【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 wemonly 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 be 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 andplete, 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, amunity 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 be 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 difort.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 bes 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 theirmunity 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 ufortable.
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 be 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 mostmon 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 arepared with a friend''s.In an opinion piece earlier this year, Curran and Hill argue that society has also be 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 andpetition 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 ofpetition.In well-adjusted perfectionism, someone who doesn''t get the gold is able to et 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.Nextes failure, shame, and pushing yourself even harder toward even higher and more impossible goals. Meeting them bes 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 aplishments, 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 toplete 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 getfortable with good enough."When they don''t get some award, she encourages them to remember that "one oue 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 ovee perfectionism, some people are still pursuing perfection.
10.In pursuing perfection, some perfectionists fail toplete 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 sustainable, but its finest characteristic, the one that turns charm into love, is that going small allows us to be more fully who we are.
B)In higher education the trend is mostly in the opposite direction: Universities with 20,000 or 30,000 students are considered "mid-sized".
The nation''s largest university, Arizona State University, has 80,000 students on campus and aims to enroll （使加入）another100,000 students online.At the other end of the spectrum is a handful of colleges that have fewer than a hundred students on campus and no online courses: colleges such as Sterling College,Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, and Deep Springs College.These colleges are so small that they can only be called "tiny."
C) Tiny colleges focus not just on a young person''s intellect, but on the young person as a whole.Equally important, tiny colleges ask, "How can education contribute to human flourishing and the well-being（福祉） of the world?"And they shape a college experience to address that question.
They replace concerns about institutional growth with attention to the growth of students as fully developed participants in theirmunities.
D) I''ve had the privilege of （有幸）teaching at three different institutions of higher learning during my career - a small liberal arts college and two mid-sized public universities.I''ve also been profoundly disappointed in each of these institutions, and in many of my colleagues, especially when ites to helping students and preparing them for the many responsibilities of adulthood.Administrators（管理人员） focus on the business of running a university, and most faculty （全体□□）focus on their scholarship （学术研究）and teaching their discipline.Little deliberate（刻意的） attention is given to how students mature as individuals and social beings.
E) Having just retired from teaching at a public university, I''m now returning to my hometown of Flagstaff, Arizona, to establish a tiny college Flagstaff College.I''m convinced there''s a need for another type of education, one devoted to helping studentse into their own and into this beautiful and troubled world.Young people need an education that will provide them with meaning, hope, courage, and passion, as well as information and skills.Large institutions, I believe, are particularly ill-suited（不合适的） to this type of education.
F)There''s no "best of" list when ites to tiny colleges, at least not yet.
But around the country people are creating new colleges that provide an alternative to small liberal arts colleges, large public universities, and online education.
G) With only 26 students, Deep Springs is the smallest college in the country and, quite likely, the most atypical（**型的）. Located on a working cattle ranch on the California-Nevada border, Deep Springs is a private, residential, two-year college for men,mitted to （致力于）educating students for "a life of service to humanity."Founded by the electricity tycoon L. L. Nunn in 1917, Deep Springs'' "curriculum" （课程）revolves around academics, labor, and self-governance.（自治）In addition to their courses, students are charged with running the 155-acre ranch（牧场） and overseeing （监督）the functioning of the college.Students chair both the admissions （招生委员会）and the curriculummittees.
H) "Living in closemunity with one''s teachers and fellow students, and being forced to take on □□ responsi- bilities, makes for one''s growth as a person," says William Hunt, who graduated last year.
"To exist for very long in amunity like that, you have to get over the question of whether you''re sufficiently talented or principled and get started worrying about how you can stretch yourself and your peers, how much you can manage to learn with them."
I)Sterling College,in Craftsburymon, Vermont, is also very small - fewer than 100 students.Unlike Deep Springs, Sterling focuses its curriculum on environmental and social justice issues, but like Deep Spri- ngs it places a high value on personal responsibility and manual labor.
According to its catalog, a college education at Sterlingbines "rigorous（严谨的） academics, roll-up-your-sleeves（撸起袖子） challenges, and good old hard work."
J)The average tuition at a small liberal-arts college is $30,000 to $40,000 a year, not including the cost of living on campus, aspared to $8,000 to $10,000 a year for tuition alone at a public university.Of the tiny colleges, only Deep Springs doesn''t charge tuition or room and board（膳食）; students pay only for books and the cost of traveling to and from college.If tiny schools are to be a player on the higher education scene, they will need to find a way to be truly affordable.
K) Doing so may not be that difficult so long as they do not pattern themselves too closely on existing norms. We''vee to believe that a good college should have many academic programs and excellent facilities, posh（豪华） dorms, an array of （一系列）athletic programs, and a world-class student activity center. Imagine a good college without a climbing wall!We also have accepted the idea that college presidents, and their many vice-presidents, should be paid like their counterparts （相对应的）in the business world and that higher education requires an elaborate, up-to-date technology infrastructure（基础设施）.All of this drives up the cost of education.
L)The "trick" to making tiny colleges affordable, if that''s the right word, is simplicity. At its core, education is a human-to-human interaction.
Reflecting on his own college education, President Garfield oncemented that an ideal college would consist of nothing more than the legendary teacher Mark Hopkins on one end of a log and a student on the other. The economics of a tiny college, in other words, might be similar to that of a tiny house.Because it is small, a tiny house costs less to build and less to furnish（装备）, insure（保险）, and maintain. But the economic benefits of a small house don''t end there.Tiny homes discourage homeowners from buying stuff that they really don''t need, because there''s no place to put it.
M) I''m a late convert to the idea of tiny colleges, and I fully understand the need for many diverse types of educati- onal institutions.Academic research and job training are important, but tiny colleges aren''t suited for either.The educational needs of aplex society are themselvesplex, and no single model can meet all of these needs.But I''m now convinced there''s an educational need that''s now going almostpletely unmet（未满足的）: namely（也就是）, the need to help young people transition into adulthood.Tiny colleges can do this better than any other type of educational institution.
N)The ultimate justification for a tiny college is the conviction that each of uses into our full humanity by close interaction with those who know and care for us, and that one of the basic purposes of higher education is social. Although we give lip （嘴上说）service to the idea that a college education will make us better people, when all''s said and done, we think of higher education primarily in economic terms.We''vee to think of higher education as a means to make a living rather than make a life. We''ve alsoe to see higher education as a private good rather than a public one.Tiny colleges are not the answer to all of our educational requirements, but they''re an answer to one of our most basic educational necessities: the need to produce thoughtful, engaged（敬业的）, andpassionate human beings.
1.One tiny American college situated on a cattle farm is devoted to educating students to serve mankind throughout their lives.
2.Much to the author''s disappointment, the three institutions of higher learning where she taught largely ignore students'' growth as social beings.
3.Tiny colleges must be made affordable in order to play a role in higher education.
4.According to a recent graduate from a tiny college, living together with faculty and fellow students is conducive（有益的） to a student''s growth as a person.
5.Rather than going small, most American universities are trying to go big.
6.In a certain tiny college, rigorous academic work and traditional manual labor are integrated.（融合）
7.Tiny colleges focus on educating students to be well-rounded citizens instead of seeking their own expansion.（扩张)
8.The essence （本质）of education lies in the interaction between people.
9.After her retirement, the author has decided to set up a tiny college in her hometown.
10.Tiny colleges are justified as it is believed that our growth into full humanityes through interaction with people near and dear （亲近的）to us.
Key: G-D-J-H-B-I-C-L-E-N