Section B: Information Matching

Directions: In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on your Answer Sheet.

How to better work towards long-term goals

[A] How will we all keep busy when we only have to work 15 hours a week? That was the question that worried the British economist John Maynard Keynes when he wrote his short essay “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren” in 1930. Over the next century, he predicted, the economy would become so productive that people would barely need to work at all. For a while, it looked like Keynes was right. In 1930 the average working week was 47 hours in the United States. But by 1970, the number of hours Americans worked on average had fallen to slightly less than 39.

[B] To help explain this seemingly irrational behavior, Hershfield and his team scanned the brains of study participants while asking them to what degree various traits — like “honorable” or “funny” — applied to their current self, their future self, a current other, or a future other. As participants answered, Hershfield's team recorded which parts of their brains lit up. Unsurprisingly, people's brains were most active when thinking about their current selves and least active when thinking about a current other. But the team found that participants' brain activity while considering their future selves more closely resembled their brain activity while thinking about a current other rather than the current self.

[C] Put in practical terms, when thinking of yourself in a month or a year or a decade, your brain registers that person in ways similar to how it would register Taylor Swift or the mailman. Understood in that way, saving for retirement is the equivalent of giving money away to someone else entirely.

[D] In light of Hershfield's study, one simple question arises: Is it possible to make our present selves give a damn about our future selves? The answers are anything but simple.

[E] Seen through the lens of the present self versus the future self, our self-defeating actions — like choosing to watch television rather than go to the gym — suddenly make perfect sense. We get to enjoy the very concrete, immediate benefits of our actions while someone else (namely: our future selves) suffers the hypothetical far-off consequences. As a result, the decisions we make for our present selves often look very different from our decisions for our future selves. We believe that tomorrow will be different. We believe that we will be different tomorrow, but in doing so, we prioritize our current mood over the consequences of our inaction for the future self.

[F] Understanding our procrastination through the lens of the present and future selves, we're left with three possible solutions: The first is to force your future self to do whatever your present self doesn't want to do. The second is to convince your present self that your future self is, in fact, still you. If the central problem is that we think of our future selves as other people, it follows that trying to identify more closely with our future selves will encourage us to make better long-term decisions.

[G] In a follow-up study, Hershfield wanted to explore ways to bridge the disconnect between the present and future selves and encourage people to save more for retirement. He and his team took photos of study participants, and then used image processing to visually age their faces. Participants were then placed in a virtual reality setting where they could look into a mirror and see their aged selves looking back at them. Participants who saw their aged selves said they would save 30% more of their salary for retirement than the control group.

[H] Whatever your long-term goals may be—getting in better shape, launching your own business, writing a book — thinking about your deadline in terms of days rather than months or years can help you wrap your mind around how close the future really is.

[I] The third solution is to forget about your future self and use your present self's love of instant gratification to your advantage. While the two tactics above can be effective in making better long-term choices, in the end, you're still struggling against human nature. Our brains are hardwired for instant gratification. Instead of fighting your present self's need for immediate rewards, why not use it to your advantage? When most of us set goals, we focus on long-term results we want to see — e.g. losing weight, getting a promotion, retiring in comfort, etc. While those visions of our future selves can be inspiring, when it comes to actually doing the day-to-day work, it may be more effective to reframe activities in terms of their immediate, or at least very near-term rewards.

[J] Take writing this article, for instance. It's easy for me to imagine how amazing it will feel at the end of the workday to have this article done. This isn't just my opinion. Research partners Kaitlin Woolley of Cornell University and Ayelet Fishbach of the University of Chicago have made a career out of studying the differences between the goals that people achieve and the ones that fall to the wayside.

[K] “In one study, we asked people online about the goals they set at the beginning of the year. Most people set goals to achieve delayed, long-term benefits, such as career advancement, debt repayment, or improved health. We asked these individuals how enjoyable it was to pursue their goal, as well as how important their goal was. We also asked whether they were still working on their goals two months after setting them. We found that enjoyment predicted people's goal persistence two months after setting the goal far more than how important they rated their goal to be.” Woolley said.

[L] This pattern held true across a wide variety of goals from exercising to studying to eating healthier foods. For example, people ate 50% more of a healthy food when directed to focus on the good taste rather than the long-term health benefits. Other studies have shown a greater uptake of exercise in people who were told to think of the enjoyment of doing the exercise now rather than future health gains.

[M] These findings suggest that when it comes to achieving your goals, enjoying the process itself is more important than wanting the long-term benefits. In other words, present self trumps future self. Who says instant gratification has to be a bad thing? By all means, set ambitious long-term goals for your future self, but when it comes to actually following through day-to-day, make sure your present self knows what's in it for her too.

36. Our brains are genetically determined to satisfy immediate desires.

37. Taken in a practical way, saving for post-work years is like giving money away to others.

38. Research found that, as regards achievement of one's goals, it is important to focus more on enjoying the process than the long-term benefits.

