點擊查看》》2021年6月英語四級長篇閱讀練習(xí)匯總

Section B

Directions: In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived.

You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.

How Your Language Affects Your Wealth and Health

A. Does the language we speak determine how healthy and rich we will be? New research by Keith Chen of Yale Business School suggests so. The structure of languages affects our judgments and decisions about the future and this might have dramatic long-term consequences.

B. There has been a lot of research into how we deal with the future. For example, the famous marshmallow ( 棉 花糖)studies of Walter Mischel and colleagues showed that being able to resist temptation is predictive of future success. Four-year-old kids were given a marshmallow and were told that if they do not eat that marshmallow and wait for the experimenter to come back, they will get two marshmallows instead of one. Follow-up studies showed that the kids who were able to wait for the bigger future reward became more successful young adults.

C. Resisting our impulses for immediate pleasure is often the only way to attain the outcomes that are important to us. We want to keep a slim figure but we also want that last slice of pizza. We want a comfortable retirement, but we also want to drive that dazzling car, go on that dream vacation, or get those gorgeous shoes.

Some people are better at delaying gratification ( 滿足 ) than others. Those people have a better chance of accumulating wealth and keeping a healthy life style. They are less likely to be impulse buyers or smokers, or to engage in unsafe sex.

D. Chen's recent findings suggest that an unlikely factor, language, strongly affects our future-oriented behavior. Some languages strongly distinguish the present and the future. Other languages only weakly distinguish the present and the future. Chen's recent research suggests that people who speak languages that weakly distinguish the present and the future are better prepared for the future. They accumulate more wealth and they are better able to maintain their health. The way these people conceptualize the future is similar to the way they conceptualize the present. As a result, the future does not feel very distant and it is easier for them to act in accordance with their future interestS.

E. Different languages have different ways of talking about the future. Some languages, such as English, Korean, and Russian, require their speakers to refer to the future explicitly ( 明確地). Every time English-speakers tall about the future, they have to use future markers such as" will" or" going to." In other languages, such as Mandarin, Japanese, and German, future markers are not obligatory (強制性的). The future is often talked about similar to the way present is talked about and the meaning is understood from the context. A Mandarin speaker who is going to go to a seminar might say" Wo qu ting jiangzuo," which translates to" I go listen seminar." Languages such as English constantly remind their speakers that future events are distant. For speakers of languages such as Mandarin future feels closer. As a consequence, resisting immediate impulses and investing for the future is easier for Mandarin speakers.

F.Chert analyzed individual-level data from 76 developed and developing countries. This data includes people's economic decisions, such as whether they saved any money last year, the languages they speak at home, demographics (人口統(tǒng)計資料 ), and cultural factors such as" saving is an important cultural value for me."

He also analyzed individual-level data on people's retirement assets, smoking and exercising habits, and general health in older age. Lastly, he analyzed national-level data that inchides national savings rates, country GDP and GDP growth rates, country demographics, and proportions of people speaking different languages.

G. People's savings rates are affected by various factors such as their income, education level, age, religious connection, their countries' legal systems, and their cultural values. After those factors were accounted for, the effect of language on people's savings rates turned out to be big. Speaking a language that has obligatory future markers, such as English, makes people 30 percent less likely to save money for the future. This effect is as large as the effect of unemployment. Being unemployed decreases the likelihood of saving by about 30 percent as well.

H. Similar analyses showed that speaking a language that does not have obligatory future markers, such as Mandarin, makes people accumulate more retirement assets, smoke less, exercise more, and generally be healthier in older age. Countries' national savings rates are also affected by language. Having a larger proportion of people speaking languages that does not have obligatory future markers makes national savings rates higher.

I.At a more practical level, researchers have been looking for ways to help people act in accordance with their long-term interests. Recent, findings suggest that making the future feel closer to the present might improve future-oriented behavior. For instance, researchers recently presented people with renderings of their future selves made using age-progression algorithms (算法) that forecast how physical appearances would change over time. One group of participants saw a digital representation of their current selves in a virtual mirror, and the other group saw an age-morphed version of their future selves. Those participants who saw the age- morphed version of their future selves allocated more money toward a hypothetical savings account. The intervention brought people's future to the present and as a result they saved more for the future.

