CEFR LEVEL B2

How do you measure happiness?

A) Pre-reading vocabulary

Match the words on the left with the definitions on the right.

Word definition

hormone (n) - to measure or judge the size or amount of something

to quantify (v) - lasting for only a short time, temporary

transient (adj) - influenced by or based on personal beliefs or feelings, rather than based on facts

- a pleasant feeling which you get when you receive something you wanted, or
subjective (adj) when you have done something you wanted to do

- any of various chemicals made by living cells which influence the development,
satisfaction (n) growth, sex, etc. of an animal and are carried around the body in the blood

Again, match the words on the left with the definitions on the right.

word definition

sampling (n) - recently made, done, arrived, etc., people can remember it easily

contentment (n) - if someone registers something, they become aware of it

to be fresh in - the feeling of being pleased with your situation and not hoping for change or
people's minds improvement

to register (v) - having a lot of small parts or details that are arranged in a complicated way and
are therefore sometimes difficult to understand, solve or produce

intricate (adj) - taking a group of people or things that are chosen out of a larger number and is
questioning or testing them in order to obtain information about the larger group

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 CEFR LEVEL B2

B) Paragraph headings

Match these paragraph headings to the correct paragraph in the text.

Taking periodic samples to measure contentment

Can we really define what makes Danish people happy?

Showing the differences between memory and real-time experience

Self reflection as a method of measuring happiness?

C) Careful reading

Read the text carefully to answer these questions.

1. According to the text, Danish people have high levels of the characteristics which are
known to promote happiness. What are these characteristics?

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

2. Look at the following example:

‘Adrenalin is a chemical in the body that increases when we are excited.’

Now write a similar sentence about cortisol.

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

3. How is happiness normally quantified?

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

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 CEFR LEVEL B2

4. What problem to scholars and psychologists have with the correctness of the self-
reporting method?

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

5. Fill in the gaps in this definition:

The ________________________________ is a series of rated statements about

happiness that was developed by _____________________________.

6. How does experience sampling calculate happiness?

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

7. According to the text, the Princeton and Time surveys both ranked sex as a positive
activity. What accounted for the difference in the results?

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

8. One of these sentences is true and three are false. Choose the correct sentence.

a) Men like to roll dice to decide their level of happiness.

b) Men are generally content in their old age.
c) 72% of men have unfulfilled career goals.
d) Men often suffer from bumps and bruises.

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 CEFR LEVEL B2

How do you measure happiness?

(1) The Danes must be doing something right.
In 2008, Denmark ranked as the happiest
nation on the planet, according to the World
Map of Happiness and the World Values
Survey. The same year, the Scandinavian
country came in at No. 2 on the World
Database of Happiness, beaten by nearby
Iceland. These happiness surveys polled
people around the globe on how happy and satisfied they are with life. People in
Denmark showed an impressively high degree of social connections, career satisfaction
and political and economic stability; all of which are known to promote happiness.

Paragraph heading: _______________________________________

(2) But what does it even mean that the Danish people consider themselves happier than
a lot of other people around the world? What were the surveys measuring, exactly?
According to Webster, happiness is "a state of well-being and contentment." That
emotional state the dictionary refers to is arguably different for everyone. At the same
time, we know the physical effects of happiness; humans smile and laugh as a natural
sign of glee. Certain physiological reactions, such as increased activity in the brain's left
prefrontal lobe and decreased amounts of cortisol (a stress hormone) coursing through
the bloodstream, happen when we're happy.

(3) Yet, those physical indications of happiness are temporary, just like the feeling of
pleasure fades after watching a heart-warming film with friends or opening a birthday
present. Evaluating happiness in terms of consistently finding fulfillment in the sum of
life's events is harder to grasp. Someone can't communicate it with a single grin or giggle.
Consequently, researchers wishing to measure happiness have to go straight to the
source.

(4) Quantifying happiness most commonly relies on self-reporting. Happiness surveys

such as the Revised Oxford Happiness Scale ask a comprehensive set of questions, while

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 CEFR LEVEL B2

the Satisfaction with Life Scale poses only five. Generally, these polls ask people to rate
their satisfaction about various aspects of their lives on a scale. For example, one of the
most critical questions asked in the World Values Survey is:

"Taking all things together, would you say you are very happy, rather happy, not very
happy or not at all happy?"

In the here and now, someone may be perfectly content, but who's to say that life won't
throw a devastating curve ball in the future? For a more robust happiness gauge, some
researchers have gotten a little more personal.

