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Section Ⅰ Use of English

Directions:

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark [A],[B],[C]or[D] on the ANSWER SHEET.(10 points)

Happy people work differently. They’re more productive, more creative, and willing to take greater risks. And new research suggest that happiness might influence1firms work, too.

Companies located in places with happier people invest more, according to a recent research paper.2, firms in happy places spend more on R&D ( research and development ). That’s because happiness is linked to the kind of longer-term thinking3for making investments for the future.

The researchers wanted to know if the4and inclination for risk-taking that come with happiness would5the way companies invested. So they compared U.S. cities’ average happiness6by Gallup polling with the investment activity of publicly traded firms in those areas.

7enough, firms’ investment and R&D intensity were correlated with the happiness of the area in which they were8.But is it really happiness that’s linked to investment, or could something else about happier cities9why firms there spend more on R&D? To find out, the researchers controlled for various10that might make firms more likely to invest – like size, industry, and sales – and for indicators that a place was11to live in, like growth in wages or population. The link between happiness and investment generally12even after accounting for these things.

The correlation between happiness and investment was particularly strong for younger firms, which the authors13to “less codified decision making process”and the possible presence of “younger and less14managers who are more likely to be influenced by sentiment.” The relationship was15stronger in places where happiness was spread more16.Firms seem to invest more in places where most people are relatively happy, rather than in places with happiness inequality.

17 this doesn’t prove that happiness causes firms to invest more or to take a longer-term view, the authors believe it at least18at that possibility. It’s not hard to imagine that local culture and sentiment would help19how executives think about the future. “It surely seems plausible that happy people would be more forward-thinking and creative and20R&D more than the average,” said one researcher.