Question

    What makes people happier: money or having happy friends and neighbors? Researchers from Harvard University and the University of California, San Diego, have found an answer as part of a study.

    The new study found that friends of happy people had a greater chance of being happy themselves. And the smaller the physical distance between friends, the larger the effect they had on each other’s happiness. For example, a person was twenty percent more likely to feel happy if a friend living within one and a half kilometers was also happy. Having a happy neighbor who lived next door increased an individual’s chance of being happy by thirty-four percent. The effects of friends’ happiness lasted for up to a year.

    The researchers found that happiness is really contagious. Sadness also spread among friends, but not as much as happiness. People removed by as much as three degrees of separation still had an effect on a person’s happiness. Three degrees of separation means the friend of a friend of a friend. The study showed that having an extra five thousand dollars increased a person’s chances of becoming happier by about two percent. But the researchers found that the influence of a friend of a friend of a friend can be greater than that.

    Another finding is that people who are married or work together do not have as much of an effect on happiness as friends do. Earlier studies by the two researchers described the effects of social networks on obesity and efforts to stop smoking. The new study shows that happiness spreads through social networks like an emotional virus—a virus people would be happy to catch.

68. A person would feel happy ______.

A. no matter how far away his or her good friend lives

B. if his or her friend living within a short distance is happy

C. only if his or her friend lives within one and a half kilometers

D. if he and his friends can get in touch easily

69. If you are the friend of a friend of a happy friend, you’d _______.

A. be quite likely to be happy too

B. have less chance of being happy

C. be influenced by your friends in many ways

D. have a feeling of being separated

70. We can conclude from the passage that _______.

A. happiness has nothing to do with how much money you have

B. your neighbors can also contribute to your happiness

C. the distance between two friends has nothing to do with happiness

D. the effects of friends’ happiness last a lifetime

71. The underlined word“contagious”in the third paragraph probably means _______.

A. that can be passed from person to person

B. that has been widely accepted

C. that is hard to explain

D. that can be gained through efforts

Answer 1

68.解析：选B。细节理解题。从文章第二段可知，住在一公里半之内的朋友感到幸福，你也会感到幸福。

69.解析：选A。细节理解题。从文章第三段介绍的“三度分离”概念可知，你是他人朋友的朋友，如果他的朋友幸福，你也会幸福。

70.解析：选B。推理判断题。从文章第二段倒数第二句可知，你如果有一位快乐的邻居，你也会快乐。

71.解析：选A。词义猜测题。根据单词的语境以及文章的描述可知，幸福和痛苦一样，都是可以传染的。