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  3. Knowing that you are paid less than your peers has two effects on happiness. One is negative: a thinner pay packet hurts self-es

Knowing that you are paid less than your peers has two effects on happiness. One is negative: a thinner pay packet hurts self-es

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问题     Knowing that you are paid less than your peers has two effects on happiness. One is negative: a thinner pay packet hurts self-esteem (自尊). The other is called the "tunnel" effect: the income gap is seen as improving your own chances of similar riches.
    A paper co-authored by Felix FitzRoy of the University of St. Andrews separates the two effects using data from household surveys in Germany. Previous work showed that the income of others can have a small, or even positive, overall effect on employees’ satisfaction in individual firms in Denmark or in very dynamic economies, such as Eastern Europe. But Mr. FitzRoy’s team proposed that older workers, who largely know their lifetime incomes already, will enjoy a much smaller tunnel effect. The negative effect on reported levels of happiness of being paid less than your peers is not visible for people aged under 45. In western Germany, seeing peers’ incomes rising actually makes young people happier.It is only those people over 45, when careers have "reached a stable position" , whose happiness is harmed by the success of others.
    The prospect of more than 20 years of hard work might make retirement seem more attractive. Those with jobs are no happier after they retire, however, perhaps because their lives already agree with social expectations. Unemployment is known to damage happiness because not working falls short of social expectations. Pensions or increased leisure time can not make up for the loss of social acceptance. Unemployed people are dissatisfied with their life not only because they have lower incomes, but also because they may get low and negative recognition from others.
    Indeed, retiring early from work can have side-effects. Another paper, co-authored by Andreas Kuhn of the University of Zurich, investigates the effect of a change in Austrian employment-insurance rules that allow blue-collar workers earlier retirement in some regions than others. Men retiring a year early lower their chance of surviving to age 67 by 13% . Almost a third of this higher death rate seemed to be concentrated among those who were forced into early retirement by job loss. The death was caused by smoking and alcohol consumption. If you’re in a job, even when you are paid less, hang on in there.
Unemployment is harmful to happiness because________.
选项 A、retirement is attractive and keeps people away from hard work
B、not working may mean a failure to maintain social recognition
C、jobless people only depend on their pensions for a living
D、people after retirement still live up to social expectations
答案B
解析 本题考查失业有损于幸福感的原因。原文第三段第三句和末句提到，失业有损于幸福感，因为没有工作的人辜负了社会期望……失业的人对生活的失落感……还因为其他人对他们较低的和负面的认可。由此可推知，不工作可能意味着不能维持社会认可，B中的a failure to maintain social recognition是对原文中的falls short of social expectations…may get low and negative recognition from others的总结概括，故答案为B。A“退休是吸引人的，可以使人们远离辛苦的工作”是对原文第三段第一句的同义转述，但这句话并未表明不工作有损于幸福感，故排除；C“失业的人们仅仅依靠养老金生活”，选项中的only过于绝对，故排除；D“人们退休后仍然不负众望”，选项中的five up to意为“不辜负，达到”，与第三段中的falls short of“辜负，没有达到”相矛盾，故排除。
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