在线英语听力室

VOA慢速英语2014 AS IT IS 2014-02-27 How You Feel About Yourself Affects Your Work 自我感觉会影响到自身的工作

时间:2014-03-07 17:56:39

搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号:tingroom,领取免费英语资料大礼包。

(单词翻译)

AS IT IS 2014-02-27 How You Feel About Yourself Affects Your Work 自我感觉会影响到自身的工作

Hello and welcome back to As It Is. I’m Jim Tedder1 in Washington, with a program designed to help you learn and improve your American English.  Today we are going inside the human brain to see how and what people think.  Some researchers say there is a connection between how you feel about yourself, and how you do your job.

Then we will hear about children and music.  Young people who study music and play instruments are smarter than those who do not.  Right?  Some folks at Harvard University say, “Hold on.”

We are very happy to have your brains thinking about what we are sending your way today on As It Is. 

A new study says people who feel they lack social power find it harder to perform physical work.  The researchers say their study is the first to show that people who believe they lack influence in society feel the weight of the world.

Eun Hee Lee is a candidate2 for a doctoral degree in the psychology3 department at Britain’s University of Cambridge.  She says the people in the study were not suffering from the continuing deep sadness known as clinical depression.

Instead, Ms. Lee said, the study was based on how the participants saw themselves.  They rated themselves on what level they thought they held in the social order.  They compared themselves to people they thought of as powerful and in control.  She described what the study team meant by “powerful.”

 “We defined4 being powerful as the one who has control over their own and others’ resources; whereas5 being powerless as being the ones who [don’t] have their control over theirs and others' resources, and also have to [be] dependent6 to gain the resources that they need.”

She said powerless people continually7 feel unsure. Researchers in the study examined participants to learn their feelings about their status, or level, in society.  They presented them with a statement such as, “I can get people to listen to what I say.”

The participants were asked to lift a number of boxes and guess their weight.  The more powerless the people, the higher they estimated8 the weight of the containers.

In a second test the researchers asked participants to sit in ways that seemed powerful.  In one example they sat with one elbow on the arm of a chair.  That position is domineering, or commanding.  Or, they sat with their hands under their thighs9, a restrictive position.  People in the restrictive positions thought the boxes weighed more than they really did.  Those who sat in the more powerful way made better estimates10 of the boxes’ weight.

Finally, a number of participants were asked to remember a time in which they felt powerful or powerless.  Those who thought of a powerful time gave the best answers for the weight of several boxes.  Those who remembered moments of powerlessness repeatedly11 said the boxes were heavier than they were.

Ms. Lee believes feelings of lack of power in humans might have developed from prehistoric12 times.  She says it might have been a way to keep early man from using up limited resources.  But she says that today, these feelings might not be good for people at work.

“It might mean we are kind of preventing ourselves automatically13 putting 100 percent effort into the work without us realizing [it], which could be damaging.”

The Journal14 of Experimental15 Biology published the study.

Are Children Who Learn Music Smarter?

Many people believe that teaching16 children music makes them smarter – better able to learn new things.  But the organizers of a new study say there is no scientific evidence that early musical training affects the intelligence of young people.  Jery Watson joins us with details.

 

An estimated 80 percent of American adults think music classes improve children’s ability to learn or their performance in school.  They say that the satisfaction from learning17 to play a new song helps a child express creativity.

Researchers at Harvard University, however, have found that there is one thing musical training does not do.  They say it does not make children more intelligent.

Samuel Mehr is a graduate student at Harvard’s School of Education.  He says it is wrong to think that learning to play a musical instrument improves a child’s intellectual18 development.

He says the evidence comes from studies that measured the mental ability of two groups of four-year-olds and their parents.  One group attended music class.  The other went to a class that places importance on the visual arts – arts that can be seen.

“The answer there is ‘no.’  We found no evidence for any advantage on any of these tests for the kids who were participating in music classes.”

Samuel Mehr says researchers have carried out many studies in an effort to learn whether musical training can make children smarter.  He says the results have been mixed.  He says only one study seemed to show a small percentage increase in IQ – intelligence scores – among students after one year of music lessons.

He does not believe that IQ is a good measure of a child’s intelligence.  He says researchers in his study compared how well children in the music training group did on mental processing tasks, or projects.  Then the results were compared to those of children who did not take lessons.

There was no evidence that the musical training group did much better on the mental tasks than the other group.  The researchers confirmed their results with a larger group of children and their parents.

Mr. Mehr says music lessons may not offer children a fast, easy way to gain entry to the best schools later on in life.  But he says the training is still important for cultural reasons.  In his words, “We teach music because music is important for us.”  He notes that the works19 of writer William Shakespeare are not taught so that children will do better in physics.  He says Shakespeare is taught because it is important.

 “And I don’t think music needs to be any different than that.”

A report on the benefits of music training in children was published in the journal PLOS ONE. I’m Jery Watson.

And I’m Jim Tedder in Washington.  Speaking of music, today is the birth date of a very famous American.  Three years before the turn of the century, in 1897, Marion Anderson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  She became one of America’s greatest opera singers.  Because she was an African American, she was not allowed to sing at Constitution Hall here in Washington.  So she performed before 75,000 people on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.  She later became the first black woman to sing with the New York Metropolitan20 Opera.  Marion Anderson died in 1993.


