In the 1960s, medical researchers Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe developed a checklist of stressful events. They appreciated the tricky point that any major change can be stressful. Negative events like "serious illness of a family member" were high on the list, but so were some positive life-changing events, like marriage. When you take the Holmes-Rahe test you must remember that the score does not reflect how you deal with stress it only shows how much you have to deal with. And we now know that the way you handle these events dramatically affects your chances of staying healthy. By the early 1970s, hundreds of similar studies had followed Holmes and Rahe. And millions of Americans who work and live under stress worried over the reports. Somehow, the research got boiled down to a memorable message. Women’’s magazines ran headlines like "Stress causes illness!" If you want to stay physically and mentally healthy, the articles said, avoid stressful events. But such simplistic advice is impossible to follow. Even if stressful events are dangerous, many -- like the death of a loved one--are impossible to avoid. Moreover, any warning to avoid all stressful events is a prescription (处方) for staying away from opportunities as well as trouble. Since any change can be stressful, a person who wanted to be completely free of stress would never marry, have a child, take a new job or move. The notion that all stress makes you sick also ignores a lot of what we know about people. It assumes we’’re all vulnerable (脆弱的) and passive in the face of adversity (逆境). But what about human initiative and creativity Many come through periods of stress with more physical and mental vigor than they had before. We also know that a long time without change or challenge can lead to boredom, and physical and mental strain. The studies on stress in the early 1970’’s led to ________. A．widespread concern over its harmful effectsB．great panic over the mental disorder it could causeC．an intensive research into stress-related illnessesD．popular avoidance of stressful jobs
In the 1960s, medical researchers Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe developed a checklist of stressful events. They appreciated the tricky point that any major change can be stressful. Negative events like "serious illness of a family member" were high on the list, but so were some positive life-changing events, like marriage. When you take the Holmes-Rahe test you must remember that the score does not reflect how you deal with stress it only shows how much you have to deal with. And we now know that the way you handle these events dramatically affects your chances of staying healthy. By the early 1970s, hundreds of similar studies had followed Holmes and Rahe. And millions of Americans who work and live under stress worried over the reports. Somehow, the research got boiled down to a memorable message. Women’’s magazines ran headlines like "Stress causes illness!" If you want to stay physically and mentally healthy, the articles said, avoid stressful events. But such simplistic advice is impossible to follow. Even if stressful events are dangerous, many -- like the death of a loved one--are impossible to avoid. Moreover, any warning to avoid all stressful events is a prescription (处方) for staying away from opportunities as well as trouble. Since any change can be stressful, a person who wanted to be completely free of stress would never marry, have a child, take a new job or move. The notion that all stress makes you sick also ignores a lot of what we know about people. It assumes we’’re all vulnerable (脆弱的) and passive in the face of adversity (逆境). But what about human initiative and creativity Many come through periods of stress with more physical and mental vigor than they had before. We also know that a long time without change or challenge can lead to boredom, and physical and mental strain. The studies on stress in the early 1970’’s led to ________. A．widespread concern over its harmful effectsB．great panic over the mental disorder it could causeC．an intensive research into stress-related illnessesD．popular avoidance of stressful jobs
题目解答
答案
A
解析
考查要点：本题主要考查学生对文章主旨的把握能力，需要结合上下文理解1970年代初压力研究带来的社会影响。
解题核心思路：关键在于定位文章中描述研究结果影响的段落，抓住“数百万美国人因压力报告而担忧”这一核心信息，排除其他干扰选项。
破题关键点：注意文章第二段中“worried over the reports”直接对应选项A中的“widespread concern”，而其他选项如“intensive research”或“avoid stressful jobs”虽在文中提及，但并非直接结果。
选项分析
A. widespread concern over its harmful effects
文章第二段明确指出：“And millions of Americans...worried over the reports.”（数百万美国人因压力报告而担忧），直接对应选项A。
B. great panic over the mental disorder it could cause
文中未提及“恐慌”或“精神疾病”，仅提到压力可能影响健康，但未上升到“panic”层面。
C. an intensive research into stress-related illnesses
虽然文中提到“hundreds of similar studies”，但这是1970年代初之前的研究，而非研究结果带来的影响。
D. popular avoidance of stressful jobs
文章指出媒体建议“avoid stressful events”，但作者认为此建议不可行，且文中未说明人们实际采取此行为。