Recently, CCTV journalists have approached pedestrians with their cameras, held a microphone to their mouth and asked a simple question: “Are you happy?”
The question has caught many interviewees off guard. Even Mo Yan, who recently won a Nobel Prize, responded by saying: “I don’t know”.
While the question has become a buzz phrase and the Internet plays host to heated discussions, we ask: What exactly is happiness? And how do you measure it?
In the 1776 US Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson set in writing the people’s unalienable right to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. Last year, 235 years on, China’s Premier Wen Jiabao told the nation: “Everything we do is aimed at letting people live more happily.” At last year’s National People’s Congress, officials agreed that increasing happiness would be a top target for the 12th five-year plan.
US psychologist Ed Diener, author of Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth, describes happiness as “a combination of life satisfaction and having more positive than negative emotions”, according to US broadcasting network PBS. This may sound straightforward enough, but it still doesn’t explain what determines people’s happiness.
Many argue that happiness is elusive and that there is no single source. It also means different things to different people. For some, happiness can be as simple as having enough cash.
Researchers believe happiness can be separated into two types: daily experiences of hedonic(享乐的) well-being; and evaluative well-being, the way people think about their lives as a whole. The former refers to the quality of living, whereas the latter is about overall happiness, including life goals and achievements. Happiness can cross both dimensions.
Li Jun, a psychologist and mental therapy practitioner at a Beijing clinic, says: “Happiness can mean both the most basic human satisfaction or the highest level of spiritual pursuit. It’s a simple yet profound topic.”
Chen Shangyuan, 21, a junior English major at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, said his idea of happiness always evolves. “At present it relates to how productive I am in a day,” he said. “It might be linked to job security or leisure time after I graduate.”
Then there is the question of measuring happiness. Does it depend on how many friends we have, or whether we own the latest smart phone? Is it even quantifiable?
Economists are trying to measure happiness in people’s lives. Since 1972, Bhutan’s GDP measurement has been replaced by a Gross National Happiness index. It is calculated according to the peoples’ sense of being well-governed, their relationship with the environment, their satisfaction with economic development, and their sense of national belonging.
In 2009, US economist Joseph Stiglitz proposed “to shift emphasis from measuring economic production to measuring people’s well-being”. But is well-being more easily measured? In the second paragraph, the writer gave an example to .
| A．support his idea that being famous is the reason to be happy |
| B．introduce his topic to be discussed |
| C．tell people winning a Nobel Prize is a great honour |
| D．show that the question was quite difficult |
From what Thomas Jefferson and Wen Jiabao mentioned in the passage, we know .
| A．people’s happiness is determined by great people |
| B．people’s happiness is an important target for the development of a country |
| C．people in all countries have the right to ask the government for a happy life |
| D．People both in China and America are living a happy life |
According to the passage, the writer may most likely agree that _________.
| A．CCTV journalists are concerned about people’s happiness out of sympathy. |
| B．the question has led to heated discussions about who are the happiest people in China |
| C．Bhutan’s new index shows that people there are the happiest in the world |
| D．it is not easy for us to decide what determines people’s happiness |
What does the underlined word “elusive” in the sixth paragraph mean?
| A．Available. | B．Easy to get. |
| C．Hard to describe. | D．Unimaginable. |
The best title of the passage is .
| A．Are You Happy? | B．The Measurement of Happiness |
| C．GDP and Happiness | D．The Secret of Happiness |
Watching some children trying to catch butterflies one hot August afternoon, I was reminded of an incident in my own childhood．When I was a boy of 12 in South Carolina, something happened to me that cured me forever of wanting to put any wild creature in a cage.We lived on the edge of a wood, and every evening at dusk the mockingbirds would come and rest in the trees and sing. There isn’t a musical instrument made by man that can produce a more beautiful sound than the song of the mockingbird.
I decided that I would catch a young bird and keep it in a cage and in that way would have my own private musician.
I finally succeeded in catching one and put it in a cage. At first, in its fright at being captured, the bird fluttered about the cage, but eventually it settled down in its new home. I felt very pleased with myself and looked forward to some beautiful singing from my tiny musician.
I had left the cage out on our back porch, and on the second day of the bird’s captivity my new pet’s mother flew to the cage with food in her mouth. The baby bird ate everything she brought to it. I was pleased to see this. Certainly the mother knew better than I how to feed her baby.
The following morning when I went to see how my captive was doing, I discovered it on the floor of the cage, dead. I was shocked! What had happened! I had taken excellent care of my little bird, or so I thought.
