Thanks in no small part to Al Gore and his film producers, the American public is waking up to the seriousness of global warming.That is not so widely appreciated is that unless the US government【S1】______acted urgently and decisively, this problem could very quickly get【S2】______very much worse. For reasons both economic or political coal is poised to be the【S3】______fuel of choice in the coming decades as the US weans itself off foreign oil. Coal combustion generates half the US's electricity andreleases at 1. 5 billion tons of carbon dioxide a year. If present【S4】______trends continue, these figures will be more than double by 2050,much on to the detriment of the world's climate. Without an【S5】______alternative fuel, the only solution is to capture and store carbon dioxide from burning coal. Overcome the engineering obstacles in the way of large-scale【S6】______sequestration of carbon dioxide will be hard enough, and the bigger【S7】______challenge is one of political will. US companies as yet have noincentive to capture carbon emissions. While movements at state【S8】______and congressional levels are pushing in the right direction, the ambiguity in the administration's policy is counterproductive. It is time for the US government to put price on carbon【S9】______emissions so utilities that invest in technologies to reduce carbonemissions will see their efforts rewarding. Such a move would not【S10】______only reduce the risks associated with global warming, but also go a long way to restoring America's green credentials.

For a man who wants the world to slow down, Carl Honore's moment of clarity came in, of all places, an airport. The Canadian journalist was leafing through a newspaper at Rome's Fiumicino airport when he spotted an ad for a collection of condensed, one-minute bedtime stories for kids. At first Honore, a self-described" speedaholic", was delighted at the idea of a more efficient bedtime experience for his 2-year-old son. Then he was horrified. "Have I gone completely insane?" he asked himself, and realized the answer was "Probably." Out of that epiphany came a best-selling book and a whole new career for Honore as an international spokesman for the concept of leisure. "I'm attacking the whole cultural assumption that faster is better and we must cram every waking hour with things to do," says Honore, who now lives in London. In a world of bottom-line bosses and results-oriented parents, he dares speak up in favor of the unabridged fairy tale. It's a message people seem to want to hear. Since it appeared in April, In Praise of Slowness has been translated into 12 languages and sold some 60,000 copies, landing on best-seller lists in four countries; a British production company has bought television rights. Honore celebrates, perhaps a bit prematurely, a worldwide disillusionment with "the cult of speed". As evidence he cites the Slow Food rebellion against McDonald's that began in Italy and has spread its gospel of civilized dining and local products even to the unlikely precincts of New York and Chicago. In a world in which some parents send their offspring to prep courses for preschool, a growing number of schools around the world—about 800—are following the advice of the early 20th-century German educator Rudolf Steiner to encourage children to play and doodle to their hearts' content, putting off learning to read until as late as 7. In his own life, Honore has substituted meditation for tennis and for television; he has taken off his wristwatch, which means he's less worried about getting somewhere on time and can drive there without speeding. Oddly, though, Honore's book has yet to catch on in the country that arguably needs it most, the one that gave the world the assembly line and the one-minute manager. Chained to cell phones and BlackBerrys, fueled by junk food and forced to work ever longer hours as their employers cut jobs, frazzled American workers suffer from what the Seattle-based independent television producer John de Graaf called "affluenza" in his 2001 book of the same name. It is the collective malaise of a materialistic society that equates the good life with "the goods life. " By contrast, Europeans and even the famously efficient Japanese are more receptive. Slow Food held its second biennial gastronomic fair in Turin last month, drawing tens of thousands of visitors, including Prince Charles, who took a couple of hours out of a European tour to savor a pint of award-winning pale English ale. The Slow Cities movement has won the backing of municipal officials in more than 100 towns and cities in Europe, Japan and Brazil with a lengthy manifesto urging policies to reduce noise and traffic, preserve the local esthetic and gastronomic customs and establish more pedestrian zones and green spaces. The Society for the Deceleration of Time held its 14th annual meeting in Austria last month to promote what its organizers call" a more conscious way of living. "Mastering relaxation isn't something to attempt on your own, according to society member Christian Lackner. "When everyone is telling you to go faster, as an individual you do it," says Lackner. "You need a movement, a way of building a group of people who want to resist in order to make it easier to say, 'No, I won't'." Perhaps Americans need to be reassured that the slowness movement is not about fleeing to a cottage in rural Vermont. It's an effort to strike the right balance between work and leisure. A few enlightened companies like the accounting firm Ernst & Young are urging employees not to check their office e-mail and phone messages on weekends. Just as the election campaign reached a fever pitch in late October, leisure-minded Americans in 10 states were holding seminars on the perils of overwork and giving each other 15-minute massages on the second annual Take Back Your Time Day. The date was picked because the nine weeks that remained until the end of the year equal the amount of time the average American works in excess of his counterparts in Western Europe. For that matter, if you believe the message on their T shirts, the average American works longer than the average medieval peasant. But the premium on long hours and productivity continues to dominate the American workplace. Take Back Your Time has issued a six-point agenda for legislative action that would require employers to provide a minimum of three weeks' annual paid vacation and one week of paid sick leave. But—in contrast to the widespread support these efforts have in European countries—only Sen. Edward Kennedy's office has expressed interest in the proposals. For the foreseeable future Americans are pretty much on their own in the revolt against the cult of speed.

