四川大学2012硕士阅读选文.doc

2012硕士阅读选文Lesson OneYou Are What You ThinkAnd if you change your mind - from pessimism to optimism - you can change your lifeClaipe SafranDo you see the glass as half-full rather than half empty? Do you keep your eye upon the doughnut, not upon the hole? Suddenly these clichs are scientific questions, as researchers scrutinize the power of positive thinking.A fast-growing body of research-104 studies so far, involving some 15000 people - is proving that optimism can help you to be happier, healthier and more successful. Pessimism leads, by contrast, to hopelessness, sickness and failure, and is linked to depression, loneliness and painful shyness. “If we could teach people to think more positively,” says psychologist Craig A. Anderson of Rice University in Houston, “it would be like inoculating then against these mental ills.”“Your abilities count,” explains psychologist Michael F. Scheier of Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, “but the belief that you can succeed affects whether or not you will.” In part, thats because optimists and pessimists deal with the same challenges and disappointments in very different ways.Take, for example, your job. In a major study, psychologist Martin E. P. Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania and colleague Peter Schulman surveyed sales representatives at the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. They found that the positive-thinkers among longtime representatives sold 37-percent more insurance than did the negative-thinkers. Of newly hired representatives, optimists sold 20-percent more.Impressed, the company hired 100 people who had failed the standard industry test but had scored high on optimism. These people, who might never have been hired, sold 10-percent more insurance than did the average representative.How did they do it? The secret to an optimists success, according to Seligman, is in his “explanatory style”. When things go wrong the pessimist tends to blame himself. “Im no good at this,” he says, “I always fail.” The optimist looks for loopholes. He blames the weather, the phone connection, even the other person. That customer was in a bad mood, he thinks. When things go right, the optimist takes credit while the pessimist sees success as a fluke.Craig Anderson had a group of students phone strangers and ask them to donate blood to the Red Cross. When they failed on the first call or two, pessimists said, “I cant do this.” Optimists told themselves, “I need to try a different approach.”Negative or positive, it was a self-fulfilling prophecy. “If people feel hopeless,” says Anderson, “they dont bother to acquire the skills they need to succeed.”A sense of control, according to Anderson, is the litmus test for success. The optimist feels in control of his own life. If things are going badly, he acts quickly, looking for solutions, forming a new plan of action, and reaching out for advice. The pessimist feels like fates playing and moves slowly. He doesnt seek advice, since he assumes nothing can be done.Optimists may think they are better than the facts would justify - and sometimes thats what keeps them alive. Dr. Sandra Levy of the Pittsburgh Cancer Institute studied women with advanced breast cancer. For the women who were generally optimistic, there was a longer disease-free interval, the best predictor of survival. In a pilot study of women in the early stages of breast cancer, Dr. Levy found the disease recurred sooner among the pessimists.Optimism wont cure the incurable, but it may prevent illness. In a long-term study, researchers examined the health histories of a group of Harvard graduates, all of whom were in the top half of their class and in fine physical condition. Yet some were positive thinkers, and some negative. Twenty years later, there were more middle-age diseases-hypertension, diabetes, heart ailments-among the pessimists than the optimists.Many studies suggest that the pessimists feeling of helplessness undermines the bodys natural defenses, the immune system. Dr. Christopher Peterson of the University of Michigan has found that the pessimist doesnt take good care of himself. Feeling passive and unable to dodge lifes blows, he expects ill health and other misfortunes, no matter what he does. He munches on junk food, avoids exercise, ignores the doctor, has another drink.Most people are a mix of optimism and pessimism, but are inclined in one direction or the other. It is a pattern of thinking learned “at your mothers knee”, says Seligman. It grows out of thousands of cautions or encouragements, negative statements or positive ones. Too many “donts” and warnings of danger can make a child feel incompetent, fearful-and pessimistic.As they grow, children experience small triumphs, such as learning to tie shoelaces. Parents can help turn these successes into a sense of control, that breeds optimism.Pessimism is a hard habit to break - but it can be done. In a series of landmark studies, Dr. Carol Dweck of the University of Illinois has been working with children in the early grades of school. As she helps floundering students to change the explanations for their failures - from “I must be dumb” to “I didnt study hard enough” - their academic performance improves.Pittsburghs Dr. Levy wondered if turning patients into optimists would lengthen their lives. In a pilot study, two groups of colon-cancer patients were given the same medical treatment, but some were also given psychological help to determine whether this psychological change can alter the course of the disease.So, if youre a pessimist, theres reason for optimism. You can change. Heres how, says Steve Hollon, a psychologist at Vanderbilt University:1. Pay careful attention to your thoughts when bad things happen, Write down the first thing that comes to mind, unedited and uncensored.2. Now