单选题 At the beginning of a country's rise out of backwardness and poverty, more wealth does make a difference. However, citing surveys from China and South Korea, economist Richard Easterlin points out: "In these countries, per capita income has doubled in 20 years but overall happiness does not seem to have followed the same path." Economists are surprised, because GNP has long been thought the best indicator of human welfare. More GNP generally means more money for most people, and more money improves the quality of life, and that means happiness.
But, perhaps, the survey suggests that more money can make you happy only if those around you do not share in your good fortune. General prosperity may fail to enhance individual contentment. Perhaps it is a matter of being aware of your advantage, not that you need to get the highest salaries or be the object of envy. Maybe, individual goals vary too much to be generalized. Maybe one has nothing at all to do with the other. Freud was well aware that economic success did not make people happy. Most psychoanalysts and therapists today would agree. He thought only the realization of a deep childhood desire could provide such satisfaction.
Another problem is that people are poor reporters of their own states of mind. They will usually tell you what they themselves want to believe. To know if someone is really happy or not, you have to catch him or her in the act of happiness. Being happy or acting happy are more reliable indicators than thinking too much about it.
Professional therapists also know that what makes people happy defies explanation, but what prevents them from being happy doesn't. Poor self-esteem undermines all feelings of success. Hunger and cold make it harder to relax and enjoy one's experience. Insecurity and failure to engage in one's work leave one dissatisfied. Anxiety penetrates all our perceptions and feelings, and brings us down.
Economists can probably hope to measure how well our basic needs for security and health are met in society, and if those are reasonably OK, people tend to find the happiness they seek. Most of us want to enjoy life, spend time with our children, play at sports, sing, dance and travel.
If we can do those things without dread, the amount of money we have is irrelevant.

单选题 It seems to Richard Easterlin that higher GNP
A. will certainly make people happier
B. depends on the overall level of happiness
C. does not necessarily add to people's happiness
D. is a good indicator of human happiness

单选题 According to the second paragraph, individual happiness arises from______.
A. setting a high goal B. the respect from your neighbors
C. common prosperity D. your superiority over others

单选题 Freud's doctrine is mentioned to show that______.
A. goals vary from person to person
B. a happy childhood means life-long happiness
C. psychoanalysts and therapists think alike
D. wealth does not always make one happy

单选题 It can be inferred from the passage that______.
A. our feelings of happiness tend to be the same
B. there are few people who are really happy
C. people sometimes don't know exactly how they feel
D. thinking about happiness can make you feel happy

单选题 Professional therapists believe that______.
A. it is easy to explain what makes people happy
B. it is easy to tell what leaves people unhappy
C. it is difficult to tell who is happy
D. it is hard to distinguish happiness from unhappiness

单选题 The author's conclusion is that______.
A. happiness is sometimes independent of wealth
B. money can add to individual happiness
C. it is possible to determine if money means happiness
D. happiness has nothing to do with wealth of any sort