冬天您若怕冷的话可以到没有酷暑和严冬的“春城”——昆明，那里有引人入胜的石林和滇池，还可以到西双版纳去欣赏亚热带风光。也可以去桂林，沿着漓江顺水而下到阳朔，“桂林山水甲天下，阳朔山水甲桂林”，这个旅游项目不会使你失望。 没有见过冰雪的港澳同胞，不妨在一二月份去哈尔滨，那里是冰雪的世界，可以观雪景，看冰灯，滑雪，滑冰。

不爱红装爱武装。

{{B}}PART I LISTENING COMPREHENSION{{/B}}

How to Write a Dissertation I. Two necessary preparationsA. Planning【T1】 1【T1】 2B. The【T2】 3 of balanced life【T2】 4all you have to do: devote time to physical, social,intellectual,【T3】 5 well-being【T3】 6II. The general ideaA. A thesis is a hypothesis or conjectureB. A dissertation is a lengthy,【T4】 7【T4】 81. Scientific methodThe scientific method needs a【T5】 9 of evidence【T5】 10— to support a hypothesis— to deny a hypothesis2.【T6】 11【T6】 12— the essence of a dissertation— a dissertation【T7】 13 principles【T7】 143. Supporting materialsA dissertation must【T8】 15 every statement with a【T8】 16reference or original work— It does not repeat details of published materials— It uses the results as fact III. Learning from the exerciseA Getting trained to【T9】 17 with other scientists【T9】 18B. Learning to think deeply IV. Definitions and terminologyA Each technical term must be defined— by a reference to a definition【T10】 19【T10】 20— by a precise, unambiguous definition beforea)the term is used for a new termb)a standard term used in an unusual wayB. Each term should be used in one and only one way throughout the dissertationV. Language pointsA. Good writing is【T11】 21 in a dissertation【T11】 22B. Using active constructionsC. Writing in the【T12】 23tense【T12】 24D.【T13】 25negation early【T13】 26E. Paying attention to【T14】 27【T14】 28VI. Key to success:【T15】 29【T15】 30 How to Write a Dissertation I. Two necessary preparationsA. Planning【T1】 31【T1】 32B. The【T2】 33 of balanced life【T2】 34all you have to do: devote time to physical, social,intellectual,【T3】 35 well-being【T3】 36II. The general ideaA. A thesis is a hypothesis or conjectureB. A dissertation is a lengthy,【T4】 37【T4】 381. Scientific methodThe scientific method needs a【T5】 39 of evidence【T5】 40— to support a hypothesis— to deny a hypothesis2.【T6】 41【T6】 42— the essence of a dissertation— a dissertation【T7】 43 principles【T7】 443. Supporting materialsA dissertation must【T8】 45 every statement with a【T8】 46reference or original work— It does not repeat details of published materials— It uses the results as fact III. Learning from the exerciseA Getting trained to【T9】 47 with other scientists【T9】 48B. Learning to think deeply IV. Definitions and terminologyA Each technical term must be defined— by a reference to a definition【T10】 49【T10】 50— by a precise, unambiguous definition beforea)the term is used for a new termb)a standard term used in an unusual wayB. Each term should be used in one and only one way throughout the dissertationV. Language pointsA. Good writing is【T11】 51 in a dissertation【T11】 52B. Using active constructionsC. Writing in the【T12】 53tense【T12】 54D.【T13】 55negation early【T13】 56E. Paying attention to【T14】 57【T14】 58VI. Key to success:【T15】 59【T15】 60

