新视野三版读写B2U6Text A
Door closer,are you?
1The next time you're deciding between rival options,one which is primary and the other which is secondary,ask yourself this question:What would Xiang Yu do?
2Xiang Yu was a Chinese imperial general in the third century BC who took his troops across the Zhang River on a raid into enemy territory.To his troops' astonishment,he ordered their cooking pots crushed and their sailing ships burned.
3He explained that he was imposing on them a necessity for attaining victory over their opponents.What he said was surely motivating,but it wasn't really appreciated by many of his loyal soldiers as they watched their vessels go up in flames.But the genius of General Xiang Yu's conviction would be validated both on the battlefield and in modern social science research.General Xiang Yu was a rare exception to the norm, a veteran leader who was highly respected for his many conquests and who achieved the summit of success.
4He is featured in Dan Ariely's enlightening new publication,Predictably Irrational,a fascinating investig
ation of seemingly irrational human behavior,such as the tendency for keeping multiple options open.Most people can't marshal the will for painful choices,not even students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT),where Dr.Ariely teaches behavioral economics.In an experiment that investigated decision-making,hundreds of students couldn't bear to let their options vanish,even though it was clear they would profit from doing so.
5The experiment revolved around a game that eliminated the excuses we usually have for refusing to let go.In the real world,we can always say,"It's good to preserve our options."Want a good example?A teenager is exhausted from soccer,ballet,piano,and Chinese lessons,but her parents won't stop any one of them because they might come in handy some day!
6In the experiment sessions,students played a computer game that provided cash behind three doors appearing on the screen.The rule was the more money you earned,the better player you were,given a total of100 clicks.Every time the students opened a door by clicking on it,they would use
up one click but wouldn't get any money.However,each subsequent click on that door would earn a fluctuating sum of money,with one door always revealing more money than the others.The important
part of the rule was each door switch,though having no cash value,would also use up one of the100 clicks.Therefore,the winning strategy was to quickly check all the doors and keep clicking on the one with the seemingly highest rewards.
7While playing the game,students noticed a modified visual element:Any door left un-clicked for a short while would shrink in size and vanish.Since they already understood the game,they should have ignored the vanishing doors.Nevertheless,they hurried to click on the lesser doors before they vanished,trying to keep them open.As a result,they wasted so many clicks rushing back to the vanishing doors that they lost money in the end.Why were the students so attached to the lesser doors?They would probably protest that they were clinging to the doors to keep future options open,but,according to Dr.Ariely,that isn't the true factor.
8Instead of the excuse to maintain future options open,underneath it all the students'desire was to avoid the immediate,though temporary,pain of watching options close."Closing a door on an option is experienced as a loss, and people are willing to pay a big price to avoid the emotion of loss,"Dr.Ariely says.In the experiment,the price was easily measured in lost cash.In life,the corresponding costs are often less obvious such as wasted time or missed opportunities.
9"Sometimes these doors are closing too slowly for us to see them vanishing," Dr.Ariely writes."We may work more hours at our jobs without realizing that the childhood of our sons and daughters is slipping away."
10So,what can be done to restore balance in our lives?One answer,Dr. Ariely says,is to implement more prohibitions on overbooking.We can work to reduce options on our own,delegating tasks to others and even giving away ideas for others to pursue.He points to marriage as an example,"In marriage, we create a situation where we promise ourselves not to keep options open. We close doors and announce to others we've closed doors."
11Since conducting the door experiment,Dr.Ariely says he has made a conscious effort to lessen his load.He urges the rest of us to resign from committees,prune holiday card lists,rethink hobbies and remember the lessons of door closers like Xiang Yu.
12In other words,Dr.Ariely is encouraging us to discard those things that seem to have outward merit in favor of those things that actually enrich our
lives.We are naturally prejudiced to believe that more is better,but Dr.Ariely's research provides a dose of reality that strongly suggests otherwise.
13What price do we pay for trying to have more and more in life?What pleasure and satisfaction can be derived from focusing our energy and attention in a more concentrated fashion?Surely,we will have our respective answers.
14Consider these important questions:Will we have more by always increasing options or will we have more with fewer,carefully chosen options?What doors should we close in order to allow the right windows of opportunity and happiness to open?
Language Points:
1The next time you’re deciding between rival options,one which is primary and the other which is secondary,ask yourself this question:What would Xiang Yu do? (Para.1)
Meaning:The next time when you are to make a choice between two competing options, you have to distinguish which is the primary one and which is the minor one.To be enlightened,you can ask yourself what option Xiang Yu would choose.
Meaning beyond words:It suggests that Xiang Yu was a wonderful decision-maker. Note:The phrase rival options means that both options seem like good choices,but one choice is somewhat better than the other.In this case,it is the one that Xiang Yu chose to implement.