Arthur Wayne, the famous ornithologist, happened to be visiting my father at the time, hearing me crying over the death of my bird, explained what had occurred. “A mother mockingbird, finding her young in a cage, will sometimes bring it poison berries. She thinks it better for her young to die than to live in captivity.”
Never since then have I caught any living creature and put it in a cage. All living creatures have a right to live free.Why did the writer catch a mockingbird when he was a boy of 12?
| A．He had just got a new cage. | B．He liked its beautiful feather. |
| C．He wanted it to sing for him. | D．He wanted a pet for a companion. |
The mockingbird died because it ______.
| A．was frightened to death | B．ate the poisonous food its mother gave it |
| C．refused to eat anything | D．drank the poisonous water by mistake |
An ornithologist probably means ______.
| A．a religious person | B．a kind person |
| C．a schoolmaster | D．an expert in birds |
What is the most important lesson the writer learned from the incident?
| A．Freedom is very valuable to all creatures. |
| B．All birds put in a cage won’t live long. |
| C．You should keep the birds from their mother. |
| D．Be careful about food you give to baby birds. |
A farmer had some puppies to sell. He painted a sign advertising them on the edge of his yard.One day, a little boy came to buy one of the puppies. With a whistle(口哨), the farmer called, “Here, Dolly!” Out from the doghouse ran Dolly followed by four little balls of fur. The little boy stood against the fence. His eyes danced with delight.
As the dogs made their way to the fence, the little boy noticed something else inside the doghouse. Slowly another little ball appeared, something wrong with its legs, doing its best to catch up.“I want that one,” the little boy said.
The farmer knelt down at the boy's side and said, “Son, you don't want that puppy. He will never be able to run and play with you like these other dogs would.”
With that, the little boy stepped back from the fence, reached down and began rolling up one leg of his trousers. In doing so, he showed a steel brace(固定器) running down both sides of his leg attaching itself to a specially made shoe. Looking back up at the farmer, he said, “You see, sir, I don’t run too well myself, and he will need someone who understands.”How did the farmer advertise his puppies?
| A．Advertise them in the newspaper. |
| B．Put up a sign in his yard. |
| C．Show them to his neighbors. |
| D．Send pictures to a magazine. |
The underlined words “four little balls of fur” refer to “______”.
| A．four toy balls | B．four balls made of fur |
| C．four lovely dogs | D．four puppies with no fur |
Why did the boy choose the last dog?
| A．Because they have something in common. |
| B．Because he didn't have enough money. |
| C．Because it was the most lovely one. |
| D．Because the farmer wouldn't sell other dogs. |
According to the story, we know that the boy .
| A．didn't like dogs at all | B．needed a dog to help him |
| C．could run as fast as others | D．had an artificial(假的) leg |
Amanda Clement grew up in Hudson，South Dakota．Baseball was always her favorite sport．Once in a while her brother Hank and his friends would let her play first base in their games．More often，however，they asked her to umpire(裁判) for them，because they knew her calls would be fair and there would be no arguing．
One day in 1904，Amanda and her mother traveled to Hawarden，Iowa，to watch Hank play for the home team against Hawarden．When they arrived at the ball field，two local teams were waiting to play a preliminary(预备) game．The umpire hadn’t arrived，so Hank argued that the teams should let his sister serve as umpire．The players finally agreed．
Amanda，then sixteen and standing five feet，ten inches tall，made perfect calls．She was so good that players for the main game asked her 10 umpire for them and even offered to pay her．Thus，at sixteen，Amanda Clement became the first paid female baseball umpire on record．She is honored in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown，New York．Hank and his friends often asked Amanda to umpire for them because
| A．they wanted to make her happy |
| B．she called them brothers |
| C．no one else wanted to do it for them |
| D．she knew the rules well and was fair |
Amanda went to Hawarden in order to
| A．serve as umpire |
| B．make money |
| C．watch her brother play |
| D．help the local teams |
Amanda most probably learned how to umpire a baseball game
| A．in her P．E．classes at school | B．in an umpire training school |
| C．by watching and playing the games | D．from her mother，a baseball umpire |
Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?
| A．Amanda Clement．First Female Umpire |
| B．A Family of Baseball Fans |
| C．Baseball Games in Hawarden，Iowa |
| D．The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown |
We have all experienced days when everything goes wrong. A day may begin well enough, but suddenly everything seems to get out of control. Sometimes a single unimportant event may cause a number of things to happen. Let us suppose that you are preparing a meal and keeping an eye on the baby at the same time. The telephone rings and this causes your troubles to begin. While you are on the phone, the baby pulls the tablecloth off the table, destroying your half-prepared meal. You hang up hurriedly and attend to your baby. Meanwhile, the meal gets burnt. As if this is not enough to bring you to tears, your husband arrives home, unexpectedly bringing three guests to dinner.
