Passage 54
学霸导读 这个世界是你心境的投射。
In addition to our view of ourselves， the beliefs we have about the world can also a 1 our lives. Jeremy Clifton and his team at the University of Pennsylvania recently completed a study on these beliefs which they call “primal （ 原始的 ） world beliefs”.
Clifton’s work is the f irst attempt to record all of the primal world beliefs. Over the past f ive years, his team reviewed more than 80,000 tweets. They also studied the modern and a 2 texts of cultures around the world. They studied movies and speeches of the last 100 years and observed hundreds of people. Their focus was on f inding the most important primal beliefs about the world.
What most surprised the researchers was that these beliefs could predict our joys and sorrows. When we believe the world is safe, engaging and alive, for e 3 , we are more likely to show gratitude to others, to be more trusting, to have a growth mindset and to be happier. If we see the world as alive and growing we are also more likely to f ind meaning in life. In contrast, when we view the world as unsafe we are more likely to feel depressed and feel like threats are everywhere.
This information suggests that people who are unhappy might f ind it h 4 to change their beliefs about the world. We may be able to change our outlook if we change the stories we tell ourselves. We can be trained to see ourselves and the world around us differently.
This new report can also help us understand one another better. Seeing the world in different ways can sometimes cause a conf lict. The problem might come from the different stories we are telling ourselves about the world. If we think that the world is safe and our friend does not, then that may e 5 why we f ight about whether to go outside and explore.
To solve these issues， Clifton recommends that people l 6 their primal fears and the primal fears of others. “The main takeaway （ 主要信息 ） for now is that primal fears are ‘a path to empathy （ 同理心 ） ’，” Clifton said. When we feel empathy for another person， we show that we understand their feelings and experiences. We treat them in a caring and kind way. We recognize that they may have different beliefs about the world.
Our beliefs about the world can shape our lives in important ways. As English poet William Shakespeare wrote, “There is nothing either good nor bad, but t 7 makes it so.”
1.__________2.__________3.__________4.__________5.__________6.__________7.__________
高频词汇
engaging /ɪn'geɪdʒɪŋ/ adj. 有趣的；令人愉快的；迷人的
trusting /'trʌstɪŋ/ adj. 轻信的
outlook /'aʊtlʊk/ n. 观点；见解
conf lict /'kɒnf lɪkt/ n. 冲突；争执
recommend /ˌrekə'mend/ v. 推荐