新视野视听说P143 U8-3-3-2

Scripts and answers According to a new study, happiness in life has more to do with respect and influence than wealth. Researchers say that they got interested in this idea because there is abundant 1) evidence that higher income or wealth does not contribute to happiness much at all. At the same time, many theories suggest that higher status should 2) enhance happiness. The researchers put their idea to the test in a set of studies. First, they 3) interviewed 80 college students. The amount of respect the students received from their peers was 4) rated based on peer evaluation, self-reports and the number of leadership positions the students held. The researchers also 5) took into account the students’ family income and asked them about their social well-being. They found the admiration the students received from their peers 6) forecast their social well-being. However, their wealth or income did not. Similar results 7) emerged in another study with a larger group of students. In a final study, the researchers followed graduate students in business schools. They found the MBA students’ social well-being 8) was related to changes in the respect they felt from their peers before and after graduation. They noted that respect had more to do with the students’ well-being after graduation than the money they made. One of the reasons why money doesn’t buy happiness is that people quickly 9) adapt themselves to the new level of income or wealth. Lottery winners, for example, are initially happy but then return to their 10) original level of happiness quickly. What can last is the feeling of being respected, having influence and being socially connected.