Question

【题目】 The first study to examine generational differences in perfectionism over the past three decades reports that young people's desire to be flawless has sharply increased over the past thirty years. Today's college-age students are much more likely to have perfectionism than prior generations, according to the new report.

This study was recently published in the journal Psychological Bulletin. For this study, lead author Thomas Curran and co-author Andrew Hill, analyzed data from 41,641 college students in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. They also used the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale to measure generational changes in perfectionism from the late 1980s to 2016. During their analysis, Curran and Hill investigated three types of perfectionism:

l. Self-oriented perfectionism: having an irrational desire to be perfect on oneself.

2. Other-oriented perfectionism: Placing unrealistic standards of perfection on others.

3. Socially-perfectionism: Feeling excessive expectations of perfection from others.

The statistics are alarming: Between 1989 and 2016, self-oriented perfectionism scores increased by 10 percent, other-oriented perfectionism increased by 16 percent, and socially-perfectionism increased largely by 33 percent.

The rise in perfectionism among college students is driven by a variety of factors, according to Curran. The raw data suggests that the growing use of social media could be fueling the pressure young adults feel to perfect themselves in comparison to others. That said, Curran emphasizes that more research is needed to confirm the relation between an increase in social media usage and increased perfectionism.

Curran also assumes that college students' drive to perfect their grade point average represents a rise in meritocracy (精英教育) among the new generation.

“Today's young people are competing with each other in order to meet societal pressures to succeed and they feel that perfectionism is necessary in order to feel safe, socially connected and of worth.” Curran said.

Andrew Hill sees these findings as a strong call for colleges and policymakers to increase their efforts to control unnecessary competition among young people in order to preserve their mental health. Unfortunately, this may be easier said than done.

【1】What does the underlined word “flawless” in the first paragraph probably mean?

A.without effortB.without competition

C.without weaknessD.without strength

【2】What can you infer from the passage?

A.All college students of this generation have serious perfectionism.

B.Self-oriented perfectionism increased the most according to the latest study.

C.The increase in perfectionism is completely driven by some obvious factors.

D.It is uncertain whether increased social media usage causes more perfectionism.

【3】What's the writer's attitude toward the effect of the study on the change of the situation?

A.Concerned.B.Negative.

C.Positive.D.Critical.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】C

【2】D

【3】B

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。文章主要内容是在过去的三十年里，年轻人对完美无瑕的渴望急剧增长。主要有三种完美主义：自我导向型完美主义；他人导向型完美主义；社会型完美主义。然而，这些完美主义会让年轻人有更大的精神压力，所以作者强烈呼吁大学和政策制定者努力控制年轻人之间的不必要竞争。

【1】词义猜测题。根据第一段中The first study to examine generational differences in perfectionism over the past three decades reports that young people's desire to be flawless has sharply increased over the past thirty years. (对过去三十年来完美主义的代际差异的首次研究报告显示，在过去的三十年里，年轻人对完美无瑕的渴望急剧增长)可知，句中的desire to be flawless指的是前文的perfectionism。C. without weakness (没有缺点) 符合题意。故选C项。

【2】推理判断题。根据第四段中The raw data suggests that the growing use of social media could be fueling the pressure young adults feel to perfect themselves in comparison to others. (原始数据显示，社交媒体的使用日益增多，可能会增加年轻人的压力，迫使他们在与他人的比较中完善自己)可推断出，较多的使用社交媒体是迫使年轻人追求完美的可能原因之一，但是并不是绝对的。D. It is uncertain whether increased social media usage causes more perfectionism. (目前还不确定社交媒体使用的增加是否会导致更完美主义)符合题意。故选D项。

【3】推理判断题。根据最后一段Andrew Hill sees these findings as a strong call for colleges and policymakers to increase their efforts to control unnecessary competition among young people in order to preserve their mental health. Unfortunately, this may be easier said than done. (Andrew Hill认为，这些发现强烈呼吁大学和政策制定者努力控制年轻人之间的不必要竞争，以保持他们的心理健康。不幸的是，说起来容易做起来难)可推测出，作者对这30年来人们对完美主义的代际差异是持消极态度的，因为年轻人过多的追求没有必要的竞争。A. Concerned.关心的；B. Negative.消极的；C. Positive.积极的；D. Critical.批评的。故选B项。

词义猜测题着重考查考生根据上下文猜测词义的能力，这也是一个从“已知”得出“未知”的过程，就是利用上下文已知的部分（尤其是该词或短语前后的句子）进行推理，有时候还需要依靠常识和经验来猜测词义。如本题第1小题，就是词义猜测题，前句讲到过去三十年来完美主义的代际差异，后面就提到了现代年轻人对完美无瑕的渴望急剧增长，可推测出可知，句中的desire to be flawless指的是前文的perfectionism。