Whenever and wherever they look，scientists find that，on average，wealthierpeople are happier. But the link between money and happiness is complicated. In thepast half-century，average income has skyrocketed in industrialized countries，yethappiness levels have remained static. Once your basic needs are met，money onlyseems to add happiness if you have more than your friends，neighbors and colleagues.
“ Dollars buy status，and status makes people feel better，”says Andrew Oswald,an economist at Warwick University in Coventry，England. This helps explain whypeople who can seek status in other ways - scientists or actors，for example - mayhappily accept relatively poorly paid jobs.
How much stuff do you need to feel good? In the 1980s，political scientist AlexMichalos，professor emeritus ( 名誉的) at the University of Northern BritishColumbia in Prince George，asked 18，000 college students in 39 countries to rate theirhappiness on a numeric scale. Then he asked them how close they were to having allthey wanted. He found that the people whose desires - not just for money，but forfriends，family，job，health，the works - soared furthest beyond what they alreadyhad，tended to be less happy than those who perceived a smaller gap. Indeed，the sizeof the gap predicted happiness about five times better than income alone. “ The gapmeasures just blow away the absolute measures of income，”says Michalos.This“ desire gap”might explain why most people fail to get much happier astheir salaries rise. Instead of satisfying our desires，most of us merely want more. Insurveys by the Roper polling organization over the last two decades，Americans wereasked to list the material possessions they thought important to“ the good life. ”Theresearchers found that the more of these goods people already had，the longer their listwas. The good life remained always just out of reach.
1. This passage is mainly about .
A. two factors that contribute to happiness
B. wealth and desire
C. how to lead a good，happy life
D. only by satisfying our basic need will we get keys to happiness
2. The word“ skyrocket”in line 3，paragraph 2 most probably means .
A. be as high as sky
B. go up suddenly
C. increase suddenly and steeply
D. fly about like a rocket
3. Which of the following does Michalos believe?
A. Much money helps grow social positions.
B. Scientists will readily accept low salary jobs.
C. It is much more important to satisfy one??s desire than to earn much money.
D. The more you desire，the happier you will be.
4. What??s the author??s attitude in writing the passage?
A. Compromising. B. Objective.
C. Subjective. D. Critical.
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An age-old story has it that some 5 ，000 years ago; a few tea leaves blew into acup of hot water held by the Chinese emperor Shen Nung. The ruler declared theresulting brew a considerable improvement over plain water . Moreover ，herecommended it as a remedy for kidney trouble，fever，chest infection and tumors“ that come about the head. ”“ It appears that the components in tea might help reduce the risk of a number ofmajor chronic diseases，such as stroke，heart attack and some cancers，” says Dr.John Weisburger ，a senior member of the American Health Foundation，a foundation,and a research center in Valhalla，New York.
More than 20 studies on animals have indicated that tea may prevent somecancers，including those of the digestive and respiratory tracts and the skin.Polyphenols ( 多酚) are thought to be the major disease preventing ingredients.“Along with eating plenty of fruits and vegetables，drinking tea may turn out to be acheap and practical way to reduce the risk of certain cancers，”asserts Weisburger.