American English, natural speed please.
Text 2
Research into happiness is always open to question. Do people, when asked, tell the truth about whether or not they are happy? Isn’t it peculiar to tell a complete stranger that you are miserable? Possibly. Nevertheless, people who fill in questionnaires without giving their names show the same sort of results as those in open interview. It might also be suggested that people do not know whether they are happy or not. But if you believe that most people are aware of their own emotional state and express it honestly when asked, the research makes some fascinating discoveries.
It is interesting to note what does not necessarily make you happy. Class, wealth, social position, intelligence and race are all poor indicators (although poverty is a good indicator of unhappiness). Women are slightly happier than men, and older people rather more satisfied, though less joyful, than younger people. But most people are, or claim to be, happy. This is, surprisingly, the same for everyone. Whatever situation people are in, whether they are prisoners or lottery winners, roughly the same levels of happiness on average can be found. Most people score six or seven on a scale of one to ten.
Marriage is a greater source of happiness than being single. 35 percent of married men and 41.5 percent of married women claim to be very happy, whereas the figures for single men and women are 18.5 percent and 25.5 percent. However, having children is not the source of happiness many believe it to be. Survey after survey shows that happiness levels begin to fall after the birth of a child, reaching their lowest point in the teenage years and only returning to previous levels when the children leave home. This is rather strange, since people keep on having kids despite the clear evidence that having children makes you less happy. One possible explanation is that there are things that people consider more valuable than happiness, like a feeling of being worthwhile. Or maybe bad marriages stick together because of children.
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