Question

Americans gave nearly $300 billion away last year. Do you know the reason? Beyond the noble goals of helping others, it is that giving will make them happier.

It is a fact that givers are happier people than non-givers. According to the Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey, a survey of 30,000 American households, people who give money to charity are 43% more likely than non-givers to say they are “very happy” about their lives. Similarly, volunteers are 42% more likely to be very happy then non-volunteers.

The happiness difference between givers and non-givers is not due to differences in their personal characteristics, such as income or religion. Imagine two people who are identical in terms of income and faith, as well as age, education, politics, sex, and family circumstances, but one donates money and volunteers, while the other does not. The giver will be, on average, over 40 percentage points more likely to be very happy than the non-givers.

A number of studies have researched exactly why charity leads to happiness. The surprising conclusion is that giving affects our brain chemistry. For example, people who give often report feelings of euphoria, which psychologists have referred to as the “Helper’s High”. They believe that charitable activity produces a very mild version of the sensations people get from drugs like morphine and heroin.

Of course, not only does giving increase our happiness, but also our happiness increases the possibility that we will give. Everyone prefers to give more when they are happy. Researchers have investigated this by conducting experiments in which people are asked about their happiness before and after they participate in a charitable activity, such as volunteering to help children or serving meals to the poor. The result is clear that giving has a strong, positive causal impact on our happiness, so does happiness on giving

1.According to Paragraph 2. We can learn that .

A. only those people who gave money to charity will be happy

B. more givers say they feel having happy lives than non-givers

C. those who donate money are happier than those who volunteer

D. 42% of the volunteers say they are as happy as the non-volunteers

2.What causes the happiness difference?

A. Income. B. Faith. C. Education. D. Donation.

3.The underlined word “euphoria” in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to .

A. relaxation B. uncertainty

C. nervousness D. pleasure

4.If a person feels happy, he may .

A. ask for more donations B. stop charitable activity

C. be likely to give more D. cook food for the poor

5.Which of the following is the main theme of this passage?

A. Giving brings happiness. B. Americans love donating.

C. The happiness difference. D. Feelings of volunteers.

Answer 1

1.B

2.D

3.D

4.C

5.A

【解析】

試題分析：本文主要介紹了美國人愛做慈善，因為給予別人幫助比得到幫助更讓人快樂。主要考查細節(jié)理解題。

1.B細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù) “people who give money to charity are 43% more likely than non-givers to say they are “very happy” about their lives.”可知給予者比得到幫助者更快樂。故選B。

2.2】D細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第二段年齡，性別，收入，信仰，家庭環(huán)境都相同的兩個人，總是向慈善機構(gòu)捐錢的那個人，更快樂�？芍�是捐贈和給予影響一個人的快樂。故選D。

3.3】D猜測詞意題。整篇文章可知，給予者比得到幫助者更快樂。所以此處是指給予者有快樂的感受。故選D。

4.4】C細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)最后一段“not only does giving increase our happiness, but also our happiness increases the possibility that we will give.”一個人越快樂就越愿意去捐贈，去幫助別人。

5.5】A主旨大意題。全文主要講了經(jīng)常做慈善的人要快樂的多。分析了這一現(xiàn)象的原因。最后還說了越快樂的人，越愿意付出。故選A。

考點：社會現(xiàn)象類短文