美国科学60秒 SSS 2012-11-19

搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号：tingroom，领取免费英语资料大礼包。

 

The work appears in the proceedings¹ of the National Academy of Sciences. Social scientists, economists² and philosophers have long been aware that some people are subject to a sort of half-time slump³, the period when their wellbeing gives to it all-time low. What less clear is what causes this mid-life unwi, which by many measures falls between a joyous⁴ childhood and contented⁵ retirement⁶. Is it socioeconomic? Psychological? Med physical? 

 

In this study, researchers first checked to see if the slump is uniquely humane⁷. They asked zoo-keepers to rate the relative happiness of some 500 chimps⁸ in a round tank, based on how often the apes seem to be in a good mood and how much pleasure they derive⁹ from socializing. It turns out our closest relatives also show a U-shaped curve of life’s satisfaction. Cheers in an old age and mope in the middle. So when you start lasting¹⁰ that life convertible¹¹, you are not totally bananas. You are just going ape.

分享到：