填空题
Of the many factors that contribute to poor performance on standardized tests like the SAT, nerves and (1) , surprisingly, may not rank very high. In fact, according to a new paper published in Journal of Experimental Psychology, a little anxiety—not to mention fatigue—might actually be a very good thing.
The study was conducted by psychology professors Phillip Ackerman and Ruth Kanfer. They (2) 239 college freshmen, each of whom agreed to take three different versions of the SAT reasoning test given on three (3) Saturday mornings. The tests would take three-and-a-haft hours, four-and-a-half hours and five-and-a-haft-hours, and would be administered in a (4) order to each of the students. To (5) the stress level in the students—who had already taken the SAT in the past and gotten into college—Ackerman and Kanfer offered a cash (6) to any volunteers who beat their high-school score.
Before the test began on each of the three Saturdays, the students filled out a questionnaire that asked them about their fatigue level, (7) and confidence. They completed the questionnaire again at a break in the middle of the test and once more at the end. Together, all of these (8) a sort of fever chart of the students’ energy and anxiety throughout the experience.
When the researchers scored the results, it came as no surprise that volunteers’ fatigue and stress rose (9) as the test got longer. What was (10) was their corresponding performance: as the length of the test increased, so did the students’ scores. The average score on the three-and-a-haft hour test was 1,209 out of 1,600. On the four-and-a-haft-hour version it was 1,222; on the five- and-a-half-hour test it was 1,237.
A. provided
B. random
C. outrage
D. bonus
E. dramatically
F. recruited
G. terminated
H. eliminate
I. consecutive
J. exhaustion
K. deliberate
L. unexpected
M. boost
N. steadily
O. mood