9.Blogging may have psychological(心理的)benefits for teens suffering from social anxiety,improving their self-esteem(自尊) and helping them relate better to their friends,according to new research published by the American Psychological Association."Research has shown that writing a personal diary and other forms of expressive writing are a great way to release emotional distress and just feel better,"said the study's lead author,Meyran Boniel-Nissim,PhD,of the University of Haifa,Israel."Teens are online anyway,so blogging enables free expression and easy communication with others."
Blogging has a stronger positive effect on troubled students'well-being than merely expressing their social anxieties and concerns in a private diary,according to the article published online in the APA journal Psychological Services?.Opening the blog up to comments from the online community intensified those effects.
The researchers randomly surveyed high school students in Israel,who had agreed to fill out a questionnaire about their feelings on the quality of their social relationships.A total of 161 students--124 girls and 37 boys,with an average age of 15--were selected because their scores on the survey showed they all had some level of social anxiety or distress.All the teens reported difficulty making friends or relating to the friends they had.The researchers assessed the teens'self-esteem,everyday social activities and behaviors before,immediately after and two months after the 10-week experiment.
Four groups of students were assigned to blog.Two of those groups were told to focus their posts on their social problems,with one group opening the posts to comments; the other two groups could write about whatever they wanted and,again,one group opened the blog up to comments.The number and content of comments were not evaluated for this experiment.The students could respond to comments but that was not required.Two more groups acted as controls--either writing a private diary about their social problems or doing nothing.Participants in the writing and blogging groups were told to post messages at least twice a week for 10 weeks.
Four experts,who held master's or doctoral degrees in counseling and psychology,assessed the bloggers'social and emotional condition via their blog posts.Students were assessed as having a poor social and emotional state if they wrote extensively about personal problems or bad relationships or showed evidence of low self-esteem,for example.
Self-esteem,social anxiety,emotional distress and the number of positive social behaviors improved significantly for the bloggers when compared to the teens who did nothing and those who wrote private diaries.Bloggers who were instructed to write specifically about their difficulties and whose blogs were open to comments improved the most.All of these results were consistent at the two month follow-up.
The authors conceded that the skewed(有偏向的) sex ratio was a limitation to the study.However,the researchers analyzed the results separately by gender and found that boys and girls reacted similarly to the interventions and there were no major differences.They said future research should attempt to control the subjects for sex.
50.The selection of students for the experiment was largely based onC.
A.their social relationships B.their self-esteem
C.their problems in social life D.their willingness to fill out a questionnaire
51.What's the function of"controls"(Paragraph 4)in the experiment?D
A.To write down some social problems in a private diary.
B.To post messages to the blog and respond to comments.
C.To help evaluate the number and content of blog comments.
D.To offer a comparison for checking the experimental result.
52.From the experiment we can know thatB.
A.writing private diaries makes no difference to the relief of one's emotional stress
B.teenagers opening their blogs up to comments have more psychological benefits
C.the positive effects of expressing one's emotions by blogging don't last very long
D.those describing bad relationships on blogs tend to develop more mental problems
53.What can be inferred from the last paragraph?C
A.The authors insisted that all the research findings were accurate.
B.Sex rate had been taken into account before the survey was conducted.
C.The authors were intended to improve the experiment in the future.
D.Similar reactions of boys and girls indicated the failure of the experiment.
54.What is the main idea of the passage?A
A.Blogging can help reduce social stress and anxiety.
B.The research into blogging attracts public attentipon.
C.Blogging provides a simple way for communication.
D.Blog comments have a positive effect on teenagers.
分析 一份最新的研究表明博客是一种青少年表达内心情感的一种方式,有助于帮助青少年提高自尊以及跟其他人更好的相处.
解答 50.C细节理解题,根据第三段实验随机抽取了161名中学生做调查,their scores on the survey showed they all had some level of social anxiety or distress,问卷调查显示这些学生都有社交问题.
51.D猜测词意题.第四段实验过程表明,四组学生被分成两个小组,一个小组在博客上表达内心以及评论,另外一组或者写日记或者什么都不做;所以controls在主要为了和第一组学生进行对比,
52.B细节理解题.Students were assessed as having a poor social and emotional state if they wrote extensively about personal problems or bad relationships or showed evidence of low self-esteem这句话告诉我们实验的结果:在博客上抒发个人心情的学生从心里上获益最大.
53.C细节推断题.最后一段提到实验对象的性别比例有一定局限性,They said future research should attempt to control the subjects for sex.可见,在未来研究人员可能会对实验进一步完善.
54.A主旨大意题.根据文章第一段以及全文内容来看,主要告诉我们一项实验研究的结果:在博客上抒发内心可以缓解青少年的心理压力.
点评 本文属于科教类阅读题材,话题学生较为熟悉,难度不大.考查细节题较多,要求考生在答题时要把握第一段大意,即研究结果,接着会描述实验过程,最后会提到不足.把握这种说明文的结构有利于考生答题.