It is plain common sense—the more happiness you feel, the less unhappiness you experience, but it is not true. Recent research reveals that happiness and unhappiness are not really flip sides of the same emotion. They are two distinct feelings that, coexisting, rise and fall independently.
The recognition that feelings of happiness and unhappiness can coexist much like love and hate in a close relationship may offer valuable clues on how to lead a happier life.It suggests, for example, that changing or avoiding things that make you miserable may well make you less miserable but probably won't make any happier. That advice is backed up by an extraordinary series of studies which indicate that a genetic predisposition for unhappiness may run in certain families. On the other hand, researches have found, happiness doesn't appear to be anyone's heritage. The capacity for joy is a talent you develop largely for yourself.
Family members resemble each other more in their levels of unhappiness than in their levels of happiness. In a study conducted at the University of Minnesota twins were tested for a wide range of personality traits. In terms of happiness, identical twins who were separated soon after birth were considerably less alike than twins raised together. But when it came to unhappiness, the twins raised apart—some without contact for as long as 64 years—were as similar as those who had grown up together.
Why is unhappiness less influenced by environment? When we are happy we are more responsive to people and keep up connections better than we are feeling sad. This doesn't mean, however, that some people are born to be sad and that's that. Genes may predispose one to unhappiness, but disposition can be influenced by personal choice. You can increase your happiness through your own actions.
Psychologists have begun to find out who's happy, who is not and why.To date, the research hasn't found a simple recipe for a happy life, but it has discovered some of the actions and attitudes that seem to bring people closer to the most desired feelings. Happiness is not the goal of humanity. However, to begin to think about how we think about happiness may help us to understand not only what we have but possibly what we don't have. By exploring happiness, we may clearly know what we really want and ask ourselves whether what we want is worth getting. To begin with, we should try to understand a little of what happiness consists of in ourselves and in our relationship with society.
1、From the passage we learn that happiness and unhappiness _____.
A) are two different sides of the same emotion
B) work as positive and negative feeling respectively
C) are not inherently related with each other
D) have something to do with one's heritage
2、It can be inferred from the passage that _____.
A) avoiding things that make you unhappy will make you happy
B) family members take after each other in the level of happiness
C) identical twins are much alike in terms of happiness
D) the feel of happiness varies among the different people
3、According to the passage, some people are born to be sad _____.
A) and there is nothing they can do to change the situation
B) but they can change their disposition through their own actions
C) so they feel unhappy most of the time in their lives
D) and they are less responsive to people than happy people
4、The word“disposition”(in Lina 4， Para.4) possibly means“_____”.
A) character B) arrangement C) donation D) discharge
5、In the last paragraph the author stresses that _____.
A) there are some recipes for a happy life
B) happiness may help us understand what we have and what we don't have
C) it is important to know what happiness really means
D) exploring happiness successfully can make us feel happier
参考答案&解析：
1.C) 事实细节题。第一段第二句说 Recent research reveals that...same emotion.最近的研究结果显示，快乐与忧愁其实不是相同情感的两面，它们是两种截然不同的感觉体验。这说明幸福与忧愁并不相同，故C)“幸福与忧愁本质上无关”与文意相符。
避错指导：第一段指出：你越觉得快乐，你感受到的忧愁就越少，这是一般常识，但这并不是真实情况，所以A)“相同情感的两个不同体验”与文章意思相反;B)“分别为积极和消极的感受”属无中生有;D)“与一个人的遗传有关”与文章第二段倒数第二句话相反。
2.D) 事实细节题。第二段最后三句话指出That advice is backed up...develop largely for yourself.该句说明：享受幸福的能力不是天生的，主要靠自己培养。故D)与文章意思相符。
避错指导：A)“避免使你不幸的事情会使你快乐”，与第二段第二句...may well make you less miserable but probably won't make any happier.不符;B)“家庭成员在快乐的程度方面彼此相同”，与第三段第一句的意思相反;C)“就快乐而言，同卵双胞胎非常相似”，与第三段第二句意思相反。
3.B) 推理判断题。第四段指出，我们高兴时，更可能对别人做出反应，而且同外界的联系比我们忧愁时更密切。然而，这并不意味着一些人生下来就忧愁。基因可能使一个人容易忧愁，但是，性情可能受个人选择的影响。你能够通过自己的行动增加自己的快乐。故选B)。
避错指导：A)“他们无法改变这一情形”，与文中意思相反;C)“所以他们一生的大部分时间都感到不快乐”，属无中生有;D)“他们对外人的反应没有快乐的人多”，文中只是说“我们高兴时，我们更可能对人做出反应，同外界的联系比我们忧愁时更密切”，并没有说忧愁的人对外界的反应没有快乐的人多，故可排除。
4.A) 语义理解题。第四段第四句提到Genes may predispose one to unhappiness,but disposition can be influenced by personal choice.根据上下文，这句话说的是基因可能使一个人容易忧愁，但是性情可能受个人选择的影响。你能够通过自己的行动增加自己的快乐。所以答案为A)“性情”。 B)“安排”，是disposition的字面意思之一，但不是文中的意思;C)“赠予”，也是字面意思，不是文中意思;D)“放出”，disposition无此义。
5.C) 主旨大意题。最后一段指出：快乐不是人类的目标。不过，开始考虑我们如何看待快乐可能不仅有助于我们了解自己拥有什么，而且有助于我们了解自己缺少什么。通过研究快乐，我们可能更清楚地明白我们真正需要什么，我们也可能自问我们需要的东西是否值得追求。作者在最后一段强调的是——我们应该尽力弄清楚快乐包含什么。C)“知道幸福的真正含义很重要”与原文相符。 A)“有一些快乐的秘诀”，与最后一段第二句话意思不符;文中是说，“开始考虑我们如何看待快乐可能不仅有助于我们了解自己拥有什么，而且有助于我们了解自己缺少什么”，并没有说快乐可以帮助我们了解我们拥有什么，缺少什么，所以B)不对;D)“了解什么是快乐能使我们更快乐”，文中无此意。
粤公网安备 44030402000127号
