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D
Every day, millions of shoppers hit the stores in full force—both online and on foot— searching for the perfect gift. Aside from purchasing holiday gifts, most people regularly buy presents for other occasions throughout the year, including weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, and baby showers. This frequent experience of gift-giving can cause ambivalent feelings in gift-givers. Many enjoy the opportunity to buy presents because gift-giving offers a powerful means to build stronger bonds with one’s closest persons. At the same time, many fear the thought of buying gifts; they worry that their purchases will disappoint rather than delight the intended receivers.
What is surprising is that gift-givers have considerable experience acting as both gift-givers and gift-recipients, but nevertheless tend to overspend each time they set out to purchase a meaningful gift. In the present research, we propose a unique psychological explanation for this overspending problem — i.e., that gift-givers equate how much they spend with how much receivers will appreciate the gift (the more expensive the gift, the stronger a gift-recipient’s feelings of appreciation). Although a link between gift price and feelings of appreciation might seem intuitive (凭直觉得到的) to gift-givers, such an assumption may be unfounded. Indeed, we propose that gift- receivers will seldom tend to base their feelings of appreciation on the significance weight of a gift than givers assume.
Why do gift-givers assume that gift price is closely linked to gift-recipients’ feelings of appreciation? Perhaps givers believe that bigger (i.e., more expensive) gifts convey stronger signals of thoughtfulness and consideration. According to Camerer (1988) and others, gift-giving represents a symbolic ritual(礼节), by which gift-givers attempt to signal their positive attitudes toward the intended receiver and their willingness to invest resources in a future relationship. In this sense, gift-givers may be motivated to spend more money on a gift in order to send a “stronger signal” to their intended receiver. As for gift-receivers, they may not consider smaller and larger gifts as representing smaller and larger signals of thoughtfulness and consideration.
In practical terms, people spend hundreds of dollars each year on gifts, but somehow never learn to measure their gift expenses according to personal insight.
33. The underlined word ambivalent most nearly means__________.
A. unrealistic B. conflicted C. appreciative D. supportive
34. The authors indicate that people value gift-giving because they feel it__________.
A. functions as a form of self-expression.
B. is an inexpensive way to show appreciation.
C. requires the gift-receivers to return.
D. can serve to strengthen a relationship.
35. The authors refer to work by Camerer and others in order to__________.
A. offer an explanation B. introduce an argument
C. question an intension D. support a conclusion
第二节 补全短文 （共5小题；每题2分，满分10分）
根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。
During a research experiment a marine（海洋）biologist placed a shark into a large holding tank and then released several small fish into the tank. 36._______
The marine biologist then inserted a strong piece of clear fiberglass（玻璃纤维）into the tank, creating two separate parts. She then put the shark on one side of the fiberglass and a new set of small fish on the other.
Again, the shark quickly attacked. This time, however, the shark hit the fiberglass divider and bounced off. 37._______ Meanwhile, the small fish swam around unharmed in the second part. Eventually, about an hour into the experiment, the shark gave up. This experiment was repeated several dozen times over the next few weeks. 38._______ Eventually the shark got tired of hitting the fiberglass divider and simply stopped attacking altogether.
The marine biologist then removed the fiberglass divider, but the shark didn’t attack. 39._______ So, they swam wherever they wished, free from harm.
Like the shark in the story, many of us, after experiencing setbacks and failures, emotionally give up and stop trying. 40._______ In other words, we continue to see a barrier in our heads, even when no ‘real’ barrier exists between where we are and where we want to go.
A. At the same time, the shark tried again and again.
B. We believe that because we were unsuccessful in the past, we will always be unsuccessful.
C. The shark was trained to believe a barrier existed between it and the small fish.
D. It kept repeating this behavior every few minutes fruitlessly.
E. We should keep on trying even if we meet obstacles.
F. Each time, the shark got less aggressive and made fewer attempts to attack the small fish.
G. As you would expect, the shark quickly swam around the tank, attacked and ate the smaller fish.
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