Stress may be defined (限定) as the response (反应) of the body to any demand. Whenever people experience something pleasant or unpleasant, we say they are under stress. We call the pleasant kind “eustress”, the unpleasant kind “distress”.
People sometimes compare our lives with that of the caveman (穴居人), who didn’t have to worry about the stock market or the atomic bomb (原子弹). They forget that the caveman worried about being eaten by a bear or about dying of hunger — things that few people worry about today. It is not that people suffer more stress today; it is just that they think they do.
It is inconceivable (不可思议) that anyone should have no stress at all. Most people who are ambitious (有野心的) and want to accomplish something live on stress. They need it. But excessive (极度的) stress is by all means harmful. Worse, chronic(长期的) exposure to stress over a long time may cause more serious diseases and may actually shorten your life.
The most frequent causes of distress in man are psychological — lack of adaptability (适应能力), not having a code (规范，准则) of behaviour. So the secret of dealing with stress is not to avoid it but to do what you like to do and what you are made to do, at your own rate. For most people, it is really a matter of leaning how to behave (表现，举止) in various situations. The most important thing is to have a code of life, to know how to live.
【小题1】The modern man is suffering ________.| A．more stress than the caveman | B．less stress than the caveman |
| C．different stress from the caveman | D．the same stress as the caveman |
| A．Being lack of adaptability and code of life. | B．Triumph (成功，胜利) in a contest. |
| C．A man who has just lost his job. | D．Learning how to do something. |
| A．always harmful to you | B．an example of human experience |
| C．a disease in your life | D．a normal state for everyone |
| A．how to form a code of life | B．that life means stress. |
| C．how we are supposed to treat stress | D．how to prevent stress in advance |
