The most sparsely populated county in Wales is where you will find Britain’s happiest place, say researchers, as Powys tops the

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问题      The most sparsely populated county in Wales is where you will find Britain’s happiest place, say researchers, as Powys tops the list of 273 districts, with Edinburgh apparently the most miserable place in Britain. Eight of the top 10 districts with the highest levels of well-being are in Scotland or the north of England. However, the research results suggested that the differences between areas were due to personal circumstances rather than physical location.
     The study, by a team from the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester, used data from the. British Household Panel Survey, which questioned a representative sample from 5 000 households about their sense of well-being. The researchers were able to draw up a map of happiness down to district level across England, Scotland and Wales. Although the sample for each district was small, the team believes the findings are of interest from an academic point of view.
     Two former coal-mining communities in Wales were found to be less happy than the rest of the UK. But when factors such as employment, health and educational qualifications were taken into account, there were only very small differences between areas. The team found that the area of Brecknock, Montgomery and Radnor in Powys was the happiest place. Manchester came second, followed by West Lothian. Macclesfield, Nottingham and Falkirk were all in the top 10. The London borough of Sutton was one of the few places in the south of England to do well. Edinburgh was bottom of the list and Swansea and Doncaster also did poorly.
     Researcher Dr Dimitris Ballas, a senior lecturer in Geography from the University of Sheffield, said factors such as social cohesion seemed to be more important than location. "One of the advantages of ourmethod is that it takes into account both people and places. For instance, with unemployment we can say that people who are unemployed are on average happier in an area of high unemployment compared to being unemployed in an area where everyone else around you has a job."
     Another important factor in determining happiness was the length of time that a person spent living in a place. Staying in an area for five years or longer was an important indicator of well being, said the scientists.
     According to Dr Ballas, the state of interpersonal relationships was also seen as highly important, And this was more often the case in areas which were there was less inequality between people. "From what I’ve seen so far, my view is that if an area is more socially cohesive it, increases your chances of having good quality of interpersonal relationships and a good social network."  
What’s the drawback of the study carried out by the team from the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester?

选项 A、The number of households surveyed is not very large.
B、The survey was not carried out by the research team.
C、There is no sample from the districts of Ireland.
D、The findings are interesting but not academically useful.

答案A

解析 语义理解题 。该句说“虽然每个地区的抽样率比较低,但研究小组还是认为这个结果从学术观点来看还是有价值的。”句子里的转折意思非常明显,可见样本的数量小,这在调查实证研究中是不利因素。所以,答案为A “参加调查的家庭数目还不够大”。
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