Talk 4 另眼看压力
Wors Tips
confession n.坦白，供认；忏悔 moderate adj.适度的，中等的
track v.追踪，了解……的动向 prematurely adv.过早地，早熟地
homicide n.他杀，杀人 freakout 使……紧张害怕；使崩溃
Listen to the following recording and answer questions 1-3.
1）A.to make a confession to the audience
B.to let the audience make a confession to her
C.to help people be happier and healthier
D.to change people’s mind about stress
2）A.people who experience a lot of stress and believe that stress is harmful
B.people who experience a lot of stress but don’t view stress as harmful
C.people who have relatively little stress
D.people who turn stress into enemy
3）A.Because she is a health psychologist.
B.Because she has experienced a lot of stress.
C.Because she has always been warning people stress is bad.
D.Because all that she has been teaching in the past is wrong.
听力原文
I have a confession to make，but first，I want you to make a little confession to me.In the past year，I want you to just raise your hand，if you’ve experienced relatively little stress.Anyone？ How about a moderate amount of stress？ Who has experienced a lot of stress？ Yeah.Me too.
But that is not my confession.My confession is this：I am a health psychologist，and my mission is to help people be happier and healthier.But I fear that something I’ve been teaching for the last 10 years is doing more harm than good，and it has to do with stress.For years I’ve been telling people，stress makes you sick.It increases the risk of everything from the common cold to cardiovascular disease.Basically，I’ve turned stress into the enemy.But I have changed my mind about stress，and today，I want to change yours.
Let me start with the study that made me rethink my whole approach to stress.This study tracked 30，000 adults in the United States for eight years，and they started by asking people，“How much stress have you experienced in the last year？”They also asked，“Do you believe that stress is harmful for your health？”And then they used public death records to find out who died.
Okay.Some bad news first.People who experienced a lot of stress in the previous year had a 43 percent increased risk of dying.But that was only true for the people who also believed that stress is harmful for your health.People who experienced a lot of stress but did not view stress as harmful were no more likely to die.In fact，they had the lowest risk of dying of anyone in the study，including people who had relatively little stress.
Now the researchers estimated that over the eight years they were tracking deaths，182，000 Americans died prematurely，not from stress，but from the belief that stress is bad for you.That is over 20，000 deaths a year.Now，if that estimate is correct，that would make believing stress is bad for you the 15 th largest cause of death in the United States last year，killing more people than skin cancer，HIV/AIDS and homicide.
You can see why this study freaked me out.Here I’ve been spending so much energy telling people stress is bad for your health.So this study got me wondering：Can changing how you think about stress make you healthier？ And here the science says yes.When you change your mind about stress，you can change your body’s response to stress.
Questions：
1.What’s the purpose of the speaker in this speech？
2.According to the study，which people have the lowest risk of dying？
3.Why did the study freak the speaker out？
参考译文
我要坦白一个事实。但是首先，我希望你们能够对我做出一点坦白。在过去的一年里，你们是否经历过相对较小的压力？只要举手就好。有人吗？那么中等量的压力呢？谁又经历过很多的压力呢？好的。我也一样。
但是那不是我要坦白的。我要坦白的是：我是一个健康心理学家，我的任务是使人们更加的开心和健康。但是，恐怕我过去十年来一直所教授的东西，它们带来的坏处要超过好处，而这些都与压力有关。多年以来，我一直告诉人们，压力能够使你们变得脆弱。压力能够增加患上很多疾病的风险：从普通感冒到心血管疾病等。事实上，我把压力看作敌人。但是，我已经改变了我对压力的看法，而且今天，我也要改变你们对压力的看法。
这要从一个研究说起，它使我重新思考我所有对压力的看法。这个研究历时八年，追踪了30000个美国成年人，研究以问这些被研究者“在过去的一年里，你们经历过多少的压力”开始。同时，他们也被问到：“你们相信压力对你们的健康是有害的吗？”之后，研究者使用政府的档案记录来确定谁死亡了。
首先是一些坏的消息。那些在过去的一年经历较多压力的人们，死亡的风险增加了43%。但是这只是针对那些相信压力对健康有害的人们。而那些经历较多压力，但是并不认为压力对身体有害的人们并不容易死亡。实际上，在这个研究的所有测试者中，包括那些经历相对较少压力的人，他们的死亡风险是最低的。
在过去八年的追踪调查中，研究者们估计目前已有182000个美国人英年早逝，但是他们的死并不是因为压力，而是因为相信压力对他们的健康是有害的。这表明，每年会有超过20000的死亡者。如果这个估算正确的话，那么“相信压力对身体有害这一观念”将会成为过去一年中美国第十五大死亡因素，多于皮肤癌、艾滋病和被谋杀的死亡人数。
现在你们知道为什么这一研究使我抓狂了吧。过去，我一直花费大量的精力告诉人们，压力有害于你们的健康。因此，这一研究让我开始思考：是否改变对压力的态度就能够使人们更健康？科学告诉我们确实如此。当你改变你对压力的观念时，你便能改变你身体对于压力的反应。
参考答案
1.D 2.B 3.C