首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Declining house prices, rising job layoffs, skyrocketing oil costs and a major credit crunch have brought consumer confidence to
Declining house prices, rising job layoffs, skyrocketing oil costs and a major credit crunch have brought consumer confidence to
admin
2019-09-23
32
问题
Declining house prices, rising job layoffs, skyrocketing oil costs and a major credit crunch have brought consumer confidence to its lowest point in five years. With a relatively long recession looking increasingly likely, many American families may be planning to tighten their belts.
Interestingly, restraining our consumer spending, in the short term, may cause us to actually loosen the belts around our waists. What’s the connection? The brain has a limited capacity for self-regulation, so exerting willpower in one area often leads to backsliding in others. The good news, however, is that practice increases willpower capacity, so that in the long run, buying less now may improve our ability to achieve future goals — like losing those 10 pounds we gained when we weren’t out shopping.
The brain’s store of willpower is depleted when people control their thoughts, feelings or impulses, or when they modify their behaviors in pursuit of goals. Psychologist Roy Baumeister and others have found that people who successfully accomplish one task requiring self-control are less persistent on a second, seemingly unrelated task.
In one pioneering study, some people were asked to eat radishes while others received freshly baked chocolate chip cookies before trying to solve an impossible puzzle. The radish-eaters abandoned the puzzle in eight minutes on average, working less than half as long as people who got cookies or those who were excused from eating radishes. Similarly, people who were asked to circle every "e" on a page of text then showed less persistence in watching a video of an unchanging table and wall.
Other activities that deplete willpower include resisting food or drink, suppressing emotional responses, restraining aggressive or sexual impulses, taking exams and trying to impress someone. Task persistence is also reduced when people are stressed or tired from exertion or lack of sleep.
What limits willpower? Some have suggested that it is blood sugar, which brain cells use as their main energy source and cannot do without for even a few minutes. Most cognitive functions are unaffected by minor blood sugar fluctuations over the course of a day, but planning and self-control are sensitive to such small changes. Exerting self-control lowers blood sugar, which reduces the capacity for further self-control. People who drink a glass of lemonade between completing one task requiring self-control and beginning a second one perform equally well on both tasks, while people who drink sugarless diet lemonade make more errors on the second task than on the first. Foods that persistently elevate blood sugar, like those containing protein or complex carbohydrates, might enhance willpower for longer periods.
In the short term, you should spend your limited willpower budget wisely. It can be counterproductive to work toward multiple goals at the same time if your willpower cannot cover all the efforts that are required. Concentrating your effort on one or, at most, a few goals at a time increases the
odds
of success.
Focusing on success is important because willpower can grow in the long term. Like a muscle, willpower seems to become stronger with use. The idea of exercising willpower is seen in
military boot camp
, where recruits are trained to overcome one challenge after another.
No one knows why willpower can grow with practice, but consistently doing any activity that requires self-control seems to increase willpower — and the ability to resist impulses and delay
gratification
is highly associated with success in life.
The word "odds" underlined in Paragraph 7 is a synonym of______.
选项
A、likelihood
B、strength
C、mood
D、potency
答案
A
解析
语义题。根据上下文,可推出odds意为“可能性,概率”,故选A(可能性)。
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/Wt1YFFFM
本试题收录于:
CATTI二级笔译综合能力题库翻译专业资格(CATTI)分类
0
CATTI二级笔译综合能力
翻译专业资格(CATTI)
相关试题推荐
Whatkindofpeoplewereearlycolonialnewspapersdesignedfor?
A、正确B、错误A语义的理解和判断。根据原文Infact,mostofusspendagreatdealoftimetryingtogetotherpeopletodowillinglywhatwewantth
FightingAgainstHungerVocabularyandExpressionsmicronutrientsroadmapdonoragenciessmallholderfoodsecurityp
ShouldUrbanGrowthbeRestricted?VocabularyandExpressionsrepercussionAbercrombiePlanoptimalaccommodateaut
ShouldUrbanGrowthbeRestricted?VocabularyandExpressionsrepercussionAbercrombiePlanoptimalaccommodateaut
Onwhichdayisthehotelavailable?
LatinAmericanandChineseofficialshaveopenedtwodaysoftalksontradeandinvestment.ThefirstChina/LatinAmericaand
Howmanymemoryhacksarementionedinthearticle?
Companieshavebeguntocreateenvironment-friendlywatercontainers.
BanningBiotechnologyonMadeiraMadeiraismorethan500kilometersfromtheAfricancoastandisofficiallyoneofthe"out
随机试题
肝郁血虚,脾失健运。见两胁作痛,神疲食少,脉虚弦者,治宜选用
A.第二前肋水平B.第一前肋水平C.乳房皱襞下3cmD.锁骨上野的下界下0.5cmE.乳房皱襞下2cm不需照射腋窝时,乳腺癌半野切线野的上界一般放在
A.平卧位B.半坐卧位C.头高足低位D.头低足高位E.下肢抬高胸部受伤伴呼吸困难的患者,应保持的体位是
A、别嘌醇B、秋水仙碱C、泼尼松龙D、苯溴马隆E、双氯芬酸痛风急性发作期,为抑制粒细胞浸润可选用()。
“探索等腰三角形的性质”的教学片段:(一)创设情境,引出课题教师活动:现在农村经济条件好了,大部分家庭盖有楼房。大家知道农村的楼房都有房梁,并且这些房梁都保持水平状态,你知道木匠师傅采用什么方法来确定房梁是否保持水平吗?学生活
世界非物质文化遗产资源丰富,形式多样,地域特色鲜明。下列非物质文化遗产中全部属于亚洲的是()。
世卫组织指出,全世界的自杀率已经上升了60%,特别是在发展中国家,这种现象更为严重。大部分自杀事件发生在亚洲,该地区的自杀人数占全球总数的60%。中国、印度和日本由于人口较多,因此其自杀人数占到了总数的40%。……此外,自杀已经成为15岁至34岁年轻人的第
2015年年末,全国参加基本养老保险人数为85833万人,比上年年末增加1601万人。全年基本养老保险基金收入32195亿元,比上年增长16.6%。全年基本养老保险基金支出27929亿元,比上年增长19.7%。全国增加城镇职工基本养老保险人数为35361万
论述币值、利率与汇率的关系。
母亲:这学期冬冬的体重明显下降,我看这是因为他的学习负担太重了。父亲:冬冬体重下降和学习负担没有关系。医生说冬冬营养不良,我看这是冬冬体重下降的原因。以下哪项如果为真,最能对父亲的意见提出质疑?
最新回复
(
0
)