J.Chen's research shows that language structures our future-related thoughts. Language has been used before to alter time perception with surprising effects. Ellen Langer and colleagues famously improved older people's physical health by simple interventions including asking them to talk about the events of twenty years ago as if it they were happening now. Talking about the past as if it were the present changed people's mindsets and their mindsets affected their physical states. Chen's research points at the possibility that the way we talk about the future can shape our mindsets. Language can move the future back and forth in our mental space and this might have dramatic influences on our judgments and decisions.

46. Usually, preventing ourselves from enjoying immediate pleasure impulsively is the only way to achieve the outcomes that are important to us.

47. The structure of languages influences us when we are making a judgment or decision about the future.

48. Speaking a language that has obligatory future markers and being unemployed nearly share the same percentage of decreasing the likelihood of saving.

49. According to the well-known marshmallow studies, people who can resist temptation tend to be successful in the future.

50. People who speak languages like English are more likely to feel that the future events are distant.

51. National savings rates of countries are influenced by language as well.

52. In Chen's recent research, people who speak languages in which the present and the future are weakly distinguished are more prepared for the future.

53. Recent findings show that it is possible to improve future-oriented behavior through making the future feel closer to the present.

54. Through simple interventions, Ellen Langer and colleagues made the physical health of the older people changed for the better.

55. Chen made an analysis of individual-level statistics from 76 developed and developing nations.

【參考譯文】

語言如何影響你的財富與健康

A.我們所說的語言是否會決定我們未來的健康和財富?耶魯商學(xué)院Keith Chen所做的一項新研究表明事實正是如此。[47]語言結(jié)構(gòu)會影響我們對未來的判斷和決定，而這可能會產(chǎn)生極其長遠的影響。

B)關(guān)于我們?nèi)绾螒?yīng)對未來的研究有很多。[49]例如，由 Walter Mischel一和他的同事們一起進行的著名的“棉花糖實驗”表明：能夠抵御誘惑預(yù)示著未來的成功。實驗中，實驗員給一些4歲的孩子每人一塊棉花糖，并告訴他們，如果等到實驗員回來他們還沒有吃掉棉花糖的話，他們就能得到兩塊棉花糖而不是一塊。后續(xù)研究顯示，那些能夠為更大的遠期回報而等待的孩子在成年后更為成功。

C.[46]我們要想獲取一些對自己來說非常重要的成果，抵制住眼前的一時痛快往往是唯一的辦法。我們想要保持好身材，卻又想要最后那塊比薩。我們想要舒舒服服地退休，卻也想開豪車，完成夢寐以求的旅行或者買華麗的鞋子。一些人在推遲滿足感上比其他人做得好。他們更有可能積累財富并保持一種健康的生活方式。他們不大可能成為沖動購物者或吸煙者，也不大可能會發(fā)生危險的性行為。

D.Chen最近的研究結(jié)果表明，語言這一看似不太可能的因素，對我們未來的行為有著巨大的影響。在一些語言中很明顯地區(qū)分了現(xiàn)在和將來，而在其他語言中，這種差別非常模糊。[52]Chen最近的研究表明：使用不太區(qū)分現(xiàn)在和將來的語言的人對未來準(zhǔn)備更充分。他們會積累更多的財富，也更能保持自身健康。這些人構(gòu)想未來的方式和他們構(gòu)思現(xiàn)在的方式類似。因此，他們覺得未來并不遙遠，而且對于他們來說，采取與其未來利益相符的行為方式也更為容易。

