Question

    Do you always struggle to understand others’ feelings? Perhaps you should listen to your heart.

According to a team of scientists at Anglia Ruskin University in the UK, people who are more aware of their own heartbeat are better at understanding others’ emotions.

Researchers have long suspected (怀疑) that this ability is important for understanding others’ thoughts and feelings.

To test this theory, the British team asked 72 volunteers to count their own heartbeats without feeling a pulse (脉搏). This aimed to see how aware they were of the feelings inside their own bodies.

Then, the volunteers were shown video clips of social interactions (互动), which tested their ability to read the minds of the characters.

During the clips, they were asked questions that required an understanding of the emotions of a certain character — for example, “What is Sandra feeling?” In addition, they were asked questions that did not involve any emotions, such as “What is Michael thinking?” They were also asked non-social questions, like “What was the weather like that evening?”

The results showed that those who had counted their heartbeats most accurately were better at answering questions relating to the characters’ emotions. However, there was no link between the ability to feel what’s going on inside your body and questions that did not involve any emotions.

Punit Shah, lead author of the study, used an example to explain this: If your colleague Michael is rude toward Sandra in public, your body processes (处理) this by increasing your heart rate. This may make you feel anxious and allow you to understand that Sandra is embarrassed.

“If you do not feel your heart rate increase, it may reduce your ability to understand that situation and respond (反应) appropriately,” Shah told The Telegraph.

Researchers believed their findings mean it could be possible to make people more empathetic by training them to listen to their hearts.

This also lends support to the argument that feelings are, at the very least, deeply rooted in physical sensations (感觉).

1.What does the new study find?

A.People are better at understanding others’ emotions than thoughts.

B.People with quicker heartbeats are more sensitive to others’ feelings.

C.The ability to feel your heartbeat is important for understanding others’ thoughts.

D.Your ability to feel others’ emotions is related to your ability to feel your own heartbeat.

2.Which of the following statements is TRUE about the new study according to the article?

A.The volunteers were asked to count their heartbeats while watching video clips.

B.Researchers designed emotional, non-emotional and non-social questions.

C.The volunteers were required to describe each other’s thoughts and feelings.

D.Researchers trained the volunteers to listen to their hearts and observed them.

3.The underlined word “empathetic” in the second-to-last paragraph probably means ______.

A.willing to accept ideas that are different from your own

B.not influenced in any way by other people or things

C.being able to understand others’ feelings

D.willing to help those in trouble

4.What can be concluded from the last four paragraphs?

A.We react to a situation more slowly when our heart rates increase.

B.Physical sensations in our bodies are believed to cause emotional changes.

C.Our ability to feel emotions is part of us and can’t be changed.

D.How we feel has nothing to do with the state of our bodies.

Answer

1.D

2.B

3.C

4.B

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。英国安格利亚罗斯金大学的一个科学家小组，通过实验告诉我们，容易感知自己心跳的人，也更容易理解其他人的情绪。

1.细节理解题。由第七段中的The results showed that those who had counted their heartbeats most accurately were better at answering questions relating to the characters’ emotions.(结果表明那些越能准确数出他们心跳的人，在回答与人物的情绪有关的问题时表现更好)可知，你理解他人情绪的能力与你感知自己心跳的能力有关。故选D。

2.细节理解题。由第六段During the clips, they were asked questions that required an understanding of the emotions of a certain character — for example, “What is Sandra feeling?” In addition, they were asked questions that did not involve any emotions, such as “What is Michael thinking?” They were also asked non-social questions, like “What was the weather like that evening?”(在剪辑过程中，他们被问及一些需要理解某个角色情绪的问题，例如，“桑德拉是什么感觉？”此外，他们还被问及一些与情绪无关的问题，如“迈克尔在想什么？”他们还被问到一些与社交无关的问题，比如“那天晚上天气怎么样？”)可知，研究人员设计了情绪化的、非情绪化的以及非社会化的这样三种问题。故选B。

3.词义猜测题。由第七段中的The results showed that those who had counted their heartbeats most accurately were better at answering questions relating to the characters’ emotions.(结果表明那些越能准确数出他们心跳的人，在回答与人物的情绪有关的问题时表现更好)可知，理解他人情绪的能力与感知自己心跳的能力有关。所以可以推知，划线单词所在句子意思为“研究人员认为，他们的发现意味着，通过训练人们倾听自己的心跳，可能会使他们更善解人意”。由此推知，划线词empathetic意为“善解人意的”。故选C。

4.推理判断题。由倒数第四段中的If your colleague Michael is rude toward Sandra in public, your body processes (处理) this by increasing your heart rate. This may make you feel anxious and allow you to understand that Sandra is embarrassed.(如果你的同事Michael在公共场合下对同事Sandra很粗鲁，你的心跳就会增加。这会使你感到生气并且你能理解Sandra的尴尬)可知，我们身体的物理感觉被认为会引起情绪的变化。故选B。