In his “Odyssey”, Homer immortalized the idea of resisting temptation by having the protago nist tied to the mast of his ship, to hear yet not succumb to the beautiful, dangerous songs of the Sirens. Researchers have long been intrigued as to whether this ability to avoid, or defer, gratifica- tion is related to outcomes in life. The best-known test is the “marshmallow” experiment, in which children who could refrain from eating the confection for 15 minutes were given a second one. Chil- dren who could not wait tended to have lower incomes and poorer health as adults. New research suggests that kids who are unable to delay rewards are also more likely to become criminals later.

　　Recently, four researchers used data from a Swedish survey in which more than 13,000 children aged 13 were asked whether they would prefer to receive $140 now or $1,400 in five years’ time. About four-fifths of them said they were prepared to wait.

　　Unlike previous researchers, the authors were able to track all the children and account for their parental background and cognitive ability. They found that the 13-year-olds who wanted the smaller sum of money at once were 32% more likely to be convicted of a crime during the next 18 years than those children who said they would rather wait for the bigger reward. Individuals who are impatient, they believe, prefer instant benefits and are therefore less likely to be deterred by potential punish- ments.

　　But those who fret that a person’s criminal path is set already as a teenager should not despair. The four researchers offer a remedy. When the respondents’ education was included in the analysis, they found that higher educational attainment was linked to a preference for delayed gratification.

　　Educational attainment and patience are related either because patience helps students to do better or because schooling makes people more likely to postpone rewards. Fortunately, there is evidence in support of the latter theory. Francisco Perez-Arce of the RAND Corporation, a think-tank, interviewed around 2,000 applicants for Mexican universities. The students had similar credentials but some obtained admission through a lottery to a university that did not charge tuition fees, where- as the rest had to apply elsewhere. As a result, a higher proportion of lottery-winners than losers went to college. After a year, Mr. Perez-Arce found, the lottery-winners were more patient than the losers. Since the process was random, he concluded that higher education can make people place 　　more weight on the future.

　　1.The “marshmallow” experiment is a test about_______ .

　　[A]accepting temptation [B]avoiding outcomes

　　[C]deferring gratification [D]eating the confection

　　2.All of the following make the new research differ from the previous ones EXCEPT _______ .

　　[A]the researchers tracked all the subjects

　　[B]the researchers surveyed a much wider range of children

　　[C]the researchers explained the children’s parental background

　　[D]the researchers considered the parents’ cognitive ability

　　3.It is believed that individuals who are impatient_______ .

　　[A]tend to get benefits at once

　　[B]are able to delay rewards

　　[C]would rather wait for the bigger reward

　　[D]are probably deterred by potential punishments

　　4.People who fret that a person ’ s criminal path is set already can take the remedial action of _______ .

　　[A]keeping healthy [B]attaining higher incomes

　　[C]receiving higher education [D]avoiding punishments

　　5.It is concluded that educational attainment and patience are related because_______ .

　　[A]patience helps students to do better

　　[B]gratification is delayed by receiving higher education

　　[C]schooling makes people less likely to postpone rewards

　　[D]higher education can make people value the future more

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