【01】如何提升幸福感

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Concepts of happiness

幸福的概念

Neil: Hello. Welcome to 6 Minute Enish, I'm Neil. This is the programme where in just six minutes we discuss an interesting topic and teach some related Enish vocabulary. And joining me to do this is Rob.

大家好，欢迎收听英语六分钟，我是尼尔。在这个节目中，我们将在六分钟时间里讨论一个有趣的话题，并教授一些相关的英语词汇。和我一起主持节目的是罗伯。

Rob: Hello, Neil.

你好，尼尔。

Neil: Now Rob, you seem like a happy chappy.

罗伯，你看起来很快乐呀。

Rob: What's the point of being miserable?

痛苦又有什么用呢？

Neil: Well, that are many things that could make you feel down in the dumps - a phrase that means 'unhappy' - but what are the things that keep you feeling happy, cheerful and chirpy, Rob?

嗯，有很多事会让你感到沮丧，这个短语（feel down in the dumps）的意思是“心情不好”，但是有什么事会让你感到开心、高兴和快活呢，罗伯？

Rob: Oh many things like being healthy, hng good friends, presenting programmes like this with you, Neil!

哦，有很多事，比如身体健康、有好朋友，和你一起主持这个节目，尼尔！

Neil: Of course - but we all have different ideas about what makes us happy - and that can vary from country to country and culture to culture. It's what we're talking about today - concepts of happiness.

当然了，但是对于什么能让我们快乐，我们有不同的信念，信念因国家和文化的不同而有所不同。这就是我们今天要讨论的话题——幸福的概念。

Rob: Now Neil, you could make us even happier if you gave us a really good question to answer.

尼尔，如果你能给我们提一个很好的问题让我们回答，我们会更开心。

Neil: Here it is. Happiness is an emotion that actually gets measured. The World Happiness Report measures "subjective well-being" - how happy the people are, and why. But do you know, according to a United Nations agency report in 2017, which is the happiest country on Earth?

问题来了，幸福实际上是一种可以衡量的感情。《世界幸福报告》衡量的是“主观幸福感”，比如人们有多幸福，人们因为什么而幸福。但是你知道吗，根据联合国机构2017年的一份报告，哪个国家是世界上幸福指数最高的国家？

Is it... a） Norway b） Japan, orc） New Zealand?

是a）挪威；b）日本；还是c）新西兰？

Rob: WeIl, I think they're all very happy places but the outdoor life of many New Zealanders must make New Zealand the happiest place.

嗯，我认为这几个国家都是幸福指数非常高的国家，但是很多新西兰人的户外生活一定会让新西兰成为最幸福的地方。

Neil: OK, we'll see. I'll reveal the answer later on. But now back to our discussion about happiness around the world.

好的，我们拭目以待。我稍后会揭晓答案。现在回到我们关于“全球最幸福国家”这个讨论上来。

Rob: Happiness can be hard to define. Research has suggested that while personal feelings of pleasure are the accepted definition of happiness in Western cultures, East Asian cultures tend to see happiness as social harmony and in some parts of Africa and India it's more about shared experiences and family.

幸福很难定义。研究表明，在西方文化中，个人的愉悦感是公认的幸福定义；在东亚文化中，人们倾向于将幸福视为社会和谐；而在非洲和印度某些地区，幸福更多是与共同的经历和家庭有关。

Neil: It's something author and journalist Helen Russell has been looking at - she's even created an 'Atlas of Happiness'. Her research focused on the positive characteristics of a country's population - and guess which country she found to be one of the happiest?

作家兼记者海伦·拉塞尔一直在关注这个问题，她甚至创作了一本“幸福地图集”。她的研究集中在一个国家人口的积极的特性上，然后你猜猜她发现哪个国家是最幸福的国家之一？

Rob: New Zealand?

新西兰吗?

Neil: Actually no. It was Japan. Here she is speaking on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour programme. What concept - or belief - is it that promotes happiness?

实际上不是新西兰，是日本。下面是她在BBC第四广播电台的《女性时间》节目中发表的讲话。是什么概念或信念提升了幸福感？

Helen Russell, author and journalist

海伦·拉塞尔，作家兼记者

Millennials and perhaps older people are better at remembering wabi-sabi - this traditional Japanese concept around celebrating imperfection, which I think is something so helpful these days, especially for women - it's this idea that there is a beauty in ageing, it's to be celebrated rather than trying to disguise it, or trying to cover up the scars instead you gild them with kintsugi - if you break a pot instead of chucking it away, you mend it with gold lacquer so the scars, rather than being hidden, are highlighted in pure gold... We all have laughter lines and rather than being ashamed of them, they're something to be celebrated.

千禧一代（（1982-2000出生的人），或者说年纪稍大一些的人在牢记侘寂美学（Wabi-sabi：残缺之美，非圆满之美；朴素又安静的事物）方面做得更好，（wabi-sabi）这种日本传统的概念旨在赞美缺陷，我认为这个方法在当今社会非有用，尤其是对于女性而言，也就是“老有老的美”这个想法，变老是值得赞美的，不必试图掩盖变老的事实；或者试图掩盖伤疤而不是用金缮修饰它（金缮是运用纯天然材质修补残缺器物的工艺名称）——假如你打破了一个水壶，你不用扔掉它，而是用金漆修复破裂的地方。所以与其掩盖伤疤不如用纯金修复它。我们每个人都有笑纹，不必为之感到痛苦，笑纹也值得赞美。

Neil: So in Japan, there is a belief that people should celebrate imperfection. Imperfection is a fault or weakness. So rather than hiding something that's not perfect, we should celebrate it.

