雅思阅读 · The Power of Habit

心理主题。题型：选择题 + T/F/NG。难度：中等（P2）。

正文 Passage

Every day, about 40 per cent of the actions people take are not decisions at all — they are habits. We brush our teeth, drink our morning coffee, scroll through our phones while waiting for the bus, all without consciously choosing to do so. Understanding how habits form, and how they can be changed, is one of the most active areas in modern psychology.

A habit, researchers have found, follows a simple loop: a cue, a routine and a reward. The cue is the trigger — a time of day, a place, an emotional state. The routine is the behaviour itself. The reward is what the brain gets out of it — a hit of pleasure, a feeling of completion, a moment of distraction. Over time, the brain stops deliberating between options and simply runs the routine automatically, freeing up mental energy for other tasks.

This automaticity is what makes habits so powerful — and so hard to break. When a habit becomes deeply ingrained, it is stored in the basal ganglia, a primitive part of the brain associated with pattern recognition. Even when we consciously decide to quit, the old cue-routine-reward loop still fires below the level of awareness. This is why people who try to give up smoking in a new city often succeed, then relapse when they return to familiar streets: the cues have changed, but the loop has not been rewritten.

The good news is that habits can be changed, but not simply by being suppressed. Research suggests that the most effective strategy is to keep the same cue and the same reward, but substitute a different routine. A smoker who reaches for a cigarette when stressed (cue: stress, reward: relief) can replace the cigarette with a five-minute walk. The cue and reward remain; only the middle step changes. This is the principle behind most successful behavioural therapies, from addiction treatment to weight loss programmes.

Habits are not purely individual, either. Organisations and societies build them too. Morning rituals, weekly meetings, annual reviews — these are institutional habits that shape how companies and cultures function. Just as personal habits can be rewritten, so can organisational ones, though the process takes far longer and requires consistent repetition.

The lesson from decades of research is clear: we are not as rational as we like to think. Much of our daily life runs on autopilot. The first step to changing any behaviour is not willpower — it is awareness of the cue, and curiosity about the reward.

题目 Questions

Questions 1-3: Choose the correct letter.

1. What percentage of daily actions are estimated to be habits?

• A. 10 per cent
• B. 25 per cent
• C. 40 per cent
• D. 75 per cent

2. The habit loop consists of:

• A. thought, feeling, action
• B. cue, routine, reward
• C. stimulus, response, punishment
• D. beginning, middle, end

3. According to the passage, the best way to change a habit is to:

• A. completely suppress the cue
• B. wait for willpower to appear
• C. keep the cue and reward but change the routine
• D. move to a different city

Questions 4-7: T/F/NG

4. Habits are stored in the basal ganglia.

5. People in a new city always keep their old habits.

6. Organisations also develop habits.

7. Willpower is the most important factor in changing habits.

Questions 8-10: Complete the notes. NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS.

• A habit's (8) ____________ is the trigger, such as a time or place.
• The reward gives the brain a hit of (9) ____________ or completion.
• Changing a habit requires awareness of the cue and curiosity about the (10) ____________.

答案 Answers

核心词汇

habit / automatic / cue / routine / reward / basal ganglia / ingrain / relapse / substitute / therapy / addiction / willpower / autopilot / deliberation / primitive