Question

Old age may not sound exciting. But recent findings offer good news for older people and for people who worried about getting older.

Researchers found that people become happier and experience less worry after they reach the age of 50. In fact, they say by the age of 85, people are happier with their life than they were when they were 18 years old.

The findings came from a survey of more than 340,000 adults in the US. The Gallup Organization questioned them by telephone in 2008. At that time, the people were between the ages of 18 and 85.

The researchers asked questions about emotions like happiness, sadness and worry. They also asked about mental or emotional stress.

Arthur Stone in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stony Brook University in New York led the study. His team found that levels of stress were highest among adults between the ages of 22 and 25.

The findings showed that stress levels dropped sharply after people reached their fifties. Happiness was highest among the youngest adults and those in their early seventies. The people least likely to report feeling negative emotions were those in their seventies and eighties.

The study also showed that men and women have similar emotional patterns as they grow older. However, women at all ages reported more sadness, stress and worry than men.

The findings appeared in the Proceedings of the National Acadamy of Science.

Researchers say they do not know why happiness increases as people get older. One theory is that, as people grow older, they grow more thankful for what they have and have better control of their emotions. They also spend less time thinking about bad experiences.

Professor Stone says the emotional patterns could be linked to changes in how people see the world, or maybe even changes in brain chemistry.

The researchers also considered possible influences like having young children, being unemployed or being single. But they found that influences like these did not affect the levels of happiness and well-being related to age.

1.What does the underlined word “negative” mean?

A. 負(fù)面的 B. 積極的

C. 平和的 D. 激烈的

2.What kind of people has the highest stress levels?

A. People were between the ages of 18 and 85.

B. Those in their seventies and eighties.

C. People reached their fifties.

D. Adults between the ages of 22 and 25.

3.Which of the following is NOT true?

A. Men and women have similar emotional patterns as they grow older.

B. Researchers know exactly why happiness increases as people get older.

C. Women at all ages reported more sadness, stress and worry than men.

D. Levels of stress were highest among adults between the age of 22 and 25.

4.Which of the following is the best title for this passage?

A. The older, the happier.

B. Why elder people feel happier than young men?

C. Different emotional patterns between men and women.

D. What makes the elder happy?

 

Answer 1

1.A

2.D

3.B

4.A

【解析】

試題分析：人們也許不愿意面對(duì)衰老，但是，研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，人在到了50歲之后，會(huì)感受到更多的幸福和更少的壓力。七十多歲和八十多歲的人很少會(huì)感受到負(fù)面情緒。

1.Happiness was highest among the youngest adults and those in their early seventies”可知，70-75歲的人是最幸福的，根據(jù)第二段“by the age of 85, people are happier with their life”可知，到85歲，人會(huì)感覺(jué)比18歲的時(shí)候更幸福，由此可知，年齡越大，趕到的壓力會(huì)越小，到了七八十歲，就很少會(huì)感覺(jué)到負(fù)面情緒了，故選A。

2.His team found that levels of stress were highest among adults between the ages of 22 and 25.”可知，22-25歲的人，他們的壓力水平是最高的，故選D。

3.Researchers say they do not know why happiness increases as people get older.”可知，研究人員不清楚為什么隨著年齡的增長(zhǎng)，幸福感會(huì)更強(qiáng)烈，故選B。

4.

考點(diǎn)：科學(xué)類短文閱讀