2007年大學英語四六級講義——四級寫作（下）

　　五、壓力(Stress )

　　Stress is a common experience. We may feel stress when we are very busy, have important deadlines to meet, or have too little time to finish all of our tasks. Often people experience stress because of problems at work or in social relationships, such as a poor evaluation by a supervisor or an argument with a friend. Some people may be particularly vulnerable to stress in situations involving the threat of failure or personal humiliation. Major life events, such as the death of a loved one, can cause severe stress.

　　Stress can have both positive and negative effects. Stress is a normal, adaptive reaction to threat. It signals danger and prepares us to take defensive action. Fear of things that pose realistic threats motivates us to deal with them or avoid them. Stress also motivates us to achieve and fuels creativity. Although stress may hinder performance on difficult tasks, moderate stress seems to improve motivation and performance on less complex tasks. In personal relationships, stress often leads to less cooperation and more aggression. If not managed appropriately, stress can lead to serious problems.

　　Source of stress(壓力來源)

　　The circumstances that cause stress are called stressors. Stressors vary in severity and duration. For example, the responsibility of caring for a sick parent may be an ongoing source of major stress, whereas getting stuck in a traffic jam may cause mild, short-term stress. Some events, such as the death of a loved one, are stressful for everyone. But in other situations, individuals may respond differently to the same event—what is a stressor for one person may not be stressful for another.

　　Stressors can be classified into three general categories: catastrophic events, major life changes, and daily hassles. In addition, simply thinking about unpleasant past events or anticipating unpleasant future events can cause stress for many people.

　　A catastrophe(災難) is a sudden, often life-threatening calamity or disaster that pushes people to the outer limits of their coping capability. Catastrophes include natural disasters—such as earthquakes, tornadoes, fires, floods, and hurricanes—as well as wars, torture, automobile accidents, violent physical attacks.

　　Major Life Changes(生活變故): The most stressful events for adults involve major life changes, such as death of a spouse or family member, divorce, imprisonment, losing one’s job, and major personal disability or illness. For adolescents, the most stressful events are the death of a parent or a close family member, divorce of their parents, imprisonment of their mother or father, and major personal disability or illness. Sometimes, apparently positive events can have stressful components. For example, a woman who gets a job promotion may receive a higher salary and greater prestige, but she may also feel stress from supervising coworkers who were once peers.

　　Daily Hassles(日常煩心事): Much of the stress in our lives results from having to deal with daily hassles pertaining to our jobs, personal relationships, and everyday living circumstances. Many people experience the same hassles every day. Examples of daily hassles include living in a noisy neighborhood, commuting to work in heavy traffic, disliking one’s fellow workers, worrying about owing money, waiting in a long line, and misplacing or losing things. When taken individually, these hassles may feel like only minor irritants, but cumulatively, over time, they can cause significant stress.

　　Effects of Stress(壓力后果): A person who is stressed typically has anxious thoughts and difficulty concentrating or remembering. Stress can also change outward behaviors.

　　Disease(生病): Physicians increasingly acknowledge that stress is a contributing factor in a wide variety of health problems. These problems include cardiovascular disorders such as hypertension (high blood pressure) and coronary heart disease (coronary atherosclerosis, or narrowing of the heart’s arteries). Stress also appears to be a risk factor in cancer, chronic pain problems, and many other health disorders.

　　There is substantial evidence that stress suppresses the activity of the immune system, leaving an organism more susceptible to infectious diseases.

　　Mental Health(精神問題): Stress influences mental health as well as physical health. People who experience a high level of stress for a long time—and who cope poorly with this stress—may become irritable, socially withdrawn, and emotionally unstable. They may also have difficulty concentrating and solving problems. Some people under intense and prolonged stress may start to suffer from extreme anxiety, depression, or other severe emotional problems.

　　Coping with stress(如何消除壓力) means using thoughts and actions to deal with stressful situations and lower our stress levels. Many people have a characteristic way of coping with stress based on their personality. People who cope well with stress tend to believe they can personally influence what happens to them. They usually make more positive statements about themselves, resist frustration, remain optimistic, and persevere even under extremely adverse circumstances. Most importantly, they choose the appropriate strategies to cope with the stressors they confront. Conversely, people who cope poorly with stress tend to have somewhat opposite personality characteristics, such as lower self-esteem and a pessimistic outlook on life.

　　In problem-focused coping, people try to short-circuit negative emotions by taking some action to modify, avoid, or minimize the threatening situation. They change their behavior to deal with the stressful situation. In emotion-focused coping, people try to directly moderate or eliminate unpleasant emotions. Examples of emotion-focused coping include rethinking the situation in a positive way, relaxation, denial, and wishful thinking.