try an experiment. Do something thats contrary to any negative reactions. Lets say something has gone wrong at work. Do you think, I hate my job, but I could never get a better one? Act as if that werent so. Send out resumes. Go to interviews. Look into training and check job leads.3. Keep track of what happens. Were your first thoughts right or wrong? “If your thoughts are holding you back, change them,” says Hollon. “Its trial and error, no guarantees, but give yourself a chance.”Positive thinking leads to positive action, and reaction. What you expect from the world, the evidence suggests, is what youre likely to get.Lesson TwoTHE END IN NOT AT HANDThe environmental rhetoric overblownThe planet will surviveWhoever coined the phrase save the planet is a public relation genius. It conveys the sense of impending catastrophe and high purpose that has wrapped environmentalism in an aura of moral urgency. It also typifies environmentalisms rhetorical excesses , which, in any other context, would be seen as wild exaggeration or simple dishonesty.Up to a point, our environmental awareness has checked a mindless enthusiasm for unrestrained economic growth. We have sensibly curbed some of growths harmful side effects. But environmentalism increasingly resembles a holy crusade addicted to hype and ignorant of history. Every environmental ill is depicted as an oncrushing calamity that-if not stopped-will end life as we know it.Take the latest scare: the greenhouse effect. Were presented with the horrifying specter of a world that incinerates itself. Act now, or sizzle later. Food supplies will wither. Glaciers will melt. Coastal areas will flood. In fact, the probable losses from any greenhouse warming are modest:1 to 2 percent of our economys output by the year 2050,estimates economist William Cline. The loss seems even smaller compared with the expected growth of the economy (a doubling ) over the same period.No environmental problem threatens the planet or rates with the danger of a nuclear war. No oil spill ever caused suffering on a par with todays civil war in Yugoslavia, which is a minor episode in human misery. World War II left more than 35 million dead. Cambodias civil war resulted in 1 million to 3 million deaths. The great scourges o humanity remain what they have always been: war, natural disaster, oppressive government, crushing poverty and hate. On any scale of tragedy, environmental distress is a featherweight.This is not an argument for indifference or inaction. It is an argument for perspective and balance. You can believe (as I do) that the possibility of greenhouse warming enhances an already strong case for en energy tax. A tax would curb ordinary air pollution, limit oil imports, cut the budget deficit and promote energy-efficient investments that make economic sense. 6 But it does not follow that anyone who disagrees with me is evil or even wrong. Onthe greenhouse effect, for instance, theres ample scientific doubt over whether warming willoccur and, if so, how much. Moreover, the warning would occur over decades. People andbusinesses could adjust. To take one example: farmers could shift to more heat-resistantseeds.7 Unfortunately, the impulse of many environmentalists is to vilify and simplify.Critics of environmental restrictions are portrayed as selfish and ignorant creeps. Doomsdayscenarios are developed to prove the seriousness of environmental dangers. Clines recentgreenhouse study projected warming 250 years into the future. Guess what, it increasessharply. This is an absurd exercise akin to predicting life in 1992 at the time of the Frenchand Indian War ( 1754-1763). 8 The rhetorical overkill is not just innocent excess. It clouds our understanding. Forstarters, it minimizes the great progress that has been made, especially in industrializedcountries. In the United States, air and water pollution have dropped dramatically. Since1960, particulate emissions (soot, cinders) are down by 65 percent. Lead emissions havefallen by 97 percent since 1970. Smog has declined in most cities.9 Whats also lost is the awkward necessity for choices. Your environmental benefitmay be my job. Not every benefit is worth having at any cost. Economists estimate thatenvironmental regulations depress the economys output By 2.6 to 5 percent, or about $150billion to $ 290 billion. (Note: this is larger than the estimated impact of global warming. )For that cost, weve lowered health risks and improved our surroundings. But some gains aresmall compared with the costs. And some costs are needlessly high because regulations arerigid.10 Balance: The worst sin of environmental excess is its bias against economicgrowth. The cure for the immense problems of poor countries usually lies with economicgrowth. A recent report from the World Bank estimates that more than 1 billion people lackhealthy water supplies and sanitary facilities. The result is hundreds of millions of cases ofdiarrhea annually and the deaths of 3 million children (2 million of which the World Bankjudges avoidable). Only by becoming wealthier can countries correct these conditions. 11 Similarly, wealthier societies have both the desire and the income to clean their airand water. Advanced nations have urban-air-pollution levels only a sixth that of the poorestcountries. Finally, economic growth tends to reduce high birthrates, as children survive longer and women escape traditional roles. 