Things can also go wrong on the road. During rush hour one evening two cars collided and the drivers began to argue. The woman driver behind the two cars happened to be a learner. She got into a panic and stopped her car. This forced the driver following her to stop suddenly. This driver’s wife was sitting beside him holding a large cake, and as she was thrown forward, the cake went right through the window and landed on the road. A truck driver seeing a cake flying through the air slammed on the brakes. The truck was carrying empty beer bottles and hundreds of them slid off the back of the truck onto the road, causing a terrible traffic jam. It took the police an hour to get the traffic on the move again. In the meantime, the truck driver had to sweep up hundreds of broken bottles. Only two dogs were enjoying themselves, for they were happily having what was left of the cake.If you want to answer the phone without any trouble, you’d better ___________ .
| A．pull out the telephone line when you are with your baby |
| B．put your baby on the bed and keep an eye on him / her |
| C．not hurry to answer the phone |
| D．make sure your baby is not near the table |
Who is responsible for the accidents that happened on the road?
| A．The two drivers who were arguing. |
| B．It wasn’t mentioned in the passage. |
| C．The woman driver. |
| D．The truck driver. |
From this story we learn that ________.
| A．there are many road accidents every day |
| B．the accidents mentioned in the passage are very strange |
| C．no one knows why this kind of accident happens |
| D．the accidents mentioned in the passage are very common |
The writer’s purpose in writing this passage is to ___________.
| A．remind us not to answer the phone when we are busy |
| B．tell us driving is dangerous every day |
| C．remind us not to be nervous when we meet an accident |
| D．remind us not to carry a cake when we are sitting in a car |
The main idea of this passage is that ________.
| A．troubles always come in groups |
| B．accidents may happen anywhere at anytime |
| C．a telephone call may cause great trouble |
| D．anyone may have trouble on their way home |
Decisions, decisions! Our lives are full of them, from the small ones to the life-changing. The right to choose is central to everyone. Yet sometimes we make bad decisions that leave us unhappy or full of regret. Can science help?
Most of us know little about the mental processes that lie behind our decisions. Luckily, what psychologists are finding may help us all make better choices. Here are some of their amazing discoveries to help you make up your mind.
Consider your emotions. You might think that emotions are the enemy of decision-making, but in fact they are a part of it. Whenever you make up your mind, your brain’s emotional centre is active. University of Southern California scientist, Antonio Damasia, has studied people with damage to only the emotional parts of their brains, and found that they were unable to make basic choices about what to wear or eat. Damasia thinks this may be because our brains store emotional memories of past choice, which we use to help the present decision-making.
However, making choices under the influence of an emotion can greatly affect the result. Take anger for example. A study by Nitika Garg of the University of Mississippi and other scientists found the angry shoppers were more likely to choose the first thing they were offered rather than considering other choices. It seems that anger can lead us to make quick decisions without much thinking.
All emotions affect our thinking and motivation，so it may be best to avoid making important decisions under their influence. Yet strangely there is one emotion that seems to help us make good choices. The American researchers found that sad people took time to consider the various choices on offer, and ended up making the best choices. In fact many studies show that people who feel unhappy have the most reasonable view of the world.What does the underlined word “central” mean?
| A．in the middle | B．easy to reach | C．important | D．having power |
Damasia’s study suggests that ________.
| A．emotions are the enemy of decision-making. |
| B．our brain has nothing to do with decision-making. |
| C．people with physical damage find it hard to make up their minds. |
| D．our emotional memories of past choices can affect present decisions. |
According to the text, what may help us make better decisions?
| A．To think about happy times. | B．To make many decisions at a time. |
| C．To stop feeling regretful about the past. | D．To learn about the process of decision-making. |
Why are angry shoppers more likely to choose the first thing they are offered?
| A．They often forget their past choices. | B．They make decisions without much thinking. |
| C．They tend to save time when shopping. | D．They are too angry to bargain. |
What do we learn from the text?
| A．Emotions are a part of decision-making. |
| B．Sad people always make worse choices. |
| C．No emotion seems to help us make good choices. |
| D．Only sad feelings affect our thinking and motivation. |