Picture yourself at a crowded airport departure gate. Your flight is 20 minutes late. The woman on your left is noisily eating something that smells awful.The man to your right is still braying into his cellphone, and the traveler next to him is preparing to kill time with...wait, is that a toenail clipper?
Unless you are saintly or unconscious, a few things in that description-on many things, or all the things-are likely to really bug you. We know an annoyance when we experience it. But what makes something annoying? And does research of from any advice for prevent life's annoyances from making our heads explode? The answers to those questions are: no. Did even one university create a Department of Annoyance Science...or offer a major in this universal emotion? No. Nothing.
Then what makes something annoying? It must be harmful but not physically. A housefly buzzing around your head is unpleasant but it won't kill you. Also, it must be unpredictable and intermittent. The loud ticking of an a arm clock or the odor of a cat litter box may at first be annoying, but with constant exposure overtime, it ceases to be noticeable. Psychologists' term for this gradual tolerance of a stimulus is habituation.Yet when an unpleasant noise or smell comes and goes, it becomes annoying each time it shows up.
Finally, to be truly annoying, something has to persist for an uncertain period of time.A fight that's delayed an hour is a bother, but tolerable, so long as it really is just an hour. A fight that's delayed and delayed and delayed, with no explanation and no end in sight, is extremely annoying. The intermittent nature of annoyances makes them hard(if not impossible) to anticipate and thus to prepare a defense against.If you know you're going to best stuck in traffic, you might be able to accept it or bring along a distraction. But when the slowdown is unexpected, it gets to you before you can stop yourself.
An interesting thing about annoyances is how they appear to change over time. A decade ago, our research led us to conclude that one of the most annoying things in the world was listening to someone else's loud cell phone conversation. We hypothesized that the reason it was so annoying is that our brains naturally tend to paint a complete picture of reality, but when you only hear half of a conversation, that's not possible. Then, cell phone conversations seemed annoying only to the people not on the phone. Today it's the call recipients that seem to be getting annoyed. I'm not talking about receiving a robocall. I'm talking about the 20-something who recently told me that an unexpected call, even from a close friend; is annoying, The thinking seems to be, Why call when a text will do? Or even, You should have, texted to ask if you could call...
I've thought a lot about what makes people, things, and situations annoying, and what any of us might do to immunize ourselves against becoming annoyed. The answer's actually surprisingly simple: All you have to do is
Editor's Note: The contract for this article set a strict word limit. The writer exceeded the limit; the magazine feels, obliged to enforce it. We regret any annoyance this might cause,dear readers.
41. According to the passage, which of the flowing is NOT really annoying?
A. Noisy eating in crowded pubic places.
B. A buzzing housefly around you head.
C. The constant ticking of an alarm clock.
D. A delayed flight without definite arrival time.
42. According to the author, which of the following statements about annoyance is TRUE?
A. Annoyances can be easily avoided if people are conscious of them.
B. Annoyance may be the most widely experienced and least studied emotion.
C. Annoyances change as phone calls are the last choice for young people.
D. Annoyance happens when people poke their nose into others' affairs.
43. What is the purpose of the Editor's Note?
A. To inform the readers of the strict rules of the magazine.
B. To apologize to the readers for missing the last sentence.
C. To vaguely criticize the author for failing to observe the contract.
D. To humorously echo the theme that annoyances are universal.
44. The article was originally published in National Geographic. In which section do you think it was put?
A. Explore/ The future B. Explore/ Nature
C. Explore/ The big idea. D. Explore/ Fashion
【答案】
Unless you are saintly or unconscious, a few things in that description-on many things, or all the things-are likely to really bug you. We know an annoyance when we experience it. But what makes something annoying? And does research of from any advice for prevent life's annoyances from making our heads explode? The answers to those questions are: no. Did even one university create a Department of Annoyance Science...or offer a major in this universal emotion? No. Nothing.
Then what makes something annoying? It must be harmful but not physically. A housefly buzzing around your head is unpleasant but it won't kill you. Also, it must be unpredictable and intermittent. The loud ticking of an a arm clock or the odor of a cat litter box may at first be annoying, but with constant exposure overtime, it ceases to be noticeable. Psychologists' term for this gradual tolerance of a stimulus is habituation.Yet when an unpleasant noise or smell comes and goes, it becomes annoying each time it shows up.
Finally, to be truly annoying, something has to persist for an uncertain period of time.A fight that's delayed an hour is a bother, but tolerable, so long as it really is just an hour. A fight that's delayed and delayed and delayed, with no explanation and no end in sight, is extremely annoying. The intermittent nature of annoyances makes them hard(if not impossible) to anticipate and thus to prepare a defense against.If you know you're going to best stuck in traffic, you might be able to accept it or bring along a distraction. But when the slowdown is unexpected, it gets to you before you can stop yourself.
An interesting thing about annoyances is how they appear to change over time. A decade ago, our research led us to conclude that one of the most annoying things in the world was listening to someone else's loud cell phone conversation. We hypothesized that the reason it was so annoying is that our brains naturally tend to paint a complete picture of reality, but when you only hear half of a conversation, that's not possible. Then, cell phone conversations seemed annoying only to the people not on the phone. Today it's the call recipients that seem to be getting annoyed. I'm not talking about receiving a robocall. I'm talking about the 20-something who recently told me that an unexpected call, even from a close friend; is annoying, The thinking seems to be, Why call when a text will do? Or even, You should have, texted to ask if you could call...
I've thought a lot about what makes people, things, and situations annoying, and what any of us might do to immunize ourselves against becoming annoyed. The answer's actually surprisingly simple: All you have to do is
Editor's Note: The contract for this article set a strict word limit. The writer exceeded the limit; the magazine feels, obliged to enforce it. We regret any annoyance this might cause,dear readers.
41. According to the passage, which of the flowing is NOT really annoying?
A. Noisy eating in crowded pubic places.
B. A buzzing housefly around you head.
C. The constant ticking of an alarm clock.
D. A delayed flight without definite arrival time.
42. According to the author, which of the following statements about annoyance is TRUE?
A. Annoyances can be easily avoided if people are conscious of them.
B. Annoyance may be the most widely experienced and least studied emotion.
C. Annoyances change as phone calls are the last choice for young people.
D. Annoyance happens when people poke their nose into others' affairs.
43. What is the purpose of the Editor's Note?
A. To inform the readers of the strict rules of the magazine.
B. To apologize to the readers for missing the last sentence.
C. To vaguely criticize the author for failing to observe the contract.
D. To humorously echo the theme that annoyances are universal.
44. The article was originally published in National Geographic. In which section do you think it was put?
A. Explore/ The future B. Explore/ Nature
C. Explore/ The big idea. D. Explore/ Fashion
【答案】
苏19057182-3号