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If you're middle-aged and miserable, don't despair: Give it a decade or two and you'll be feeling like a carefree young person again.
Researchers have foundout that life satisfaction peaks at 23 and 69. People in their early twenties overestimate their future life satisfaction by an average of around 10 percent, before the disappointments of life kick in.
They face decades of declining expectation before hitting their lowest point in their mid-fifties, when regrets over unrealised dreams are at their greatest. Satisfaction levels finally start to rise again after 55 and peak once more at 69, according to a study by the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics.
Those aged 68 underestimate their future happiness by 4.5 percent, meaning they no longer face disappointment, the researchers found. The findings suggest that actresses Emma Watson and Kristen Stewart, both 23, should enjoy this year. If the research is borne out they will be optimistic but are likely to face disappointment in the next four decades.
The CEP paper, to be published this week, is the first to examine how our expectations compare to reality at different life stages.
Researcher Hannes Schwandt, 30, analysed happiness levels for 23,161 Germans aged 17 to 85. Dr Schwandt, who is based at Princeton University in the US but is a visiting researcher at the London centre, said: "One theory is that the U-shape is driven by unmet aspirations which are painfully felt in midlife but beneficially abandoned later in life."
"People in their fifties could learn from the elderly, who generally feel less regret. They should try not to be discouraged by their unmet expectations because they are probably not feeling much worse than their peers."
63. The underline word "overestimate" in Paragraph 2 means "_______".
A. value too much B. appreciate too little
C. ignore too much D. treasure too little
64. Which chart best reflects the views in this passage?
65. According to Dr Schwandt, a middle-aged German may _______.
A. suffer from unmet aspirations painfully B. act to be less regretful than the elderly
C. feel happier if he abandoned benefits D. expect not to be discouraged in the future
66. The main purpose of the passage is to _______.
A. compare and evaluate B. examine and assess C. argue and discuss D. inform and explain
D
As Philadelphia's Director of Schools, I recommended the approval of more than 30 charter schools（特色学校）because I thought it would improve educational opportunity for our 215,000 students. The last 20 years make it clear I was wrong. New policy should not build on current unfairness and imperfect assumptions, as the proposed charter law changes would do.
Charters do not result in significant improvement in student performance. It has mixed academic results. In some evaluations, charter schools actually perform more poorly than regular public schools.
Charter funding is also negatively affecting regular public schools. Charter advocates rely on the pre-condition that as money flows from a regular school to a charter school, the costs of the regular school go down accordingly. But it's just not true. Costs in schools sending students to charters cannot shift as fast as students and the income of the government leaves. Thus, the remaining children face the possibility of larger class sizes and cuts to central courses.
Further, the proposed law also supposes all students cost the same to educate. Again, not true. It costs more to provide a quality education to some, such as those with severe disabilities, who are rarely served by charter schools, leaving traditional schools to bear this cost at the expense of all students.
Charters do not serve students with the greatest challenges: Charters will be quick to point out they accept high percentages of low-income students. Some do. However, every student chosen has someone who encouraged and is advocating for her/him to apply and succeed. That fact by itself creates a select pool of students and a loss of those students in non-charter schools.
Chartering is not an education reform. It's merely a change in governance. A charter law doesn't deal with the hard real reform. We know from research and experience what works to build schools with developing students: High standards; Quality teachers; Prekindergarten for 3 year olds; Lower class sizes through the third grade.
Attacking concentrated poverty through community schools; after school programs; more instruction time for students who struggle; home visitation programs; and high quality child care.
Let's do what we know works.
67. According to the author, charter schools _______.
A. are well worth recommending to the state
B. were founded after research and evaluations
C. have improved students' academic performance
D. are built on unfairness and imperfect assumptions
68. Charter funding is negatively affecting regular public schools because _______.
A. money flows from a regular school to a charter school
B. costs cannot shift as fast as students and revenue leave
C. the remaining classes are larger and central courses are cut
D. the costs of the regular school go down accordingly
69. Charters do not serve students with severe disabilities, because _______.
A. Charters don't accept low-income students B. it costs more to provide a quality education to them
C. Charters don't accept the students with severe disabilities D. no one will advocate for them to attend charter schools
70. The writer' s attitude towards Charter School might be _______.
A. supportive B. indifferent C. neutral D. critical
