Question

【题目】Regrets are often painful. A study suggests that some people can overcome them, said Jia Wei Zhang, a psychology graduate at the University of California. But this isn’t the case for everyone, he said.

The researchers wondered why some people report feeling improvement from regrets but others don’t. Does it lie in how people approach their regrets?

In the study, the researchers focused on self-compassion (自我同情) as a potential factor in why some people have an easier lime leaving their regrets behind them.

400 people attended an experiment. First, they were asked to write about their biggest regret. Half wrote something they did but wish they hadn’t done; the other half wrote something they didn’t do but wish they had. Then, the participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: self compassion, self-esteem and a control group. The self-esteem group was asked to respond by “talking to yourself about this regret from the aspect of confirming your positive qualities”.

The control group was asked to write about their favorite hobby rather than their regret. Then, they were asked about their feelings of forgiveness, acceptance and personal improvement following the exercise.

They found that the self-compassion group reported greater feelings of acceptance, forgiveness and personal improvement, compared with the control group and the self esteem group. In other words, focusing on your best qualities is not what helps you feel better about a regret. Rather, being compassionate toward yourself is what may make a difference, the researchers found.

It’s possible that people who practice self-compassion are able to confront their regrets and see what went wrong, so they can make a better choice in the future, Zhang told Live Science. Self-compassion pushes people to accept their regret instead of running away from it.

The researchers used an example of this from a previous study on breast cancer patients who were asked to try thinking about their treatment in a positive light before it began. The women who did so reported greater feelings of personal growth later on.

【1】What does the underlined word “confront” in Paragraph 7 mean?

A. Handle B. Forget.

C. Ignore D. Show.

【2】What were the students in the self-esteem group asked to do?

A. Think of a way out. B. Write about their regrets.

C. Record their favorite hobbies. D. Treat their regrets in positive ways.

【3】Why were the participants asked about their good qualities?

A. To cover up their regrets.

B. To see if they have weaknesses.

C. To see if they have self compassion.

D. To help them feel better about their regrets.

【4】What was the aim of mentioning the researchers’ study on breast cancer patients?

A. To show the method of the research.

B. To show the value of the acceptance.

C. To show the truth of people’s feeling.

D. To show the difficulty of the research.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】A

【2】D

【3】D

【4】B

【解析】这是一篇科普说明类文章。研究发现，自我同情有助于人们更好地处理自己“后悔”这种感受。

【1】词义猜测题。文章第二段最后一句Does it lie in how people approach their regrets?提出问题：原因在于人们如何处理他们的后悔吗？下文通过实验回答了这个问题。故第七段中的It’s possible that people who practice self-compassion are able to confront their regrets and see what went wrong意思应为“练习自我同情的人们能够处理他们的后悔，看到什么地方出现了问题”。故划线单词意思应和approach一致，意为“处理”，故A选项正确。