Question

Over the last 70 years, researchers have been studying happy and unhappy people and finally found out ten factors that make a difference. Our feelings of well-being at any moment are decided to a certain degree by genes. However, of all the factors, wealth and age are the top two.
Money can buy a degree of happiness. But once you can afford to feed, clothe and house yourself, each extra dollar makes less and less difference. Researchers find that, on average, wealthier people are happier. But the link between money and happiness is complex. In the past half-century, the average income has sharply increased in developed countries, yet happiness levels have remained almost the same. Once your basic needs are met, money only seems to increase happiness if you have more than your friends, neighbors and colleagues.
“Dollars buy status (social position), and status makes people feel better,” say some experts, which helps explain why people who can seek status in other ways, scientists or actors, for example, may happily accept relatively poorly-paid jobs.
In his research, Professor Alex Michalos found that the people whose desires, not just for money, but for friends, family, job, health, rose furthest beyond what they already had, tended to be less happy than those who felt a smaller gap. Indeed, the size of the gap predicted happiness about five times better than income alone. “The gap measures just blow away the measures of only income.”says Michalos.
Another factor that has to do with happiness is age. Old age may not be so bad “Given all the problems of aging, how could the elderly be more satisfied?” asks Professor Laura Carstensen. In one survey, Carstensen interviewed 184 people between the ages of 18 and 94, and asked them to fill out an emotion questionnaire. She found that old people reported positive emotions just as often as young people. Some scientists suggest older people may expect life to be harder and learn to live with it, or they’re more realistic about their time running out. Older people have learned to focus on things that make them happy and let go of those that don’t.
“People realize not only what they have, but also that what they have cannot last forever,” she says. “A goodbye kiss to a husband or wife at the age of 85, for example, may bring far more complex emotional responses than a similar kiss to a boy or girl friend at the age of 20.”
【小题1】Some actors would like to accept poorly-paid jobs because the jobs__________.

A．make them feel much better

B．provide chances to make friends

C．improve their social position

D．satisfy their professional interests

【小题2】Professor Alex Michalos found that people feel less happy if _________.

A．the gap between reality and desire is bigger

B．they have a stronger desire for friendship

C．the hope for good health is much greater

D．their income is far below their expectation

【小题3】We can infer from the passage that older people _________.

A．would like to have more goodbye kisses than young people

B．are used to living a hard life because they are kind to others

C．express their positive opinions just as some young people do

D．find it easier to feel happy because they are more realistic

【小题4】According to the passage, the feeling of happiness _________.

A．increases gradually with age

B．is controlled partly by desires

C．has little to do with wealth

D．is decided mostly by genes

Answer 1

【小题1】C
【小题2】A
【小题3】D
【小题4】B

解析试题分析：短文大意：阅读短文可知，这篇短文主要讲述了影响幸福感的两个最重要的因素——财富和年龄，从而告诉我们人的幸福感与自己的愿望有关，愿望与现实的差距越小，人们的幸福感就越强。
【小题1】细节理解题。根据短文第三段“Dollars buy status (social position), and status makes people feel better,” say some experts, which helps explain why people who can seek status in other ways, scientists or actors, for example, may happily accept relatively poorly-paid jobs 描述，可知是因为这种工作能提高他们的社会地位。故选C。
【小题2】细节理解题。根据Professor Alex Michalos found that the people whose desires, not just for money, but for friends, family, job, health, rose furthest beyond what they already had, tended to be less happy than those who felt a smaller gap.描述，可知亚历克斯发现现实和希望之间的差距越大，则人们觉得越不幸福。故选A。
【小题3】细节理解题。根据短文倒数第二段Some scientists suggest older people may expect life to be harder and learn to live with it, or they’re more realistic about their time running out. 描述，可知老人更容易感到幸福是因为他们更现实。故选D。
【小题4】主旨大意题。阅读短文可知，这篇短文主要讲述了影响幸福感的两个最重要的因素，从而告诉我们人的幸福感与自己的愿望有关，愿望与现实的差距越小，人们的幸福感就越强。故选B。
考点：考查人生百味类阅读