Question

Spending as little as $5 a day on someone else could significantly boost happiness, the team at the University of British Columbia found.

Their experiments on more than 630 Americans showed they were measurably happier when they spent money on others even if they thought spending the money on themselves would make them happier.

“We wanted to test our theory that how people spend their money is at least as important as how much money they earn,” said Elizabeth Dunn, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia. They asked their 600 volunteers first to rate their general happiness, report their annual income and detail their monthly spending including bills, gifts for themselves, gifts for others and donations to charity.

“No matter how much income each person made, those who spent money on others reported greater happiness, while those who spent more on themselves did not,” Dunn said in a statement.

Dunn’s team also surveyed 16 employees at a company in Boston before and after they received an annual profit-sharing bonus of between $3,000 and $8,000. “Employees who devoted more of their bonus to prosocial spending experienced greater happiness after receiving the bonus, and the manner in which they spent that bonus was a more important predictor of their happiness than the size of the bonus itself,” they wrote in their report, published in the journal Science.

They gave their volunteers $5 or $20 and half got clear instructions on how to spend it. Those who spent the money on someone or something else reported feeling happier about it.

“These findings suggest that very minor changes in spending allocations-as little as $5 may be enough to produce real gains in happiness on a given day,” Dunn said.

1.What is the general idea of the passage?

A．The more you earn, the greater happiness you will get.

B．Spending more money on yourself will make you happier.

C．Money can buy happiness, but only if you spend it on someone else.

D．You can spend only $5 a day on someone else to get happiness.

2.The underlined work “boost” in the first paragraph probably means      .

A．help to find        B．help to increase     C．help to bring       D．help to get

3.Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

A．Those who spend more money on others can get much more bonus.

B．People usually think spending money on themselves will make them happier.

C．Very small changes in spending your money may be enough to gain happiness.

D．Researchers think that how people spend their money is at least as important as how much money they earn.

4.Dunn is       .

A．a reporter in a journal                    B．a volunteer in the experiment

C．an employee in a company                D．a psychologist at a university

5.It can be inferred from the 6th paragraph that      .

A．the volunteers not given $5 or $20 spent their own money on themselves

B．those who spent the money on someone or something else felt happier about it

C．the volunteers were given $5 or $20 as a reward for the experiment

D．half of the volunteers could spend the money as they liked

Answer

1.C

2.B

3.A

4.D

5.D

【解析】

试题分析：本文讲述了在别人身上花钱要比花钱在自己身上更让人感觉到幸福。并且用多个实验来证明这个理论。

1.C 主旨大意题。根据文章的主题段第一段Spending as little as $5 a day on someone else could significantly boost happiness, the team at the University of British Columbia found.说明在别人身上花钱会让我们感觉更幸福，故C项正确。

2.B 根据文章第一段Spending as little as $5 a day on someone else could significantly boost happiness和第二段Their experiments on more than 630 Americans showed they were measurably happier when they spent money on others even if they thought spending the money on themselves would make them happier. 都说明在别人身上花钱会让我们更快乐，那么这个词就应该是指增加的意思。故B正确。

3.A 推理题。根据文章第五段Employees who devoted more of their bonus to prosocial spending experienced greater happiness after receiving the bonus, and the manner in which they spent that bonus was a more important predictor of their happiness than the size of the bonus itself说明把花分红的不同方式也决定了我们快乐与否。但是文章并没有在别人身上都花钱的人就能得到分红。故A项说法是错误的。

4.D 细节题。根据第三段2,3行said Elizabeth Dunn, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia.说明Dunn是一个心理学家，故D项正确。

5.D 推断题。根据本段1,2行They gave their volunteers $5 or $20 and half got clear instructions on how to spend it.说明有一半的人如何花钱是有明确的要求的，剩下的另外一半人怎么花钱是没有要求的，可以随便花。故D项说法正确。

考点：考查新闻报告类短文阅读