单选题
Happy people work differently. They"re more productive, more creative, and willing to take greater risks. And new research suggests that happiness might influence
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firms work, too.
Companies located in places with happier people invest more, according to a recent research paper.
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, firms in happy places spend more on R&D (research and development). That"s because happiness is linked to the kind of longer-term thinking
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for making investments for the future.
The researchers wanted to know if the
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and inclination for risk-taking that come with happiness would
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the way companies invested. So they compared U.S. cities" average happiness
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by Gallup polling with the investment activity of publicly traded firms in those areas.
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enough, firms" investment and R&D intensity were correlated with the happiness of the area in which they were
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. But is it really happiness that"s linked to investment, or could something else about happier cities
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why firms there spend more on R&D? To find out, the researchers controlled for various
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that might make firms more likely to invest—like size, industry, and sales—and for indicators that a place was
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to live in, like growth in wages or population. The link between happiness and investment generally
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even after accounting for these things.
The correlation between happiness and investment was particularly strong for younger firms, which the authors
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to "less codified decision making process" and the possible presence of "younger and less
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managers who are more likely to be influenced by sentiment." The relationship was
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stronger in places where happiness was spread more
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. Firms seem to invest more in places where most people are relatively happy, rather than in places with happiness inequality.
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this doesn"t prove that happiness causes firms to invest more or to take a longer-term view, the authors believe it at least
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at that possibility. It"s not hard to imagine that local culture and sentiment would help
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how executives think about the future. "It surely seems plausible that happy people would be more forward-thinking and creative and
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R&D more than the average," said one researcher.
【答案解析】[解析] 考查副词词义。由下一句Firms seem to invest more in places where most people are relatively happy, rather than in places with happiness inequality.可知，此处是说，在快乐程度更加均衡的地方，这种联系同样更加紧密，equally与inequality相呼应，故D为答案。
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[解析] 考查上下文逻辑衔接。由空格后的this doesn"t prove that happiness causes firms to invest more or to take a longer-term view以及后半句the authors believe it at least可知，前后句体现出来的是让步关系，故C项为答案。
【答案解析】[解析] 考查动词词义。由空前的It"s not hard to imagine that local culture and sentiment would help可知，四个选项中shape符合上下文语境，故A项为答案，即，不难想象，当地文化和民情有助于塑造高管们思考未来的方式，shape意为“塑造”。