It has long been known that high-calorie food can act as a balm (镇痛软膏) for anxiety and bad moods, but now a series of new studies published in Psychological Science【D1】 1that high-calorie food may be a balm for economic anxiety, too, and one that we are prepared to apply whenever we perceive【D2】 2in the world.
In one of the experiments, people who were exposed to words suggesting tough times, like "disaster", "suffer" and "struggle", were prompted to eat more high-calorie food and【D3】 3low-calorie food than a control group did—even though these words were in the background, on a poster, and not【D4】 4understood. Taste didn't come into it: neither did pleasure. "The cues I used did not change people's【D5】 5," says lead author Juliano Laran, a University of Miami marketing professor who【D6】 6in consumer psychology and self-control, "and I specifically found that people were not looking for pleasure, but rather for food items that can【D7】 7them fed for longer periods of time."
The inspiration for the studies came from New York City's policy of posting calorie counts in restaurants, which Laran noticed did nothing to【D8】 8the consumption of high-calorie food. "This signaled," he says, "that misinformation was not the【D9】 9issue, that there was something else【D10】 10on."
A) decrease F) main K) psychological
B) directly G) mind L) specializes
C) going H) mood M) succeeds
D) keep I) occasionally N) suggests
E) less J) pleasure O) trouble 【D1】