Spending as little as $5 a day on someone else could significantly boost happiness, the team at the University of British Columbia found.
Their experiments on more than 630 Americans showed they were measurably happier when they spent money on others even if they thought spending the money on themselves would make them happier.
“We wanted to test our theory that how people spend their money is at least as important as how much money they earn,” said Elizabeth Dunn, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia. They asked their 600 volunteers first to rate their general happiness, report their annual income and detail their monthly spending including bills, gifts for themselves, gifts for others and donations to charity.
“No matter how much income each person made, those who spent money on others reported greater happiness, while those who spent more on themselves did not,” Dunn said in a statement.
Dunn’s team also surveyed 16 employees at a company in Boston before and after they received an annual profit-sharing bonus of between $3,000 and $8,000. “Employees who devoted more of their bonus to prosocial spending experienced greater happiness after receiving the bonus, and the manner in which they spent that bonus was a more important predictor of their happiness than the size of the bonus itself,” they wrote in their report, published in the journal Science.
They gave their volunteers $5 or $20 and half got clear instructions on how to spend it. Those who spent the money on someone or something else reported feeling happier about it.
“These findings suggest that very minor changes in spending allocations-as little as $5 may be enough to produce real gains in happiness on a given day,” Dunn said.
【小题1】What is the general idea of the passage?

Fair Way

    The Westborough High School golf team had taken the official photos with the state prize. The other teams, disappointed, were on the bus heading home. And then Westborough instructor Greg Rota noticed something wrong on one of the score cards. A 9 had been recorded as A 7. They were not the state prize winner; Woburn High had won. “No one would have known,” said Woburn’s instructor, Bob Doran. For Rota, it wasn’t a difficult decision: “The prize wasn’t ours to take.”

Coin Stars

“College students are lazy, but they also want to help,” says University of Pennsylvania graduate Dana Hork. So she made it easy, placing cups in rooms where students could leave their spare coins, and handing out cups to first-year students to keep in their homes. Her “Change for Change” effort has collected $40,000 for charities, which were decided upon by students.

Never Forgotten

    A school in Massachusetts received a $9.5 million check from Jacques LeBermuth. But it took officials several days of digging to discover his connection to the school. Records showed the LeBermuth came from Belgium and studied in the school in the 1920s. When his family fell on hard times, he was offered free room and board. LeBermuth became a trader, owned shares of AT&T and lived off the earnings until he died, at age 89.

What did Greg Rota probably do in the end?

  A. Took photos of Doran.                B. Had a meeting with Doran.

C. Returned the prize to the organizer.      D. Apologized to Woburn High School.

Greg Rota’s decision shows that he was _____.

  A. honest           B. polite         C. careful        D. friendly

The underlined word “Change” in the second paragraph means _____.

  A. Idea            B. Decision       C. Cups          D. Coins

What did the school officials do after receiving the check from Mr. LeBermuth?

  A. They tried to find out why he gave them the money.

B. They went to Belgium to pay their respects to him.

C. They dug out the records that were buried underground.

D. They decided to offer their students free room and board.

Jacques LeBermuth gave the money to the school because ____.

  A. the school asked for it

  B. he had no need for that much money

C. the school had helped him in the past

D. he wanted to be remembered by the students

A Letter from Steve Jobs
August 24, 2011
To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community,
I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.
So I resign（辞职）as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board feels fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.
As far as my successor goes, I strongly suggest that we name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.
I believe Apple’s brightest days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.
I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.
Steve
More Information:
Steve Jobs (February 24, 1955—October 5, 2011) was an American businessman, designer and inventor. He is best known as the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple Inc. Unluckily, in 2003, Jobs was diagnosed（确诊）with a pancreas neuroendocrine tumor（胰腺癌）. Although the cancer was treated in the first place, he appeared thinner as his health fell. On medical leave for most of 2011, Jobs finally made a decision to resign as Apple CEO in August that year. Shortly after that, on October 5, he died. He continues to receive honors and public attention for his influence in the technology and music industries.
【小题1】Why did Jobs resign as CEO of Apple according to the letter?

After receiving the Oscar Award, she felt that it was a great _______ to receive it.

A. reward         B. honor           C. price    D. fame

Spending as little as $5 a day on someone else could significantly boost happiness, the team at the University of British Columbia found.

Their experiments on more than 630 Americans showed they were measurably happier when they spent money on others even if they thought spending the money on themselves would make them happier.

“We wanted to test our theory that how people spend their money is at least as important as how much money they earn,” said Elizabeth Dunn, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia. They asked their 600 volunteers first to rate their general happiness, report their annual income and detail their monthly spending including bills, gifts for themselves, gifts for others and donations to charity.

“No matter how much income each person made, those who spent money on others reported greater happiness, while those who spent more on themselves did not,” Dunn said in a statement.

Dunn’s team also surveyed 16 employees at a company in Boston before and after they received an annual profit-sharing bonus of between $3,000 and $8,000. “Employees who devoted more of their bonus to prosocial spending experienced greater happiness after receiving the bonus, and the manner in which they spent that bonus was a more important predictor of their happiness than the size of the bonus itself,” they wrote in their report, published in the journal Science.

They gave their volunteers $5 or $20 and half got clear instructions on how to spend it. Those who spent the money on someone or something else reported feeling happier about it.

“These findings suggest that very minor changes in spending allocations-as little as $5 may be enough to produce real gains in happiness on a given day,” Dunn said.

1.What is the general idea of the passage?

A．The more you earn, the greater happiness you will get.

B．Spending more money on yourself will make you happier.

C．Money can buy happiness, but only if you spend it on someone else.

D．You can spend only $5 a day on someone else to get happiness.

2.The underlined work “boost” in the first paragraph probably means      .

A．help to find        B．help to increase     C．help to bring       D．help to get

3.Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

A．Those who spend more money on others can get much more bonus.

B．People usually think spending money on themselves will make them happier.

C．Very small changes in spending your money may be enough to gain happiness.

D．Researchers think that how people spend their money is at least as important as how much money they earn.

4.Dunn is       .

A．a reporter in a journal                    B．a volunteer in the experiment

C．an employee in a company                D．a psychologist at a university

5.It can be inferred from the 6th paragraph that      .

A．the volunteers not given $5 or $20 spent their own money on themselves

B．those who spent the money on someone or something else felt happier about it

C．the volunteers were given $5 or $20 as a reward for the experiment

D．half of the volunteers could spend the money as they liked