Canadian experts have found that so – called self – help books may actually do more harm than good to people who really need help．Researchers say that individuals （个人） with low respect felt much worse after repeating positive statements about themselves．
In their study, psychologists Joanne Wood and John Lee sought to determine how positive thinking affected people with different levels of self – confidence．They questioned dozens of people both made and female, analyzed their self – worth and optimism by means of the standard psychological methods and then asked them to write down their thoughts and feelings．The scoring system ranged from 0 to 35．
During the experiment, the researchers asked a total of 68 participants to repeat the self-help book phrase, “I am a lovable person．” After that they measured the participants’ moods and their feelings about themselves．The results revealed that the participants in the low self – respect group who repeated the mantra （颂歌）, were feeling much worse afterwards, when pared to other participants in low self – respect group who did not repeat the phrase．Those with low self – respect who repeated the phrase scored an average of 10 points．Their counterparts （对比者） with equally low self – respect who were not asked to repeat the statement, were able to score a little higher average of 17 points．
However, individuals with high self – respect reported feeling better after repeating the positive self – statement – but only slightly．They scored an average of 31 points, pared with an average of 25 for those with equally high self – respect who did not repeat the phrase．
Professor Wood urged those who promote self – help books, magazines and television shows to stop telling people that simply repeating a positive mantra could change one’s life．First, people start following this idea and feel like they are not alone．They are told that all they have to do is just to read that book and then to repeat these positive statements in a hope that things will be better, and when it does not work for them and they realize that nothing gets better, then it is really frustration to people．
Researchers concluded: “Repeating positive self – statements may benefit certain people such as individuals with high self – respect but discourage the very people who need confidence the most．”
【小题1】The experts tried to find out, when repeating positive self – statements, ．A．the different influences on people with different levels of self - confidenceB．whether males or females will get more benefit from self – help booksC．which group of people self – help books will do the greatest harm toD．who will get the least benefit from self – help book【小题2】How many points did the low self – respect participants get after repeating the self – help book phrase?A．An average of 10 points．B．An average of 17 points．C．An average of 31 points．D．An average of 25 points．【小题3】So – called self – help books do some good to ．A．people lacking confidenceB．people with high self - respectC．people with problems to settle urgentlyD．people repeating positive self – statementsA
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(答案→)A
解析：
【小题1】文章第二段开头“In their study, psychologists Joanne Wood and John Lee sought to determine how positive thinking affected people with different levels of self – confidence．”表明两名心理学家打算通过对自信程度不同的人（男女都有）进行研究，来看看积极乐观的思考对他们有什么不同的影响。
【小题2】文章第三段“Those with low self – respect who repeated the phrase scored an average of 10 points．”表明自信度不高的人在重复了这些话之后只得到了平均分10分的成绩。
【小题3】文章三四段的研究结果表明，重复这些积极乐观的话语后，不自信的人反而情况恶化，而自信的人的自信度反而有好的效果。文章最后一段“Repeating positive self – statements may benefit certain people such as individuals with high self – respect but discourage the very people who need confidence the most．” 也表明了这一观点。
文章解析和评价：本文所持有的观点就是：很多人认为so – called self – help books 对人有益，尤其是缺乏自信的人。可是本文作者用研究结果来表明这一观点的错误性，对有自信的人是好处，让缺乏自信的人情况恶化。习题从文章中都可以找到相应的语句作为判断的参考，便于英语基础薄弱的同学提高自己的英语理解水平和帅选信息的水平。