Passage 1

If you have ever had a headache while trying to choose between a sure thing and a more likely option with higher rewards, it might be because the conflicting parts of your brain are waging war against each other. A new study found the regions in the brain that are active when a person decides whether to exploit a known commodity or to explore a potentially better option.

The finding, published in the June 15 issue of the journal Nature, suggests that in order to explore new and potentially rewarding options, the brain must override（否决）the desire for immediate profit. The researchers analyzed the study participants’ brain activity as they played a gambling game with four animated slot machines. The machines had various reward patterns, and the machine with the highest payout alternated randomly during each session. After the game, 11 of the 14 participants reported occasionally trying different machines to figure out which one currently had the highest payout --- exploring, while sticking to one machine when they thought they were on the big money-maker-exploiting.

As the participants were deciding to explore for higher rewards, regions of the brain located behind the forehead and associated with logic became active. If they chose to exploit, regions deeper in the brain associated with pleasure and reward were more active.

“Your logic competes against the areas that are more associated with pleasure than value,” said the study co-author Nathaniel Daw of University College London. "Do you want to wait 10 minutes to eat two cookies or eat one cookie now? "Having that one cookie now caters to the immediate desire for pleasure. but waiting a little while for two cookies may be the more logical option. "By exploring, you're giving up the comfortable option in order to do something that might be better in the long run, "Daw told LiveScience.

These types of decisions play an important role in an organism's survival ability. For example, should a deer stick to reliable but poor pastures or expose itself to predators（食肉动物）in a search for potentially greener grass.

1 When will people deny the wish for immediate profit?

A When people begin to exploit a known area.

  B When people try to obtain a familiar product.

C When people want to get a rewarding choice.

D When people intend to make a major decision.

2 From the gambling game, we can reach a conclusion that most participants _____.

A kept changing to different machines all the time

B clung to the machine that they thought would provide big money

C tried frequently to find out the machine with the highest payout

D tended to choose a machine randomly

3 Which parts of the brain would be activated when participants chose to explore?

  A The parts associated with logic in the deeper brain.

B The parts associated with logic behind the forehead.

C The parts associated with value in the deeper brain.

  D The parts associated with value behind the forehead.

4 Exploiting is characterized by ______.

  A fulfilling people’s current requirements

  B catering to people’s logical option

  C satisfying people’s strong appetite

  D improving people’s living conditions

5 The deer example wants to show us that _____.

  A animals will take risks when they want to get more food

  B animals will give up tempting grass in case of danger

  C animals will give priority to security rather than risks

  D animals also need to balance their options to keep surviving

Passage2

lt's the season for stress. Blame back-to-the-classroom blues. Blame the election campaign. It seems as if everyone I talk to these days is approximately three deep breaths away from his snapping point. But while workplace stress isn't good for your heart, that back-against-the-wall feeling can actually be a benefit for your decision-making. Actually, being miserable helps you make better life and career choices.

Often, too many options tend to have a paralyzing effect on us. Having unconstrained choices means that those of us who are indecisive can never truly be happy with our choices because we can't stop imagining a thousand other options and second guessing our commitments. Pressures of time, money, personal unhappiness or other stressors serve as constraints on choices and force us to make decisions from a much shorter list of possible actions without the usual agonizing or second guessing.

Common sense would tell us that when we make decisions out of desperation, we focus on avoiding disaster; but research shows when we make decisions under stress, we're actually more likely to be motivated by the prospect of reward than to avoid failure or punishment. We focus on the positive payoffs and make decisions that we think will help us achieve them. Stress causes us to focus on the positive, which might be just the push we need if we're the type to dwell on the potentially worst case scenario(设想）of any major decision.

Research shows that stress makes men more likely to take on high-risk, high-reward gambles, while women are more inclined to act more conservatively. Being more risk-prone when we're under pressure does have downside if the activities we pursue have a significant self-harm component --- chain smoking or speeding --- but stress can also lead us to take productive risks. When we think we have nothing, we have nothing left to lose. We're more likely to make big, bold choices because self-preservation is no longer our driving force and we're more likely to embrace opportunities that we would have deemed too risky or uncertain during happier and more stable times, such as starting a business.

1 The “back-against-the-wall feeling” in the first paragraph refers to_____. 

   A the wish to take a deep breath

   B the blame for the current depression

C the miserable feeling for life and career

D the stress that leaves you nowhere to escape

2 Why can too many choices have a paralyzing effect on people?

A Because people always doubt their final decision.

   B Because they have several constraints on making a decision.

   C Because people are afraid of taking action.

D Because people are unpleasant with too many options.

3 According to the research, when people make decisions out of desperation, they will ____.

   A try to avoid failure or punishment

B dwell on the negative results

   C be inspired by the possible reward

   D move away from disaster

4 The example of “chain smoking or speeding” shows us _____.

   A men are fond of high-risk or high-reward gamble

   B risk-prone activities may lead to destructive results

   C too much pressure can cause physical or mental hurts

   D people should give up their prejudice against pressure

5 What conclusion can we get from the passage?

   A Diversified choices are beneficial to our career.

   B Self-reservation has never been our driving force.

   C Stress or uncertainty can result in productive results.

   D Limited options expose us to highly risky situations