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(2019·南通七市二模)We all have defining moments in our lives — meaningful experiences that stand out in our memory.Many of them owe a great deal to chance: a lucky encounter (相遇) with someone who becomes the love of your life.A new teacher who spots a talent you didn't know you had.These moments seem to be the product of fate or luck.We can't control them.
But is that true? Not necessarily.Defining moments shape our lives, but we don't have to wait for them to happen.We can be the authors of them.It is possible to create defining moments if we understand more about them.Our research shows that they all share a set of common elements.We start by asking: why do we remember certain experiences and forget others? In the case of big days, such a weddings, the answer is pretty clear — it's a celebration that is grand in scale and rich in emotion.No surprise that it's more memorable than a maths lesson.But for other experiences in life — from holidays to work projects — it's not so clear why we remember what we do.
Consider an experiment in which participants were asked to submerge(浸入) their hands for 60 seconds in buckets filled with 14℃ water.(Remember 14℃ water feels much colder than 14℃ air.) They were then asked to submerge their hands for 90 seconds instead of 60, but during the final 30 seconds, the water warmed up to 15℃.The participants were then given a choice: would you rather repeat the first trial or the second?
Psychologists have explained the reasons for this puzzling result.When people assess an experience, they tend to forget or ignore its length.Instead they seem to rate the experience based on two key moments: the best or worst moment, known as the peak, and the ending.
In the participants' memories, what stood out for them was that the longer trial ended more comfortably than the shorter one.So when we assess our experiences, we don't average our minutebyminute feelings.Rather, we tend to remember flagship moments: the peaks, the pits(低谷) and the transitions.What we don't remember are the bits in between — sometimes there is little to distinguish one week from the next.
Partly this is because there may be only a dozen moments in your life that show who you are — those are big defining moments.But there are smaller experiences, too, in the context of a memorable holiday, romantic date or work achievement.Once we understand how we remember certain moments and why, we can start to create more moments that matter.
语篇解读：本文主要阐述了人生的关键时刻最容易被记住，对一个人的影响也是最大的。这些关键的时刻不是被动地等，而是可以积极地去创造的。
1．How does the author understand defining moments?
A．We can create defining moments in our lives.
B．Defining moments are just out of our control.
C．No similarities exist between defining moments.
D．Defining moments consist of smaller experiences.
解析：选A 推理判断题。根据第二段的内容，尤其是第四句和第五句“We can be the authors of them.It is possible to create defining moments if we understand more about them.”可知，作者认为决定性的时刻不必等待，我们自己可以书写这样的时刻。
2．We can learn from the experiment that ________.
A．the striking moments are more likely to be remembered
B．the length of an experience determines our memory of it
C．it is meaningful to distinguish the bits in between flagship moments
D．all the components of an experience should be equally remembered
解析：选A 细节理解题。根据第五段第三句“Rather, we tend to remember flagship moments: the peaks, the pits(低谷) and the transitions.”可知，我们倾向于记住最重要的时刻：人生巅峰、低谷和转折点。the striking moments相当于flagship moments。都是指人生最重要的时刻。
3．What would probably be discussed in the following part of the text?
A．What to prepare for life's trials.
B．Why to create defining moments.
C．Whom to owe our good fates to.
D．How to create life's big moments.
解析：选D 推理判断题。原文的最后一段说了当我们知道了如何记住那些确定的时刻，我们就可以去创造更多重要的时刻，依据逻辑，这是在说是什么和为什么，所以接下来就应该要说怎么做了。
