大学英语六级：短文改错(四十一)

Psychologists take opposing views of how external rewards,

from warm praise to cold cash, affect motivation and creativity.

Behaviorists, who study the relation between actions and their

consequences, argue that rewards cannot improve performance ___1___

at work and school. Cognitive resear-chers, who study various

aspects of mental life, maintain that rewards often destroy

creativity by encouraging independence on approval and gifts ___2___

from others.

The later view has gained many supporters, especially ___3___

among educators. But the careful use of small monetary rewards

speak creativity in grade-school children, suggesting that properly ___4___

presented inducements（刺激）indeed aid inventiveness,

according to a study in the June Journal of Personality and Social

Psychology. “ If kids know they are working for a reward and can

focus on a relative challenging task, they show the most creativity.” ___5___

says Robert Eisenberger of the University of Delacare in Newark.

“But it is easy to kill creativity through giving rewards for ___6___

poor performance or creating too much anticipation of rewards.” ___7___

“A teacher who continually draws attention to rewards or who

hands out high grades for ordinary achievement ends up uninspired ___8___

students.” Eisenberger holds. As an example of the latter point,

he notes growing efforts at major universities to tighten grading

standards and restor falling grades.

In earlier grades, the use of so-called token economics, in

that students handle challenging problems and receive ___9___

performance-based points toward valued rewards, show promise ___10___

in raising effort and creativity, the Delaware psycholoist claims.

 

答案及解析:

1. cannot -> can

本句中，who引导非限制性定语从句做插入语，主语为Behaviorists，故谓语argue保持原形。通读全文可知，本文通过Psychologists的观点，引出其反对观点和支持观点，并对两种观点进行讨论。由第一段第二句中的谓语argue（“据理争辩”），可知Behaviorists在反对Psychologists的观点；第三句中的谓语maintain（“坚信”），则表明支持Psychologists观点的是Cognitive researchers。因此，Behaviorists表达的观点应该是rewards can improve performance at work and school，即“奖励可以促进人们在工作或在学习中的表现”，故将cannot改为can。

2. independence -> dependence

根据文意，independence on approval and gifts from others（“不依赖于他人的赞许和礼物”）与destroy creativity在语意上矛盾。故将independence改为dependence。

3. later -> latter

later意为“后来的”，latter意为“后者；第二个”。根据文意应该将later改为latter。

4. speak -> speaks

speak的主语为上一行中的名词短语the careful use，主语应在数上保持一致，故将speak改为speaks；of all monetary rewards是the careful use的后置定语，作修饰成分。

5. relative -> relatively

本行中的challenging意为“具有挑战性的”，是形容词，应该用副词来修饰，故将relative改为relatively。

6. through -> by

through和by都可以表示“靠..，通过..”；前者一般接名词，后者接动名词。through后接动名词时，意为“由于…..”，与文意不符。

7. of -> for

此处rewards是anticipation的目标，应该用for，而of表示从属关系。

8. uninspired前加with

end up在本句中的主语是A teacher，因此使用第三人称单数。end up意为“以…告终”，后接动名词介词短语，一般不直接加名词。故应该加上with。

9. that -> which

根据上一行中逗号“，”可确定 in that引导的不是原因状语从句，所以in…rewards只能是非限制性定语从句，which可单独引导非限制性定语从句，也可以与介词搭配使用，that不能引导非限制性定语从句。

10. show -> shows

分析全句结构可知，show是谓语，而主语是the use，of so-called token economics是后置定语，作主语的修饰成分。故将show改为shows。