Three American psychologists did a research study several years ago on what Americans value most. In the study, eighteen values were asked to put in the order of importance. The result is as follows:
1.family security
2.a world at peace
3. Freedom
4.self-respect
5. Happiness
6.wisdom
7. a sense of accomplishment
8.a comfortable life
9. true friendship
10.salvation(拯救)in the religious
11.inner harmony
12.equality
13. national security
14.mature love
15. a world of beauty
16.pleasure
17. an exciting life
18.social recognition
Are you surprised that Americans place their values in this way? Did you think they would put their values in a different order? I would have thought love and friendship might have come higher on this list. As you can see, several of these values are closely related to each other and are dependent upon each other. In other words, we cannot have 1-family security without 2 a world at peace ,and 3 national security.
The results of the study showed that people who placed equality high up on their list of values were those who had positive attitudes towards persons of other races and who supported civil rights activity, especially the work of Martin Luther King Jr.
Another interesting finding in this study was that eleven -year-old children ranked a world of beauty 7th in importance, but fifteen-year old children ranked a world of beauty 14th and adults ranked it 17th. Well, what does it mean?Probably it means that as people grow older and take on more responsibilities in their work and with their own families, that appreciating beauty move-back into the background of their lives. What a pity! Children have more time to enjoy beauty and Nature.
Philosophers, psychologists and religious people have always been very much concerned with values. After all, values represent what we each hold most dear to ourselves and to our society. Societies establish their own forms of government based on the collective values of the people, or at least they try to do so.
The best title of this passage can be _________.
A.The American People
B.Research on American Values
C.How Psychologists Do Research
D.The American Social Custom
Which of the following might the writer place higher on the list?A.A world of beauty.
B.A comfortable life,
C.Equality and freedom.
D.Love and friendship.
Which of the following is NOT true?A.All Americans look forward to the equality of different races
B.Psychologists got some interesting results from this study.
C.Family security and a world at peace are dependent upon each other.
D.People ’s concepts of values play an essential role in the formation of their government system.
The finding that children ranked“a world of beauty ”higher than adults probably means that _________ .A.American schools begin to lay more emphasis as beauty education
B.American children are usually more kind- hearted than adults
C.adults have less time to enjoybeauty and Nature because of more responsibilities
D.a world of beauty would be the most important thing as people grow older
According to the last paragraph, values represent _________.A.what a dear friend our society is to us
B.what our dear society can give us
C.most valuable things to us and our society
D.how we and our society hold to each other