Paragraph heading: _______________________________________

(5) Psychologists and scholars have questioned the accuracy of self-reported happiness,
considering that it's a highly transient, subjective emotion. Think about what would
happen if you polled people on personal happiness while they were driving in rush hour
traffic versus after leaving a Saturday afternoon movie. Their emotional state might
impact their responses, with the drivers emerging as the less satisfied set.

(6) Consider the Satisfaction with Life Scale, developed by psychologist Ed Deiner. It
asks people to rate the following five statements on a 1-to-7 scale, from not true to
absolutely true:

In most ways my life is close to my ideal.

The conditions of my life are excellent.

I am satisfied with my life.

So far I have gotten the important things I want in life.

If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing.

The higher the score, the greater amount of satisfaction someone supposedly has with
life.

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 CEFR LEVEL B2

Paragraph heading: _______________________________________

(7) To account for people's emotional ebbs and flows, some researchers use experience
sampling to measure happiness. This breaks down global contentment into periodic
happiness check-ups. By contacting pollsters randomly over time or having them record
daily activities and corresponding enjoyment, psychologists can get at the happiness
question from another angle.

(8) Framing happiness in terms of timely events, instead of reflective assessments, can
alter the outcomes. For instance, a Time Magazine survey and a Princeton University
study both dealt with the happiness effects of sex. Time asked respondents about it from
a reflective stance, whereas Princeton integrated experience sampling. In the Princeton
survey, sex ranked as participants' most positive activity. The Time respondents, on the
other hand, rated it far lower. The Princeton participants weren't necessarily having a
better time in bed than the Time participants; rather, since the pleasurable event was
fresher in their minds, the positive emotional effects may have registered more strongly.

Paragraph heading: _______________________________________

(9) Similar inconsistencies between real-time experience and memory also appear in
Harvard University's Grant Study that has followed 268 male students for 72 years.
Digging into specific facets of their psyches - unfulfilled career aspirations, sexual
inhibitions, fractured relationships - revealed anxieties, insecurities and loss. Yet, time
and again, men's global happiness assessments rang positive; few would change much
about their lives and have found contentment in old age. From that, it seems that
surviving those bumps and bruises brought the most fulfillment in the end.

(10) Condensing happiness down to a number or ranking can discount the intricate
formula that goes into true contentment. Scoring a ‘happiness high’ is a dice roll
influenced by genetics, personality and plain old luck. But a trip to Denmark might not
hurt the odds.

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 CEFR LEVEL B2

D) Academic word focus: definitions

Look at the example sentences and choose the correct definition for each word.

These polls ask people to rate their satisfaction about various aspects of
aspect (n)
their lives on a scale.
A: one part of a situation, problem, subject, etc. 
B: similar, or resulting from something else 

By contacting pollsters randomly over time or having them record daily

corresponding
activities and corresponding enjoyment, psychologists can get at the
(adj)
happiness question from another angle.
A: one part of a situation, problem, subject, etc. 
B: similar, or resulting from something else 

Evaluating happiness in terms of consistently finding fulfillment in the sum

to evaluate (v)
of life's events is harder to grasp.
A: different parts of it do not agree, or it does not agree with something else 
B: to judge or calculate the quality, importance or value of something 

Similar inconsistencies between real-time experience and memory also

inconsistency (n) appear in Harvard University's Grant Study that has followed 268 male
students for 72 years.
A: different parts of it do not agree, or it does not agree with something else 
B: to judge or calculate the quality, importance or value of something 

Happiness surveys such as the Revised Oxford Happiness Scale ask a

to pose (v) comprehensive set of questions, while the Satisfaction with Life Scale poses
only five.
A: to ask a question, especially in a formal situation 
B: to encourage the popularity, sale, development or existence of something 

People in Denmark showed an impressively high degree of social

to promote (v) connections, career satisfaction and political and economic stability; all of
which are known to promote happiness.
A: to ask a question, especially in a formal situation 
B: to encourage the popularity, sale, development or existence of something 

Someone can't communicate happiness with a single grin or giggle.

researcher (n) Consequently, researchers wishing to measure happiness have to go
straight to the source.
A: an answer or reaction 
B: a person who does a detailed study of a subject, to discover information 

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 CEFR LEVEL B2

Their emotional state might impact their responses, with the drivers
response (n)
emerging as the less satisfied set.
A: an answer or reaction 
B: a person who does a detailed study of a subject, to discover information 