Euthanasia is the deliberate advancement of a person's death for the benefit of that person. In most cases euthanasia is carried out because the person who is usually terminally ill asks to die. It can be carried out either by doing something, such as administering a lethal injection, or by not doing something necessary to keep the person alive. The following are opinions on the necessity of legalizing euthanasia. Write an article of NO LESS THAN 300 words, in which you should: 1. summarize the arguments, and then 2. express your opinion towards euthanasia, especially whether it should be legalized.Bonnie Malkin, Professor of Ave Maria School of Law Our legal system accepts that people have a legal right to choose when to die, as demonstrated by the fact that suicide is legal. This right is denied to those who are incapable of taking their own lives unaided. Legalising euthanasia would redress this balance. Our legal system also recognises that assisting a suicide attempt is a crime. Human beings are independent biological entities, and as an adult, have the right to take and carry out decisions about themselves. A human being decides who they spend their life with, their career path, where they live, whether to bear children. So what is the harm in allowing a terminally ill patient to decide for themselves whether they die in a hospital or in their own home? Surely a terminally ill sufferer is better qualified to decide for themselves whether they are better off dead or alive? Their disease makes them so crippled they cannot commit suicide alone. A quote from The Independent in this March stated that "So long as the patient is lucid, and his or her intent is clear beyond doubt, there need be no further questions". Human beings should be as free as possible and unnecessary restraints on human rights are strongly discouraged.Luke Gormally, first Research Officer of The Linacre Centre The prestigious position of doctors could quite easily be abused if euthanasia were to become legalised. A prime example of this would be the late Dr Harold Shipman, who killed between 215 and 260 elderly women. Vulnerable, ill people trust their doctor and if he confidently suggested a course of action, it could be hard to resist. A patient and his family would generally decide in favour of euthanasia according to the details fed to them by their doctor. These details may not even be well founded: diagnoses can be mistaken and new treatment developed which the doctor does not know about. Surely it is wrong to give one or two individuals the right to decide whether a patient should live or die. On the contrary, the majority of doctors would make well-informed, responsible and correct decisions, but for those few like Harold Shipman, they can get away with murder, undetected, for 23 years.Gina Barton, American journalist If a terminal patient faces a long, slow, painful death, surely it is much kinder to spare them this kind of suffering and allow them to end their life comfortably. Pain medications used to alleviate symptoms often have unpleasant side effects or may leave the patient in a state of sedation. It is not as if they are really "living" during this time; they are merely waiting to die. They should have the right to avoid this kind of torturous existence and be allowed to die in a humane way.

The need for more food discourages development of better technology which naturally keeps more people alive.

今天承担家务的一些男人还在怀念昔日以男子为中心的年代。那时，他们下了班回家，热腾腾的晚餐已摆好在桌上，妻子儿女围上来问寒问暖；家中大事小事多由自己作主，因为男人作为一家之主承担了全家经济生活的来源。妇女走出家门就业后，男人的供养职责相对减小，在家庭的地位也变得不像从前那么举足轻重了。夫妻双方都有职业，在社会服务并不发达的中国，繁重的家务事自然应落在夫妻二人身上。

我们对足球有着更深的理解。

Resale Price Maintenance is the name used when a retailer is compelled to sell at a price fixed by the manufacturer instead of choosing for himself how much to add on to the wholesale price hepays for his supplies. This practice is associated to the sale of【S1】______"branded" goods, which now form a very considerate proportion of【S2】______consumers' purchases and it has led to a great deal of controversy. Generally such articles are packed and advertised by themanufacturers, who tries to create a special image in the minds of【S3】______possible purchasers—an image made up of the look of the article,its use, its price, or everything else that might lead purchasers to【S4】______ask for that brand rather for any other. If a retailer is allowed to【S5】______charge any price he likes he may find it worth to sell one brand at【S6】______"cut" prices even though this involves a loss, because he hopes toattract customers to the shop, in where they may be persuaded to【S7】______buy many other types of goods at higher prices. The manufacturer ofthe brand that has cut fears that the retailer may be tempted to【S8】______reduce the services on this article, but, as if he does not there is a【S9】______danger that the customer becomes unsettled and is unwilling to pay the standard price of the article because he feels that he is being "done". This may, and indeed often does, affect the reputation of the manufacturer and make him lose his market in long run.【S10】______

