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阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项.
Some people really don't like to be left alone with their
thoughts. For example, some people taking part in a new study preferred to
receive an electric shock rather than spend 15 minutes alone in a room with
nothing to do. “The human mind wants to engage with the world, even, it
appears, if that involves pain,” Timothy Wilson concludes. He is a psychologist
who works at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
The brains of mammals evolved or changed slowly over generations to watch
for dangers and opportunities.“Only humans evolved the ability to think,” he
says.“Still, people can become uncomfortable controlling their own thoughts.”
They may not be able to guide those thoughts in a pleasing or comforting
direction. And that may help explain the popularity of meditation. It's a
process in which people learn to control their thoughts and benefit from quiet
contemplation (沉思).
For its new study, Wilson's group recruited (招募) 146 college
students. The researchers asked each student to sit alone in a room at their
lab without any devices, such as cellphones. This solitude lasted for 6
to 15 minutes.
Most participants said they not only had trouble concentrating but also
found the experience unpleasant. The researchers then asked 44 of these people
to sit alone at home, too. Again, the students had the same reaction as they
had in the lab. They found the experience very uncomfortable.
But here's the shocker — quite literally. The scientists asked 18 men and
24 women to sit quietly and just think about anything. Their quiet, alone time
lasted for entire 15 minutes. But in this experiment, the participants could
give themselves a painful electric shock if they wished. That shock, though,
would not make their participation in the experiment end any earlier. Still, 12
men and 6 women chose to receive a shock, rather than just continue to sit in
silence.
Psychologist Jonathan Schooler of the University of California, Santa Barbara,
did not work on the new study. He says its findings point out how many people
find it unpleasant to reflect on issues by themselves. They'd rather suffer pain
than bear quiet time alone.
