2014届高考英语二轮专题突破精选：阅读理解1.docVIP

2014届高考英语二轮专题突破精选：阅读理解 1. Mom was right! If you say thank you, for even the smallest gift or slightest show of kindness, you’ll feel happy. Gratitude, says Robert A. Emmons, a professor or psychology at the University of California, is an important element of happiness. In his recent book, Thanks, Emmons uses the first major study on gratitude to prove mom’s point. In acknowledging and developing this much-ignored expression of thankfulness, he explains how people have benefited---- even improved their health. As one of the leading scholars of the positive psychology movement, he admits gratitude may be difficult to express. He advises you to begin by admitting that life is good and full of events and elements that make daily existence a wonder. Second, recognize that the source of life’s goodness is more than just you. That source may be your mom, a friend, partner, child, colleague at work or play, or any combination of these. Gratitude is always other-directed, notes Emmons. You can be pleased or angry with yourself and feel guilty about doing something wrong, but you can never be grateful to or for yourself. Expressing gratitude shouldn’t be a reaction; it should be a state of mind. To feel grateful when life is a breeze and you have more than you need is easy. To feel grateful in time of crisis—anger, hatred and bitterness is easier. Also, too many people are aware of life’s blessings only after these are lost. It’s crisis and chaos ---- danger, disease, disability and death ---- that bring many individuals to realize just how dependent they are on others. Yet it’s the way each of us begins life and ends it. It’s too bad that so many people waste those decades in between labouring under the illusion they are self-sufficient, says Emmons. The abundance of voices expressing gratitude from his studies of individuals with chronic health problems is many. But Emmons goes beyond his “groundbreaking” science to make his case for gratitude by including the inspi