月考2010

完形填空

生命中最重要的东西

One day an expert in time management was speaking to a group of business students and, to drive home a point, used an illustration those students will never forget36.

一天，一名时间管理专家在向一群在商业这一行打拼的学生讲课时，为了清楚地说明一个论点，他用了一个令学生们永远不会忘记的演示来表达。

As he stood in front of the group of high-powered over-achievers he said, "Okay, time for a quiz.” Then he pulled out37 a one-gallon, wide-mouthed Mason jar and set it on the table in front of him.

他站在这群精力充沛、成就出类拔萃的学生面前，说道：“好的，我们来做个测试。”然后，他拿出一个容量为一加仑的广口玻璃瓶，放在他面前的桌上。

He then produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time38, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top39 and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, "Is the jar full40?"

接着，他拿出十多个拳头大小的石块，将它们小心翼翼、一块一块地放进瓶子里。等石块填满到瓶口，再也塞不下时，他问：“（你们说），瓶子被装满了吗？”

Everyone in the class said, "Yes."

上课的学生都说：“满了。”

He replied, "Really?"

他的回应是∶“真的满了吗？”

He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel, then dumped some gravel in and shook41 the jar causing42 pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the space43 between the big rocks.

他伸手到桌下取出一桶碎石，接着，他将一些碎石倒进瓶子里，并摇晃着瓶子让碎石顺着石块之间的间隙里漏进瓶中。

He asked the group once more, "Is the jar full?"

他再一次地问这群学生：“瓶子被装满了吗？”

By44 this time the class was on to him. "Probably not," one of them answered.

这一次，学生们领悟到了一些他的意图。一个学生回答说，“可能还没满吧。”

"Good!" he replied.

他的回应是，“回答的好！”。

He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand45. He started dumping the sand in the jar and it went into all the spaces left46 between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, "Is the jar full?"

他伸手到桌底下，拎出了一桶沙。他突然把沙往瓶子里倒，沙子漏进了石块与碎石之间残留的缝隙，到不能再倒进沙子时，他又一次问：“瓶子被装满了吗？”

"No!"47 the class shouted.

全班学生大声回答，“没装满！”

Once again he said, "Good!"

再一次地，他说道：“回答的好!”

Then he grabbed48 a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked at the class and asked, "What is the point49 of this illustration?"

然后他又一把抓过一大罐水，开始往瓶子里倒，一直倒到水浸到瓶口。然后，他看着学生们，发问：“这个演示说明了什么要点？”

One eager50 student raised her hand and said, "The point is, no matter how full your schedule51 is, if you try really hard you can always fit some more things in!"

一个学生急忙举起了她的手，回答：“要点是：不管你的日程安排得多紧，如果认真努力地想办法，你总是能够在其中安插更多的事情。”

"Good answer, but no," the speaker replied52, "that's not my point. The truth this illustration teaches53 us is: If you don't put the big rocks in first, you'll never get them in at all. What are the 'big rocks" in your life? In my life they are my children... my wife... my loved ones... my education... my dreams... charities and worthy54 causes... teaching or mentoring others... doing things that I love... time for myself... my health... Remember to put these BIG ROCKS55 in first or you'll never get them in at all."

专家说：“答案不错，不过，这不是我想说的要点。这个演示教给了我们一个事实：如果你不是先放大石块，它们就永远就没有机会被放进去。你生活中的“大石块”是什么呢？在我的生活中，那就是我的孩子、妻子、所爱的人、教学方法、梦想、对他人仁慈、有价值的事业、教导他人、做我喜欢做的事、我自己独处的时光、我的健康，等等。要记住，必须先放“大石块”，否则它们永远就没有机会被进去。”

If you sweat the little stuff then you'll fill your life with little things to worry about that don't really matter, and you'll never have the real quality time you need to spend on the big, important stuff (the big rocks).

如果你奔忙于琐事，那么，这些无关紧要的小事就会填满你的生活，让你成天操心，你就永远没办法腾出真正的“黄金时光”来处理你的大事和要事（即“大石块”）。

阅读理解A篇

Bad moods can actually be good for you, with an Australian study finding that being sad makes people less gullible, improves their ability to judge others and also boosts memory.

负面情绪实际上是有益的，一份澳大利亚的研究表明悲伤的情绪可以让人不易受骗，提升对他人的判断能力并且还能增强记忆力。

　The study, authored by psychology professor Joseph Forgas at the University of New South Wales, showed that people in a negative mood were more critical of, and paid more attention to, their surroundings than happier people, who were more likely to believe anything they were told.

由新南威尔士大学的心理学教授Joseph Forgas主持的研究项目，表明当人们被负面情绪笼罩的时候，相对于那些更容易相信别人所言而更开心的人，更具备批评意识并且更加关注周围的环境。

Whereas positive mood seems to promote creativity, flexibility, cooperation, and reliance on mental shortcuts, negative moods trigger more attentive, careful thinking, paying greater attention to the external world,” Forgas wrote.

“然而，正面的感情在心里层面似乎更能够推动创新，灵活，合作和依赖的意识，负面的情感触发对外部世界更多的注意和因为更多留意而进行的认真思考”Forgas写道。

Our research suggests that sadness … promotes information processing strategies best suited to dealing with more demanding situations.”

我们的研究表明，悲伤…促进信息以最优方式整合以适应更严峻的局面。”

For the study, Forgas and his team conducted several experiments that started with inducing happy or sad moods in their subjects through watching films and recalling positive or negative events.

对于这项研究，Forgas和他的团队进行过多次以观看电影和回顾往事的手段来诱导正面和负面的情绪面开始的实验。

In one of the experiments, happy and sad participants were asked to judge the truth of urban myths and rumors and found that people in a negative mood were less likely to believe these statements.

在其中的一次实验中，情绪快乐或悲伤的参与者被要求对于神话和谣言的真假做出判断，研究人员发现当人们处于负面情绪时更难相信研究者的陈述。

　　People in a bad mood were also less likely to make snap decisions based on racial or religious prejudices, and they were less likely to make mistakes when asked to recall an event that they witnessed.

心情不好的人也不太可能就种族或宗教偏见做出仓促决定，同时更要求回忆所目击的事件时候，也不容易产生错误。

The study also found that sad people were better at stating their case through written arguments, which Forgas said showed that a “mildly negative mood may actually promote a more concrete, accommodative and ultimately more successful communication style.”

该项研究发现，在悲伤情况影响下，人们更擅长通过书面形式说明情况。Forgas认为这表明，“轻度负面情绪实际上更能促进更具体，更宽松，最终成功的沟通方式“

”Positive mood is not universally desirable: people in negative mood are less prone to judgmental errors, are more resistant to eyewitness distortions and are better at producing high-quality, effective persuasive messages,” Forgas wrote.

“积极情绪并非可取：负面情绪影响下的人不容易犯判断错误，更难产生目击错误，并能进行更高品质更有效的说服” Forgas写道。