越窮越開心英語美文

Charles Dickens’ classic "A Christmas Carol" paints a picture of stark contrasts. The impoverished Cratchit family share love and joy, while Ebenezer Scrooge is wealthy, cold and "solitary as an oyster."

查爾斯·狄更斯的經典小説《聖誕頌歌》描繪了這樣一個鮮明的對比。貧窮的克拉奇蒂家族分享着愛和歡樂，而埃比尼澤·斯克魯奇則富有、寒冷，“像牡蠣一樣孤獨”。

People at the lower end of the income scale take more pleasure in their relationships and enjoy caring for and connecting with others, according to a study published Monday in the journal?Emotion.

週一發表在《情感》報刊上的一個研究發現，收入較低的人們更喜歡處理好他們的人際關係，喜歡關心他人並與他人聯繫。

By contrast, the positive emotions experienced by people with higher incomes are mainly focused on themselves, the research suggests.

研究表明，相比之下，高收入人羣的正面情緒則主要集中在自己身上。

People who are poorer are more reliant on others to get by, said Paul Piff, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of psychology and social behavior at the University of California, Irvine.

該研究的主要作者、加州大學歐文分校的心理學和社會行為助理教授保羅·皮夫説:“貧窮的人更依賴他人。”

"They really prioritize relationships because of their reduced resources, and so they are more likely to really focus on emotions that bind them to one another and find satisfaction and delight in relationships through compassion and love."

“因為他們缺少資源，所以他們真的把關係擺在首位，所以他們更有可能把注意力集中到彼此相連的情感上，通過同情和愛找到滿足和快樂。”

For the study, Piff and his co-author, Jake P. Moskowitz, a graduate student at UC Irvine, surveyed more than 1,500 Americans ranging from 24 to 93 years old.

對於這項研究，皮夫和他的合著者，加州大學歐文分校研究生傑克·P·莫斯科維茨調查了1500多名美國人，年齡從24歲到93歲不等。

The questions were designed to measure the magnitude of seven emotions experienced each day: amusement, awe, compassion, contentment, enthusiasm, love and pride. Previous research suggests these seven separate feelings are the underlying individual components of general positive emotion.

他們的問題旨在衡量每天經歷的七種情緒的大小：娛樂，敬畏，同情，滿足，熱情，愛和驕傲。以前的研究表明，這七種不同的感受是一般積極情緒的基本組成部分。

Participants rated their agreement with statements such as: "My life is full of wonder," "Nurturing others gives me a warm feeling inside," and "I get great pleasure from pursuing my goals."

參與者對如“我的人生充滿了奇蹟”，“培養他人給我一種温暖的感覺”，“我為實現自己的目標而感到高興”等表述表示贊同。

As Piff explained, other studies tend to ask the very broad question, "How happy are you?"

就像皮夫解釋的那樣，其他的研究往往會提出一個非常寬泛的問題：“你有多開心?

For the new study, "We break happiness down into all of its emotional components: all the different kinds of positive emotions we want to experience on a daily basis," he said.

但對於這項新的研究，他説：“我們把幸福分解成所有的情緒成分：我們每天都要經歷的所有不同種類的`積極情緒。”

Next, Piff and Moskowitz created statistical models and then analyzed the relationship between income and each of the seven different emotions underpinning happiness.

接下來，皮夫和莫斯科維茨創建了統計模型，然後分析了收入與支撐幸福的七種不同情緒中的每一種之間的關係。

"As income increases, as you rise in the rankings of household income, your tendencies -- or daily experiences -- of pride, amusement, contentment go up, and your experience of compassion and love and awe go down," Piff said. Enthusiasm was the one emotion unaffected by wealth, with both rich and poor experiencing the same level.

“隨着收入的增加，你的家庭收入排名上升，你的驕傲，快樂，滿足的傾向 -或者説你的日常經歷會上升，你的同情，愛心和敬畏感會下降。”皮夫説。熱情則是一種不受財富影響的情感，無論貧富都處於同一水平。

There are reasons for expecting wealth and income to shape certain emotions, noted Piff.

皮夫指出，人們有理由期待財富和收入能影響某些情緒。

"Wealth makes you less reliant on other people," he said. "Because of that, you’re more likely to kind of focus on emotions that make you feel independent and different from other people -- things that make you stand out.

他説：“財富使你不那麼依賴別人。因此，你更有可能把注意力放在讓你感覺獨立和不同於其他人的情緒上，那些讓你脱穎而出的事情。

"But of course these aren’t absolute differences; it’s not the case that wealthy people don’t feel any compassion or any love," Piff said. "It’s just that wealth sort of buffers you from experiencing as much of it as perhaps you should or as other people do."

當然，這些並不是絕對的差異，富人並不是感受不到任何的同情或愛心，”皮夫説，“只是財富會讓你在經歷和別人一樣的歷程時得到緩衝。”

David G. Blanchflower, a professor of economics at Dartmouth, said he was "unimpressed" with the study. Blanchflower, who did not participate in the research, questioned the focus of the study and said it was "unclear what it actually finds."

達特茅斯大學經濟學教授戴維·G·布蘭奇弗勞爾説，他對這項研究“沒有印象”。布蘭奇福勞沒有參與這項研究，他對這項研究的重點提出了質疑，並表示“目前還不清楚它究竟發現了什麼。”

"There is a very large literature showing happiness and life satisfaction is related to income," he said. One example is this study that found higher income increases access to social support, self-esteem and opportunities and so enhances happiness.

他説：“非常多的文獻表明幸福感和生活滿意度與收入有關。例如，一項研究發現，較高的收入增加了獲得社會支持，自尊和機會，從而增強了幸福感。

However, Piff questions whether wealth is "unequivocally" linked to increased happiness.

然而，皮夫質疑財富是否“明確地”與增加的快樂聯繫在一起。

The emotions that contribute most to a sense of well-being and actual health are the emotions that bind you to other people: compassion, love and gratitude, he said. These are the connective glue between people.

他説，最能讓人感到幸福和健康的情感是將你與他人聯繫在一起的情感:同情、愛和感激。這是人與人之間的紐帶。

"It’s our ability to be social that is so important to our well-being and our vitality as individuals and as a species," Piff said.

皮夫説:“作為個體和物種，我們的社會能力對我們的幸福和活力非常重要。”

The holiday season gets "people to think about the larger communities that they’re a part of and the important people in their lives," he noted. But sometimes we think, "If only we could have more money!" Then, we believe, we could get all the things we want and achieve all those things we think are meaningful or important, he explained.

他指出，假日季讓“人們去思考那些更大的羣體，他們也是這個羣體中的一部分，也是羣體中的重要人物。”但有時我們會想，“要是我們能有更多的錢就好了!”他解釋説:“然後，我們相信，我們可以得到所有我們想要的東西，並實現那些我們認為有意義或重要的事情。”

"Even in the absence of wealth, you can still extract all kinds of meaning and all kinds of happiness and all kinds of joy by reminding yourself and surrounding yourself with all the people you love," Piff said.

皮夫説:“即使在沒有財富的情況下，你仍然可以通過提醒自己和周圍的人，從所有你愛的人身上提取出各種各樣的意義，各種各樣的快樂。”

"The ability to experience a kind of rich tapestry of these different positive emotions is vital to well-being."

“體驗一種豐富多彩且不盡相同的正面情緒的能力對幸福至關重要。”