12 Yes, we have environmental problems. Reactors in the former Soviet Union posesafety risks. Economic growth and the environment can be at odds-Growth generatescarbon-dioxide emissions and muses more waste. But these problems are not-asenvironmental rhetoric implies-the main obstacles to sustained development. The biggesthurdle is inept government. Inept government fostered unsafe reactors. Inept governmenthampers food production in Ix)or countries by, say, preventing farmers from earningadequate returns on their crops.13 By now, everyone is an environmentalist. But the label is increasinglymeaningless, because not all environmental problems are equally serious and even the seriousones need to be balanced against other concerns. Environmentalism should hold the hype. Itshould inform us more and frighten us less.Lesson ThreeGood taste, bad taste by Stephen Bayley 1 The things you own tell stories about you as surely as the Joneses youre keepingup with. Each purchase reveals something your partner or closest friend may not realisefrom your intimate exchanges. Every time you buy something you exercise your taste.2 Before the age of mass production, taste used to be the province of an educatedelite. But when the entire population became consumers for the first time, taste came out ofthe salons and onto the streets. Suddenly, everybody had the opportunity to make a choice.3 There cannot objectively be such a thing as good or bad. It is rather as thenovelist Arnold Bennett put it: good taste might be better than bad, but had taste, iscertainly better than no taste at all.4 Exercising taste is not difficult. You decide what stories you want your possessionsto tell and then get on and orchestrate them. But be warned: not every story is a flattering one. Buy an onyx ashtray and you might as well rent poster space and tell the world I amthe dupe of cynical manipulators who have succeeded in seducing me with flashy rubbish.5 Since the 18th century when taste was first discussed, people have believed that itwas an endowment of an elite, handed down to those poor souls below ,who wanted to betterthemselves. This opened up the market to tastemakers-either the patrician bureaucrats ofVictorias reign, or the teams of slick decorators of today who have made careers out ofintroducing new money to old furniture.6 But is the question of taste just one of household hints? No. Taste is an expressionof a whole system of values. And that means yours.7 To achieve an understanding of taste means that you should have conviction in yourchoices. If you look at the history of taste you will see that it is like a sketch of the history ofcivilization: for 200 years rococo, classical, gothic, streamlined and then Laura Ashleyhave all in turn been acceptable expressions of taste. Only gifted artists and designers canpredict these changes but anyone can understand the principles. Although the history of tastehas been one of change, confrontation and reversal, certain patterns constantly recur. Learnthese and youre in there with the tastemakers.8 The rules are simple. No taste is to acquiesce and act like a pygmy enchanted bybeads and mirrors. With no taste you take what is offered and leave your soul undisturbed.Good taste is to care and to choose, to make your own surroundings and even your ownappearance more pleasing and more interesting by positive acts of discrimination.9 Underpinning what is always thought to be good taste are recurrent ideas such asrefinement, restraint, appropriateness and good manners. These all lead to delight; thealternative is vulgar excess which is ultimately unsatisfying. 10 So, bear these ideas in mind and look at what you own and think about the storiesyour possessions are telling.11 Why do you have a gold wristwatch? This metal is inappropriate for theintended purpose. Steel or plastic is better. Perhaps you want to look like a prosperous armsdealer.12 Your Constable reproduction in a pseudo-something frame says I knowfithing about art and care less. A Heineken poster would have been more discriminating.13 Your carpet with its hideous pattern was designed to do one thing only: disguisedirt. Would you not be prouder with a clean simple color?14 Your choice of the Honesty pattern toaster declares you to be the sort operson who will cheerfully admit I love buying cynical junk. Anything the marketingdepartment does is good enough for me . If country kitchen is the style you wantyoud be better off buying a griddle.15 These products are all dishonest. They would rarely be chosen by people withgenuine bad taste and never by people with good. They would be purchased only by peoplewith no taste at all . and no taste at all means the same as I dont care.16 In the future you will be exposed to more and more choice, not less. As the speedof change brings design nearer to fashion, then decisions about taste will have to be mademore and more regularly.17 At first this will lead to an even greater profusion of choice, perhaps even morethan during the explosion of production and consumption during the consumer revolution of100 and more years ago. But soon people will find that when anything goes . . not muchreally does.18 When more consumers exercise taste, manufacturers will be required to makebetter and more dignified products. It cannot be long before it is generally realized thatperfect proportions and understated elegance are superior to meretricious ornament, flashysurfaces and products outstanding only for the degree of social pretentiousness they exude.19 If you think about it you will find that you prefer neatness and restraint. In theend these qualities are more rewarding than confusion and excess. And, remember, taste isby no means a matter of expense: a slice of good Cheddar is better than many an expensivemeal.20 These are the Rules of Taste: refinement, restraint, appropriateness and goodmanners.21 Dare you be without them?Lesson FourTwo truths to live byHold fast, and let go:Understand this paradox, and you stand at the very gate of wisdomAlexander M . SchindlerThe art of living is to know when to hold fast and when to let go. For life is a paradox: it enjoins us to cling to its many gifts even while it ordains their eventual relinquishment. The rabbis of old put it this way: A man comes to this world with his f