　　To understand these strategies, consider the example of a premed student in college who faces three difficult final examinations in a single week. She knows she must get top grades in order to have a chance at acceptance to medical school. This situation is a potential source of stress. To cope, she could organize a study group and master the course materials systematically (problem-focused coping). Or she could decide that she needs to relax and collect herself for an hour or so (emotion-focused coping) before proceeding with an action plan (problem-focused coping). She might also decide to watch television for hours on end to prevent having to think about or study for her exams (emotion-focused coping).

　　In general, problem-focused coping is the most effective coping strategy when people have realistic opportunities to change aspects of their situation and reduce stress. Emotion-focused coping is most useful as a short-term strategy. It can help reduce one’s arousal level before engaging in problem-solving and taking action, and it can help people deal with stressful situations in which there are few problem-focused coping options.

　　Social Support(社會支持): Support from friends, family members, and others who care for us goes a long way in helping us to get by in times of trouble. Social support systems provide us with emotional sustenance, tangible resources and aid, and information when we are in need. People with social support feel cared about and valued by others and feel a sense of belonging to a larger social network.

　　A large body of research has linked social support to good health and a superior ability to cope with stress.

　　Research also suggests that the companionship of animals can help lower stress. For example, one study found that in times of stress, people with pet dogs made fewer visits to the doctor than those without pets.

　　Meditation(冥想), in addition to teaching relaxation, is designed to achieve subjective goals such as contemplation, wisdom, and altered states of consciousness. Some forms have a strong Eastern religious and spiritual heritage based in Zen Buddhism and yoga. Other varieties emphasize a particular lifestyle for practitioners. One of the most common forms of meditation, Transcendental Meditation, involves focusing attention on and repeating a mantra, which is a word, sound, or phrase thought to have particularly calming properties.

　　Aerobic exercise(有氧運動)—such as running, walking, biking, and skiing—can help keep stress levels down. Because aerobic exercise increases the endurance of the heart and lungs, an aerobically fit individual will have a lower heart rate at rest and lower blood pressure, less reactivity to stressors, and quicker recovery from stressors. In addition, studies show that people who exercise regularly have higher self-esteem and suffer less from anxiety and depression than comparable people who are not aerobically fit.

　　六 、人際交往與通訊科技(Interpersonal Communication)

　　In every society, humans have developed spoken and written language as a means of sharing messages and meanings. The most common form of daily communication is interpersonal—that is, face-to-face, at the same time and in the same place.

　　Communication may also occur in small groups, such as families, clubs, religious groups, friendship groups, or work groups.

　　A special case of small-group interaction occurs in organizations where there is work to do or a task for the group to perform. Or several small groups may need to interact among each other within a single organization. In these cases, the groups must communicate well, both among themselves and with other groups, so that their members can perform their work effectively and make good decisions.

　　Interpersonal communication occurs with larger groups as well, such as when a speaker gives a talk to a large crowd (a teacher lecturing to a large class). However, the audience can respond in only limited ways (such as with applause, nodding, whistles, boos, or silence). The speaker usually wants to be persuasive or informative, so the words chosen and the style of delivery or performance are very important.

　　Radio(收音機): Most large cities and many small towns have a number of local radio stations, on both the AM and the FM frequencies. Some frequencies are dedicated to citizens-band (CB) radio, which long-distance truck drivers use to check on road conditions, report problems, or just to chat. Special frequencies are devoted to emergency use, such as police, fire, or emergency medical dispatching, or to aviation radio.

　　Television(電視):

　　There is no doubt that television has been one of the most important communication technologies in history. Televisions are switched on an average of seven hours a day in households. Debates continue about the medium's effects on children, culture, education, politics, and community life.

　　Critics say that television feeds a constant stream of simplified ideas and sensationalistic images, that it has a negative effect on political campaigns and voting patterns, that it destroys local cultures in favor of a bland national culture, and that it has encouraged the growth of an uncritical and passive audience.

　　Defenders say that television provides a great deal of high-quality educational and cultural programming, and that it is the major source of national and international news and information for most citizens.

　　As the Canadian writer Marshall McLuhan pointed out, perhaps nothing has been more responsible for creating the global village—the sense that we can see and hear events anywhere in the world as they happen, and so can feel more connected to other places.

　　Computer(電腦):

　　Since the 1970s personal computers have transformed American business, education, and entertainment. People can use computers to design graphics and full-motion video, compose music, send electronic mail, make airline or hotel reservations, or search the Library of Congress over the World Wide Web. They can play games and even visit electronic rooms or parties to talk to other people.

　　Computers are used in all aspects of business and education. Self-instructional computer programs help people learn new information or skills. Some programs are simulations, which imitate tasks that require the learner to perform in certain ways, and give the learner feedback about that performance.

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