分享到:


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 tedder 2833afc4f8252d8dc9f8cd73b24db55d     
n.(干草)翻晒者,翻晒机
参考例句:
  • Jim Tedder has more. 吉姆?特德将给我们做更多的介绍。 来自互联网
  • Jim Tedder tells us more. 吉姆?泰德给我们带来更详细的报道。 来自互联网
2 candidate csfzT     
n.候选人;候补者;投考者,申请求职者
参考例句:
  • Voters like a candidate who has the common touch. 投票者喜欢那些平易近人的候选人。
  • The local newspapers dressed up the candidate as a boxer.当地报纸把那个候选人描绘成一个拳击手。
3 psychology U0Wze     
n.心理,心理学,心理状态
参考例句:
  • She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
  • He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。
4 defined GuQzxW     
adj 定义的; 清晰的
参考例句:
  • These categories are not well defined. 这些类别划分得不太明确。
  • The powers of a judge are defined by law. 法官的权限是由法律规定的。
5 whereas XgQwB     
conj.而,却,反之
参考例句:
  • They want a house,whereas we would rather live in a flat.他们想要一座房子,而我们宁愿住在一套房间里。
  • Some praise him,whereas others condemn him.有些人赞扬他,而有些人谴责他。
6 dependent gm6z5     
adj.依靠的,依赖的,依赖他人生活者
参考例句:
  • He has a mother completely dependent on him.他有一个完全靠他赡养的母亲。
  • The country is dependent on foreign aid.这个国家靠外援生存。
7 continually qvlznv     
adv.不间断地,不停地;多次重复地
参考例句:
  • The other kids continually taunted him about his size.其他孩子不断地耻笑他的个头儿。
  • The US is continually building up its armed forces.美军正持续加强它的三军。
8 estimated CtGzc2     
adj.根据估计的
参考例句:
  • She estimated the breadth of the lake to be 500 metres. 她估计湖面大约有500米宽。
  • The man estimated for the repair of the car. 那人估算了修理汽车的费用。
9 thighs e4741ffc827755fcb63c8b296150ab4e     
n.股,大腿( thigh的名词复数 );食用的鸡(等的)腿
参考例句:
  • He's gone to London for skin grafts on his thighs. 他去伦敦做大腿植皮手术了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The water came up to the fisherman's thighs. 水没到了渔夫的大腿。 来自《简明英汉词典》
10 estimates d72749910e71e75279b310239e18f36f     
估计
参考例句:
  • Unofficial estimates put the figure at over two million. 非官方的估计数字为200万以上。
  • We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后,接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
11 repeatedly RkAzVA     
adv.重复地,再三地
参考例句:
  • The loudspeakers blared the speech repeatedly.扬声器里反复大声地播送那篇演讲。
  • He repeatedly beat his foot upon the floor.他反复用脚敲着地板。
12 prehistoric sPVxQ     
adj.(有记载的)历史以前的,史前的,古老的
参考例句:
  • They have found prehistoric remains.他们发现了史前遗迹。
  • It was rather like an exhibition of prehistoric electronic equipment.这儿倒像是在展览古老的电子设备。
13 automatically xPjyx     
adv.不加思索地,无意识地,自动地
参考例句:
  • The machine cycles automatically.这台机器自动循环运转。
  • She had automatically labelled the boys as troublemakers.她不假思索地认定这些男孩子是捣蛋鬼。
14 journal g3Ex2     
n.日志,日记;议事录;日记帐;杂志,定期刊物
参考例句:
  • He kept a journal during his visit to Japan.他在访问日本期间坚持记日记。
  • He got a job as editor of a trade journal.他找到了一份当商业杂志编辑的工作。
15 experimental SmHx3     
adj.实验的,用作实验的,根据实验的
参考例句:
  • This trip will be only experimental.这次旅行只是试验性的。
  • The experimental farm is near the waterpower station.实验农场靠近水电站。
16 teaching ngEziT     
n.教学,执教,任教,讲授;(复数)教诲
参考例句:
  • We all agree in adopting the new teaching method. 我们一致同意采取新的教学方法。
  • He created a new system of teaching foreign languages.他创造了一种新的外语教学体系。
17 learning wpSzFe     
n.学问,学识,学习;动词learn的现在分词
参考例句:
  • When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时,常会从车上掉下来。
  • Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。
18 intellectual O5Nxi     
n.知识分子;adj.智力的,理智的,有理解力的
参考例句:
  • Thinking is an intellectual process.思维是一个智力活动过程。
  • Chess is a highly intellectual game.象棋是需用高度智力的运动项目。
19 works ieuzIh     
n.作品,著作;工厂,活动部件,机件
参考例句:
  • We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
  • The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。
20 metropolitan mCyxZ     
adj.大城市的,大都会的
参考例句:
  • Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
  • Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

本文本内容来源于互联网抓取和网友提交,仅供参考,部分栏目没有内容,如果您有更合适的内容,欢迎 点击提交 分享给大家。