2024届高考英语外刊阅读天天练综合训练二十八

高考英语外刊阅读天天练 综合训练二十八 I 阅读理解 Seeing red? Write it down and shred it, say anger management researchers in Japan 【The Guardian(April 10, 2024)】 Since time immemorial humans have tried to devise anger management techniques. In ancient Rome, the Stoic philosopher Seneca believed“my anger is likely to do me more harm than your wrong”and offered avoidance tipsin his AD45 work De Ira (On Anger). More modern methods include a workout on the gym punchbag or exercise bike. But the humble paper shredder may be a more effective -and accessible - way to decompress,according to research. A study in Japan has found that writing down your reaction to a negative incident ona piece of paper and then shredding it, or scrunching it into a ball and throwing it in the bin, gets rid of anger. The study, published in Scientific Reports, builds on research on the association between the written word and anger reduction as well as studies showing how interactions with physical objects can control a person's mood. For instance, those wanting revenge on an ex-partner may burn letters or destroy gifts. Researchers believe the shredder results may be related to the phenomenon of“backward magical contagion", which is the belief that actions taken on an object associated with a person can affect the individuals themselves. In this case, getting rid of the negative physical entity, the piece of paper, causes the original emotion to also disappear. Fifty student participants were asked to write brief opinions about an important social problem, such as whether smokingin publicshould be outlawed. Evaluators then deliberately scored the papers low on intelligence, interest, friendliness, logic, and rationality. For good measure, evaluators added insulting comments such as:“I cannot believe an educated person would think like this. I hope this person learns something while at the university.” The wound-up participants then wrote down their angry thoughts on the negative feedback on a piece of paper. On