There are more than 300 million of us in the United States, and sometimes it seems like we're all friends on Facebook. But the sad truth is that Americans are lonelier than ever. Between 1985 and 2004, the number of people who said there was no one with whom they discussed important matters tripled, to 25 percent, according to Duke University researchers. Unfortunately, as a new study linking women to increased risk of heart disease shows, all this loneliness can be detrimental to our health. The bad news doesn't just affect women. Social isolation in all adults has been linked to a raft of physical and mental ailments, including sleep disorders, high blood pressure, and an increased risk of depression and suicide. How lonely you feel today actually predicts how well you'll sleep tonight and how depressed you'll feel a year from now, says John T. Cacioppo, a neuroscientist at the University of Chicago and coauthor of Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection. Studies have shown that loneliness can cause stress levels to rise and can weaken the immune system. Lonely people also tend to have less healthy lifestyles, drinking more alcohol, eating more fattening food, and exercising less than those who are not lonely. Though more Americans than ever are living alone (25 percent of US households, up from 7 percent in 1940), the connection between single-living and loneliness is in fact quite weak. "Some of the most profound loneliness can happen when other people are present," says Harry Reis, professor of psychology at the University of Rochester. Take college freshmen: even though they're surrounded by people almost all the time, many feel incredibly isolated during the first quarter of the school year with their friends and family members far away, Cacioppo says. Studies have shown that how lonely freshmen will feel can be predicted by how many miles they are from home. By the second quarter, however, most freshmen have found social replacements for their high-school friends. Unfortunately, as we age, it becomes more difficult to recreate those social relationships. And that can be a big problem as America becomes a more transient society, with an increasing number of Americans who say that they're willing to move away from home for a job. Loneliness can be relative; it has been defined as an aversive emotional response to a perceived discrepancy between a person's desired levels of social interaction and the contact they're actually receiving. People tend to measure themselves against others, feeling particularly alone in communities where social connection is the norm. That's why collectivist cultures, like those in Southern Europe, have higher levels of loneliness than individualist cultures, Cacioppo says. For the same reason, isolated individuals feel most acutely alone on holidays like Christmas Eve or Thanksgiving, when most people are surrounded by family and friends. Still, loneliness is a natural biological signal that we all have. Indeed, loneliness serves an adaptive purpose, making us protect and care for one another. Loneliness essentially puts the brain on high alert, encouraging us not to eat leftovers from the refrigerator but to call a friend and eat out. Certain situational factors can trigger loneliness, but long-term feelings of emptiness and isolation are partly genetic, Cacioppo says. What's inherited is not loneliness itself, but rather sensitivity to disconnection. Social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace may provide people with a false sense of connection that ultimately increases loneliness in people who feel alone. These sites should serve as a supplement, but not replacement for, face-to-face interaction, Cacioppo says. For people who feel satisfied and loved in their day-to-day life, social media can be a reassuring extension. For those who are already lonely, Facebook status updates are just a reminder of how much better everyone else is at making friends and having fun. So how many friends do you need to avoid loneliness? An introvert might need one confidante not to feel lonely, whereas an extrovert might require two, three, or four bosom buddies. Experts say it's not the quantity of social relationships but the quality that really matters. "The most popular kid in school may still feel lonely," Cacioppo says. "There are a lot of stars who have been idols and lived lonely lives."

