英语狂人张青老师美文分享：What Gives Us Real Happiness?

Marriage brings as much happiness as an additional U. S. $ 100 000 in income , two researchers reported last week in a study called “Well-Being in Britain and the U.S. ”.

　　Dartmouth College economist David Blanch flower and colleague, Andrew Oswald from Warwick University in Britain, studied 100 000 people over a 25-year period.

　　They found that the overall level of happiness among Americans has declined in the last 25 years while the level for Britons has remained “relatively flat”, Blanch flower said in a telephone interview .

　　“Women are happier than men, but the gap is closing. Women have more equality now but they are less happy than they were, ”Blanch flower said, attributing the drop to increased pressures and opportunities. “You are more equal, but life is tougher.”

　　Money does buy happiness, but less than is generally thought, Blanch flower noted, saying, “You have to have a lot of money to compensate for a family breakdown. ”

　　When the amount of happiness generated by a lasting marriage was compared to the happiness produced by financial circumstances, the author's statistical calculations showed that a lasting marriage brought as much happiness as an additional U.S. $ 100 000 in annual income .

　　And, the chance of subsequent marriages making people happy were slimmer.

　　“Most people said they were less happy in their second marriage than in their first and being separated is worse than being divorced," he said.