英语美文：幸福生活不等于有意义？

       多人都认为人生意义在于追求幸福的过程，而最新研究表明，幸福的人生与有意义的人生(meaningful life)不能画上等号，而一味追求幸福更是会徒增烦恼。

　　What kind of life do you want? Is pursuing happiness the goal of your life? Or would you rather lead a meaningful life? Wait, you say, but aren’t happiness and meaning linked with each other? Surely someone who leads a meaningful life is happy? And we find meaning in the pursuit of happiness?

　　你想要哪种生活?你生活的目标是追求幸福?抑或是想活得更充实?等一下，你是说，幸福与充实之间并无关联吗?充实的人生不都该是幸福的么?我们不都是在追求幸福的过程中才找到人生意义的么?

　　According to a new study, a happy life and a meaningful life are not the same thing. In fact, the single-minded pursuit of happiness can leave people less happy.

　　一项最新研究显示，幸福的人生和有意义的人生完全不是一回事。事实上，一味追求幸福只会让人们的幸福感降低。

　　The study will be published this year in the Journal of Positive Psychology¹. A recent article in The Atlantic provided a summary of the results.

　　这项研究成果年内将刊登在《积极心理学学刊》。近期发表在《大西洋月刊》上的一篇文章也概述了该研究成果。

　　Scientists asked nearly 400 US citizens aged² 18 to 78 whether they thought their lives were meaningful and happy. These people were asked about their attitudes toward meaning, happiness and many other aspects in life, like stress levels, spending patterns, and family life. The researchers found that a meaningful life and a happy life overlap³ in certain ways, but are essentially⁴ different.

　　科学家就是否觉得生活幸福而充实这一问题采访了约400位，年龄介于18-78岁间的美国人。受访者就幸福、充实、以及压力水平、消费模式和家庭生活等生活方方面面的给出了自己的态度。研究人员发现，尽管充实生活与幸福生活在某些方面重合，但本质不同。

　　Leading a happy life, the researchers found, is associated with being a “taker”, while leading a meaningful life corresponds with being a “giver”.

　　研究人员发现，生活幸福的人往往是“索取者”，而生活充实的人则属于“赠予者”。

　　Happiness, the researchers found, is about feeling good and getting what we want. People who are happy tend to think that life is easy. They are in good physical health and able to buy the things that they need and want.

　　研究人员发现，幸福就是感觉良好并如愿以偿。幸福的人往往认为生活简单安逸。他们身体健康，而且买得起自己需要和想要的东西。

　　Happiness is about satisfying our needs and desires. The pursuit of happiness is often associated with selfish behavior. Animals have needs and desires and they can feel happy too. What sets human beings apart from animals is not the pursuit of happiness, the researchers said, but the pursuit of meaning, which is unique to humans.

　　幸福便是满足私欲。追求幸福往往伴随着一些自私行径。动物存在欲望，亦能感到幸福。研究人员表示，真正将人类与动物区分开来的，并非对于幸福的追求，而是对于人生意义的追求，这是人类的专属。

　　We can often find meaning in helping⁵ others or making a sacrifice for a “greater good”. Meaning often comes at the expense of happiness. That’s because people who have invested themselves in something bigger than themselves worry more and have higher levels of stress and anxiety in their lives than happy people. Volunteering in rural schools, for example, is meaningful but also entails⁶ hardship.

　　我往往在帮助他人，或者“牺牲小我完成大我”的过程中找到人生意义。获得人生意义总是要以幸福为代价。这是因为当人们投身比自身更重要的事业中时，总是要比幸福的人承受更多的压力和焦虑。比如去山区支教是件有意义的事，但同时也得历经苦难。

　　The study also found that meaning is not only about transcending⁷ the self, but also about transcending the present moment.

　　这项研究还发现，人生的意义不仅仅是超越自我，更是超越现在。

　　Happiness, like any emotion, is felt in the here and now - it ultimately fades away. Meaning, on the other hand, is enduring. It connects the past to the present to the future. “Thinking beyond the present moment, into the past or future, was a sign of the relatively⁸ meaningful but unhappy life,” according to the researchers. “Happiness is not generally found in contemplating⁹ the past or future.”

　　正如其他情感一样，幸福是一种即时的感受，也终将消散。而人生意义却是恒久的。它连接过去、现在和未来。“那种超脱于当下，放眼过去或未来的思维方式，标志着你的生活比较有意义却并不幸福。”研究人员说，“注视着历史或未来，一般是看不到幸福的。”

　　Experiencing negative events, the study found, decreases your happiness but increases the feelings of meaningfulness in your life. No one knows this better than Viktor Frankl, writer of the best-selling book Man’s Search for Meaning. “If there is meaning in life at all,” he wrote, “then there must be meaning in suffering.”

　　研究发现，一些负面的经历会降低你的幸福感，但同时会提升生活的充实感。想必没人能比畅销书《活出生命的意义》的作者维克多?弗兰克尔更理解这一点了。他在书中写道：“若人生确有意义，那它必隐于苦难磨砺之中。”

　　Frankl wrote the book after having lived through the horrors of a Nazi¹⁰ concentration camp. In the book, he claims that one key thing separated those who perished and those who found a way to survive: a sense of meaning.

　　该书作者弗兰克尔曾在纳粹集中营中经历了炼狱般的生活。在书中，他表示区分一个是灭亡，还是涅槃的关键就在于对生命意义的感知。

更多英语美文　

分享到：