C

Self-control can make you happier not only in the long-run, but also in the moment.

The research showed that self-control isn’t about giving up desires, but more about managing conflicting goals. Since most people consider highly self-controlled ones as being more task-centered, the scientists decided to find out the connection between self-control and people’s happiness to determine if being self-disciplined leaves people feel less joyful.

Through a set of tests-including one that assessed 414 middle-aged participants on self-control and another that randomly interviewed volunteers on their smart phones about their mood and any desires they might be experiencing, researchers found a strong connection between higher levels of self-control and satisfaction.

The smart phone experiment also showed how self-control may improve mood. Those who showed the greatest self-control reported more good moods and fewer bad ones. But this didn’t appear to be linked to being more able to resist temptation(诱惑)—it was because they exposed themselves to fewer situations that might inspire desires in the first place. They were doing a number of things that bring them happiness and avoiding problematic desires and conflicts.

That became clear in the study’s last experiment, which looked into how self-control affects the way people handle goals that conflict with one another. In particular, the researchers were interested in how self-disciplined and less-disciplined people differed when it came to choosing among “virtues” and “vices” like the pleasure of eating sugar cookie vs. the pain of gaining weight. Participants were asked to list three important goal conflicts they experienced regularly and were also questioned on how they managed to balance the goals.

The highly self-controlled showed an obvious difference from those with less discipline over their lives. They tended to avoid creating situations in which their goals would conflict, and reported fewer instances of having to choose between short-term pleasure and long-term pain. As a result, they experienced fewer negative emotions.

And self-control doesn’t always mean self-denial: it may mean saving now to get big payoff later. For dieters, it means making choices to avoid entering a bakery since you are more likely to buy a cupcake. Granted, self-control isn’t the best way to instant satisfaction, but it may bring something even better: long-term contentment.

28. According to the research, the self-controlled people _____.

A. enjoy less pleasure of life

B. focus less on completing their tasks

C. make others feel less delighted

D. are better solving problems and conflicts

29. From the smart phone experiments, the researchers found self-controlled people _____.

A. like to challenge more goals

B. may have more good moods

C. are easier to resist temptation

D. are less satisfied with their life

30. Different from the less-controlled ones, the highly self-controlled people_____.

A. rarely prefer pleasures

B. often create conflicting goals

C. like to put up with pain

D. stay away from negative emotions

31. The underlined word ‘self-denial’ in the last paragraph probably means______.

A. self-sacrifice

B. self-help

C. self-confidence

D. self-improvement

D

In a class this past December, after I wrote some directions on the board for students about their final examination, one young woman quickly took a picture of the board using her smart phone. When I looked in her direction, she apologized: “Sorry. Was it wrong to take a picture?”

“I can’t read my own handwriting ,”the young woman explained.“It’s best if I take a picture of your writing so I can understand the notes.”

That remark started a class-wide conversation about taking a picture instead of taking notes. For those in the photo-taking camp, motivations extended beyond their inability to comprehend their own handwriting. Some took pictures of notes because they knew their phone was a safe place to store material. They might lose paper, they reasoned, but they wouldn’t lose their phones. Some took photos because they wanted to record exactly the manner in which I had noted information on the board. Others told me that during class they liked to be able to listen to the discussion attentively.

Yet the use of cameras as note takers, though it may be convenient, does raise significant questions for the classroom. Is a picture an effective replacement for the process of note-taking?

Instructors encourage students to take notes because the act of doing so is more than merely recording necessary information—it helps prepare the way for understanding. Encouraging students to take notes may be an old-fashioned instructional method, but just because a method has a long history doesn’t mean it’s out of date. Writing things down engages a student’s brain in listening, visual, and kinesthetic(触觉的)learning—a view supported by a longstanding research. The act of writing down information enables a person to begin committing it to memory, and to process and combine it, establishing the building blocks of learning new concepts.

Taking a picture does indeed record the information, but it deletes some of the necessary mental engagement that taking notes employs. So can the two be equally effective?

I’m not sure how to measure the effectiveness of either method. For now, I allow students to take notes however they see fit—handwritten or photographed—because I figure that some notes, no matter the method of note-taking, are better than none.

32. The woman apologized in the class because she_________.

A. took a picture of the board

B. missed the teachers’ directions

C. had the bad handwriting

D. disturbed other students’ learning

33. Students refuse to take notes by hand because__________.

A. they are unable to take notes

B. they are more likely to lose notes

C. they are interested in using their phones

D. they have a good memory of teachers’ instructions

34. According to the passage, taking notes by hand__________.

A. requires students to think independently

B. is unsuitable for students to learn new ideas

C. helps students actively participate in learning

D. proves to be an old and useless learning method

35. What’s the author’s opinion towards taking notes by phones?

A. Supportive.

B. Neutral.

C. Doubtful.

D. Disapproving.