Many people associate their self-worth with their work. The more successful their career, the better they feel about themselves.

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问题     Many people associate their self-worth with their work. The more successful their career, the better they feel about themselves. Work-related self-esteem is therefore a worthy ideal to pursue with vigor, right? Well, not always. According to recent research, in which psychologists interviewed 370 full-time workers over a period of three weeks, the reality is a little more complicated. And it involves negative as well as positive consequences.
    It’s natural to be drawn towards pleasure and to step away from pain. In the workplace, if that pleasure comes from a triumph which swells our self-respect, people will try to repeat the accomplishment. But repeating that accomplishment is often not realistic, which can lead to severe negative emotional consequences when it doesn’t reoccur. This form of motivation is widely regarded as a negative type of motivation. It can hinder other more positive motivation types, such as completing a task purely because it’s fulfilling or enjoyable.
    What consumes the employee instead is a pressing need to feel mighty and sure of themselves. They then take on only tasks and objectives which serve that ego-driven need. As a result, to avoid feelings of shame and worthlessness associated with failure, they extend themselves to such a degree that there’s a subsequent adverse effect on their well-being. This internal pressure to succeed at all costs demands a lot of effort. It depletes their energy, culminating in disproportionate levels of damaging sentiment.
    Those negative emotions mount into heightened anxiety, impacting their ability to make the most of their personal life. Their desire to avoid feeling inferior ends up making them feel inferior when it comes to their diminished capacity for friendship and leisure. They end up dissatisfied both at work and outside of it.
    But thankfully, for those people compelled almost entirely by this specific form of motivation, the news isn’t all bad, or bad at all. The study also discovered several positive outcomes that can actually outweigh the harmful ones. Though these types of employees are motivated by the desire to avoid negative consequences, they are also motivated by the excitement of pursuing emotional rewards. This excitement makes pursuing goals enjoyable and stimulates pleasure and pride that would result from success. An effect of the positive motivation is that it neutralizes the existence of negative motivation.
    Sure, it affects people’s personal lives to what could be deemed an unhealthy extent, because leisure activities are often seen as a part of life that must be sacrificed to manage work and family demands.
    However, the way people feel about their work has less to do with whether they’re motivated by the preservation of self-esteem but more with the fact that they’re simply motivated.
What does the author say about the pursuit of work-related self-esteem?

选项 A、It may result in negative motivation.
B、It contributes to one’s accomplishments.
C、It can increase one’s vigor as one keeps trying.
D、It costs too much emotionally and psychologically.

答案A

解析 根据题干中的pursuit、work-related self-esteem和出题顺序定位到第1段第3句。题目询问作者如何看待对与工作相关的自尊的追求。第1段第3句,作者对“与工作相关的自尊是否是一个值得追求的理想”进行发问后给出答案:not always,并在该段末句给出研究的结论:它既有消极后果,也有积极意义。接着第2段分析了消极后果,其中第3、4句指出,当重复成就的情况没有再次实现时,可能会导致严重的负面情绪后果,这种形式的动机被广泛认为是一种消极的动机(a negative type of motivation)。由此来看,A项“它可能导致消极的动机”符合作者的看法,故选A项。B项“它有助于一个人的成就”利用第2段第2句的原词accomplishment进行干扰。但第3句指出,重复这一成就往往是不现实的,可见B项不妥。C项“只要不断尝试,它就能增加一个人的活力”利用第1段第3句的原词vigor进行干扰,原文的with vigor意为“大力地,努力地”,并未提及increase one’s vigor“增加人的活力”。D项“它在情感上和心理上都耗费巨大”中的psychologically没有原文依据。
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