黃連英

Would you call yourself lazy？ If you live in a messy house and are reluctant to lift a finger to help out， maybe you are. But laziness is a subjective thing—sloppiness to one person might be a form of relaxation to another.

In general， we tend to look on our laziness as a negative thing. We think of lazy people as unproductive or that they dont really care about things. And when we find ourselves doing nothing， we feel guilty about it. Could this be because we are not instinctively lazy creatures？ And is that why we often do things we dont need to do and which are sometimes painful—like running a marathon？ A famous writer Claudia Hammond explains that “enforced and extended rest， unless we are ill and our bodies demand it， leads not to feelings of being relaxed but of restlessness and irritability.”

Others may suggest we are naturally lazy， and that we cant help taking it easy， though its hard to believe because were constantly told to do more. But kicking back and living life in the slow lane could be better for our health. A study by psychologist Dr. Robert Levine in 1999， for example， concluded that people living in cities with a fast pace of life had the highest rates of coronary heart disease.

Laziness has also been shown to be good for our mental health， so having a nap or some downtime shouldnt be frowned upon. And there are other possible benefits too. Dr. Masud Husain， Professor of Neurology at the University of Oxford once said： “We found that people who have tended to be more apathetic（無動于衷的） might in some ways be more creative， so that although they might be a couch potato， they might be coming up with one great idea that might be very interesting and useful.” So， in our crazy lives， maybe we should chill out， get into goblin mode（躺平模式） and contemplate the benefits laziness can bring.

（材料來自XDF網(wǎng)站，有刪改）

1. What does the underlined word “sloppiness” in the first paragraph mean？

A. Laziness.? ? B. Tension.

C. Relaxation.D. Pressure.

2. What is mainly talked about in Paragraph 3 and Paragraph 4？

A. The benefits and drawbacks of laziness.

B. The benefits laziness brings to us.

C. Peoples attitudes toward laziness.

D. The ways to cope with laziness.

3. Which of the following is right according to Dr. Masud Husain？

A. Living a slow life could be better for our health.

B. Being lazy might help our mental health.

C. People living in cities may easily fall ill.

D. Laziness could stimulate our creativity.

4. What is the authors attitude toward laziness？

A. Doubtful. B. Positive.

C. Negative. D. Neutral.

1. A。解析：詞義猜測題。材料第一段中畫線詞所在句子的大意為“但是懶惰是一個主觀的東西——對一個人來說，懶怠可能是另一種放松方式”，由此可知，“sloppiness”在材料中應(yīng)是指代“懶惰”。故選A。

2. B。解析：推理判斷題。材料第三段主要講述了過慢節(jié)奏的生活對我們的身體健康有好處，材料第四段則提到了懶惰在心理健康、創(chuàng)造力方面的積極影響。綜合起來看，這兩段解釋了懶惰的益處。故選B。

3. D。解析：細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)材料最后一段中Dr. Masud Husain說的話，我們可知，一些相對懶散的人可能在某些方面更有創(chuàng)造力。故選D。

4. B。解析：觀點態(tài)度題。材料最后一段的最后一句指出，在我們瘋狂的生活中，也許我們應(yīng)該冷靜下來，進入躺平模式，思考一下懶惰可能帶來的好處。由此可見，作者對“懶惰”持肯定態(tài)度。故選B。