Passage 2
［403词心理科学类建议做题时间：7.5分钟］
To survive, psychologically as well as physically, human beings must inhabit a world that is relatively free of ambiguity and reasonably predictable. Some sort of structure must be placed upon the endless profusion of incoming signals. The infant, born into a world of FLASHing, hissing, moving images, soon learns to adapt by resolving this chaos into toys and tables, dogs and parents. Even adults who have had their vision or hearing restored through surgery describe the world as frightening and sometimes unbearable experience; only after days of able to transform blur and noise into meaningful and therefore manageable experiences.
It is commonplace to talk as if the world “has” meaning, to ask what “is” the meaning of a phrase, a painting, a contract. Yet when thought about, it is clear that events are devoid of meaning until someone assigns it to them. There is no appropriate response to a bow or a handshake, a shout or a whisper, until it is interpreted. A drop of water and the color red have meaning, they simply exist. The aim of human perception is to make the world intelligible so that it can be managed successfully; the attribution of meaning is a prerequisite to and preparation for action.
People are never passive receivers, merely absorbing events of obvious significance, but are active in assigning to sensation. What any event acquires in the way of meaning appears to reflect a transaction between what there is to be seen or heard, and what the interpreter brings to it in the way of past experience and prevailing motive. Thus the attribution of meaning is always a creative process which the raw data of sensation are transformed to fit the aims of the observer.
The diversity of reactions that can be triggered by a single experience — meeting a stranger, negotiating a contract, attending a textile conference — is immense. Each observer is forced to see it through his own eyes, interpret it in the light of his own values, and fit it to the requirements of his own circumstances. As a consequence, every object and message is seen by every observer from a somewhat different perspective. Each person will note some features and neglect others. Each will accept some relations among the facts and deny others. Each will arrive at some conclusion, tentative or certain, as the sounds and forms resolve into “temple” or “barn”, a “compliment” or “insult”.
11. To maintain our health both mentally and bodily, we should live in a world.
12. According to the passage, the world is unless we assign the meaning to it.
13. By what do we understand the world and successfully deal with it?
14. Before taking any action, according to the author, we are supposed to grant it .
15. People often interpret things around from their own values and experience, and the final result is that people .