People in Denmark showed an impressively high degree of social

stability (n)
connections, career satisfaction and political and economic stability.
A: considered as a whole, all of something 
B: when something is not likely to move or change 

Evaluating happiness in terms of consistently finding fulfillment in the sum

sum (n)
of life's events is harder to grasp.
A: considered as a whole, all of something 
B: when something is not likely to move or change 

E) Academic word focus: quiz

Fill in the gaps in the following sentences using words from the box. There are more
words than you need.

aspect corresponding economic to evaluate hormone

inconsistency to pose to promote researcher response
satisfaction stability sum transient whereas

Example:

A glass of whisky has only a transient warming effect that doesn’t last long.

The city has a large transient population; there are many people who are living in it only
temporarily.

1. Which ________ of the job do you most enjoy?

His illness affects almost every ________ of his life.

2. I'm afraid that's the ________ of my knowledge on the subject.

People try to evaluate happiness in terms of the ________ of events in a person’s life.

3. The county is seeing a period of political ________ at the moment.

In China, the policy of one child per family was introduced to bring ________ to the
country's population at about 1.6 billion people.

4. Can we go back to the question that Helena ________ earlier?

The economic situation has ________ a difficult question for the government.

5. Company losses were 50 per cent worse than in the ________ period last year.
As the course becomes more difficult, there's usually a ________ drop in attendance.

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 CEFR LEVEL B2

6. Her proposals met with an enthusiastic ________ at the meeting.

I looked in her face for some ________, but she just stared at me blankly.

7. It's impossible to ________ these results without knowing more about the research
methods employed.
We will need to ________ how the new material stands up to wear and tear.

8. There are a few ________ in what you've written in the report.

These findings contain many ________ when compared with those of previous studies.

9. Greenpeace works to ________ awareness of the dangers that threaten our planet today.
It has long been known that regular exercise ________ all-round good health.

10. He works as a television ________.

The political ________ has to read many documents to discover new information.

F: Link focus

How do you use the word 'whereas' in a sentence?

‘Whereas’ is used to show difference between 2 (or more)

phrases.

Here are some examples.

Dogs like to play, whereas cats like to sleep.

Sugar is sweet, whereas lemons are sour.

Whereas cats like to sleep, dogs like to play.

Whereas lemons are sour, sugar is sweet.

The following example sentences were taken from the BBC news website
(http://search.bbc.co.uk/search?tab=all&scope=all&q=whereas). Put the two parts of
the sentence together using whereas.

dominant males turn their skin bright blue and orange

subordinate males are brown in colour

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

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 CEFR LEVEL B2

all the swans native to Britain have white feathers

those from the Southern hemisphere have all black or partly black feathers

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

generally, the Captain of an aeroplane sits in the front left hand seat

the Captain of a Helicopter sits in the front right hand seat

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

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 CEFR LEVEL B2

Answer Key

Pre-reading vocabulary

word definition
hormone - any of various chemicals made by living cells which influence the development,
growth, sex, etc. of an animal and are carried around the body in the blood

- to measure or judge the size or amount of something

to quantify
- lasting for only a short time, temporary
transient
- influenced by or based on personal beliefs or feelings, rather than based on
subjective facts

- a pleasant feeling which you get when you receive something you wanted, or
satisfaction when you have done something you wanted to do

word definition
sampling - taking a group of people or things that are chosen out of a larger number and
is questioning or testing them in order to obtain information about the larger
group

contentment - the feeling of being pleased with your situation and not hoping for change or
improvement

to be fresh in people's - recently made, done, arrived, etc., people can remember it easily
minds
- if someone registers something, they become aware of it
to register
- having a lot of small parts or details that are arranged in a complicated way
intricate and are therefore sometimes difficult to understand, solve or produce

Paragraph headings

Match these paragraph headings to the correct paragraph in the text.

1) Can we really define what makes Danish people happy?

2) Self reflection as a method of measuring happiness?

3) Taking periodic samples to measure contentment

4) Showing the differences between memory and real-time experience

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 CEFR LEVEL B2

Careful reading

1. According to the text, Danish people have high levels of the characteristics which are
known to promote happiness. What are these characteristics?

2. Look at the following example:

‘Adrenalin is a chemical in the body that increases when we are excited.’

Now write a similar sentence about cortisol.

