How are you？I am Li Hua.__________________________________________________________________

Best wishes!

Yours sincerely,

Li Hua

   “Are you happy？”I asked my brother，Ian，one day.

“Yes. No. It depends on what you mean，”he said.

“Then tell me，”I said，“when was the last time you think you were happy？”

“April，1967，”he said.

It served me right for putting a serious question to someone who has joked his way through life. But Ian’s answer reminded me that when we think about happiness，we usually think of something extraordinary，a pinnacle（顶点）of delight. And those pinnacles seem to get rarer as we get older.

For a child，happiness is simple，such as playing with friends. In the teenage years，the concept of happiness changes. Suddenly it’s conditional on such things as excitement，love and popularity. For adults，happiness is complicated—love，marriage，responsibility and the risk of loss.

My dictionary defines happiness as“luck”or“fortune”，but I think a better definition of happiness is“the capacity（能力）for enjoyment”. The more we can enjoy what we have，the happier we are. It’s easy to overlook the pleasure we get from loving and being loved，the company of friends，the freedom to live where we please，and even good health.

I added up my little moments of pleasure yesterday. First I had my breakfast and enjoyed myself in the house. Then I spent an uninterrupted morning writing，which I love. When the kids came home，I enjoyed their noise after the quiet of the day.

You never know where happiness will turn up next. When I asked friends what makes them happy，some mentioned seemingly unimportant moments.“I hate shopping，”one friend said.“But there’s a shop assistant who always chats and really cheers me up.”Another friend loves the telephone.“Every time it rings，I know someone is thinking about me.”We all experience moments like these. Too few of us think of them as happiness.

Happiness isn’t about what happens to us；it’s about how we think of what happens to us. It’s not wishing for what we don’t have， but enjoying what we do have.

   A newly-published study has shown that loneliness can spread from one person to another，like a disease. Researchers used information from the Framingham Heart Study，which began in 1948. The Framingham Heart Study gathers information about physical and mental health，personal behavior and diet. At first，the study involved（使参加）about 5,000 people in the American state of Massachusetts. Now more than 12,000 individuals（个人）are taking part.

Information from the Framingham Heart Study showed earlier that happiness can spread from person to person. So can behavior like littering and the ability to stop smoking.

Psychologist John Cacioppo，at the University of Chicago，led the recent study. He and other researchers tried to show how often people felt lonely. They found that the feeling of loneliness spread through social groups.

Having a social connection with a lonely person increased the chances that another individual would feel lonely. In fact，a friend of a lonely person was 52% more likely to develop feelings of loneliness. A friend of that person was 25%more likely. The researchers said this shows that a person could indirectly be affected by someone’s loneliness.

The effect was the strongest among friends. Neighbors were the second most affected group. The effect was weaker on husbands and wives，and brothers and sisters. The researchers also found that loneliness spread more easily among women than men.

The New York Times newspaper reported that，on average，people experience feelings of loneliness about 48 days a year. It also found that every additional（额外的）friend can decrease loneliness by about five percent，or two and a half fewer lonely days.

Loneliness has been linked to health problems like depression（抑郁症）and sleeping difficulties. The researchers believe that knowing the causes of loneliness could help reduce it.

The study suggested that people can take steps to stop the spread of loneliness. They can do this by helping individuals they know who may be experiencing loneliness. The result can be helpful to the whole social group.