Question

【題目】 The first study to examine generational differences in perfectionism over the past three decades reports that young people's desire to be flawless has sharply increased over the past thirty years. Today's college-age students are much more likely to have perfectionism than prior generations, according to the new report.

This study was recently published in the journal Psychological Bulletin. For this study, lead author Thomas Curran and co-author Andrew Hill, analyzed data from 41,641 college students in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. They also used the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale to measure generational changes in perfectionism from the late 1980s to 2016. During their analysis, Curran and Hill investigated three types of perfectionism:

l. Self-oriented perfectionism: having an irrational desire to be perfect on oneself.

2. Other-oriented perfectionism: Placing unrealistic standards of perfection on others.

3. Socially-perfectionism: Feeling excessive expectations of perfection from others.

The statistics are alarming: Between 1989 and 2016, self-oriented perfectionism scores increased by 10 percent, other-oriented perfectionism increased by 16 percent, and socially-perfectionism increased largely by 33 percent.

The rise in perfectionism among college students is driven by a variety of factors, according to Curran. The raw data suggests that the growing use of social media could be fueling the pressure young adults feel to perfect themselves in comparison to others. That said, Curran emphasizes that more research is needed to confirm the relation between an increase in social media usage and increased perfectionism.

Curran also assumes that college students' drive to perfect their grade point average represents a rise in meritocracy (精英教育) among the new generation.

“Today's young people are competing with each other in order to meet societal pressures to succeed and they feel that perfectionism is necessary in order to feel safe, socially connected and of worth.” Curran said.

Andrew Hill sees these findings as a strong call for colleges and policymakers to increase their efforts to control unnecessary competition among young people in order to preserve their mental health. Unfortunately, this may be easier said than done.

【1】What does the underlined word “flawless” in the first paragraph probably mean?

A.without effortB.without competition

C.without weaknessD.without strength

【2】What can you infer from the passage?

A.All college students of this generation have serious perfectionism.

B.Self-oriented perfectionism increased the most according to the latest study.

C.The increase in perfectionism is completely driven by some obvious factors.

D.It is uncertain whether increased social media usage causes more perfectionism.

【3】What's the writer's attitude toward the effect of the study on the change of the situation?

A.Concerned.B.Negative.

C.Positive.D.Critical.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】C

【2】D

【3】B

【解析】

這是一篇說明文。文章主要內(nèi)容是在過去的三十年里，年輕人對完美無瑕的渴望急劇增長。主要有三種完美主義：自我導向型完美主義；他人導向型完美主義；社會型完美主義。然而，這些完美主義會讓年輕人有更大的精神壓力，所以作者強烈呼吁大學和政策制定者努力控制年輕人之間的不必要競爭。

【1】詞義猜測題。根據(jù)第一段中The first study to examine generational differences in perfectionism over the past three decades reports that young people's desire to be flawless has sharply increased over the past thirty years. (對過去三十年來完美主義的代際差異的首次研究報告顯示，在過去的三十年里，年輕人對完美無瑕的渴望急劇增長)可知，句中的desire to be flawless指的是前文的perfectionism。C. without weakness (沒有缺點) 符合題意。故選C項。

【2】推理判斷題。根據(jù)第四段中The raw data suggests that the growing use of social media could be fueling the pressure young adults feel to perfect themselves in comparison to others. (原始數(shù)據(jù)顯示，社交媒體的使用日益增多，可能會增加年輕人的壓力，迫使他們在與他人的比較中完善自己)可推斷出，較多的使用社交媒體是迫使年輕人追求完美的可能原因之一，但是并不是絕對的。D. It is uncertain whether increased social media usage causes more perfectionism. (目前還不確定社交媒體使用的增加是否會導致更完美主義)符合題意。故選D項。

【3】推理判斷題。根據(jù)最后一段Andrew Hill sees these findings as a strong call for colleges and policymakers to increase their efforts to control unnecessary competition among young people in order to preserve their mental health. Unfortunately, this may be easier said than done. (Andrew Hill認為，這些發(fā)現(xiàn)強烈呼吁大學和政策制定者努力控制年輕人之間的不必要競爭，以保持他們的心理健康。不幸的是，說起來容易做起來難)可推測出，作者對這30年來人們對完美主義的代際差異是持消極態(tài)度的，因為年輕人過多的追求沒有必要的競爭。A. Concerned.關(guān)心的；B. Negative.消極的；C. Positive.積極的；D. Critical.批評的。故選B項。

詞義猜測題著重考查考生根據(jù)上下文猜測詞義的能力，這也是一個從“已知”得出“未知”的過程，就是利用上下文已知的部分（尤其是該詞或短語前后的句子）進行推理，有時候還需要依靠常識和經(jīng)驗來猜測詞義。如本題第1小題，就是詞義猜測題，前句講到過去三十年來完美主義的代際差異，后面就提到了現(xiàn)代年輕人對完美無瑕的渴望急劇增長，可推測出可知，句中的desire to be flawless指的是前文的perfectionism。