Question

Staying positive through the cold season could be your best defense against getting ill,a new American study suggests.

In an experiment that exposed healthy volunteers to a cold or flu virus,researchers found that people with a generally sunny character were less likely to fail ill.The findings,published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, build on evidence that a “positive emotional style” can help ward off the common cold and other illness.

Researchers believe the reasons may be both objective―as in happiness improving immune function―and subjective―as in happy people being less troubled by a sore throat or runny nose.“People with a positive emotional style may have different immune responses to the virus,” explained lead study author Dr Sheldon Cohen of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.“And when they do get a cold,they may interpret their illness as being less severe.”

Cohen and his colleagues has found in a previous study that happier people seemed less likely to catch a cold, but some questions remained as to whether the emotional quality itself had the effect.

For the new study,the researchers had 193 healthy adults complete standard measures of personality qualities, physicals health,and emotional “style”.Those who tended to be happy,energetic and easy –going were judged as having a positive emotional style,while those who were often unhappy,tense,and hostile had a negative style.

Afterwards,the researchers gave them nose drops containing either a cold virus or a particular flu virus.Over the next six days,the volunteers reported on any aches,pains,sneezing they had,while the researchers collected objective data.Cohen and his colleagues found that happy people were less likely to develop a cold.

What’s more,when happy folks did develop a cold,their symptoms were less severe than expected based on objective measures.

On the contrary,people with negative characters were not at increased risk of developing a cold based on objective measures,though they did tend to get down about their symptoms.

“We find that it’s really positive emotions that have the big effect,” Cohen said,“not the negative ones.”

So can a bad-tempered person fight a cold by deciding to be happy?

1.The purpose of Cohen’s new study was to        .

A. find effective ways to fight illnesses

B. test people’s different immune responses to cold virus

C. tell differences between happy people and unhappy people

D. examine whether health was related to emotional styles

2.The underlined phrase “ward-off” in Paragraph 2 means “        ”.

A. get close to    B. keep way from    C. get used to    D. go on with

3.How did Cohen reach his conclusion?

A. By comparing the experimental results of different groups.

B. By asking the volunteers to complete a form.

C. By collecting data among people with a cold.

D. By observing the volunteers’ symptoms.

4.Cohen’s new study showed that        .

A. an emotional style is difficult to change    B. happy people are immune to cold virus

C. people attitudes towards illnesses are different    D. happiness itself helps protect people from cold

Answer

1.D

2.B

3.A

4.D

【解析】美国一项最新研究表明在寒冷的季节保持乐观可能是你对得病最好的防御。

1.推理判断题。根据第二段In an experiment that exposed healthy volunteers to a cold or flu virus,researchers found that people with a generally sunny character were less likely to fail ill.得知实验要求健康的志愿者接触感冒或流感病毒，为了检验是否健康和情感风格有关。故选D.

2.词义猜测题。根据第二段build on evidence that a “positive emotional style” can help ward off the common cold and other illness.得知实验表明积极的情感风格能帮助人们远离普通感冒和其他疾病。故选B.

3.推理判断题。根据第五段For the new study,the researchers had 193 healthy adults complete standard measures of personality qualities, physicals health,and emotional “style”.Those who tended to be happy,energetic and easy –going were judged as having a positive emotional style,while those who were often unhappy,tense,and hostile had a negative style.

.得知研究人员请193名健康成人参加实验，通过对比积极随和人群和不快乐紧张的人群得出结论。故选A.

4.推理判断题。根据文章第二段build on evidence that a “positive emotional style” can help ward off the common cold and other illness.以及最后一段“We find that it’s really positive emotions that have the big effect,” Cohen said,得知Cohen实验显示积极快乐的情感能帮助人们抵御感冒。故选D.