You hear the refrain all the time: the
U. S. economy looks good statistically, but it doesn’t fed good. Why doesn’t
ever-greater wealth promote ever-greater happiness.’ It is a quest, ion that
dales at least to the appearance in 1958 of The affluent(富裕的)Society by John
Kenneth Galbraith, who died recently at 97. The Affluent Society is a modem classic because it helped define a new moment in the human condition. For most of history," hunger, sickness, and cold" threatened nearly everyone, Galbraith wrote. "Poverty was found everywhere in that world. Obviously it is not of ours. "After World War Il, the dread of another Great Depression gave way to an economic boom. In the 1930s unemployment had averaged 18. 2 percent; in the 1950s it was 4. 5 percent. To Galbraith, materialism had gone mad and would breed discontent. Through advertising, companies co A. Why statistics don’t tell the truth about the economy. B. Why affluence doesn’t guarantee happiness. C. How happiness can be promoted today. D. What lies behind an economic boom. [填空题]You hear the same complaint all the time as people get older: “My memory is terrible.” Is it all in the mind, or do real changes take place in the brain with age to justify such grumbling (抱怨) The depressing answer is that the brain’s cells, the neurons, die and decline in efficiency with age.
Professor Arthur Shimamura, of the University of California at Berkeley, says there are three main ways in which mental function changes. The first is mental speed, for example how quickly you can react to fast-moving incidents on the road. Drivers in their late teens react quickly but tend to drive too fast, while the over sixties are more cautious but react more slowly. The near-inevitable slowing with age also partly explains why soccer players are seen as old in their thirties, while golf professionals are still in their prime at that age. This type of mental slowing results from a reduction in the efficiency with which the brain’s neurons work.
The fact that adults find it harder t
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