nstructions: Read the texts and choose the best answer for each item.
Text VI
Two years after declaring March 20 the International Day of Happiness,
the United Nations (UN) has released its first World Happiness Report. It can be
argued that the UN has far more important issues to concentrate on, but surely
we can all agree that happiness is every human's deepest wish and therefore a
5 serious issue.
The UN survey gives us an understanding of the general mood in different
countries. People everywhere are checking it to see where they stand in the
happiness rankings. At first glance the European countries are the happiest, with
Denmark topping the list, followed by Norway and Switzerland, and then the
10 Netherlands.
In our region Cambodia ranks as least happy, at 140th, just 16 places from
the bottom of the list. The happiest are Singaporeans, ranked 30th, followed by
Thailand (36). Malaysia (56), Vietnam (63). Indonesia (76), the Philippines (92),
Laos (109) and Myanmar (121). By comparison, Cambodia ranks at the bottom
15 with Sri Lanka (137), Nepal (135), Afghanistan (143) and, saddest of all, Togo
(156).
Though the rankings cannot be considered perfect measurements, they
give us a rough comparison in the level of happiness across the world. The
results are based on a "life evaluation score" that combines a variety of factors,
20 including family, job security, political freedom and government corruption.
Most people would agree that there are universal indicators of happiness.
The state of the economy does seem to affect people's mood. For example, in
Europe, the countries badly hit by the Euro-crisis score lower in the rankings. Job
cuts and lower wages seem to be major factors in deepening the gloom. There
25 are plenty of examples around the world of how economic crises have caused
crime, conflict and political problems.
The economy is not the only major mood-changer. Loneliness has the
same effect on people’s well-being as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. A jobless
villager can be happier than a lonely businessman in a big city.
30 "Happiness may have different meanings for different people. But we can
all agree that it means working to end conflict, poverty and other unfortunate
conditions in which so many of our fellow human beings live," UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon said on World Happiness Day.