During all kinds of holidays, millions of people will buy gifts for loved ones, which is great - except that tons of those people will make the same glaring mistake, and buy the wrong gift.
Roughly 10 percent of gifts are returned each year and the percentage of unwanted gifts is surely higher given that nice people may not want to return presents.
What's going on?
Gift buying has become a tricky selfish action. We don't actually look for things people want to receive. Instead, we tend to look for things that we want to give. It's a subtle(微妙的), but pretty important problem. The research says so.
"Gift givers want to prove how well they know a person by choosing a thoughtful gift," said Mary Steffel, an assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati whose research has focused on gift-giving. "But people aren't very good at dealing with what others want ahead of time."
Research has shown that givers tend to value the gifts they buy considerably more than recipients. Gifts are valued roughly 10 to 33 percent less by recipients than what givers paid for them, Joel Waldfogel noted in a book on gift-giving.
The difference seems to come from a simple wrong belief that thoughtful presents are the best presents. They are not. In fact, they might just be the worst presents. The more thought you put into a present, the more likely you are to turn aside from buying what the person you' re buying the present for actually wants.
''Gift givers tend to focus on what people are like instead of what people actually would like," said Steffel.
In other words, people let their gift-giving minds get in the way of great presents, especially when the recipient is someone they want to show they know really well.
Fortunately, the answer to our common insistence on guessing what people want is simple: stop it.
"People want whatever it is they happen to want in the moment, which can be very specific,"Steffel said."
You' re much better off asking people what they want.""People tend to prefer gift cards to actual gifts," Steffel said. Steffel's latest research, which focuses on giving gift cards, points to exactly this point-that variety of gift's functions is the key to better gift-giving.
【小题1】The reason for masses of unwanted gifts is that ______.
| A．givers don't spend enough time picking them out |
| B．givers take it for granted that receivers will like the gifts best |
| C．the gifts tend to be out of date |
| D．the gifts are mostly impractical |
【小题2】In Joel Waldfogel's opinion, givers would think ______.
| A．the gifts can be refused by recipients if they' re cheap |
| B．the gifts' value can't be recognized as expected |
| C．a thoughtful gift can say its value |
| D．the more carefully they choose the gifts, the less valuable the gifts will be |
【小题3】The underlined sentence means you ______.
| A．had better ask the recipients about their preference |
| B．will be rich if you ask people for some advice |
| C．will be proud of what you give to people |
| D．will feel better if you send the recipients some gifts |
【小题4】In the latest research by Steffel, givers had better pay more attention to ______.
| A．the gift card's value |
| B．the gift's functions |
| C．giving gift cards and money |
| D．the actual gifts |
【小题5】The best title of the passage is ______.
| A．Why Thoughtful Gifts Are Available |
| B．How Thoughtful Gifts Steal People's Heart |
| C．How Thoughtful Gifts Have a Great Effect |
| D．Why Thoughtful Gifts Are the Worst Gifts |
