that confidence is what actually protects us from unfavorable social comparison. Yet again, even after controlling for self-esteem, the results held: Happy people were more willing to socialize with happy-but-smarter friends, while unhappy people showed no preference. The participants this time were American, extending the findings to a second culture.

　　Underlying these studies is the notion（观念） that spending time with the happy friend is the better decision-a notion that might be difficult to hear if we ourselves are the unhappy friend, but one that research nonetheless supports. Happy people, says the research, are more helpful, more generous, and more cooperative. They judge their friends more favorably and tend to be more sociable and attentive. For this reason, the researchers suggest that choosing to spend time around happy and high-performing companions is one of the ways that happy people stay happy. Of course, there's another way of seeing the results: We can cultivate awareness of our natural preference for happy people, and deliberately make an effort to hang out with them, which could help us over the long fun.

　　3. The underlined word "deterred" in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to " ".

　　A. warned

　　B. advocated

　　C. confirmed

　　D. prevented

　　4. Which of the following might be a participant in the first experiment?

　　A. A student who imagined getting a high score and was happy.

　　B. A student who imagined getting a low score and was happy.

　　C. A student who imagined getting a high score and was happy.

　　D. A student who imagined getting an average score and was happy.

　　5. The experiment with the American students shows that .

　　A. happy participants like to feel superior

　　B. people with the same feelings like to hang out together

　　C. unhappy people prefer neither happy nor unhappy friends

　　D. it's self-esteem that makes happy people choose happy companions

　　C

My dad was magic.