Question

The Nature of Stress

We are often faced with stressors that are outside of our control, from rare natural disasters to everyday traffic jams. There is a good deal of evidence that uncontrollable events are particularly stressful. This has been shown in studies of “executive rats,” in which two rats receive exactly the same electric shock, but one is given a lever（杠桿）that could be used to turn the shock off after it occurs. Over a long series of such trials, the partner rat, helpless to do anything about its pain, is more likely to develop ulcers (潰瘍) than is the “executive”.

Stress is mostly caused by uncertain events. Uncertainty about an event makes it more disturbing. One study found that subjects who were told that they had a 5 percent chance of receiving an electric shock were actually more uneasy than those who were told that they had a 50 percent chance.

People make various attempts to deal with their stress---removing the cause of the stress, seeking the support of friends or reinterpreting the situation to make it seem less unpleasant. Richard Lazarus and his colleagues have made a useful distinction between problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies. Problem-focused strategies are those aimed at doing something to change the problem causing the stress.  Emotion-focused strategies tend to regulate our distressing emotional responses.

Psychologists Susan Folkman and Richard Lazarus examined undergraduate students’ coping strategies at three time periods---two days before a midterm examination, a week later two days before the grades were announced, and five days after the grades were posted. Before the exam, students tended to use such problem-focused strategies as studying---a guaranteed way to reduce the potential problems. After the exam, when their fates were sealed, if they sought out others, it was usually for emotional support.   

Like other animals, humans have always been safer in groups. Besides physical protection, people provide emotional support that can reduce the psychological and physiological symptoms of stress. A lack of support can increase our susceptibility（敏感性） to illness. For instance, short-term loneliness is associated with a decrease in immune response（免疫應(yīng)答）. In contrast, people who have strong social ties are usually more resistant to disease. For instance, after being diagnosed as having a life threatening disease, married people are likely to survive longer than unmarried people.

People may provide appraisal support, helping us to evaluate and clarify how serious a problem is. If a professor tells you that he had also failed his first college algebra exam, the consequences of your failure will seem less devastating.  Others can also provide informational support, giving advice about how to deal with the problem. Finally, friends and relatives may give us instrumental support, providing material goods or services to overcome the stress. If your father lends you some money when your car breaks down, you can stop tearing your hair out and just fix it.

Title：The Nature of Stress

1._________ makes people more stressed	Events that can’t be 2.__________ are more stressful. Events that are3.________will make animals or people more stressed.
How to 4. _____stress	● Remove the cause of the stress. ●5.________to friends for help. ● Reinterpret the situation.
Do something to change the problem that 6._______ the stress.
Regulate our distressing emotional responses.
Effects of social support	Support and protection from society make people feel less7.____.
Strong social ties make people both physically and 8.___________ healthy.
Types of social support	Appraisal support 9.____________ evaluate and clarify a problem.
Informational support gives advice on how to solve a problem.
Instrumental support provides material goods or services to get10._______ the stress.

 

 

Answer 1

【答案】

1.What

2.controlled / controled

3.uncertain

4.Turn

5.handle

6.causes

7.lonely

8.emotionally / mentally

9.helps

10.over

【解析】

試題分析：本文敘述了關(guān)于壓力的來(lái)源，如何緩解壓力，給出了一些建議，也談到了社會(huì)支持的影響及社會(huì)支持的種類。

1.根據(jù)整篇短文的大意可知人們有壓力的原因，這里缺少主語(yǔ)，故用What作主語(yǔ)。

2.根據(jù)that uncontrollable events are particularly stressful.故用controlled / controled.

3.根據(jù)Stress is mostly caused by uncertain events 故用uncertain.

4.根據(jù)seeking the support of friends，這里是短語(yǔ)turn sb for help向某人求助， 故用Turn

5.根據(jù)如何處理壓力，故用handle處理。

6.根據(jù)doing something to change the problem causing the stress. 故用causes.

7.根據(jù)來(lái)自社會(huì)的支持和保護(hù)使人們感到有更少的孤獨(dú)，故用lonely.

8.根據(jù)Besides physical protection, people provide emotional support that can reduce the psychological and physiological symptoms of stress.身體和精神上，故用emotionally / mentally.

9.根據(jù)People may provide appraisal support, helping us to evaluate and clarify how serious a problem is. 故用helps.

10.根據(jù)providing material goods or services to overcome the stress.故用over.

考點(diǎn)：摘錄信息。

點(diǎn)評(píng)：考生要正確理解整篇文章的脈絡(luò)結(jié)構(gòu)，會(huì)總結(jié)段落大意，考查考生對(duì)于文章的一些有用的信息的整合能力，組織能力和分析能力，比閱讀題有一定的難度。