阅读理解
Clearly, a person's decisions are determined by circumstances. Experiments conducted over the past few years have revealed that giving someone an icy drink at a party leads him to believe he is getting the cold shoulder from fellow guests, that handing over a warm drink gives people a sense of warmth from others.
The latest of these studies also looks at the effect of furniture. It suggests that something as trivial as the stability of chairs and tables has an effect on perceptions and desires.
The researchers asked half of their volunteers to sit in a slightly wobbly chair next to a slightly wobbly table while engaged in the task assigned. The others were asked to sit in chairs next to tables that looked physically identical, but were not wobbly.
Once in their chairs, participants were asked to judge the stability of the relationships of four celebrity couples. They did this by rating on a scale of one to seven, that a couple would break up in the next five years. A score of one meant "extremely unlikely to dissolve" . A score of seven meant "extremely likely to dissolve" .
After they had done this, they were asked to rate their preferences for various traits in a potential romantic partner. Traits on offer included some which associate with a sense of psychological stability, some that are associated with psychological instability and some with no real relevance to instability or stability. Participants rated the various traits on another one-to-seven scale, with one indicating "not at all desirable" and seven meaning "extremely desirable" .
The results reveal that just as cold drinks lead to perceptions of social conditions being cold, feelings of physical instability leads to perceptions of social instability. Participants who sat in wobbly chairs at wobbly tables gave the celebrity couples an average stability score of 3.2 while those whose furniture did not wobble gave them 2.5.
What was particularly intriguing, though, was that those sitting at wonky furniture not only saw instability in the relationships of others but also said that they valued stability in their own relationships more highly. They gave stability-promoting traits in potential romantic partners an average desirability score of 5.0, whereas those whose tables and chairs were stable gave these same traits a score of 4.5. The difference is not huge, but it is statistically significant. Even a small amount of environmental wobbliness seems to promote a desire for an emotional rock to cling to.
The latest of these studies also looks at the effect of furniture. It suggests that something as trivial as the stability of chairs and tables has an effect on perceptions and desires.
The researchers asked half of their volunteers to sit in a slightly wobbly chair next to a slightly wobbly table while engaged in the task assigned. The others were asked to sit in chairs next to tables that looked physically identical, but were not wobbly.
Once in their chairs, participants were asked to judge the stability of the relationships of four celebrity couples. They did this by rating on a scale of one to seven, that a couple would break up in the next five years. A score of one meant "extremely unlikely to dissolve" . A score of seven meant "extremely likely to dissolve" .
After they had done this, they were asked to rate their preferences for various traits in a potential romantic partner. Traits on offer included some which associate with a sense of psychological stability, some that are associated with psychological instability and some with no real relevance to instability or stability. Participants rated the various traits on another one-to-seven scale, with one indicating "not at all desirable" and seven meaning "extremely desirable" .
The results reveal that just as cold drinks lead to perceptions of social conditions being cold, feelings of physical instability leads to perceptions of social instability. Participants who sat in wobbly chairs at wobbly tables gave the celebrity couples an average stability score of 3.2 while those whose furniture did not wobble gave them 2.5.
What was particularly intriguing, though, was that those sitting at wonky furniture not only saw instability in the relationships of others but also said that they valued stability in their own relationships more highly. They gave stability-promoting traits in potential romantic partners an average desirability score of 5.0, whereas those whose tables and chairs were stable gave these same traits a score of 4.5. The difference is not huge, but it is statistically significant. Even a small amount of environmental wobbliness seems to promote a desire for an emotional rock to cling to.
单选题
16.The experiment in the first paragraph shows that______.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】推断题。根据题干关键词定位到第一段。第一句话讲Clearly,a person’s decisions are determined by circumstances，接下来用实验说明人们的决定怎样受到环境的影响，由此推断出D项为正确答案。
单选题
17.The scores given by participants who sat in wobbly chairs reveal that physical instability___.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】细节题。根据题干关键词定位到第六段。第一句提到“在身体处于不稳定状态的时候，心理上更加倾向于感受到社交中的不稳定因子”。C项是对原文feelings of physical instability leads to perceptions of social instability的同义改写，为正确答案。
单选题
18.The word "wonky" (Para. 7) probably means____.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】含义题。根据题干关键词定位到第七段。根据前文信息可知，实验中的人们被分成两组，一组坐在摇晃的椅子上，另一组坐在稳定的椅子上。由本段第二句中的whereas those whose tables and chairs were stable gave…(相比之下，桌椅稳当的那一组……)可知，前面讲的是椅子不稳当的一组，故C项shaky“摇晃的”符合题意，为正确答案。
单选题
19.According to the last paragraph, which of the following is NOT true?
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】细节题。根据题干关键词定位到最后一段。第一句末提到they valued stability in their own relationships more highly(坐在摇椅上的人更加珍惜自己与他人关系中的稳定性)，因此A项与原文不符，less应为more。
单选题
20.What's the main idea of this article ?
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】主旨题。本文在开头段指出环境会影响人们做出决定，但主体部分都在描述一个通过家具的不稳定性来证明其对人们的观念和愿望有影响的一个实验。而且文章最后一段指出是环境的不稳定导致人们想抓住情感的救命稻草。故文章的主旨为环境的不稳定对人们的观念和愿望有影响，而非单指家具。因此，此题答案为D项。