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  3. The holiday season poses a psychological conundrum. Its defining sentiment, of course, is joy — yet the effort to be joyous seem

The holiday season poses a psychological conundrum. Its defining sentiment, of course, is joy — yet the effort to be joyous seem

admin2014-06-25  83
问题     The holiday season poses a psychological conundrum. Its defining sentiment, of course, is joy — yet the effort to be joyous seems to make many of us miserable. It’s hard to be happy in overcrowded airport lounges or while you’re trying to stay civil for days on end with relatives who stretch your patience.
    So to cope with the holidays, magazines and others are advising us to "think positive" — the same advice that Norman Vincent Peale, author of The Power of Positive Thinking, was dispensing six decades ago. Variations of Peale’s positive philosophy run deep in American culture, not just in how we handle holidays and other social situations but in business, politics and beyond. Yet studies suggest that affirmations designed to lift the user’s mood through repetition and visualizing future success often achieve the opposite of their intended effect.
    Fortunately, both ancient philosophy and contemporary psychology point to an alternative: a counterintuitive approach that might be termed "the negative path to happiness. " One pioneer of the "negative path" was psychotherapist Albert Ellis. He rediscovered a key insight of the Stoic philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome: that sometimes the best way to address an uncertain future is to focus not on the best-case scenario but on the worst.
    Just thinking in sober detail about worst-case scenarios can help to sap the future of its anxiety-producing power. The psychologist Julie Norem terms this strategy "defensive pessimism. " Positive thinking, by contrast, is the effort to convince yourself that things will turn out fine, which can reinforce the belief that it would be absolutely terrible if they didn’t.
    In American corporations, perhaps the most widely accepted doctrine of the "cult of positivity" is the importance of setting big goals for an organization. Behind our fixation on goals is a deep unease with feelings of uncertainty. Research by Saras Sarasvathy, an associate professor of business administration suggests that learning to accommodate feelings of uncertainty is not just the key to a more balanced life but often leads to prosperity as well. For one project, she interviewed 45 successful entrepreneurs. Almost none embraced the idea of writing comprehensive business plans or conducting extensive market research. They practiced instead "effectuation. " Rather than choosing a goal and then making a plan to a-chieve it, they took stock of the means and materials at their disposal, then imagined the possible ends. Effectuation also includes the "affordable loss principle. " Instead of focusing on the possibility of spectacular rewards from a venture, ask how great the loss would be if it failed. If the potential loss seems tolerable, take the next step.
    The ultimate value of the "negative path" may not be its role in facilitating upbeat emotions or even success. It is simply realism. The future really is uncertain, after all, and things really do go wrong as well as right. We are too often motivated by a craving to put an end to the inevitable surprises in our lives.
To which of the following proverbs would Albert Ellis agree?
选项 A、We cannot predict the future, but we can invent it.
B、He that hopes no good fears no ill.
C、The pessimist borrows trouble; the optimist lends encouragement.
D、Self-trust is the first secret to success.
答案B
解析 由题干人名锁定第三段，该段及第四段共同介绍了“消极思考”。该段指出，Albert Ellis是这一思维模式的首倡者之一，他重新发现了先贤的真知灼见：应对不确定未来的最佳方式不是设想最好的情况，而是设想最坏的情况。第四段指出，这能够帮助人们降低未来可能产生的焦虑感，并说明了“积极思考”的弊端；积极思考致力于说服自己事情会有好结果，这实际强化了“不好的结果非常可怕”这一信念。四个选项中，只有[B]符合这些观点。
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