2Xiang Yu was a Chinese imperial general in the third century BC who took his troops across the Zhang River on a raid into enemy territory.(Para.2)
wordsMeaning:Xiang Yu was an ancient Chinese general in the third century BC.He led his troops across the Zhang River to attack the enemy in its territory.
3To his troops’astonishment,he ordered their cooking pots crushed and their sailing ships burned.(Para.2)
Meaning beyond words:To make sure his troops would win the battle quickly,Xiang Yu ordered the soldiers to crush their cooking pots and burn their sailing boats after he led his troops across the Zhang River to attack the enemy.This way,he closed the door for retreating from the enemy’s territory and sent out a clear message to his men that they only had two choices:to win the battle or die in the battle.However,his decision was obviously against normal practice,which greatly shocked his troops.
4He explained that he was imposing on them a necessity for attaining victory over their opponents.(Para.3)
Meaning beyond words:By having their cooking pots crushed and their sailing ships burned,Xiang Yu
put his troops in such a desperate condition that they wouldn’t have any hope to escape but fight to survive and eventually win the battle.In other words,Xiang Yu gave his troops only one option.
Usage note:rival,opponent
rival和opponent都可以用作名词，都可以表示“对手”，但两者有区别。
1rival指在同一领域中为相同目标相竞争或相匹敌的对手。例如：
The United States’biggest rival in technological advancement is Japan.在技术进步方面，美国最大的对手是日本。
2opponent指在某次竞赛或某个场合直接面对的对手。例如：
He’s the best opponent I’ve come across this season,a great player.他是我本赛季遇到的最出的对手，一位了不起的运动员。
比较：
The Los Angeles Lakers’biggest rival is the Boston Celtics.洛杉矶湖人队最大的对手是波士顿凯尔特人队。（指湖人队一直与凯尔特人队在争高低，其竞争对手多年来一直是凯尔特人队。）
The Los Angeles Lakers’opponent in the2010NBA Finals is the Boston Celtics.洛杉矶湖人队在2010年NBA总决赛中的对手是波士顿凯尔特人队。（指在2010年NBA决赛中湖人队的竞争对手是凯尔特人队。）
3opponent不能用作动词，rival可用作动词，表示“竞争；与…相匹敌”。例如：
Ships can’t rival aircraft for speed.轮船在速度方面无法与飞机匹敌。
5What he said was surely motivating,but it wasn’t really appreciated by many of his loyal soldiers as they watched their vessels go up in flames.(Para.3) Meaning:Xiang Yu’s order of crushing the cooking pots and burning the sailing ships was definitely inspiring to his troops,but it was hardly valued by his faithful soldiers,who watched their boats burning.
go up in flames:suddenly begin burning in a way that is difficult to control突然着火
The factory went up in flames last night.昨晚工厂突然着火了。
6But the genius of General Xiang Yu’s conviction would be validated both on the battlefield and in modern social science research.(Para.3)
Meaning:However,the high level of intelligence expressed in his strong belief would prove to be correct on the battlefield as well as in modern social science research.
Note:The word battlefield is a compound word,which is the combination of two nouns:battle and field.There are more examples of this kind of compound
words:armchair,bedtime,birdhouse,birthplace,bookstore,etc.The meaning of many words from such a combination is easy to guess:battlefield—a place where a battle is being fought or has been fought.For example:
They carried the wounded soldiers from the battlefield.他们把伤员从战场上抬了下来。
7General Xiang Yu was a rare exception to the norm,a veteran leader who was highly respected for his many conquests and who achieved the summit of success. (Para.3)
Meaning:What Xiang Yu did was quite different from what was usually practiced.As an experienced leader,he was very much respected by his soldiers for his many amazing accomplishments,and his highest level of success.
Note:The word norm means“the usual or normal situation,way of doing sth.,etc.”.Here it refers to a sit
uation in which other commanders would surely do:Keep more options. an exception sb.that is not included in a general statement,or does not follow a rule or pattern对…例外
Most basketball players are very tall,but he’s an exception to that rule;he’s relatively short.大多数篮球运动员都非常高大，但他是一个例外，他比较矮。
8He is featured in Dan Ariely’s enlightening new publication,Predictably Irrational, a fascinating investigation of seemingly irrational human behavior,such as the tendency for keeping multiple options open.(Para.4)
Meaning:General Xiang Yu,together with his boat burning strategy,was introduced in Dan Ariely’s inspirational new publication,which examines unreasonable human behavior such as the unintentional desire to keep many options open.
Note:The title of the book Predictably Irrational describes an unreasonable or illogical behavior which is predictable because of the nature of human beings.It has to do with the hidden forces that shape people’s decisions.People sometimes make decisions based on irrational thought,and that’s why we see how certain mistakes are made again and again.
9Most people can’t marshal the will for painful choices,not even students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT),where Dr.Ariely teaches behavioral economics.(Para.4)
Meaning:Most people,including the students learning behavioral economics with Dr. Ariely at MIT,can’t think logically and make rational decisions when facing painful choices.

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