(1)Kimiyuki Suda should be a perfect customer for Japan's carmakers. He's a young(34), successful executive at an Internet-services company in Tokyo and has plenty of disposable income. He used to own Toyota's Hilux Surf, a sport utility vehicle. But now he uses mostly subways and trains. "It's not inconvenient at all," he says. Besides, "having a car is so 20th century." (2)Suda reflects a worrisome trend in Japan; the automobile is losing its emotional appeal, particularly among the young, who prefer to spend their money on the latest electronic gadgets. While minicars and luxury foreign brands are still popular, everything in between is slipping. Last year sales fell 6.7 percent—if you don't count me minicar market. There have been larger one-year drops in other nations: sales in Germany fell 9 percent in 2007 thanks to a tax hike. But analysts say Japan is unique in that sales have been eroding steadily over time. Since 1990, yearly new-car sales have fallen from 7.8 million to 5.4 million units in 2007. (3)Alarmed by this state of decay, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association launched a comprehensive study of the market in 2006. It found a widening wealth gap, demographic changes—fewer households with children, a growing urban population—and general lack of interest in cars led Japanese to hold their vehicles longer, replace their cars with smaller ones or give up car ownership altogether. "Japan's automobile society stands at a crossroad," says Ryuichi Kitamura, a transport expert and professor at Kyoto University. He says he does not expect the trend to be reversed, as studies show that the younger Japanese consumers are, the less interested they are in having a car. JAMA predicts a further sales decline of 1.2 percent in 2008. Some analysts believe that if the trend continues for much longer, further consolidation in the automotive sector(already under competitive pressure)is likely. (4)Japanese demographics have something to do with the problem. The country's urban population has grown by nearly 20 percent since 1990, and most city dwellers use mass transit(the country's system is one of the best developed in the world)on a daily basis, making it less essential to own a car. Experts say Europe, where the car market is also quite mature, may be in for a similar shift. (5)But in Japan, the "demotorization" process, or kuruma banare, is also driven by cost factors. Owning and driving a car can cost up to $500 per month in Japan, including parking fees, car insurance, toll roads and various taxes. Taxes on a $17,000 car in Japan are 4.1 times higher than in the United States, 1.7 times higher than in Germany and 1.25 times higher than in the U.K., according to JAMA. "Automobiles used to represent a symbol of our status, a Western, modern lifestyle that we aspired for," says Kitamura. For today's young people, he argues, "such thinking is completely gone." (6)Cars are increasingly just a mobile utility; the real consumer time and effort goes into picking the coolest mobile phones and personal computers, not the hippest hatchback. The rental-car industry has grown by more than 30 percent in the past eight years, as urbanites book weekend wheels over the Internet. Meanwhile, government surveys show that spending on cars per household per year fell by 14 percent, to $600, between 2000 and 2005, while spending on Net and mobile-phone subscriptions rose by 39 percent, to $1,500, during the same period. (7)For Japanese car companies, the implications are enormous. "Japan is the world's second largest market, with a 17 to 18 percent share of our global sales. It's important," says Takao Katagiri, corporate vice president at Nissan Motor Co. The domestic market is where Japanese carmakers develop technology and build their know-how, and if it falters, it could gut an industry that employs 7.8 percent of the Japanese work force. (8)While surging exports, particularly to emerging markets, have more than offset the decline in domestic sales so far, companies are looking for ways to turn the tide. Nissan, for example, is trying to appeal to the digital generation with promotional blogs and even a videogame. A racing game for Sony's PlayStation, for example, offers players the chance to virtually drive the company's latest sporty model, the GT-R—a new marketing approach to create buzz and tempt them into buying cars. Toyota Motors has opened an auto mall as part of a suburban shopping complex near Tokyo, hoping to attract the kinds of shoppers who have long since stopped thinking about dropping by a car dealership. It's a bit akin to the Apple strategy of moving electronics out of the soulless superstore, and into more appealing and well-trafficked retail spaces. It worked for Apple, but then Apple is so 21st century.

古人的茶道、围棋、抚琴，都以安静功课为根柢，传递出一种深长的静思意味。直到现在，如果能遇到一个自然深入的老者，看他品茶下棋，或者听他弹琴，会发现流露在外边的表演招式几乎没有，而给人流畅舒服的感觉，十分熨帖。这种生活举止甚是雅致，同时又很朴素，一点做作都没有。就连武术也是如此，凌厉的肢体动作都是配合呼吸，在沉静的气息间隙里有节奏地展开，如果在这些动静结合上稍有紊乱，也就全糟了。

[此试题无题干]

Interest refers to the amount what your money earns when it is kept in a savings instrument.

Misery may love company, but this was ridiculous. More than a million IBM stockholders last week took a nightmare ride on astock they had long trusted. IBM had been sliding all year recent【S1】______hitting 10-year lows, but after the company announced last Tuesday that it would, among other things, slash another 25,000 jobs, thestock took a historic rise. In 48 hours, it lost 11 points, or almost【S2】______18 percent of its value, closing Wednesday at 51. On Friday it hitother new low. Big Board officials camped out on the exchange floor【S3】______to prevent chaotic, land brokers fielded frantic calls from investors【S4】______in various stages of disbelief and agony. " They're screaming and hollering," said Carol Komskis of York Securities. They are saying, "Things like this just don't happen in America. " Stock prices that rise and fall are anything new; that's what【S5】______makes a market. But Big Blue had always epitomized the blue-chipstock on that Americans could count to send the kids to college or【S6】______help retire in the style. Some investors may be in blissful【S7】______ignorant; pension funds across the country are heavily invested in【S8】______IBM.(The New York State Employee Pension Funds lonely hold【S9】______3. 6 million shares.)But the charm of stocks like IBM, General Motors and Westinghouse was that you could feel secure in buyingthem even you did not know " earnings". Such stock made【S10】______generations of Americans faithful capitalists. "This was the kind of stock that created wealth for a lot of people in this country. " Says Jonathan Pond, a Boston-based financial counselor and author.

