Procrastinators (拖延症患者), take note: If you've tried building self-discipline and you're still putting things off, maybe you need to try something different. One new approach: Check your mood. Often, procrastinators attempt to avoid the anxiety or worry aroused by a tough task with activities aimed at repairing their mood, such as checking Facebook or taking a nap. But the pattern, which researchers call "giving in to feel good," makes procrastinators feel worse later, when they face the consequences of missing a deadline or making a hasty, last-minute effort, says Timothy Pychyl, an associate professor of psychology at Carleton University. Increasingly, psychologists and time-management consultants are focusing on a new strategy: helping procrastinators see how attempts at mood repair are destroying their efforts and learn to regulate their emotions in more productive ways. The new approach is based on several studies in the past two years showing that negative emotions can damage attempts at self-control. It fills a gap among established time-management methods, which stress behavioral changes such as adopting a new organizing system or doing exercises to build willpower. Researchers have come up with a playbook of strategies to help procrastinators turn mood repair to their advantage. Some are tried-and-true classics: Dr. Pychyl advises procrastinators to "just get started, and make the threshold for getting started quite low." Procrastinators are more likely to put the technique to use when they understand how mood repair works, says Dr. Pychyl. He adds, "A real mood boost comes from doing what we intend to do—the things that are important to us." He also advises procrastinators to practice "time travel"—projecting themselves into the future to imagine the good feelings they will have after finishing a task, or the bad ones they will have if they don't. This remedies procrastinators' tendency to get so stuck in present anxieties and worries that they fail to think about the future. Another mood-repair strategy, self-forgiveness, is aimed at dismissing the guilt and self-blame. University freshmen who forgave themselves for procrastinating on studying for the first exam in a course procrastinated less on the next exam, according to a recent study led by Michael Wohl, an associate professor of psychology at Carleton.
单选题 What does Timothy Pychyl say about the "giving in to feel good" practice?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】解析:该句提到giving in to feel good“屈服于好心情”这种做法实际上会使拖延症病人事后感觉更糟糕(feel wore later),故C“这很可能弊大于利”正确。
单选题 What does the new strategy suggest procrastinators should do?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】解析:该段提出一个new strategy“新策略”,冒号后面为具体内容,即帮助拖延症患者看清尝试修补情绪的行为是如何坏事的,以及学习如何用更有效的方式调节自己的情绪,A中的Adjust与原文中的regulate同义,positive则与productive对应,故确定A为答案。
单选题 Where does a real mood boost come from according to Dr. Pychyl?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】解析:该句引用Dr.Pychyl的话指出,真正的情绪改善来源于我们想要做的事,对我们来说重要的那些事,故可推断D“做真正重要的事”为答案。
单选题 What is the purpose of the practice "time travel"?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】解析:该段介绍了time travel“时间穿梭法”的具体做法和作用。最后一句中的This就是指代这种做法,该句提到这种做法能够修正拖延症患者陷入当前的焦虑和惶恐,故推断C“将人们从现在的负面情绪中解放出来”为答案。
单选题 What can be inferred from Michael Wohl's study?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】解析:该段第2句提到了该研究的具体内容,指出那些能够原谅自己拖拉的大学新生在下一次考试时就不会那么拖拉了,而该研究是为了说明该段主题句中的内容,即self-forgiveness“自我宽恕”的作用,据此可知,B“自我宽恕是一种对抗拖延症的有效方法”正确。