3. How is happiness normally quantified?

4. What problem to scholars and psychologists have with the correctness of the self-
reporting method?

5. Fill in the gaps in this definition:

The _______________________ is a series of rated statements about happiness that

was developed by ___________________.

6. How does experience sampling calculate happiness?

7. According to the text, the Princeton and Time surveys both ranked sex as a positive
activity. What accounted for the difference in the results?

8. One of these sentences is true and three are false. Choose the correct sentence.

a) Men like to roll dice to decide their level of happiness.

b) Men are generally content in their old age.
c) 72% of men have unfulfilled career goals.
d) Men often suffer from bumps and bruises.

How do you measure happiness?

The Danes must be doing something right. In 2008, Denmark ranked as the happiest
nation on the planet, according to the World Map of Happiness and the World Values
Survey. The same year, the Scandinavian country came in at No. 2 on the World
Database of Happiness, beaten by nearby Iceland. These happiness surveys polled people
around the globe on how happy and satisfied they are with life. 1) People in Denmark
showed an impressively high degree of social connections, career
satisfaction and political and economic stability; all of which are known to
promote happiness.

Can we really define what makes Danish people happy?

PHOTOCOPIABLE
 CEFR LEVEL B2

But what does it even mean that the Danish people consider themselves happier than a
lot of other people around the world? What were the surveys measuring, exactly?
According to Webster, happiness is "a state of well-being and contentment." That
emotional state the dictionary refers to is arguably different for everyone. At the same
time, we know the physical effects of happiness; humans smile and laugh as a natural
sign of glee. Certain physiological reactions, such as increased activity in the brain's left
prefrontal lobe and 2) decreased amounts of cortisol (a stress hormone)
coursing through the bloodstream, happen when we're happy.

Yet, those physical indications of happiness are temporary, just like the feeling of
pleasure fades after watching a heart-warming film with friends or opening a birthday
present. Evaluating happiness in terms of consistently finding fulfillment in the sum of
life's events is harder to grasp. Someone can't communicate it with a single grin or giggle.
Consequently, researchers wishing to measure happiness have to go straight to the
source.

3) Quantifying happiness most commonly relies on self-reporting. Happiness

surveys such as the Revised Oxford Happiness Scale ask a comprehensive set of
questions, while the Satisfaction with Life Scale poses only five. Generally, these polls ask
people to rate their satisfaction about various aspects of their lives on a scale. For
example, one of the most critical questions asked in the World Values Survey is:

"Taking all things together, would you say you are very happy, rather happy, not very
happy or not at all happy?"

In the here and now, someone may be perfectly content, but who's to say that life won't
throw a devastating curve ball in the future? For a more robust happiness gauge, some
researchers have gotten a little more personal.

Self reflection as a method of measuring happiness?

4) Psychologists and scholars have questioned the accuracy of self-reported

happiness, considering that it's a highly transient, subjective emotion. Think
about what would happen if you polled people on personal happiness while they were
driving in rush hour traffic versus after leaving a Saturday afternoon movie. Their
emotional state might impact their responses, with the drivers emerging as the less
satisfied set.

Consider the 5) Satisfaction with Life Scale, developed by psychologist Ed

Deiner. It asks people to rate the following five statements on a 1-to-7 scale, from not
true to absolutely true:

In most ways my life is close to my ideal.

The conditions of my life are excellent.

I am satisfied with my life.

So far I have gotten the important things I want in life.

If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing.

The higher the score, the greater amount of satisfaction someone supposedly has with
life.

PHOTOCOPIABLE
 CEFR LEVEL B2

Taking periodic samples to measure contentment

To account for people's emotional ebbs and flows, 6) some researchers use
experience sampling to measure happiness [Wallis et al: 2005]. This breaks
down global contentment into periodic happiness check-ups. By contacting
pollsters randomly over time or having them record daily activities and corresponding
enjoyment, psychologists can get at the happiness question from another angle.

Framing happiness in terms of timely events, instead of reflective assessments, can alter
the outcomes. For instance, a Time Magazine survey and a Princeton University study
both dealt with the happiness effects of sex. Time asked respondents about it from a
reflective stance, whereas Princeton integrated experience sampling. In the Princeton
survey, sex ranked as participants' most positive activity. The Time respondents, on the
other hand, rated it far lower. 7) The Princeton participants weren't necessarily
having a better time in bed than the Time participants; rather, since the
pleasurable event was fresher in their minds, the positive emotional effects
may have registered more strongly.