European immigrants to Colonial America brought with themtheir culture, traditions and philosophy about education. Many of【S1】______the formal educational system in the United States is rooting in the【S2】______European or Western belief system. Though an indigenous population of Native Americans lived on the North American continent, their influence on the development of formal educationalpractice in America was minimal. Many tribes had not already【S3】______developed writing or a system of formal educational practice.Additionally, there was a system effort to eradicate this population【S4】______as opposed to assimilating them. Between the tribes that had developed written languages, the【S5】______Cherokee tribe who originally lived in the Southern portion of theUnited States had developed a system of formal education to send【S6】______knowledge from one generation to the next. They, however, were methodically pushed out of their native territory in the early 1800'sand forced to move to the Oklahoma territory, limited their ability to【S7】______influence educational practice in early America. The English were the predominant settlers in the New Worldbut as a result education in colonial America was patterned on the【S8】______English model. It originally developed as the two-track system with【S9】______people from the lower classes receiving minimal instruction and only learning to read and write, calculate and receive religious instruction. The upper classes were allowed to pursue an education beyond the basics and oftentimes attended Latin grammar or secondary schools where they learned Greek and Latin and studied the classics in the preparation for a college education.【S10】______

Old though this topic seems to be, the relationship between money and happiness never ceases to be a hot debate. Can money always bring happiness? Read the excerpt carefully and write your response in about 300 words, in which you should: 1. summarize briefly the author's opinion; 2. give your comment. Marks will be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization and language quality. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks. Everything That Rises Must Converge Poets, songwriters and left-wing politicians hate the idea, but for decades the evidence of opinion poll has been clear; money buys happiness and the richer you are, the more likely you are to express satisfaction with your life. A survey of 43 countries published on October 30th by the Pew Research Centre of Washington, DC, shows that people in emerging markets are within a whisker of expressing the same level of satisfaction as people in rich countries. It is the biggest qualification to the standard view of happiness and income seen so far. The Pew poll asks respondents to measure, on a scale from zero to ten, how good their lives are. (Those who say between seven and ten are counted as happy. ) In 2007, 57% of respondents in rich countries put themselves in the top four tiers; in emerging markets the share was 33% ; in poor countries only 16%—a classic expression of the standard view. But in 2014, 54% of rich-country respondents counted themselves as happy, whereas in emerging markets the percentage jumped to 51%. This was happening just at a time when emerging markets' chances of converging economically with the West seemed to be receding. Rich countries did not experience steep decline in happiness. The decreases in America and Britain were tiny (a percentage point) , while the share of happy Germans rose 13 points. A large drop in formerly joyful Spain ensured a modest overall decline for the rich. But the convergence happened thanks to huge improvements in countries such as Indonesia ( + 35 ) and Pakistan ( + 22). In 12 of the 24 emerging markets, half or more people rate their life satisfaction in the top tiers of the ladder. This is not to say the link between income and satisfaction has been snapped. Poor countries still lag behind: only a quarter of the people there are in the happy tiers—half the level of the other two groups. There is also a clear link between happiness and income growth (as opposed to income levels). China's GDP rose at an annual average rate of 10% in 2007 - 2014 and its happiness level rose 26 points. Within countries, richer people express more satisfaction than their poorer neighbours. The study divided respondents into categories with higher and lower incomes and fewer and more household goods. In every country in every group, richer folks with more goods expressed higher levels of happiness. So at a personal (as opposed to national) level, money does buy happiness. And if you ask people about different aspects of their lives—health, family life, religion, standard of living—it turns out that satisfaction with living standards still has the biggest influence on happiness. But the secret of happiness has been scattered around. Women tend to be happier than men. Married people are happier than unmarried ones. Latin Americans are more satisfied than people in other emerging markets. Asians are the most optimistic; Middle Easterners the least. Income still matters. But it has been dethroned. Write your response on ANSWER SHEET FOUR.

Even before the human organism developed into their present stage of Homo sapiens, the beginnings of culture were already evident.