单选题 It is difficult for outsiders to gauge people"s sense of well-being, simply by viewing their lives. And yet despite the difficulty, economists seem increasingly determined to do just that, by trying to wrestle life"s intangibles into measurable data.
Forty years after the Gross National Happiness index was invented by the King of Bhutan, happiness is finally gaining attraction as a serious national indicator. Last week, economists at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which represents 34 major economies, told a packed auditorium in Paris that they hoped their Better Life Index—launched a year ago—would persuade governments to focus as much on factors like environment and community cohesiveness, as on GDP measurements like productivity and income. "The index of material conditions is still extremely important," the OECD"s chief statistician Martine Durand told the audience of about 350 people, including economists and officials from around the world. "But what we are saying is that there is more to life than just money."
Now several countries seem to have taken note. The U. S. Department of Health and Human Services is working on a national happiness index for Americans (whose "pursuit of happiness," The Washington Post noted, is fundamental to the country) that the U. S. would then track, much as it does income and working hours. And last year, in the midst of massive spending cuts, Britain"s Office of National Statistics began a Well-Being Index, at a cost of $ 3 million a year, collecting statistics on people"s levels of anxiety and confidence. Surprisingly, the first index showed Brits being generally happy with life, with older people being happiest of all.
But no effort seems to match the ambition and scope of the OECD"s Better Life Index. Launched in May last year, it collates statistics in 36 countries (Russia and Brazil signed on this month) on 24 indicators; as of this year, those include gender and inequality. There are factors on the list that seem tricky to quantify, like "work-life balance," and "life satisfaction," as well as the more obvious ones like education, health, and income.
Having worked for years to design the index, OECD statisticians then confronted the complexities of measuring factors which were subjective and vague. So they launched an online tool called "Your Better Life Index," allowing people anywhere to rank how important each factor on the list is to them, and then compare how their ideal stacks up against real-life statistics. In effect, the Better Life Index is now whatever each person decides it should be. If education is the most important thing to you, go live in Finland, not Mexico; if work-life balance is most important, Denmark is your place, while the U. S. ranks near bottom.

单选题 By "more to life" (Line 8, Para. 2), Chief statistician Martine Durand suggests ______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 推理判断题。根据题干，定位到第二段末句。OECD的首席统计学家Martine Durand说：“物质条件指数仍很重要，但是我们说，对于生活，有些东西比钱更重要。”联系上下文，首段提到人们的幸福感，第二段首句谈到“幸福终于作为一个严肃的国家性指标受到关注，”Martine Durand的一席话也是为了说明幸福这一指标的重要性，故他说的比钱还重要的东西是幸福，D项为正确答案。A选项只是一个衡量指标，不是Martine强调的重点；B选项是物质条件，与Martine所说的内容相反；C选项属于推断过度。

单选题 The topic sentence of Paragraph 3 is supported by ______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 推理判断题。该段第一句说，现在有几个国家已经注意到了。接下来分别谈到美国和英国的行动。显然，首句具有概括性，为本段主题句。例证有两个：美国卫生及公共服务部正在为美国人跟踪一个国民幸福指数以及英国国家统计部门启动了一个幸福指数来收集人们的焦虑和信心统计数据。再看四个选项，A选项只是第一个例证中补充的一个次要细节，不能支持主题句；B选项同义替换原文的statistics on people"s levels of anxiety and confidence，是列举数据论证观点，故符合题目要求，为正确答案。C选项易于排除，因为这不是美国人跟踪一个国民幸福指数的内容；D选项是英国启动的幸福指数中第一个指数显示的内容，本身不能支持主题句。

单选题 From paragraphs 3 and 4 we can know ______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 事实细节题。A选项意为“教育和健康类的因素可以量化”，与原文There are factors on the list that seem tricky to quantify...as well as the more obvious ones like education, health，and income“目录里不仅有较明显的如教育、健康及收入等因素，还有些难以量化的因素……”相符合，故为正确答案。B选项原文没有将这一指数的花费同其他国家的相比较，排除该项；C选项“‘更好的生活指数’无限制地进行”与第四段首句“但是OECD的‘更好的生活指数’的志向及范围似乎超出任何能付出的努力”相悖，故排除；D选项“美国的‘国民幸福指数’仅次于‘更好的生活指数’”，原文中未比较两者的高低，故排除。