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  3. "The idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing els

"The idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing els

游客2025-03-29  0
问题     "The idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing else," wrote Ernest Becker in his book. But we don’t need to worry so much, according to new research comparing our perception of what it’s like to die with the accounts from people facing imminent death. Researchers analyzed the writings of regular bloggers with either terminal cancer who all died over the course of the study, and compared it to blog posts written by a group of participants who were told to imagine they had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and had only a few months to live. They looked for general feelings of positivity and negativity, and words describing positive and negative emotions including happiness, fear and terror. Blog posts from the terminally ill were found to have considerably more positive words and fewer negative ones than those imagining they were dying — and their use of positive language increased as they got closer to death.
    Lisa Iverach, a research fellow at the University of Sydney, explained that the study highlights how the participants may have been less negative because the mystery around death was removed. " Individuals facing imminent death have had more time to process the idea of death and dying, and therefore, may be more accepting of the inevitability of death." But not all of us will know how, or when, we’re going to die in advance, and therefore will miss out on any benefits to be had by uncovering its uncertainty.
    Havi Carel, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bristol, agrees with the study’s findings on how adaptable we are. "The initial shock after receiving a poor prognosis is horrific, but after months or years of living with this knowledge, the dread subsides," she said. However, Carel also pointed out that there’s an important distinction between positive responses and pleasantness, and that there are some unpleasant and painful events we’d still be positive about, such as childbirth.
    In Western culture, we tend to pretend death doesn’t exist, whereas research has indicated that the East Asian yin and yang philosophy of death — where life can’t exist without death — allows individuals to use death as a reminder to enjoy life." I think the UK and the US are death-denying cultures, in that death is mostly avoided as a topic," Heflick said. " While avoiding talking about death can reduce discomfort in the short term, it probably makes most of us much more anxious about death in the long term." [br] People in Western cultures avoid talking about death because_________.
选项 A、they want to reduce their anxiety
B、they enjoy every day of their lives
C、they value the present more than the future
D、they prefer to process the idea individually
答案 A
解析 本题是细节题，要求考生读懂西方文化对死亡的态度，即西方人避免谈论死亡，假装死亡不存在，是因为这样可以减少心理上的不适，也就是焦虑。关键点：...avoiding talking about death can reduce discomfort。
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