Unit IX reading techniques

I.

Find sentences with "omitted" link-words and translate them.

Why do people need contact with others? If all your biolo­gical needs were satisfied in a perfectly programmed physical environment in which you were constantly alone, what would you miss?

You know by experience life alone can get pretty boring (надоесть). If you have ever spent a weekend in an empty house, you know life alone can be very quiet. With no one to talk to you will eventually find yourself longing (тосковать) for someone you can interact with.

No matter how interesting a book or a television show is, it can never replace the stimulation of social interaction.

When you are all alone, the stimulation of the social ga­mes people play is missing. What fun is there in putting on a particularly attractive outfit (одежда) if there is no one to admire (восхищаться) you? Mastering (справиться) a parti­cularly difficult intellectual task will not be as much fun either. The joy you feel when you find that another person is plea­sed with your appearance or performance is real and rewar­ding.

Alone, you are also cut off from an important source of information when making judgement about complicated events. Much of the information people are exposed (предъявляться) to in the mass media is highly complicated and incon­sistent.

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II.

Read the text omitting link-words where possible.

WHEN DO PEOPLE AFFILIATE?

Whether the need to be with other people is learned or innate it is clear that affiliation is a very strong social motive, which many people share.

Under what circumstances do people affiliate? Many events with which we meet in everyday life support the saying that misery (несчастье) loves company. If, for instance, you were having problems with someone whom you loved you might seek out someone with whom you could discuss your problems. Just talking might reduce your worrying (беспокойство).

News of some tragic situation on a national level can also stimulate an affiliation need. Of one hundred students polled (опрошенный) 60% indicated that they had wished to be with others during the electric power failure of 1965 that affected almost the entire eastern area of the United States.

Subjects who had been involved in a severe ([si'vie] сильный) rainstorm in which 22 inches of rain fell within a 24-hour period were given a questionnaire designed to measure their affiliative tendencies during this period. Those who found themselves in extremely serious situations reported a signifi­cantly higher affiliative tendency - saying that they have "tried to remain in the company of others constantly".

Assuming that there is a relationship between stress and affi­liation raises a whole series of questions about why it exists. Why do people want to be with others when they are under stress? Is it to find reassurance from each other? To distract (отвлечь) each other? To compare the feelings which they experience?

We shall see that there are permanent consistent differen­ces between people in the extent to which they wish to affili­ate. Although affiliation may be more likely to occur in some situations than in others, some people may be more or less likely to affiliate in a wide variety of situations.

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