B
In 1890 William James, the American philosopher and physician and one of the founders of modern psychology, defined psychology as “the science of mental life” and this definition provides a good starting point for our understanding even today. We all have a mental life and therefore have some idea about what this means, even though it can be studied in rats or monkeys as well as in people and the concept remains difficult to understand.
Like most psychologists, William James was particularly interested in human psychology, which he thought consisted of certain basic elements: thoughts and feelings, a physical world which exists in time and space, and a way of knowing about these things. For each of us, this knowledge is primarily personal and private. It comes from our own thoughts, feelings and experience of the world, and may or may not be influenced by scientific facts about things. For this reason, it is easy for us to make judgments about psycho1ogical matters using our own experience as a standard. We behave as amateur psychologists when we offer opinions on complex psychological phenomena. However, problems arise when two people understand these things differently. Formal psychology attempts to provide methods for deciding which explanations are most likely to be correct, or for determining the circumstances under which each applies. The work of psychologists helps us distinguish between inside information, which is subjective, and may be prejudiced and unreliable, and the facts: between our predictions and what is “true” in scientific terms.
Psychology, as defined by William James, is about the mind or brain, but although psychologists do study the brain, we do not understand nearly enough about its workings to he able to comprehend the part that it plays in the experience and expression of our hopes, fears, and wishes, or in our behavior during experiences as varied as giving birth or watching a football match. Indeed, it is rarely possible to study the brain directly. So, psychologists have discovered more by studying our behavior, and by using their observations to obtain hypotheses (假设) about what is going on inside us.
【语篇解读】 虽然被誉为“美国现代心理学之父”的威廉·詹姆斯给出了心理学
的定义，但是这种抽象的理论研究仍然存在许多难以洞察的现象。
5.The first paragraph is mainly about________.
A.the founder of modem psychology
B.the definition of psychology
C.the complexity of psychology
D.the influence of psychology
解析 主旨大意题。本段第一句开门见山地交代了中心话题，后面进行了深入分析，所以本段的大意是”心理学的定义”。
答案 B
6.From Paragraph 2，we can know that problems arise because________.
A.of the difference between inside information and the facts
B.of different thoughts and feelings about psychology
C.people usually make judgments based on their own ideas
D.amateur psychologists cannot use scientific terms
解析 推理判断题。根据第二段的“For this reason，it is easy for us to make judgements...However, problems arise when two eople understand these things differently.”可推断之所以出现问题是因为人们通常用自己的观点作出判断。
答案 C
7.According to the passage, psychologists study the brain mainly________.
A.in a direct way
B.with their own experience
C.by observing how it works
D.by watching people's behavior
解析 细节理解题。根据第三段的最后一句可知心理学家主要是通过观察人们的行为对大脑进行研究。
答案 D
8.Which of the following can be the first sentence in the fourth paragraph?
A.Psychology is also about the ways people use their mental abilities to operate in the world around them.
B.William James is considered to be the greatest psychologist in the 1890s.
C.Psychology suggests that living beings adapt to a changing environment so that they can survive.
D.It is important for psychologists, as well as ordinary people, to be, aware of the reasons.
解析 推理判断题。第四段应该承接的是第三段的内容，根据第三段第一句前半部分中的内容可推测A项与文章结构最吻合。
答案 A
