C
Of the many influences on human behavior, social influences are the most widespread. The main influence on people is people. When we hear the words social influence, most of us think of deliberate attempts of someone to persuade us to change our actions or opinions. The TV ad comes to mind. But many of the most important forms of social influence are unintentional, and some of the effects we humans have on one another occur as a result of the simple fact that we are in each other’s physical presence.
In 1898 a psychologist named Triplett made an interesting observation. In looking over speed records of bicycle racers, he noticed that better speed records were obtained when cyclists raced against each other than when they raced against the clock. This observation led Triplett to perform the first controlled laboratory experiment ever conducted in social psychology. He instructed children to turn a wheel as fast as possible for a certain period of time. Sometimes two children worked at the same time in the same room, each with his own wheel; at other times, they worked alone. The results confirmed his theory: Children worked faster in coaction, that is, when another child doing the same thing was present, than when they worked alone.
Soon after Triplett’s experiment on coaction, it was discovered that the mere presence of a passive audience rather than a coactor was enough to help performance. This was discovered accidentally in an experiment on muscular (肌肉的) effort and tiredness by Meumann in 1904, who found that subjects lifted a weight faster and farther whenever the psychologist was in the room. Later experiments have confirmed this audience effect.
It appears that coaction and audience effects in humans are caused by the person’s concerns about competition and the evaluation of performance that others will make. We learn as we grow up that others praise or criticize, reward or punish our performances, and this raises our drive level when we perform before others. Thus, even the early studies of coaction found that if all elements（要素）of competition are removed, coaction effects are greatly reduced. Similarly, audience effects are a function of the subject’s interpretation of how much he is being evaluated.                                 
63. Why does the writer mention “the TV ad” in Paragraph 1?
A. To explain the importance. B. To make a comparison.
C. To start a new topic. D. To give an example.
64. According to the passage, Triplett’s experiment of 1898 _____.
A. supported his idea of coaction effect
B. challenged his idea of coaction effect
C. showed children turned a wheel faster with audience around
D. proved cyclists race harder against each other than against the clock
65. According to the writer, which of the following would be an example of coaction effect?
A. A woman works harder when the boss is in the room than when she is alone.
B. Joe works more slowly when he is together with friends than when he is alone.
C. Players work harder when they exercise together than when they each exercise alone.
D. Bob’s two children finish their homework faster when he is watching than when he is not.
66. Which is the best title for the passage?
A. Coaction Makes Faster B. Social Influence
C. An Interesting Observation D. Effect of Audience Presence

D
Basically, without the possibility of failure, there is little possibility of success. Education is in danger of becoming a branch of the entertainment industry. Although education should indeed be entertaining where possible, it cannot always be fun. Often, it needs the “hard yards”.
Some educationalists feel that if something causes worry it should be avoided at all costs. I would disagree. Facing up to challenges helps develop children. Avoiding challenges can severely limit their potential. Tougher children are able to try and fail. The less tough may simply fail to try anything new.
I’m not advocating putting children under pressure. The real debate is perhaps what pressures are unavoidable. It’s not about “throwing children into the deep end”, but rather encouraging them to put their foot in the water and giving them the skills to float.
This latter approach is basically the work I and my team do at the University of Hull. We measure mental toughness and then provide interventions to improve this. These interventions include psychological skills such as goal setting, relaxation and thought control. So, for example, many children will say: “What happens if it goes wrong?” We work hard to change this so that the sentence reads: “What happens if it goes right?” One word difference, but a world away when thinking about challenges.
We try to help children deal more effectively with life using a three-step approach. Firstly, it is important to set realistic and achievable goals. Then it is a matter of finding out what factors (因素) are helping children to achieve these goals and what factors are working against this. The final step is to discover which of these factors can be controlled, or at least influenced, and what factors the child is in reality stuck with. Redirecting children’s energies to movable obstacles (障礙) can produce huge life changes. 
However, I think that for most of us we have become stress averse (反對的) and overreact to it. It has always been there, and it has always been the case that some people enjoy it, some need help to deal with it and some people’s lives are ruined by it.
Showing our children that stress can be faced with and beaten offers them a way forward. The more a fear is avoided, the bigger it gets.                                                   

67. From the passage, we know the writer believes _____.
A. education needs challenges
B. education should always be fun
C. children should avoid facing challenges
D. the more challenges, the better for the children
68. The writer disagreed with some educationalists because _____.
A. some children are less tough B. some pressures are avoidable
C. some challenges do good to children D. some children are unaware of their potential
69. What do the writer and his team do at the University of Hull?
A. Record what the children do in stressful situations.
B. Make the children tougher mentally and physically.
C. Put the children under pressure by giving them challenges.
D. Give the children challenges and suggest suitable approaches.
70. What is the correct attitude towards stress according to the writer?
A. We should try our best to avoid stress.
B. We should love stress because stress is unavoidable.
C. We should put ourselves to the test in stressful situations.
D. We should experience stress and learn skills to deal with it.
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