Directions:In this part, you will have 15
minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions. For questions 1-7, mark Y (for YES)
if the statement agrees with the information given in the
passage; N (for NO) if the
statement contradicts the information given in the passage ; NG
(for NOT GIVEN) if the information is not given in the passage. For questions 8-10, complete the sentences with the information given
in the passage. Help Yourself through the Hard
Times Everyone, at some point, will suffer a
loss—the loss of loved ones, good health, or a job. "It’s your ’desert
experience’—a time of feeling barren of options, even hope," explains Patrick
Del Zoppo, a psychologist and bereavement (丧失) specialist with the Archdiocese
of New York. "The important thing is not to allow yourself to be trapped in the
desert. " So, can we actually do things to help ourselves
through bad times As I discovered, you can take charge of your own cure.
Here’s how: Let yourself grieve
Counselors agree that a period of grieving is critical. "There’s no shame
in this," says Del Zoppo. "Tears aren’t a sign that you’re simply feeling sorry
for yourself but are an expression of sadness or emotion that must find an
outlet." And it doesn’t matter if the grieving takes a while to
surface, as long as it finally finds expression. Consider the case of Donna
Kelb. One spring day her 16-year-old son, Cliff, Jr., and 15-year-old son,
Jimmy, were sanding their boat. Suddenly Donna heard a scream. Rushing outside,
she found her two sons lying on the ground near the boat. Jimmy
had gone into the water and returned dripping wet. When he picked up the sanding
machine, he was electrocuted (电死). Cliff, knocked to the ground by the current
when he tried to grab the tool, recovered. Donna was so numbed
by this tragedy that she didn’t cry for weeks—not even at the funeral. Then back
at work one day, she began to feel dizzy. "Finally I went home, locked myself in
my room and just wailed," she says. "It seemed this great weight was being
lifted from my shoulders." What Kelb experienced after her
tragic loss was what Del Zoppo calls a "first-line defense that shields the
consciousness from some extremely unpleasant reality. " Kelb couldn’t begin
healing until nature had allowed her time to sort out her tragedy. Understand your anger "Anger is natural,"
says Del Zoppo, "but it can be released in a wholesome way. " Properly
understood, it can serve your recovery. Candace Bracken’s future
seemed full of promise. The 25-year-old airline service coordinator had a new
baby and a new job. Then one way, she began bleeding uncontrollably. Acute
leukemia (白血病) was diagnosed, and Bracken was given two weeks to live. After the
initial shock, she felt angry. "I had taken care of myself, lived a straight and
wonderful life," says Bracken. "Things like this weren’t supposed to happen to
people like me. " She became dizzy and confused at the thought
of her approaching death, and withdrew. "I just give up," she says. Then a
doctor told her she needed to arrange for someone to care for her daughter. "How
dare you tell me to find someone else to raise my child" Bracken snapped. At
that moment, she realized that she had strong reasons to fight for her life. Her
anger now sparked her. It helped see her through a suffering, but ultimately
successful, bone-marrow transplant. Face the
challenge Another obstacle on the road to health after
a significant loss can be denial. Instead of facing what has happened to them,
says Dr. Michael Aronoff, psychiatrist and a spokesperson for the American
Psychiatric Association, many people "try to fill up that empty feeling looking
for an escape". The man who rarely touched a drink will begin hitting the
bottle. A woman who watched her weight will overeat. Others—like me—try
literally to "run away". After working for bosses all his life,
John Jankowski had always longed to have his own options and stock- trading
firm. He finally got the start-up money and did well. Then came a decline in
business, and before long Jankowski was in serious financial trouble.
"It was like my whole life had been shattered," he says. With financial
resources exhausted and the pressure of a family to support, Jankowski’s
thoughts turned to escape. One morning, while on a run, he just
kept going. After jogging westward for two hours, he staggered back . home. "It
finally dawned on me that I couldn’t run away from my troubles. The only thing
that made sense was to face up to my situation," he says. "Admitting failure was
the toughest part—but I had to before I could get on with my life." Get out and do "After a few weeks, I urge
people recovering from loss to get back into a routine," says psychiatrist and
Boston University professor Bessel A. van der Kolk. "It’s important to force
yourself to concentrate on things other than your hurt." Consider these
activities: Join a support group. Once you’ve
made the decision to "get on with life," you’ll need someone to talk to— and the
most effective kind of conversation can be with someone else who has undergone
an ordeal Keep a journal. Many find comfort in creating an
ongoing record of their experiences. At best it can serve as a kind of
self-therapy. Make a plan. The idea that there
are things to look forward to will reinforce that you are forging ahead into a
fresh future. Schedule that trip you’ve been postponing. Learn new skills. Take up a new hobby or sport. You have
a new life ahead; a new skill will complement it. Reward
yourself. During highly stressful times, even the simplest daily
chores—getting up, showering, or fixing meals—can seem discouraging. Consider
every accomplishment, no matter how small, a victory to be rewarded. Do exercises. Physical activity can be especially
therapeutic. Therese Gump felt confused and aimless after her 21-year-old son
committed suicide. A friend talked her into taking a jazzercise class. "It was
just mindless stretching and bouncing to music," Gump says, "but it made me feel
better physically, and when you feel better physically you feel better
mentally." "Exercise gets you out of your head and your
troubles," Aronoff explains, "and it allows you to experience your body with
your two feet on the ground." Get outside
yourself "Many people who survive deeply distressing
situations eventually find the need to take meaningful action," says Dr. van der
Kolk. "They may start organizations, write books, work for awareness. Along the
way they discover that a powerful way to help themselves lies in helping others.
" You don’t have to suddenly become an organizer to reach out to
others. Irene Roberts, a 68-year-old medical secretary, underwent grueling
chemotherapy for ovarian and breast cancer. Throughout the experience, love from
her family and friends, as well as prayers, helped Roberts maintain her humor
and positive outlook. Doctors and staff were touched by
Roberts’s optimism, and when she’d ask how they were feeling, they would
respond. "I’d just lie there and listen," she says with a twinkle in her eye,
"never letting on that they were helping me more than I was helping them. The
truth is that thinking of others rather than spending a lot of time thinking
about myself played a huge role in my full recovery." Be
patient with yourself People often ask, "When will this
terrible pain stop" Experts resist being pinned down to time frames. "Roughly,
it’s a minimum of six months before you even start to feel better," says Anorak.
"And it can be as long as a year, possibly two. A lot depends on disposition,
the support within your environment, and if you get help and work on it.
" So, be easy on yourself. Recognize that you’ll need time, and
that your own pace of recovery may not fit with that of others. Congratulate
yourself at each step through grief: I’m still here, I’ve made it this
far! Sailing is a slow business. I made it to Florida in five
weeks. In attempting to "run away," I’d embarked on a trip that gave me a
structure, a daily outdoor routine requiring physical exertion, and plenty of
time. I was still hurting, but by the time I anchored in Miami, I was ready to
try again. At what, I wasn’t sure. "Why not get back to
writing—to what you were trained for" said my dad. He was right. And here I am
now, writing to you. It feels good to be back. Recognize that recovery needs time, and everyone has his/her own pace of recovery, so we should ______