Question

Multitasking

People who multitask all the time may be the worst at doing two things at once, a new research suggests. The findings, based on performances and self-evaluation by about 275 college students, indicate that many people multitask not out of a desire to increase productivity, but because they are easily distracted (分心) and can’t focus on one activity. And “those people turn out to be the worst at handling different things,” said David Sanbonmatsu, a psychologist at the University of Utah.

Sanbonmatsu and his colleagues gave the students a set of tests and asked them to report how often they multitasked, how good they thought they were at it, and how sensation-seeking (尋求刺激) or imperative (沖動(dòng)) they were. They then evaluated the participants’ multitasking ability with a tricky mental task that required the students to do simple mathematical calculations while remembering a set of letters.

Not surprisingly, the scientists said, most people thought they were better than average at multitasking, and those who thought they were better at it were more likely to report using a cellphone while driving or viewing multiple kinds of media at once. But those who frequently deal with many things at the same time were found to perform the worst at the actual multitasking test. They also were more likely to admit to sensation-seeking and impulsive behavior, which connects with how easily people get bored and distracted.

“People multitask not because it’s going to lead to greater productivity, but because they’re distractible, and they get sucked into things that are not as important.” Sanbonmatsu said.

Adam Gazzaley, a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, who was not a member of the research group, said one limitation of the study was that it couldn’t find out whether people who start out less focused   toward multitasking or whether people’s recognizing and understanding abilities change as a result of multitasking.

The findings do suggest, however, why the sensation-seeker who multitask the most may enjoy risky distracted driving. “People who are multitasking are generally less sensitive to risky situations.” said Paul Atchley, another researcher not in the group. “This may partly explain why people go in for these situations even though they’re dangerous.”

1. The research led by Sanbonmatsu indicates that people who multitask       .

A．seek high productivity constantly

B．prefer handling different things when getting bored

C．a(chǎn)re more focused when doing many things at a time

D．have the poorest results in doing various things at the same time

2.When Sanbonmatsu and his colleagues conducted their research, they          .

A．a(chǎn)ssessed the multitasking ability of the students

B．evaluated the academic achievements of the students

C．a(chǎn)nalyzed the effects of the participants’ tricky mental tasks

D．measured the changes of the students’ understanding ability

3.According to Sanbonmatsu, people multitask because of their        _.

A．limited power in calculation               B．interests in doing things differently

C．inability to concentrate on one task          D．impulsive desire to try new things

4. From the last paragraph, we can learn that multitaskers usually____  .

A．drive very skillfully

B．go in for different tasks

C．fail to react quickly to potential dangers

D．refuse to explain the reasons for their behavior

 

Answer 1

【答案】

1.D

2.A

3.C

4.C

【解析】

文章大意：文章講述的是一項(xiàng)與人們通常的觀點(diǎn)相反的研究結(jié)果，即通常同時(shí)做多件事情的人，反而沒有普通人同時(shí)處理兩件事情的效率高，因?yàn)橥瑫r(shí)做多件事情的人平時(shí)更容易分心。

1.根據(jù)第一段的“People who multitask all the time may be the worst at doing two things at once, a new research suggests和those people turn out to be the worst at handling different things,”可知，平時(shí)同時(shí)做多件事情的人，在研究的實(shí)驗(yàn)中結(jié)果表現(xiàn)最差。故選擇D

2.根據(jù)第二段的“They then evaluated the participants’ multitasking ability”可知，他們是為了評(píng)估每一位參與者的多任務(wù)處理能力。

3.根據(jù)第四段“People multitask not because it’s going to lead to greater productivity, but because they’re distractible, and they get sucked into things that are not as important.”可知，Sanbonmatsu認(rèn)為人們同時(shí)做很多件事情，不是因?yàn)樗麄兿朐黾愉N量/產(chǎn)量，而是因?yàn)樗麄內(nèi)菀追中模╠istractible），他們很容易被不重要的事情所吸引，因此，得出結(jié)論，很多人是沒有集中精力做一件事情的能力，即C選項(xiàng)。

4.根據(jù)最后一段的“People who are multitasking are generally less sensitive to risky situations.”，通常同時(shí)做多件事情的人對(duì)于危險(xiǎn)的情況沒有那么敏感，也就是說他們對(duì)于危險(xiǎn)的情況或者潛在的危險(xiǎn)沒有那么強(qiáng)的敏感性，或者說沒有能夠做出快速反應(yīng)的能力，即C選項(xiàng)。