ARE you creative, shy, outgoing? Our personalities reveal a lot about who we are. But what’s surprising is that our personality can also say something about our health. That’s according to researchers at Duke University, US.
During an experiment on 1,000 people, scientists assessed (评定) their personalities in two ways: by asking someone they knew, such as a family member or friend; then by asking someone they had just met, such as a nurse. The study found that those who were careful at age 26 were in better health after 12 years.
Being careful means that people tend to have a lot of self-control, and are less likely to smoke, the scientists said. Careful people are also more likely to have an active lifestyle and healthy diet.
From those who were least careful, 45 percent developed health problems by the age of 38. Such health issues included gum disease and high blood pressure (高血压). To compare, only 18 percent of careful people went on to develop health problems.
Another positive personality was called “openness to experience”, meaning curious and imaginative. People who have more of this personality have higher IQ scores. So they’d be more likely to know how to find medical help to prevent disease.
According to the report, if doctors assessed our personalities, it could help doctors to find which young adults need advice on how to live a healthy lifestyle. What’s surprising is that stress didn’t play a big part on a person’s health. Even though stress and anxiety (焦虑) are usually linked to bad health.
But can a doctor who knows our personality really improve our health? Or should doctors be kept away from knowing something so personal?
小题1:Which personality type may be better for our health, according to the research?
| A．self-controlled. | B．Stressed. |
| C．Shy. | D．Careless. |
小题2:From the passage, we learn that careful people ____.
| A．are too shy to talk to strangers |
| B．love to ask the doctor for advice |
| C．are likely to have a healthy lifestyle |
| D．may have high blood pressure when they’re older |
小题3:Where can you probably read the article?
| A．Newspaper. | B．Science fiction book. |
| C．Research paper. | D．Travel guide. |
小题4:What is the main idea of the article?
| A．People can change their personality type. |
| B．Scientists have found two different personality types. |
| C．Personalities have something to do with our lifestyle. |
| D．Personalities say something about our health. |