2013年英语四级阅读试题及答案22

　　Passage Four

　　Psychologists take opposing views of how external rewards, from warm praise to cold cash, affect motivation and creativity. Behaviorists, who study the relation between actions and their consequences, argue that rewards can improve performance at work and school. Cognitive (认知学派的) researchers, who study various aspects of mental life, maintain that rewards often destroy creativity by encouraging dependence on approval and gifts from others.

　　The latter view has gained many supporters, especially among educators. But the careful use of small monetary (金钱的) rewards sparks creativity in grade-school children, suggesting that properly presented inducements (刺激) indeed aid inventiveness, according to a study in the June Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

　　A teacher who continually draws attention to rewards or who hands out high grades for ordinary achievement ends up with uninspired students, Eisenberger holds. As an example of the latter point, he notes growing efforts at major universities to tighten grading standards and restore failing grades.

　　In earlier grades, the use of so-called token economies, in which students handle challenging problems and receive performance-based points toward valued rewards, shows promise in raising effort and creativity, the Delaware psychologist claims.

　　这是一篇说明文，但很有可能是某篇议论言语的一部分。它介绍了心理学家对外部刺激(奖励、报偿)对人行为的影响的两种对立的观点。

　　66. Psychologists are divided with regard to their attitudes toward _____.

　　A) the choice between spiritual encouragement and monetary rewards

　　B) the amount of monetary rewards for student' creativity

　　C) the study of relationship between actions and their consequences

　　D) the effects of external rewards on students' performance

　　[答案及分析]：[D]事实辨论题。问心理学家因对什么看法不同而被分成两派。[A]项意为“在精神鼓励和物质奖励之间的不同选择”，而根据文章第一句话，精神鼓励(warm praise)和物质奖励(cold cash)都属于外部刺激、报偿、奖励(external rewards)，所以[A]可排除。[B]项意为“对学生的创造性活动给予物质奖励的数量”，[C]项意为“对行为和结果之间的关系的研究”，[D]项意为“外部刺激对学生行为的影响”，显然[B]、[C]不对。

　　67. What is the response of many educators to external rewards for their students?

　　A) They have no doubts about them. B) They have doubts about them.

　　C) They approve of them. D) They avoid talking about them.

　　[答案及分析]：[B]推论题。问大多数教育工作者对给予其学生的外部奖励持什么态度。根据第二段第一句话：The tatter view(指认为rewards often destroy creativity by encouraging dependence on approval and gifts from others)has gained many supporters,especially among educators.由此可知，许多educators反对external rewards for their students,所以选[B]。

　　68. Which of the following can best raise students; creativity according to Robert Eisenberger?

　　A) Assigning them tasks they have not dealt with before.

　　B) Assigning them tasks which require inventiveness.

　　C) Giving them rewards they really deserve.

　　D) Giving them rewards they anticipate.

　　[答案及分析]：[C]推论题。问根据Robert Eisenberger的观点，下述哪项能最好地提高学生的创造力。首先我们得明白Robert Eisenberger的观点是什么：If kids know they are working for a reward and can focus on a relatively challenging task,they show the most creativity.But it is easy to kill creativity by giving rewards for poor performance or creating too much anticipation for rewards.据此不难判断[C]项正确。

　　69. It can be inferred from the passage that major universities are trying to tighten their grading standards because they believe ______.

　　A) rewarding poor performance may kill the creativity of students

　　B) punishment is more effective than rewarding

　　C) failing uninspired students helps improve their overall academic standards

　　D) discouraging the students' anticipation for easy rewards is a matter of urgency

　　[答案及分析]：[A]推论题。问从文章中可以推断出：重点大学正在试图加强其升级的标准是因为他们认为什么。关于本题的信息在文章第四段。As an example of the latter point(即 it's easy to kill creativity by giving rewards for poor performance or creating too much anticipation for rewards),he notes growing efforts at major universities to tighten grading standards and restore failing grades(恢复留级制度)。据此可知[A]项为正确项。

　　70. The phrase "token economies" (Line 1, Para. 5) probably refers to _____.

　　A) ways to develop economy B) systems of rewarding students

　　C) approaches to solving problems D) methods of improving performance

　　[答案及分析]：[B]词义理解题。问第五段第一行的“token economies”指的是什么。我们知道，token意为“象征性的”，而且根据其定语从句“in which students handle challenging problems and receive performance-based points toward valued reward”，不难判断正确答案应为[B]项。