Similar inconsistencies between real-time experience and memory also appear in

Harvard University's Grant Study that has followed 268 male students for 72 years.
Digging into specific facets of their psyches - unfulfilled career aspirations, sexual
inhibitions, fractured relationships - revealed anxieties, insecurities and loss. 8) Yet,
time and again, men's global happiness assessments were positive; few
would change much about their lives and have found contentment in old age.
From that, it seems that surviving those bumps and bruises brought the most fulfillment
in the end.

Condensing happiness down to a number or ranking can discount the intricate formula
that goes into true contentment. Scoring a ‘happiness high’ is a dice roll influenced by
genetics, personality and plain old luck. But a trip to Denmark might not hurt the odds.

E) Academic word focus: definitions

Look at the example sentences and choose the correct definition for each word.

aspect (n) These polls ask people to rate their satisfaction about various aspects of their
lives on a scale.
A: one part of a situation, problem, subject, etc.

corresponding By contacting pollsters randomly over time or having them record daily
(adj) activities and corresponding enjoyment, psychologists can get at the
happiness question from another angle.
B: similar, or resulting from something else

to evaluate (v) Evaluating happiness in terms of consistently finding fulfillment in the sum of
life's events is harder to grasp.
B: to judge or calculate the quality, importance or value of something

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 CEFR LEVEL B2

inconsistency Similar inconsistencies between real-time experience and memory also

(n) appear in Harvard University's Grant Study that has followed 268 male
students for 72 years.
A: different parts of it do not agree, or it does not agree with something else

to pose (v) Happiness surveys such as the Revised Oxford Happiness Scale ask a
comprehensive set of questions, while the Satisfaction with Life Scale poses only
five.
A: to ask a question, especially in a formal situation

to promote (v) People in Denmark showed an impressively high degree of social connections,
career satisfaction and political and economic stability; all of which are
known to promote happiness.
B: to encourage the popularity, sale, development or existence of something

researcher (n) Someone can't communicate happiness with a single grin or giggle.
Consequently, researchers wishing to measure happiness have to go straight
to the source.
B: a person who does a detailed study of a subject, to discover information

response (n) Their emotional state might impact their responses, with the drivers emerging
as the less satisfied set.
A: an answer or reaction

stability (n) People in Denmark showed an impressively high degree of social connections,
career satisfaction and political and economic stability.
B: when something is not likely to move or change

sum (n) Evaluating happiness in terms of consistently finding fulfillment in the sum of
life's events is harder to grasp.
A: considered as a whole, all of something

Academic word focus: quiz

1. Which aspect of the job do you most enjoy?

His illness affects almost every aspect of his life.

2. I'm afraid that's the sum of my knowledge on the subject.

People try to evaluate happiness in terms of the sum of events in a person’s life.

3. The county is seeing a period of political stability at the moment.

In China, the policy of one child per family was introduced to bring stability to the
country's population at about 1.6 billion people.

4. Can we go back to the question that Helena posed earlier?

The economic situation has posed a difficult question for the government.

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 CEFR LEVEL B2

5. Company losses were 50 per cent worse than in the corresponding period last year.
As the course becomes more difficult, there's usually a corresponding drop in
attendance.

6. Her proposals met with an enthusiastic response at the meeting.

I looked in her face for some response, but she just stared at me blankly.

7. It's impossible to evaluate these results without knowing more about the research
methods employed.
We will need to evaluate how the new material stands up to wear and tear.

8. There are a few inconsistencies in what you've written in the report.

These findings contain many inconsistencies when compared with those of previous
studies.

9. Greenpeace works to promote awareness of the dangers that threaten our planet today.
It has long been known that regular exercise promotes all-round good health.

10. He works as a television researcher.

The political researcher has to read many documents to discover new information.

Link focus

Dominant males turn their skin bright blue and orange, whereas subordinate males are
brown in colour.

Whereas dominant males turn their skin bright blue and orange, subordinate males are
brown in colour.

All the swans native to Britain have white feathers, whereas those from the Southern
hemisphere have all black or partly black feathers.

Whereas all the swans native to Britain have white feathers, those from the Southern
hemisphere have all black or partly black feathers.

Generally, the Captain of an aeroplane sits in the front left hand seat, whereas the
Captain of a Helicopter sits in the front right hand seat.

Whereas generally the Captain of an aeroplane sits in the front left hand seat, the
Captain of a Helicopter sits in the front right hand seat.

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