Question

    What inspires kids to be creative and pursue academic excellence? Some teachers use rewards in recognition of students’ effort or achievement, giving them prizes, medals, certificates, or money.

Psychologists take opposite views of how external rewards, from warm praise to cold cash, affect motivation and creativity. Behaviorists, who study the relation between actions and their consequences, argue that rewards can improve performance at work and school. Cognitive researchers, who study various aspects of mental life, believe that rewards often destroy creativity by encouraging dependence on approval and gifts from others.

The latter view has gained many supporters, especially among educators. But the careful use of small monetary(金钱的) rewards sparks creativity in primary school children, suggesting that properly given stimuli(刺激) indeed encourage creativity, according to a study in the June Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

"If kids know they're working for a reward and can focus on a relatively challenging task, they show the most creativity," says Robert Eisenberger of the University of Delaware in Newark. "But it's easy to kill creativity by giving rewards for poor performance or creating too much desire for rewards."

A teacher who continually draws attention to rewards or who hands out high grades for ordinary achievement ends up with students lacking in creativity and motivation, Eisenberger says. As an example of the latter point, he particularly mentions growing efforts to tighten grading standards and adopt failing grades at major universities.

In earlier grades, the use of rewarding system, in which students handle challenging problems and receive performance-based points toward valued rewards, shows promise in raising effort and creativity, Eisenberger claims.

1.Psychologists are divided in their attitudes toward _____.

A.the choice between spiritual encouragement and monetary rewards

B.the amount of monetary rewards for students' creativity

C.the relationship between actions and their consequences

D.the effects of external rewards on students' performance

2.Which of the following does NOT belong to examples of “external rewards”?

A.Tom received a certificate for winning a speech competition.

B.Mary was praised by the teacher for making progress in English.

C.Jacky made great efforts to enter a major university.

D.John was offered a free summer camp due to his hard work.

3.Which of the following can best raise students' creativity according to Robert Eisenberger?

A.Assigning them tasks they have not dealt with before.

B.Assigning them tasks which require creativity.

C.Giving them rewards they really deserve.

D.Giving them rewards they hope for.

4.It can be inferred from the passage that major universities are trying to tighten their grading standards because they think _____.

A.rewarding poor performance may kill the creativity of students

B.punishing students is more effective than rewarding them

C.failing unmotivated students helps improve their academic standards

D.discouraging students’ expectation of easy rewards is important

Answer

1.D

2.C

3.C

4.A

【解析】

这是一篇议论文。文章主要说明了心理学家对外部奖励对学生成绩的影响的态度有分歧。而教育工作者则认为适当的外部奖励刺激确实能激发创造力，但是如果给予表现不好的学生奖励则可能会扼杀创造力。

1.细节理解题。根据第二段第一句Psychologists take opposing views of how external rewards, from warm praise to cold cash, affect motivation and creativity. （心理学家对外部奖励(从温暖的表扬到冷冰冰的现金)如何影响动机和创造力持相反的观点）可知，心理学家对外部奖励对学生成绩的影响的态度有分歧。故选D。

2.推理判断题。根据第二段第一句Psychologists take opposing views of how external rewards, from warm praise to cold cash, affect motivation and creativity. （心理学家对外部奖励(从温暖的表扬到冷冰冰的现金)如何影响动机和创造力持相反的观点）可知，外部奖励包括表扬到现金。分析选项可知C选项“杰克努力进入一所重点大学。”并不属于“外部奖励”的例子。故选C。

3.推理判断题。根据第四段"If kids know they're working for a reward and can focus on a relatively challenging task, they show the most creativity," says Robert Eisenberger of the University of Delaware in Newark. "But it's easy to kill creativity by giving rewards for poor performance or creating too much desire for rewards."（位于纽瓦克的特拉华大学的Robert Eisenberger说:“如果孩子们知道他们是为了奖励而工作，并且能够专注于一个相对有挑战性的任务，他们就会表现出最大的创造力。”“但如果对表现不佳的学生给予奖励，或者对奖励的渴望太强烈，就很容易扼杀创造力。”）提到孩子们是为了获得奖赏而从事一项具有挑战性的工作时创造力最强，而如果对那些表现不好的学生也给予奖赏则会扼杀创造力，可见Robert Eisenberger观点是给他们应得的奖励。故选C。

4.推理判断题。根据倒数第三段中"But it's easy to kill creativity by giving rewards for poor performance or creating too much desire for rewards."（“但如果对表现不佳的学生给予奖励，或者对奖励的渴望太强烈，就很容易扼杀创造力。”）可知，如果一个老师对表现不好的学生也给予奖赏就会导致学生缺乏创造力，故从文章中可以推断，各大大学正试图提高他们的评分标准，是因为他们认为奖励不好的表现可能会扼杀学生的创造力。故选A。