Should you listen to music when you work?

Do you like to listen to music when you work?

Ask this question at a party, and you’ll probably get _________ responses. Some will say they love it, claiming that it improves their performance; others will say they find it distracting (分散注意力的) and cannot work _________ with music playing in the background.

Interestingly enough, our research has found that both of these viewpoints can be true. It just _________ on what sort of work you’re doing.

In a recent study, we brought participants into our lab to perform a variety of tasks. They included a(n) _________ task-searching through word lists and crossing out words containing the letter “a” and a more difficult task—memorizing word pairs and _________ word to its partner. Some participants completed all of the tasks in silence, _________ others completed the tasks with instrumental music that was cither loud or soft, and either simple or complex, the latter meaning music with more instruments being played. Several key findings _________ from our study.

We found that participants who listened to simple music or no music performed about the same on the easy task. However, participants who listened to _________ music performed best on the easy task.

On the contrary, participants performed worse on the more difficult task when they listened to any music, regardless of complexity or volume, compared to those who didn’t listen to any music.

How should we _________ these findings?

We suggest that people have limited mental resources from which both __________ and tasks can draw. We can become __________ and our minds may wander when these resources are not fully used. But we also can become over-excited and __________ when these resources are used up.

Not surprisingly, we typically need to use fewer of our mental resources when we perform easy tasks, whereas demanding tasks require more brainpower. However, because we might be less __________ during easier tasks, there’s a greater risk of drifting off. Music might give us the extra __________ we need to overcome the monotony (单调). However, difficult tasks already demand lot of our resources. Listening to music can become too much.

So best __________ should appear when we strike “sweet spot,” which may depend on the type of music and the type of task.

Archaeologists are scientists who search for clues that help form a clearer picture of the lives people led in the past. Archaeology is a modern science, but it has been________for centuries. More than 2,400 years ago, the Greek historian Herodotus described the Egyptian pyramids and other monuments. He may have been the first writer to consider that remains and________could provide information for________generations. For more than a thousand years, however, such________were observers rather than researchers.

In the 1700s, scientists and adventurers from a variety of countries traveled________to explore ancients sites. Digs that are still________began in 1709 at Herculaneum, an Italian city buried in ash during the explosion of Mount Vesuvius in A. D. 79. The Danish scholar The Danish scholar Carsten Niebuhr visited the ruins of Persepolis in the Middle East in 1754to study cuneiform writing (楔形文字).________, archaeology didn’t become a widely recognized science and school didn’t recognize the subject as a scholarly pursuit until the 19^th century. The term itself was________in 1837. It comes from a Latin word meaning “the study of antiques (古物)”. One of the first archaeologists to use a scientific approach to the discipline was Heinrich Schliemann of Germany，who in the late 1800s________the ancient civilization of the city of Troy.

Today，archaeologists uncover the past in many different________, including deserts and jungles，at sites called digs. Ancient sources, folk tales, and landscape features can suggest where archaeologists should look. Surveys of the land help them choose sites________to provide artifacts, the objects that will unlock the story of a particular people—their daily lives, their beliefs, and their ties to other cultures. A site, however, does not have to be old to be interesting to an archaeologist. Some prefer to study more________settlements. One scientist, for instance, studies coal mining camps in California by examining the garbage that miners________. Archaeologists may work for universities, museums or governments, and some of them are involved in educating the public about________ancient sites. Artifact hunters who are________history rob these places and sell what they find for a few dollars to immoral dealers in antiquities.

My grandfather and parents all showed us the value of hard work. They set a good example to us. We learned not only by watching but also by doing. I _______ spending hours in the baking sun helping my dad replace roofs. I _______at 4 am with my younger brother, therefore we could deliver newspapers. We spent five hours each Saturday and Sunday _______my uncle's bar. What I didn't know at the time was how much I had learned from all the work.

When I was a senior, our college organized a job fair and one company called Trilogy caught my eye. It was a software company in Austin, Texas. _______ I investigated the company, I heard about their interview process which was a very big problem. Most interviewers didn't get it through. Besides the _______ questions, they would also ask brain teasers (脑袋急转弯). At that time, I knew the interview was a make -or- break procedure. I _______ knew I couldn't control the outcome, _______ I could control my efforts. I bought Mind Trap, a game which is full of brain teasers. To _______ my chances of answering the questions right, I had to train my brain hard. On the flight to Austin, I spent 2.5 hours _______. When I got there, I continued with the game. I understood I wasn't the ________ person they were going to interview. However, even if I couldn't win at intelligence, I had to win at hard work. Working hard paid off—I ________ got the job!

At an early age I ________ life isn't easy. It takes hard work to get what you want out of life. Because of hard work, I got into the famous Vanderbilt University, ________ the college track records in studies, got my first good ________ out of college, and then made money to buy my first car, and I have been achieving my goals faster than I expected. Therefore, I believe there is no short cut to ________ except hard work.