A
We’re living in an era of loneliness. It’s on the rise in the U. S. According to a recent survey, more than half of Americans qualify as loneliness. And yet, in public spaces, people rarely make eye contact or strike up conversations. If this sounds like you, there’s a good reason to kick your habit of having no company. You might be happier if you start talking to strangers.
In a new paper, researchers tried to figure this out by studying people commuting(通勤) into Chicago on the train. Some commuters were given an assignment for commute: They were asked to either strike up a conversation with a stranger, actively avoid contact with other people, or do whatever happened naturally. Afterward, the commuters mailed the evaluations of their experience to the researchers.
The researchers compared these responses to responses from a second group of commuters who were just asked to imagine striking up a conversation with a stranger, avoiding other people, or commuting normally. It turned out that commuters who chatted with strangers in real life had the most pleasurable commutes—but when commuters imagined this experience, they pictured it as uncomfortable and regarded it as the worst of the three commute approaches.
The results show a severe misunderstanding of the psychological consequences of social relationship, Nicholas Epley & Juliana Schroeder write. This misunderstanding is especially unfortunate given the average American’s longing for social connection and the fact that data suggests commuting is the worst part of most people’s day.
You might think that we choose to be separate because our memories of past encounters with strangers tend to be negative, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. As part of the study, the researchers asked commuters to imagine a positive conversation, a negative conversation, and simply“a conversation” with a stranger. The commuters didn’t imagine the last one as especially negative.
The authors suggest that instead, we choose loneliness on our commutes out of a fear of refusal. Study participants reported an interest in talking to strangers, but they didn’t think it was reciprocated. They think the chance of successfully striking up a conversation as around 50-50. According to all the data the researchers gathered, however, an attempt at connection was basically guaranteed to succeed.
【文章大意】这是一篇说明文, 越来越多的人会感到孤独, 很少在公共场合与他人交谈, 一项新的研究以芝加哥地铁上通勤的乘客为对象, 结果表明与陌生人聊天能够使通勤变得愉快, 我们之所以在通勤途中选择独处是因为害怕被拒绝, 害怕得不到回应, 而研究数据表明, 只要试图交流基本都能成功。
1. How did the commuters present their experience to the researchers?
A. By taking photos.
B. By writing a journal.
C. By shooting a short video.
D. By mailing a questionnaire.
【解析】选D。细节理解题。从文章第二段“the commuters mailed the evaluations of their experience to the researchers. ”可知通勤的乘客将一份评估他们体验的问卷调查寄给研究人员, 故答案为D项。
2. According to the research, who will most enjoy their commutes?
A. Those who talk with strangers in reality.
B. Those who have an interest in gossiping.
C. Those who have an imaginary talk with others.
D. Those who avoid making any social connections.
【解析】选A。细节理解题。从文章第三段“It turned out that commuters who chatted with strangers in real life had the most pleasurable commutes”结果证明那些在现实生活中与陌生人聊天的通勤乘客的通勤最愉快, 故答案为A项。
3. Which of the following can best replace the underlined word “reciprocated” in the last paragraph?
A. Ignored. B. Approved.
C. Responded. D. Thought.
【解析】选C。词义推测题。从文章最后一段“They think the chance of successfully striking up a conversation as around 50-50. ” 他们认为成功聊天的概率是50%可知, 他们认为聊天不会被回应, 故答案为C项。
