some of the participants were first stressed by having to give a speech and do difficult math problems in front of an audience; in the other, some were stressed by having to keep their hands in ice water. In both cases, the stressed participants remembered the rewarded material more accurately and the punished material less accurately than those who hadn’t gone through the stress.

　　This phenomenon is likely not surprising to anyone who has tried to resist eating cookies or smoking a cigarette while under stress –at those moments, only the pleasure associated with such activities comes to mind. But the findings further suggest that stress may bring about a double effect. Not only are rewarding experiences remembered better, but negative consequences are also easily recalled.

　　The research also found that stress appears to affect decision-making differently in men and women. While both men and women tend to focus on rewards and less on consequences under stress, their responses to risk turn out to be different.

　　Men who had been stressed by the cold-water task tended to take more risks in the experiment while women responded in the opposite way. In stressful situations in which risk-taking can pay off big, men may tend to do better, when caution weighs more, however, women will win.

　　This tendency to slow down and become more cautious when decisions are risky might also help explain why women are less likely to become addicted than men: they may more often avoid making the risky choices that eventually harden into addiction.

1.We can learn from the passage that people under pressure tend to ______.

A．keep rewards better in their memory

B．recall consequences more effortlessly

C．make risky decisions more frequently

D．learn a subject more effectively

2.According to the research, stress affects people most probably in their ______.

A．ways of making choices                   B．preference for pleasure

C．tolerance of punishments                 D．responses to suggestions

3.The research has proved that in a stressful situation, ______.

A．women find it easier to fall into certain habits

B．men have a greater tendency to slow down

C．women focus more on outcomes

D．men are more likely to take risks

 

Answer 1

【答案】

1.A

2.A

3.D

【解析】

试题分析：本文讲述的是压力对人们不好的影响，可能改变人们做出决定的方式，让人更多的集中于事情好的一方面而不是负面的内容。

1.A 推理题。根据第一段最后一句causing it to focus on pleasure and ignore the possible negative (负面的) consequences of a decision.说明在压力之下人们更可能聚焦于快乐的事情而不是负面的结果，故他们更容易记住记忆里好的事情，A正确。

2.A 细节题。根据文章第二段　The research suggests that stress may change the way people make choices in predictable ways.说明压力可以改变人们做出决定的方式。故A正确。

3.D 细节题。根据文章倒数第二段In stressful situations in which risk-taking can pay off big, men may tend to do better, when caution weighs more, however, women will win.说明男性更可能去冒险。故D正确。

考点：考查科普类短文阅读

点评：：本文讲述的是压力对人们不好的影响，本文主旨鲜明,很容易在文中找到答案。做题时要注意文章的首段和每一段的首句或尾句，因为它们往往就是文章的主题句。阅读中要注意要点之间的关系。然后带着问题，再读全文，找出答题所需要的依据，完成阅读任务。