Do a country 's people get happier as it gets richer? Most governments seem to believe so, given their continuous focus on increasing GDP year by year. Reliable, long-term evidence linking wealth and happiness is, however, lacking. And measuring well-being is itself filled with problems, since it often relies on surveys that ask participants to assess their own levels of happiness subjectively.
Daniel Sgroi of the University of Warwick and Eugenio Proto of the University of Glasgow, both in Britain, think, nevertheless, that they have an answer.
By examining millions of books and newspaper articles published since 1820 in four countries (America, Britain, Germany and Italy), they have developed what they hope is an objective measure of each place’s historical happiness. And their answer is that wealth does bring happiness, but some other things bring more of it.
In Britain, for example, happiness fell sharply during the two world wars. It began to rise again after 1945, peaked in 1950, and then fell gradually, including through the so-called Swinging Sixties, until it reached a nadir around 1980.
America’s national happiness, too, fell during the world wars. It also fell in the 1860s, during and after the country 's civil war. The lowest point of all came in 1975, at the end of a long decline during the Vietnam war, with the fall of Saigon and America’s humiliating defeat.
Overall, then, Dr Sgroi and Dr Proto found that happiness does vary with GDP. But the effect of health and life expectancy is larger, even when the tendency of wealth to improve health is taken into account.
A one — year increase in longevity, for example, has the same effect on national happiness as a 4.3% increase in GDP. And, as the grand historical sweep suggests, it is warfare that causes the biggest drops in happiness.
On average it takes a 30% increase in GDP to raise happiness by the amount that a year of war causes it to fall. The upshot appears to be that, while increasing national income is important to happiness, it is not as important as ensuring the population is healthy and avoiding conflict.
1.According to the passage, why do most governments continuously focus on increasing GDP year by year?
A.To increase its people 's wealth.
B.To strengthen its people 's health.
C.To improve its people 's happiness.
D.TO improve its overall national strength.
2.What do Daniel and Eugenio probably agree?
A.Warfare has no effect on happiness.
B.Happiness has nothing to do with GDP.
C.GDP is the most important factor in improving people 's happiness.
D.Health and life expectancy bring more happiness than GDP does.
3.From the passage we can know that ________.
A.Happiness rose to the top in Britain around 1980.
B.America’s national happiness fell to the bottom in 1975.
C.A one — year increase in longevity has the same effect as GDP on happiness.
D.The fall of happiness caused by war takes a 30% increase in GDP to raise.
4.What’s the best title for the text?
A.What on earth can bring people 's happiness?
B.Why wealth can 't bring people 's happiness?
C.What effect can war have on people 's happiness?
D.Why health can bring happiness to people?
A couple in their 60s has travelled 12,000 miles across 16 countries from Britain to China — riding their bikes the entire way. Grandparents Peter and Chris stepped on the long journey after deciding to ''do something a bit different''. They travelled across cities, deserts, mountains and everything in between across Europe, the Middle East and the East Asia. The married couple of 37 years enjoyed themselves with delicious local food and spent most nights inside a tiny tent put up wherever they could find shelter.
Peter, 66, said the moment they finally had a look at the famous Great Wall after a year and a half of cycling 30 miles a day was ''really exciting''. At the end of their journey, the special pair didn’t fly home but instead choose to book a cabin inside a 400m-Iong container ship. The final part was a three-week voyage from Singapore across the Indian Ocean and into the Mediterranean Sea before arriving at Southampton.
''You never know what the day is going to bring. All you know is that you are going to get on your bike and cycle. Every day is an adventure and every day is new. Overall, the experience is absolutely unbelievable, '' Peter said.
Peter and Chris initially set out to cycle from Britain in January 2017 but were forced home. They had cycled all the way to Hungary when Peter slipped on tiles and broke his leg. After even nonths of recovery, the couple set out again in Britain. They finally arrived in China in November 2018.
3th Peter and Chris agreed that the best part of the entire trip was coming across the kinhood of strangers along the way, many of whom invited the couple for food and drink. Chris, 64, said ''It was a wonderful experience, particularly wonderful because of the amazing people we met along the way. ''
1.What’s the couple's purpose of taking the long journey?
