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.”
【小題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

【小題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

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

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

B．a(chǎn)re 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

【小題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

My son Joey was born with club feet. The doctors said that with treatment he would be able to walk, but would never run very well. The first three years of his life was (16)____ in hospital. By the time he was six, you wouldn’t know he has a problem when you saw him (17)____.

  Children in our neighborhood always ran around during their play, and Joey would jump and run and play, (18)_____. We never told him that he probably wouldn’t be able to run like the other children. So he didn’t know.

 In his(19)_____ grade, he decided to join the school running team. Every day he trained. He ran more than any of the others, (20) ____only the top seven runners would be chosen to run for the school. We didn’t tell him he probably would never make the team, so he didn’t know.

 He ran four to five mile every day - even when he had a fever. I was (21) ____, so I went to look for him after school. I found him running (22) _____. I asked him how he felt. “Okay,” he said he had two more miles to go. Yet he looked straight ahead and kept (23) _____.

Two weeks later, the names of the team (24) _____ were caked. Joey was Number Six on the list. Joey had made the team. We never told him he couldn’t do it … so he didn’t know. He just took it. How (25) ____he was!

(   ) 16. A. spent    B. taken    C. cost    D. paid

(   ) 17 A. talk      B. sit       C. study   D. walk

（  ）18 A. either    B. too      C. though  D. yet

（  ）19. A. six     B. seven     C. eighth  D. nineth

（  ）20. A. so      B. if        C. then    D. because

（　）21. A. excited  B. tired     C. pleased  D. worried

（�。�22. A. alone   B. away     C. almost   D. already

（　）23. A. riding   B. walking   C. playing  D. running

（�。�24. A. jumpers  B. runners  C. doctors  D. teachers

（�。�25.A.good    .B. lucky      C. clever   D. well

Sundays in New York can be very pleasant. Since Saturday nights are traditionally party nights, Sunday mornings are traditionally mornings of rest, which means having a long sleep. We stay in bed until 9, 10 or even 11 o’clock is not unusual, then jump out of bed, pull on clothes, run to the nearest corner news agency, buy the New York Times or Daily News, return home, put some classical music or popular songs on the record player, climb right back into bed to read the paper.

If the weather is bad, you might immediately turn to the Entertainment part of the paper to see what movies are on. Sunday afternoons are a popular time for seeing a film, but movies are expensive in New York, so choosing takes time and care.  Read the movie reviews to discover what the critics （評(píng)論家） think. No one wants to make an expensive mistake.

But if the weather is good, you might go through the part which lists outdoor activities. Almost every Sunday there are “street fairs （集市 ）”. There will be food for sale made by local people or restaurants; hand-made things for sale; music offered by a local band; and perhaps dancing. If the fair is in Little Italy, you can expect （期待） to find tasty Italian food.

And if the day is really warm, a walk through Central Park can offer many sights, sounds and smells.  Groups of people go around the park, enjoy different activities and are often looking for others to join in. There will be pick-up baseball games; singing under the trees; dancing near a famous monument; boating on the lake.

If you are a student and live at home, you have probably spent your day in this way, putting off （推遲）your study until the sun goes down. If you are a student living away from home, it’s also likely that you’ve done the same because generally most New Yorkers save Sundays for playing. Call too early and you’ll wake us up; call too late and you’ll find us out.

1. The writer says that New Yorkers go to bed late on __________.

    A. Wednesday nights                      B. Friday nights

    C. Saturday nights                        D. Sunday nights

2. To choose a good movie, the writer suggests that _______.

    A. you find out the latest movie

B. you look up in the newspaper

C. you check which one gets good reviews

D. you ask those who have already seen it

3. Which of the following does NOT the street fair offer?

    A. Local and foreign food                   B. Sports and games

    C. Things made by hand                    D. Music and dancing

4. We can learn from the passage that _________.

    A. you can only find outdoor activities in the newspapers

B. a student living alone in New York prefers to study on Sundays

    C. most New Yorkers would spend Sundays with their families

    D. it’s not a good idea to call New Yorkers on Sundays