Question

Next time a customer comes to your office, offer him a cup of coffee. And when you’re doing your holiday shopping online, make sure you’re holding a large glass of iced tea. The physical sensation（感觉）of warmth encourages emotional warmth, while a cold drink in hand prevents you from making unwise decisions—those are the practical lesson being drawn from recent research by psychologist John A. Bargh.

Psychologists have known that one person’s perception（感知）of another’s “warmth” is a powerful determiner in social relationships. Judging someone to be either “warm” or “cold” is a primary consideration, even trumping evidence that a “cold” person may be more capable. Much of this is rooted in very early childhood experiences, Bargh argues, when babies’ conceptual sense of the world around them is shaped by physical sensations, particularly warmth and coldness. Classic studies by Harry Harlow, published in 1958, showed monkeys preferred to stay close to a cloth “mother” rather than one made of wire, even when the wire “mother” carried a food bottle. Harlow’s work and later studies have led psychologists to stress the need for warm physical contact from caregivers to help young children grow into healthy adults with normal social skills.

Feelings of “warmth” and “coldness” in social judgments appear to be universal. Although no worldwide study has been done, Bargh says that describing people as “warm” or “cold” is common to many cultures, and studies have found those perceptions influence judgment in dozens of countries.

To test the relationship between physical and psychological warmth, Bargh conducted an experiment which involved 41 college students. A research assistant who was unaware of the study’s hypotheses（假设）, handed the students either a hot cup of coffee, or a cold drink, to hold while the researcher filled out a short information form. The drink was then handed back. After that, the students were asked to rate the personality of “Person A” based on a particular description. Those who had briefly held the warm drink regarded Person A as warmer than those who had held the iced drink.

“We are grounded in our physical experiences even when we think abstractly,” says Bargh.

1.According to Paragraph 1, a person’s emotion may be affected by ______.

A．the visitors to his office                   B．the psychology lessons he has

C．his physical feeling of coldness             D．the things he has bought online

2.The author mentions Harlow’s experiment to show that ______.

A．adults should develop social skills           B．babies need warm physical contact

C．caregivers should be healthy adults          D．monkeys have social relationships

3.In Bargh’s experiment, the students were asked to ______.

A．hold coffee and cold drink alternatively      B．write down their hypotheses

C．fill out a personal information form          D．evaluate someone’s personality

4.We can infer from the passage that ______.

A．abstract thinking does not come from physical experiences

B．feelings of warmth and coldness are studied worldwide

C．physical temperature affects how we see others

D．capable persons are often cold to others

5.What would be the best title for the passage?

A．Physical Sensations and Emotions.

B．Experiments of Personality Evaluation.

C．Developing Better Drinking Habits.

D．Drinking for Better Social Relationships.

Answer

1.C

2.B

3.D

4.C

5.A

【解析】

试题分析：本文叙述了人们身体的感觉与感情的关系，文中通过研究人员的调查研究发现，人们对别人给的东西的身体感觉是温暖的，那么他的感情就感觉这个人是好的，反之，就感觉这人很冷漠。

1.细节理解题。根据The physical sensation（感觉）of warmth encourages emotional warmth, 故选C。

2.细节理解题。根据showed monkeys preferred to stay close to a cloth “mother” rather than one made of wire, even when the wire “mother” carried a food bottle. 小猴子也需要有身体接触，故选B。

3.细节理解题。根据After that, the students were asked to rate the personality of “Person A” based on a particular description. 要求学生评估这个人，故选D。

4.推理判断题。根据studies have found those perceptions influence judgment in dozens of countries.故选C。

5.标题归纳题。纵观全文可知本文主要叙述了身体的感觉和感情的关系，故选A。

考点：人生百味类短文阅读。