1. Text 4:
(4.1)
World's oldest person dies at 115
A Portuguese woman who held the title of oldest living person for just five weeks has
died at the age of 115.
Maria de Jesus died on 2 January, 2009. One of her six children told a Portugal news agency
that her mother never "fell ill, nor took any medication".
Mrs de Jesus had topped the table of people aged 110 or older collated by the Gerontology
Research Group after Edna Parker died on 26 November, 2008. American Gertrude Baines,
born 6 April, 1894, is now the oldest living person. According to AFP news agency, Mrs De
Jesus was born in central Portugal. She started working in agriculture at the age of 12 and
never went to school. She could not read or write.
(4.2)
Australians happiest people in the world
Australians are the happiest people in the world. This is according to a new survey from the
market research company GfK NOP. Interviewers asked 30,000 people in 30 different countries
about their levels of happiness. Forty-six percent of Australians said they were “very happy”.
Following them was the USA (40 percent), Egypt (36 percent), India (34 percent) and the UK
and Canada (32 percent). Hungary finished top of the “miserable” list. Thirty-five percent of its
citizens said they were “very unhappy”. Second most miserable were Russians, at 30 percent.
The research showed that money and age affected how happy people are. The study did not
show that money can buy happiness, but it did reveal a link between a lack of money and
unhappiness. Unhappier people were in lower income groups or unemployed. The study also
suggested the older we become, the less happy we are. Globally, teenagers are the happiest
people. The least happy age group is 50-59 – only 16 percent of those in their fifties said they
were very happy. The things that make us happy include good health, financial security and a
Maria de Jesus was 115 years and
114 days old when she died.

2. happy marriage, not cars and clothes.