39. Regarding our future selves as still being ourselves will help us make better long-term decisions.

40. Savings rates in America have dropped in recent decades even though people's life expectancy has increased.

41. Researchers found that enjoyment rather than importance enabled people to persist in their goals.

42. When making decisions, we give priority to our current frame of mind without thinking much of the consequences.

43. People ate more of a healthy food when they focused on its good taste instead of its long-term benefits.

44. As was expected, when people thought of their present selves, their brains were observed to become more active.

45. Researchers found that participants who saw the images of their aged selves would save more for their later years than those who didn't.

Answers & Explanations

36. I。解析：题干中的 genetically determined to satisfy immediate desires（基因上被决定去满足即时欲望）对应 [I] 段的 Our brains are hardwired for instant gratification（我们的大脑天生/本能地渴望即时满足）。hardwired 同义替换为 genetically determined。

37. C。解析：题干中的 saving for post-work years is like giving money away（为退休后的岁月存钱就像把钱送人）对应 [C] 段的 saving for retirement is the equivalent of giving money away to someone else entirely（为退休存钱等同于把钱完全送给别人）。

38. M。解析：题干中的 focus more on enjoying the process than the long-term benefits（更多关注享受过程而不是长期利益）对应 [M] 段的 enjoying the process itself is more important than wanting the long-term benefits（享受过程本身比想要长期利益更重要）。

39. F。解析：题干中的 Regarding our future selves as still being ourselves（把未来的自己视为仍然是自己）对应 [F] 段的 trying to identify more closely with our future selves（试图更紧密地认同我们未来的自己），这会导致 help us make better long-term decisions（鼓励我们做出更好的长期决定）。

40. A。解析：题干中的 Savings rates in America have dropped（美国的储蓄率已经下降）。虽然 [A] 段讲的是工作时间，但此题在原始真题中可能对应了未给出的一段背景描述。然而根据现有全量文本，此题由于缺失背景段落无法完美匹配，但在真题语境中，A段描述了随着生产力提高，人们“没有按预期减少工作时间”，这暗示了一种未满足预期的下降（注：此题在部分删减版阅读中存在争议，但通常对应A段或类似引言段）。

41. K。解析：题干中的 enjoyment rather than importance enabled people to persist in their goals（乐趣而不是重要性使人们坚持他们的目标）对应 [K] 段最后一句 We found that enjoyment predicted people's goal persistence... far more than how important they rated their goal to be（我们发现，乐趣更能预测人们对目标的坚持...远胜于他们认为目标有多重要）。

42. E。解析：题干中的 give priority to our current frame of mind（优先考虑当前的心境）对应 [E] 段的 we prioritize our current mood over the consequences...（我们把当前的心情置于后果之上）。frame of mind 同义替换为 mood。

43. L。解析：题干中的 ate more of a healthy food when they focused on its good taste（当关注好味道时吃更多健康食品）对应 [L] 段的 people ate 50% more of a healthy food when directed to focus on the good taste rather than the long-term health benefits（当被引导去关注好味道而不是长期健康益处时，人们多吃了50%的健康食物）。

44. B。解析：题干中的 brains were observed to become more active（大脑被观察到变得更活跃）对应 [B] 段的 Unsurprisingly, people's brains were most active when thinking about their current selves（不出所料，人们在思考当前的自己时大脑最活跃）。

45. G。解析：题干中的 saw the images of their aged selves would save more（看到自己衰老图像的人会存更多钱）对应 [G] 段最后一句 Participants who saw their aged selves said they would save 30% more of their salary for retirement（看到自己衰老面容的参与者说他们会比对照组多存30%的工资用于退休）。

核心搭配与高分句型

【核心搭配与高频短语】

• the equivalent of：...的等同物，相当于（is the equivalent of giving money away）
• anything but：绝不，根本不（The answers are anything but simple）
• in terms of：根据，从...的角度来看（in terms of days rather than months）
• hardwired for：天生就有...的能力，本能地（brains are hardwired for instant gratification）
• when it comes to：当谈到，当涉及...时（when it comes to actually doing the day-to-day work）
• fall to the wayside：被搁置，被抛弃，半途而废（the ones that fall to the wayside）
• hold true：适用，依然有效（This pattern held true across a wide variety of goals）
• by all means：务必，尽一切办法（By all means, set ambitious long-term goals）

【亮点句型解析】

• Seen through the lens of... (过去分词短语作状语)：
  "Seen through the lens of the present self versus the future self, our self-defeating actions... suddenly make perfect sense."
  （透过现在自我与未来自我的视角来看，我们弄巧成拙的行动...突然就完全说得通了。）`Seen through...` 过去分词短语放在句首作条件状语，不仅使得句子显得高级、正式，还巧妙地引出了核心论点。`lens` 在此比喻“视角、眼光”。
• It follows that... (由此得出结论)：
  "If the central problem is that we think of our future selves as other people, it follows that trying to identify more closely with our future selves will encourage us..."
  （如果核心问题在于我们将未来的自己视为别人，那么由此可以得出结论：努力更紧密地认同未来的自己将鼓励我们...）`it follows that...` 是一个极其严谨的逻辑推导句型，意为“由此可以推断出”，在议论文写作中展示极强的逻辑连贯性。