2012考研英语真题英语一阅读部分.docVIP

Text 1 ①Come on—Everybodys doing it. ②That whispered message, half invitation and half forcing, is what most of us think of when we hear the words peer pressure. ③It usually leads to no good—drinking, drugs and casual sex. ④But in her new book, Join the Club, Tina Rosenberg contends that peer pressure can also be a positive force through what she calls the social cure, in which organizations and officials use the power of group dynamics to help individuals improve their lives and possibly the world. ①Rosenberg, the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, offers a host of examples of the social cure in action: In South Carolina, a state-sponsored antismoking program called Rage Against the Haze sets out to make cigarettes uncool. ②In South Africa, an HIV-prevention initiative known as loveLife recruits young people to promote safe sex among their peers. ①The idea seems promising, and Rosenberg is a perceptive observer. ②Her critique of the lameness of many public-health campaigns is spot-on: they fail to mobilize peer pressure for healthy habits, and they demonstrate a seriously flawed understanding of psychology. ③“Dare to be different, please dont smoke!” pleads one billboard campaign aimed at reducing smoking among teenagers—teenagers, who desire nothing more than fitting in. ④Rosenberg argues convincingly that public-health advocates ought to take a page from advertisers, so skilled at applying peer pressure. ①But on the general effectiveness of the social cure, Rosenberg is less persuasive. ②Join the Club is filled with too much irrelevant detail and not enough exploration of the social and biological factors that make peer pressure so powerful. ③The most glaring flaw of the social cure as its presented here is that it doesnt work very well for very long. ④Rage Against the Haze failed once state funding was cut. ⑤Evidence that the loveLife program produces lasting changes is limited and mixed. ①Theres no doubt that our peer groups exert enormous influence on our behavior