E.當(dāng)談?wù)搶頃r，不同的語言有不同的表達方式。一些像英語、韓語及俄語之類的語言要求他們的使用者清楚明確地指出將來。講英語的人每次談到將來時必須使用相應(yīng)的標(biāo)志性詞匯，例如“將”(will)或“打算”(goingto)。而其他的一些語言，像中國的普通話、日語和德語則不一定非要那樣。人們談?wù)撐磥砗驼務(wù)摤F(xiàn)在的方式相似，要通過語境才能理解意思。一個說普通話的人如果打算去聽講座，可能會說“我去聽講座”，譯成英語就是“I go listen seminar”。[50]諸如英語這樣的語言會不斷提醒其使用者未來是很遙遠的。而對于說普通話之類語言的人來說，未來則顯得很近。因此，講中文的人更容易抵抗一時沖動，也更會為未拳投資。

F.[55]Chen分析了來自76個發(fā)達國家和發(fā)展中國家的個人層面的數(shù)據(jù)。這些數(shù)據(jù)包括人們的經(jīng)濟決策(譬如去年有沒有存錢)、在家中所使用的語言、人口統(tǒng)計數(shù)據(jù)以及一些文化因素，如“儲蓄對于我來說是一種非常重要的文化價值觀”。他還分析了關(guān)于人們的退休資產(chǎn)、吸煙和運動習(xí)慣以及老年人的總體健康狀況等個人層面的數(shù)據(jù)。最后，他分析了國家層面的數(shù)據(jù)，包括國民儲蓄率、國內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值及其增長率、國家人口統(tǒng)計數(shù)據(jù)以及使用不同語言的人所占的比例。

G.諸如收入、教育水平、年齡、宗教信仰、所在國的法律體系及文化價值觀等各種因素都影響著人們的儲蓄率。排除了這些因素，語言對人們儲蓄率的巨大影響就突顯了出來。[48]使用像英語這種必須明確表明“未來”的語言使得人們?yōu)閬韮π畹目赡苄越档土巳?。該影響和失業(yè)的影響差不多大。由于失業(yè)，儲蓄的可能性也降了大約三成。

H.類似的分析顯示，使用不一定必須標(biāo)明“未來”的語言，比如中文，能夠讓人們積累更多的退休資產(chǎn)，少吸煙，多鍛煉，并且在老年時總體上更健康。[51]語言同樣也影響著一個國家的國民儲蓄率。如果一個國家的大部分人使用的語言不用必須表明“未來”，這個國家的國家儲蓄率往往會更高。

I.從更實際的角度來看，研究者們一直在尋找方法幫助人們采取與其長遠未來的利益相符的行為方式。[53]近期的研究表明，一讓未來顯得離現(xiàn)在更近也許可以改善人們針對未來的行為表現(xiàn)。例如，研究者最近就使用年齡預(yù)見算法預(yù)測出人們?nèi)蓊伒淖兓缓髮⑹茉L者未來的樣子呈現(xiàn)給他們。一組參與者在虛擬鏡像里看見了當(dāng)前自我的數(shù)字影像，另一組人看見了未來的自己容顏隨年齡變化的影像那些看到自己年老模樣的參與者將更多的錢撥到一個虛擬的儲蓄賬戶中。這種干預(yù)方法將人們的未來帶到了當(dāng)下，于是他們會為未來存更多的錢。

J.Chen的研究表明，正是語言形成了我們關(guān)于未來的想法。之前語言曾被用來改變?nèi)藗儗r間的看法，并且效果驚人。[54]Enen Langer和她的同事們通過簡單的干預(yù)極大地改善了老年人的身體健康：這些干預(yù)手段包括讓他們談?wù)?0年前的事情，就像那些事情現(xiàn)在正在發(fā)生一樣。用現(xiàn)在時談?wù)撨^去的事情改變了人的心態(tài)，而心態(tài)影響著人的身體狀況。Chen的研究指出了我們談?wù)撐磥淼姆绞娇赡軙绊懳覀兊男膽B(tài)的可能性。語言可以讓未來在我們的心理空間中來回穿梭，而這有可能對我們的判斷和決策產(chǎn)生極大的影響。