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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 determined 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, 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, and status makes people feel better," conclude 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 a research, Professor Alex Michalos found that the people whose desire－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 (差距). Indeed, the size of the gap predicted happiness about five times better than
income alone. "The gap measures just blow away the only measures of 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 emotions questionnaire. She found that old people reported positive emotions just as often as young
people, but negative emotions much less often.
Why are old people happier? Some scientists suggest older people may expect life to be harder and learn
to live with it, or they're more realistic about their goals, only setting ones that they know they can achieve.
But Carstensen thinks that with times 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."
1. According to the passage, the feeling of happiness _______.
A. is determined partly by genes
B. increases gradually with age
C. has little to do with wealth
D. is measured by desires
2. 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
3. Aged people are more likely to feel happy because they are more _______.
A. optimistic
B. successful
C. practical
D. emotional
4. 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. their income is below their expectation
D. the hope for good health is greater

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