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 bee 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 12th five-year plan.
US psychologist Ed Diener, author of Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth, describes happiness as “ a bination 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 (享乐的) 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 Since 1972, Bhutan’s GDP measurement has been replaced by a Gross National Happiness index.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?
【小题1】 In the second paragraph, the writer gave an example to .A．support his idea that being famous is the reason to be happyB．introduce his topic to be discussedC．tell people winning a Nobel Prize is a great honorD．show that the question was quite difficult【小题2】From what Thomas Jefferson and Wen Jiabao mentioned in the passage, we know .A．people’s happiness is determined by great peopleB．people’s happiness is an important target for the development of a countryC．people in all countries have the right to ask the government for a happy lifeD．people both in China and America are living a happy life【小题3】According to the passage, the writer may most likely agree that .A．CCTV journalists are concerned about people’s happiness out of sympathyB．the question has led to heated discussions about who are the happiest people in ChinaC．Bhutan’s new index shows that people there are the happiest in the worldD．it is not easy for us to decide what determines people’s happiness【小题4】What does the underlined word “elusive” in the sixth paragraph mean?A．available.B．easy to get.C．hard to describe.D．unimaginable.【小题5】The best title of the passage is .A．Are you happy?B．The Measurement of HappinessC．GDP and HappinessD．The Secret of HappinessB
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(答案→)B
解析：“你幸福吗？”这一问题已经成为热门语句并引发网络热议。我们不禁要问：“到底什么是幸福？你又怎样衡量幸福呢?”幸福难以捉摸，幸福源自许多方面。 研究人员认为，幸福可以分成两类：一是日常的享乐主义幸福，二是可评估的幸福，即人们整体思考生活的方式。前者强调生活质量，而后者则注重整体幸福感，包括人生目标和成就。幸福则可以令二者产生交叉。而幸福真的可以量化吗？经济学家们一直试图衡量人们生活的幸福感。从1972年开始，不丹放弃国内生产总值的测算，取而代之的是“国民幸福指数”。这一数值根据人们对政府以及经济发展的满意度、与环境的关系、以及国民归属感。
【小题1】推理判断题。根据第二段可知，甚至就连刚刚获得诺贝尔奖的莫言也回答说：“我不知道。”与B项（引出话题。）意思一致。
【小题2】推理判断题。根据托马斯?杰弗逊写下的：人们拥有不可剥夺的“生存权、自由权以及追求幸福的权利”。和温家宝总理所说的“我们做的每件事都是为了让人民过得更幸福。” 可知与B项（人民的幸福是一个国家发展的重要目标。）一致。
【小题3】推理判断题。根据很多人认为，幸福难以捉摸，幸福源自许多方面。与D项（我们要确定什么决定着人的幸福并不容易。）意思一致。
【小题4】词义推测题。根据后一句（幸福源自许多方面。）可知，与C项（ 难以形容。）意思一致。
【小题5】主旨大意题。文章的核心句是：你幸福吗？围绕这一话题，不同的人有不同的回答和理解。所以最佳题目应该是A。
考点: 生活百态类阅读。