Section B (10 marks)
Questions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage.
　　Who has it and who doesn’t? And how do those of us with less of it get more? It is a riddle that has exercised philosophers ever since Aristotle first identified happiness as the end of all human activity. Wealth and health are thought to be a means to it, but the thing itself always seems to be just beyond our grasp.
　　After a decade of studying happiness or “subjective well-being”, to give it its proper psychological term, Michael Argyle, Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Oxford Brookes University, concludes that the best guarantee of long-term happiness is something called “serious leisure”—a hobby or activity that involves your whole being.
　　(61) _____ says Argyle. “It’s also a highly social activity, which is a very important component of happiness. The point is it doesn’t really matter what you do as long as you find the activity challenging and absorbing.”
　　Other experts, like Mihaly Csikszentmihaly, Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago, concur. He has a similar theory called “flow”. This is what a chess player senses at the most intense point in a game. “Flow is a state of loss of self-awareness, brought about by facing challenges with necessary skills.” explains Argyle.
　　Because most people are by nature lazy and undisciplined, the majority find it easier to achieve flow when they are forced to rise to challenges imposed on them from outside, hence the importance of work as a source of happiness. But work can also be a huge source of stress and there seems to be less time than ever for the simple pleasures of life.
　　(62) _____ Flow, he argues, is all very well for the adrenalin-driven commodities traders of this world, but those of us who don’t have a high-powered job in the city may have to look elsewhere for contentment.
　　(63) _____ he writes in his latest book, The Social Psychology of Leisure, “Free time has greatly increased but those who have the greatest increase have not been able to convert it into satisfying forms of leisure.”
　　The best example is TV. Recent studies have shown that Britain is in danger of becoming a nation of couch potatoes and Argyle agrees that because of its essential passivity, TV is one of the activities least likely to produce flow.
　　(64) _____
　　One answer is to ask the subjects to write down what they do at each hour of the day, and how it makes them feel. This technique, known as “pleasant activities therapy”, was invented by Peter Lewinsohn. The data is fed into a computer which comes up with the activities that tend to produce the greatest happiness for the greatest number.
　　Professor Argyle’s own study of leisure groups put dancing at the top of the contentment charts, which you may or may not see as a happy coincidence given the professor’s own passion for hopping about in a kilt.
　　Next is any other activity that involves contact with people—such as volunteer work, or simply sitting around and relaxing with family and friends—followed by reading, making or fixing things and team sports. Cooking, housework and shopping are all ranked above watching TV.
　　(65) _____ After all, there are plenty of compulsive-depressive types who work all hours, go skiing every weekend and still end up committing suicide at 35.
　　“Just as there are happy people, there are unhappy people,” he says, answering one of the questions posed at the outset of this article. The difference is that unhappy people look at themselves when things go wrong, but happy people only look at themselves when things go right. “The Americans call it the Pollyanna effect—always looking on the bright side.”
Questions 61 to 65
Choose from the sentences A—G the one which best fits each gap of 61—65. There are two extra sentences which you do not need to use.
A. This is where Professor Argyle’s theories come in.
B. “There really is a problem here.”
C. How can we keep optimistic about the state of our life?
D. But isn’t all this ranking of different leisure activities beside the point?
E. “It’s extremely invigorating and a great source of euphoria.”
F. So what sort of “serious leisure” activities should we be considering if we want a slice of Nirvana?
G. “Actually lots of people lose their job aspirations.”