单选题 A New Zealand man who was asked by scientists to agree with everything his wife said had to call off the experiment after 12 days because it was proved so harmful to his mental health.
The study was set up to examine the old marriage advice about whether it"s more important to be happy or to be right. Couples therapists sometimes suggest that in a bid to avoid constant arguments, spouses weigh up whether pressing the point is worth the misery of marital discord. The researchers, who are doctors and professors at the University of Auckland, noticed that many of their patients were adding stress to their lives by insisting on being right, even when it worked against their well-being.
So they found a couple who were willing to record their quality of life on a scale of 1 to 10. They told the man, who wanted to be happy more than right, about the purpose of the study and asked him to agree with every opinion and request his wife had without complaint, even when he profoundly didn"t agree. The wife was not informed of the purpose of the study and just asked to record her quality of life.
Things went rapidly downhill for the couple. The man"s quality-of-life scores fell, from 7 to 3, over the course of the experiment. The wife"s scores rose modestly, from 8 to 8.5, before she became hostile to the idea of recording the scores. Rather than causing harmony, the husband"s agreeableness led to the wife becoming increasingly critical of what he did and said (in the husband"s opinion). After 12 days he broke down and the study was called off because of "severe adverse outcomes".
The researchers concluded, shockingly, that humans need to be right and acknowledged as right, at least some of the time, to be happy. In politics, people often note that there can be no peace without justice, and that"s true of the domestic sphere as well. The researchers also noted that this was further proof that if given too much power, humans tend to "assume the alpha position and, as with chimpanzees, they become very aggressive and dangerous."
Obviously the results are to be taken with extreme caution, since this was just one couple with who-knows- what underlying issues beforehand. But the study"s chief author, Dr. Bruce, maintains that the question of happiness vs. rightness, theoretically, could be settled by scientific inquiry with a wider sample. "This would include a randomized controlled trial," he says. "However we would be reluctant to do the definitive study because of the concern about divorce or homicide."
单选题 What"s the purpose of the study mentioned in the passage?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 事实细节题。根据题干中的the purpose of the study定位到原文第二段第一句。该句中提到,这项研究是为了验证一条古老的婚姻忠告:幸福和正确哪个更重要。由此可知,B项表述符合原文,故选B。
单选题 What do we know about the couple in the study?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 事实细节题。根据题干中的the couple定位到原文第三段。该段中提到,研究人员告诉了这个想要幸福多过正确的男人该实验的目的,并且要求他毫无怨言地接受自己妻子的每一个观点和要求,即使是在他极其不赞同的时候。而这个妻子只被要求记录自己的生活质量,而没有被告知研究目的。由此可知,女士对于该研究确实知之甚少,故选D。
单选题 What happened to the couple during the experiment?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 事实细节题。根据题文同序原则,可接着题32定位到原文第四段。该段首句中提到,这对夫妻的生活质量迅速地走了下坡路。随后具体指出,在实验期间,男人的生活质量分数从7分降到了3分,妻子的分数略有上升,从8分升到了8.5分。由此可知,男士远远不如以前幸福,而女士的幸福程度只是略有提升,故选C。
单选题 What"s the conclusion made by the researchers?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 事实细节题。根据题干中的conclusion made by the researchers定位到原文第五段。该段首句中提到,研究人员得出了惊人的结论:人类至少有些时候是因为正确而被认可才会感到快乐。由此可知A项表述符合原文,故选A。
单选题 What can we learn from Dr. Bruce"s words?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 事实细节题。根据题干中的关键词Dr. Bruce"s words定位到原文最后一段。该段中引用了Dr. Bruce的话说道:“考虑到(可能会造成的)离婚和杀人,我们并不愿意做这样的研究。”由此可知,鉴于该研究可能造成的不良影响,研究人员并不愿意继续从事该研究,故选D。