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  3. Is happiness proportional to income — to the money a person has? Is a man with two rooms and loaves of bread happier than a man

Is happiness proportional to income — to the money a person has? Is a man with two rooms and loaves of bread happier than a man

admin2017-05-11  27
问题     Is happiness proportional to income — to the money a person has? Is a man with two rooms and loaves of bread happier than a man with only one of each? Clearly poverty and destitution(that is, having no room and no bread)do produce unhappiness. Obviously, men need money to buy the necessities of life.
    But this presents another question. How many rooms and how many loaves of bread(and thus how much money)does a man need? Most people in the Western world can satisfy a minimal requirement for the necessities of life, but they still desire to increase their incomes to buy more and more material possessions and status symbols. Why?
    The answer may be that as things are today, if a man is not rich, admiration and respect are not given him by other people. Accordingly this may be the chief reason why people wish to be richer and richer, as the actual goods or possessions play a secondary part to the envy or admiration that this wealth brings them. This veneration from other people may be a greater source of happiness than the money or possessions themselves.
    This has not, however, always been true. In aristocratic ages men were admired for their birth and breeding. In other ages men would not have been respected if they had not proved their artistic excellence or learning. In India, for example, poor and saintly men are respected, and in China, the old and wise. In such circles many men are, as long as they have enough to live on, indifferent to money. They value more and are happier with the respect they merit for other reasons.
    The modern desire for wealth is not inherent in human nature, and varies with social values. If, by law, we all had exactly the same income, we should have to find some other way of being superior to our peers, as most of our craving for material possessions would cease. Thus a general increase of wealth gives no competitive advantage to an individual and therefore brings him no competitive happiness.
Most people in the Western world______.
选项 A、are not content with what they possess
B、are not sure how many rooms they want
C、are satisfied with having minimal necessities of life
D、consider happiness most important in life
答案A
解析 本题是细节题。根据关键词Western world可找到对应原文“Most people in theWestern world can satisfy a minimal requirement for the necessities of life，but they still desire toincrease their incomes to buy more and more material possessions and status symbols．”，大多数西方人想增加收人，购买更多的东西，由此可知他们不满足现状，故A正确。
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