Question

Last year, CCTV journalists 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 just 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”. 235 years on, Wen Jiabao told the nation, “Everything we do is aimed at letting people live more happily.” At National People’s Congress, officials agreed that increasing happiness would be a top target for the 12^th 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 (享樂的) 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?

1. 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 honor

D. show that the question was quite difficult

2.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

3.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

4.What does the underlined word “elusive” in the sixth paragraph mean?

A. available.                B. easy to get.                      C. hard to describe.            D. unimaginable.

5.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

 

Answer 1

【答案】

 

1.B

2.B

3.D

4.C

5.A

【解析】

試題分析：“你幸福嗎？”這一問題已經(jīng)成為熱門語句并引發(fā)網(wǎng)絡(luò)熱議。我們不禁要問：“到底什么是幸福？你又怎樣衡量幸福呢?”幸福難以捉摸，幸福源自許多方面。 研究人員認(rèn)為，幸福可以分成兩類：一是日常的享樂主義幸福，二是可評估的幸福，即人們整體思考生活的方式。前者強(qiáng)調(diào)生活質(zhì)量，而后者則注重整體幸福感，包括人生目標(biāo)和成就。幸福則可以令二者產(chǎn)生交叉。而幸福真的可以量化嗎？經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家們一直試圖衡量人們生活的幸福感。從1972年開始，不丹放棄國內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值的測算，取而代之的是“國民幸福指數(shù)”。這一數(shù)值根據(jù)人們對政府以及經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展的滿意度、與環(huán)境的關(guān)系、以及國民歸屬感。

1.推理判斷題。根據(jù)第二段可知，甚至就連剛剛獲得諾貝爾獎(jiǎng)的莫言也回答說：“我不知道�！迸cB項(xiàng)（引出話題。）意思一致。

2.推理判斷題。根據(jù)托馬斯•杰弗遜寫下的：人們擁有不可剝奪的“生存權(quán)、自由權(quán)以及追求幸福的權(quán)利”。和溫家寶總理所說的“我們做的每件事都是為了讓人民過得更幸福�！� 可知與B項(xiàng)（人民的幸福是一個(gè)國家發(fā)展的重要目標(biāo)。）一致。

3.推理判斷題。根據(jù)很多人認(rèn)為，幸福難以捉摸，幸福源自許多方面。與D項(xiàng)（我們要確定什么決定著人的幸福并不容易。）意思一致。

4.詞義推測題。根據(jù)后一句（幸福源自許多方面。）可知，與C項(xiàng)（ 難以形容。）意思一致。

5.主旨大意題。文章的核心句是：你幸福嗎？圍繞這一話題，不同的人有不同的回答和理解。所以最佳題目應(yīng)該是A。

考點(diǎn): 生活百態(tài)類閱讀。