A.To try something new. B.To break the world record.
C.To go across 16 countries by bike. D.To celebrate their 37-year marriage.
2.How did the couple go back to their home after the trip to China?
A.By cycling. B.By train.
C.By plane. D.By sea.
3.Why did the couple put off their trip in 2017?
A.Peter had an accident. B.They ran out of their money.
C.They met with a heavy snow. D.Peter fell ill suddenly in Hungary.
4.What's the best part of the trip for the couple?
A.The beautiful scenes. B.The help from others.
C.The delicious food and drink. D.The kindness from other cyclists.
Artificial intelligence (Al) is practically everywhere today. There are so many products out there which use Al. Some are being developed, some are already in use, and some failed and are being improved, so it’s very difficult to name a few of them and regard them as the best.
Vi
It is an Al personal trainer which is mainly concerned with fitness and coaching. It, however, requires the use of bio-sensing earphones and other fitness tracking equipment! It can play your favourite music while you work out and all you have to worry about is the exercise you're doing.
Deep Text
Do you ever wonder how an ad appears suddenly just when you are looking for something similar? This is because of Deep Text. It uses real-time consumer information to produce data which in turn is used to target consumers. Thus, if you search online for flight tickets from Bangalore to Delhi, it is very likely that an ad relating to hotels in Delhi will soon follow.
Hello Egg
If you live alone and miss your mother because you always miss your breakfast or don’t know what to eat for dinner, then Hello Egg is exactly what you are looking for. A very healthy choice of the 2-minute noodles and oats, Hello Egg provides you with a detailed weekly meal plan about the needs of your body. It is truly a modem AI-powered home cooking tool for the young.
Wordsmith
You can put Mr. Smith into your Microsoft Excel using their free API, and let it write up detailed analysis of the stories behind your numbers. It can produce detailed reports on thousands of pages of spreadsheets in seconds.
1.What can we learn about Vi from the text?
A.It is an AI music player.
B.It is a bio-sensing earphone.
C.It doesn't work without bio-sensing earphones.
D.It can make you more energetic while you work out.
2.Which can help you improve cooking skill?
A.Deep Text. B.Vi.
C.Wordsmith. D.Hello Egg.
3.What can Wordsmith do for us?
A.Produce a detailed report. B.Provide us with a detailed meal plan.
C.Book a ticket ahead of time. D.Offer us information on hotels for traveling.
假设你是李华，你的美国朋友Tom对汉语和中国文化很感兴趣。他知道中国人很重视家风传承，在给你的电子邮件中想了解你家的家风以及家风对你的影响。请你给他回复一封电子邮件。
注意：
1.词数100左右,开头与结尾已经给出，不计入总词数；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3.参考词汇：家风family spirits。
Dear Tom,
I'm glad to know that you are learning Chinese language and culture.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧）,并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线,并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1 .每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
One cold evening during the holiday season, a little boy about six or seven was standing in the front of a store window. The little child had no shoes and his clothes are just rags. A young woman passes by saw the little boy and could read the desire in his pale blue eyes. She took the child by the hand and led him into the store. There she bought her some new shoes and a complete suit of warmly clothing. They walked back into the street, so the woman told the child to go home and has a happy holiday. The little boy looked her and asked how she was God. She smiled and replied that she was just one of His child.
阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
1.developing countries really need to do is to stop2. (poor) by fighting the cause of it. One way to help 3.country develop is to improve its infrastructure. The infrastructure of a country is what 4. (make) everything run well. These things provide a framework for new jobs to be created,5. (allow) people to help 6.(them) so that they no longer need to depend on others. Another way to help a country is through the development of private enterprise along with job training 7.(address) the problem of unemployment. In South Africa, a community program is providing training and help for people 8. jobs or homes, so that they can learn to make 9.（work） of art to sell to tourists. Although this is a bit different from conventional business, the program is growing fast, 10. many people have been quite successful in it.
