Happiness is contagious (有感染力的), as researchers reported on Thursday.
People with the most social connections — spouses, friends, neighbors and relatives — were also the happiest, the data showed. “Each additional happy person makes you happier,” Christakis said.
“Imagine that I am connected to you and you are connected to others and others are connected to still others. It is this fabric of humanity, like an American patch quilt.”
Each person sits on a different colored patch. “Imagine that these patches are happy and unhappy patches. Your happiness depends on what is going on in the patch around you,” Christakis said.
“It is not just happy people connecting with happy people, which they do. Above and beyond, there is this contagious process going on.”
And happiness is more contagious than unhappiness, they discovered.
“If a social contact is happy, it increases the likelihood that you are happy by 15 percent, ” Fowler said. “A friend of a friend, or the friend of a spouse or a sibling (兄弟姐妹), if they are happy, increases your chances by 10 percent,” he added.
A happy third degree friend — the friend of a friend of a friend — increases a person’s chances of being happy by 6 percent.
“But every extra unhappy friend increases the likelihood that you’ll be unhappy by 7 percent,” Fowler said.
The finding is interesting and it is useful, too, Fowler said.
“Among other benefits, happiness has been shown to have an important effect on reduced mortality (死亡率), pain reduction, and improved cardiac (心脏的) function. So better understanding of how happiness spreads can help us learn how to develop a healthier society,” he said.
The study also fits in with other data suggested in 1984 that having $ 5,000 extra increased a person’s chances of becoming happier by about 2 percent.
“A happy friend is worth about $ 20,000,” Christakis said.
小题1:It can be inferred that________.
| A．happiness spreads as fast and widely as unhappiness |
| B．unhappiness spreads faster and more widely than happiness |
| C．happiness spreads faster and more widely than unhappiness |
| D．the spread of unhappiness has not been studied by researchers |
小题2:Which of the following will increase your chances of becoming happier most?
| A．Being in a party with a happy atmosphere. |
| B．A happy experience of your brother or your parents. |
| C．A happy trip to a foreign country of your friends. |
| D．Happiness of your friend’s friend. |
小题3:What does Christakis mean by saying “A happy friend is worth about $ 20,000”?
| A．A happy friend can help you bring in a wealth of $ 20,000. |
| B．A happy friend is a wealth which is worth about $ 20,000. |
| C．A happy friend increases your chances of being happy by 2%. |
| D．A happy friend increases your chances of being happy by 8 %. |