Britons Still Happy Despite Financial Woes

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Britons still happy despite financial woes, survey finds

Level 2 Intermediate

1. If one thing is ____________________ by something else, the other thing is more important, useful or valuable. (para 1)

2. A ____________________ is a period when trade and industry are not successful and there is a lot of unemployment. (para 1)

3. If you are ____________________, you have less money than you had before. (para 1)

4. If you ____________________ something in a survey, you give it a score from one to ten. (para 2)

5. If something is ____________________, it is worth the time, money or effort that you spend on it. (para 2)

6. ____________________ is the satisfactory state that someone should be in that involves such things as being happy, healthy and safe and having enough money. (para 4)

7. If you feel ____________________, you feel worried because you think something bad might happen. (para 4)

8. A person’s ____________________ is the possibility they will develop or achieve something in the future. (para 7)

9. ____________________ is the support you always give someone because of your feelings of duty and love towards them. (para 8)

10. If you feel ____________________, you are full of enthusiasm and energy. (para 10)

1. How many people were questioned in the survey?

2. What was the average score for life satisfaction?

3. What was the average score for the question about whether people thought what they did in life was worthwhile?

4. What was the average score for satisfaction with the financial situation?

5. How many people rated their anxiety level as five out of ten?

6. Which country introduced the idea of ‘gross national happiness’?

Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text. The paragraph numbers are given to help you.

Find the following information in the text as quickly as possible.

recession outweighed worthwhile anxious rate

well-being loyalty potential energized worse off

Find the information2

Key words1


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Britons still happy despite financial woes, survey findsRandeep Ramesh 1 December, 2011

According to a survey by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), most people in the UK are satisfied with life. Many are worried about work and money but this is outweighed by happiness they get from their children, their relationships and where they live. The ONS released the results of the survey days after economists predicted that the recession would be deep, long and leave the public in 2015 worse off than they were in 2002. But it shows that the country is unaffected, in an emotional sense, by the crisis that is coming.

The survey of 4,200 adults, conducted between April and August 2011, is part of Prime Minister David Cameron’s £2 million campaign to understand how the country is doing – he doesn’t want to focus just on GDP. The survey showed that on average people rated their life satisfaction at 7.4 out of 10. When asked whether things they did in life were worthwhile, people on average gave a score of 7.6.

However, there were signs of stress in British society. Satisfaction with the financial situation had the lowest average score of 6.2 out of 10, followed by work situation, with 6.7 out of 10. When asked about their work-life balance, low scores were also given, with an average of 6.4 out of 10.

People were most satisfied with their personal relationships and mental well-being, which had the highest scores – both scored at 8.3 out of 10. However, politicians will be worried about the answer given to this question: “Overall, how anxious did you feel yesterday?” More than a quarter rated this 5 out of 10 – where 10 was feeling “completely anxious”.

Lord Layard, a professor of economics, said it was likely that life satisfaction would decrease when the recession gets worse. “We know from other European countries that life satisfaction is sensitive to business cycles and in recessions life satisfaction decreases.” Layard said politicians could use the information to reduce the pain of recession. But they would need to first identify how to measure happiness, then find what makes people “miserable

or happy” and then quantify how much happiness they can create by spending taxpayers’ money. They can spend money “on supporting childcare, parenting or help for mental health”.

Layard says it is not worthwhile for politicians to spend too much time on reducing inequalities. “Although I believe that one pound to a poor person means more than one pound to a rich person and more equal societies are happier, I don’t think redistribution of wealth will produce a happier population.”

The science of well-being has become fashionable. Cameron has mentioned the Himalayan Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan as introducing the idea of “gross national happiness”. France’s President Sarkozy has asked two Nobel prizewinners how to measure happiness. In fact, ideas about happiness have a long history. It began in Western thought with the Greek philosopher Aristotle. “Aristotle … said there was more to life than how we feel, more than just pleasure and pain. It was about how we develop our potential and work with our communities,” said Felicia Huppert from Cambridge University’s centre of well-being.

Huppert said that “probably the most important work recently was by American researcher Jonathan Haidt who looked at the importance of relationships.” Haidt identified five values in societies: care, fairness, loyalty, respect and purity – and suggested that the first two were the most important. Huppert, said: “A lot of young people think that wealth and celebrity will make you happy. In fact, the data shows it is about relationships and … a feeling that you contribute.”

Paul Allen from the ONS said another big factor in happiness was health. “We see that when people’s health was bad they would report anxiety. We are trying to understand how people rate happiness.”

One of the most interesting aspects of the new science of happiness is about language. Britons associated happiness with being “calm, relaxed and peaceful” rather than “energized and excited”. Allen said this could be seen in recent street protests. “They held up signs saying: ‘We are not happy about this.’ It was very British.”

© Guardian News & Media 2011 First published in The Guardian, 01/12/11

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Comprehension check3Are these statements true (T) or false (F) according to the text?

1. Most people in the UK are unhappy with their lives.2. The lowest score was given to satisfaction with the financial situation.3. The highest score was given to personal relationships and mental well-being.4. Life satisfaction will probably rise as the effects of the recession are felt.5. Lord Layard believes that redistribution of wealth will produce a happier population.6. According to Felicity Huppert, many young people think wealth and celebrity make you happy.

Find the following words and phrases in the text.

Complete the phrases from the text using prepositions. Check your answers in the text.

Complete the table.

Are people in your country happy? Why? Why not?

1. ______________ average

2. according ______________

3. focus ______________

4. satisfied ______________

5. sensitive ______________

6. associate ______________

1. a noun meaning a series of actions intended to produce political or social change (para 2)2. an abbreviation meaning the total value of the goods and services that a country produces in a year, not

including income received from money invested in other countries (para 2)3. a three-word phrase meaning the relationship between the amount of time and effort that someone gives to

work and the amount that they give to other aspects of life, such as their family (para 3)4. a verb meaning to measure or describe something as a quantity (para 5)5. a three-word noun phrase meaning changing the way money is shared between people (para 6)6. a noun meaning treating everyone equally and in a reasonable way (para 8)7. a noun meaning the state of being famous (para 8)

Find the word4

Phrases with prepositions5

Word-building6

Discussion7

adjective noun1. pure

2. loyal

3. fair

4. anxious

5. satisfied

6. unequal


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Britons still happy despite financial woes, survey finds Level 2 Intermediate

KEY

1 Key words

1. outweighed2. recession3. worse off4. rate5. worthwhile6. well-being7. anxious8. potential9. loyalty10. energized

2 Find the information

1. 4,2002. 7.4 out of ten3. 7.6 out of ten4. 6.2 out of ten5. more than a quarter6. Bhutan

3 Comprehension check

1. F2. T3. T4. F5. F6. T

4 Find the word

1. campaign2. GDP (Gross Domestic Product)3. work-life balance4. quantify5. redistribution of wealth6. fairness7. celebrity

5 Phrases with prepositions

1. on2. to3. on4. with5. to6. with

6 Word-building

1. purity2. loyalty3. fairness4. anxiety5. satisfaction6. inequality

Education

Britons Still Happy Despite Financial Woes