What would you do with $590m? This is now a question for Gloria Mackenzie, an 84-year-old widow who recently emerged from her small, tin-roofed house in Florida to collect the biggest undivided lottery jackpot in history. If she hopes her new-found fortune will yield lasting feelings of fulfillment, she could do worse than read Ha ppy Money by Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton.

     These two academics use an array of behavioral research to show that the most rewarding ways to spend money can be counterintuitive. Fantasies of great wealth often involve visions of fancy cars and extravagant homes. Yet satisfaction with these material purchases wears off fairly quickly. What was once exciting and new becomes old-hat; regret creeps in. It is far better to spend money on experiences, say Ms. Dunn and Mr. Norton, like interesting trips, unique meals or even going to the cinema. These purchases often become more valuable with time—as stories or memories—particularly if they involve feeling more connected to others.

    This slim volume is packed with tips to help wage slaves as well as lottery winners get the most “happiness bang for your buck”. It seems most people would be better off if they could shorten their commutes to work, spend more time with friends and family and less of it watching television (something the average American spends a whopping two months a year doing, and is hardly jollier for it). Buying gifts or giving to charity is often more pleasurable than purchasing things for oneself, and luxuries are most enjoyable when they are consumed sparingly. This is apparently the reason McDonald’s restricts the availability of its popular McRib—a marketing trick that has turned the pork sandwich into an object of obsession.

    Readers of Happy Money are clearly a privileged lot, anxious about fulfillment, not hunger. Money may not quite buy happiness, but people in wealthier countries are generally happier than those in poor ones. Yet the link between feeling good and spending money on others can be seen among rich and poor people around the world, and scarcity enhances the pleasure of most things for most people. Not everyone will agree with the authors’ policy ideas, which range from mandating more holiday time to reducing tax incentives for American homebuyers. But most people will come away from this book believing it was money well spent.

答案精析：根据关键词watching TV可定位到第三段第二句，括号内的内容修饰watching television。定位句指出，似乎大部分人如果能缩短通勤时间，多花点时间陪家人和朋友，少花点时间看电视就能更快乐，括号中指出美国人平均每年花两个月看电视。由此可知，作者认为美国人看电视的时间太长，建议少花些时间在看电视上可能会更快乐，即作者对看电视的态度是负面的、批评的，A项正确。

错项排除：supportive表明作者支持看电视，与作者的态度相反，B项排除。C项在文中没有提及，故排除。D项表示对看电视这一行为的态度不明，但原文已经明确表示most people would be better off这一立场，因此排除。

长难句分析：It seems most people would be better off if they could shorten their commutes to work, spend more time with friends and family and less of it watching television (something the average American spends a whopping two months a year doing, and is hardly jollier for it).

本句句子主干为it seems most people would be better off，其中most people would be better off为省略that的表语从句。其后的if引导条件状语从句，从句包含两个并列的谓语shorten和spend，其中spend又对应两个并列的宾语more time with friends和less of it watching television，it指代time。括号里的something是watching television的同位语，后面是省略引导词的定语从句，其主干是the average American spends…and is…。

句意为：似乎大部分人只要减少通勤时间，花更多时间与朋友家人相处，少花点时间看电视（一般美国人每年会花高达两个月看电视，而且并不会让他们更快乐），他们就会更幸福。