所以在日本，人们相信大家应该赞美不完美。“Imperfection”是指缺点或弱点。因此，相比于隐藏不完美的东西，我们更应该赞美它。

Rob: Getting old, for example, is not something to be ashamed of - don't hide your wrinkles or laughter lines - these are the creases you get as you skin ages or even you get from smiling too much!

比如，变老并不是一件令人羞愧的事情，不要隐藏你的皱纹或笑纹，这些皱纹是随着你皮肤的老化而产生的，甚至是你笑得太多而产生的。

Neil: Rather than spending time being ashamed of our faults, we should accept what and who we are. This concept is something that Helen feels is particularly being celebrated by Millennials and older people.

与其花时间为自己的缺陷感到羞愧，我们还不如接受自我。海伦认为，千禧一代及年纪稍长的人对这一概念尤为推崇。

Rob: Yes, and Helen compared this with the process of kintsugi - where the cracks or scars on broken pottery are highlighted with gold lacquer. This is called gilding. So we should highlight our imperfections.

没错，海伦将之与金缮的过程相比，金缮是指用金漆突出破裂陶器上的裂纹或疤痕的技艺。这叫做镀金。所以我们应该大方地展示我们的不完美。

Neil: This concept is something that maybe Enish people should embrace more because according to Helen Russell's research, they are not a very happy population. Here she is speaking on the BBC's Woman's Hour programme again - what word does she use to describe people like me and you?

据海伦·拉塞尔的研究显示，英国人并不是一个非常快乐的群体，所以他们更应该接受这个概念。下面是她另一段在英国广播公司的“女性时间”节目中的发言——她用什么词来形容像你我这样的人呢？

Helen Russell, author and journalist

海伦·拉塞尔，作家兼记者

In Enand what we have is 'jolly', which many of us now associate with this kind of 'jolly hockey sticks' or maybe an upper-class thing but actually it's something that really plays through a lot of British culture in a way that we may not think of so much. So there's this sense that in a lot of our comedy, in a lot of our approach to life you just sort of... you get out there, you go for a dog walk, you have a boiled egg and soldiers ['soldiers' in this case are small slices of toast that you can dip into your egg and eat], and we do sort of get on with things - it's a coping mechanism, it's not perfect but it's worked for many Brits for a while.

在英国，我们有“jolly”这个词，现在很多人都将它与“jolly hockey sticks”（上层社会女子好交际的）或者可能是一种上流社会的东西联系起来，但实际上它真的以一种我们可能想不到的方式贯穿英国文化。在我们的很多喜剧中，在我们的很多生活方式中都有这种场景....你可能是走出门、去遛遛狗、吃个水煮蛋和烤面包片（“soldiers”在这种情况下指的是小片烤面包，你可以蘸着鸡蛋吃）；以及做着其它类似的事情——这是一种应对机制，这个机制并不完美，但暂时对很多英国人来说这个方法很奏效。

Rob: In the past we would use the phrase 'jolly hockey sticks' - a humorous phrase used to describe upper-class school girls' annoying enthusiasm.

在过去，我们会用“jolly hockey sticks”这个短语——一个幽默的短语，用来形容上层社会女子因让人生厌的热情。

Neil: But Helen now thinks 'jolly' describes an attitude that is used as a coping mechanism - that's something someone does to deal with a difficult situation. We smile, do everyday things - like walking the dog - and just get on with life.

但是海伦现在认为“jolly”描述的是一种用作应对机制的态度，即某人在处理困难处境时所采取的态度。我们微笑着处理日常琐事，比如遛狗，比如从容面对生活。

Rob: I guess she means carry on without complaining.

我想她的意思是不抱怨地生活。

Neil: Well, here's something to make you happy, Rob - the answer to the question I asked you earlier, which was: according to a United Nations agency report in 2017, which is the happiest country on Earth?

好吧，罗伯，让你高兴的事情来了——我刚才问你的问题的答案什么？问题是：根据2017年联合国机构报告，下面哪个国家是全球2017年度幸福指数最高的国家？

Is it... a） Norway b） Japan, orc） New Zealand?

是a）挪威；b）日本；还是c）新西兰？

Rob: And I said c） New Zealand.

我选的是c）新西兰。

Neil: The answer is a） Norway. The report has been published for the past five years, during which the Nordic countries have consistently dominated the top spots.

答案是a）挪威。这项报告已经发布了五年了，五年里一直都是由北欧国家占据榜首。

OK, now it's time to remind ourselves of some of the vocabulary we've mentioned today.

好了，现在是时候复习一下我们今天提到的一些词汇了。

Rob: We mentioned the phrase down in the dumps - which is an informal way of describing the feeling of unhappiness, sometimes with no hope.

我们提到了down in the dumps这个短语，这是一种描述不开心、有时觉得没有希望的非正式表达方式。

Neil: The next word was imperfection, which is a fault or weakness. You won't find any imperfections in this programme, Rob!

下一个词是imperfection（不完美），imperfection是缺点或弱点的意思。罗布，你在这个节目里的表现找不到任何瑕疵！

Rob: ad to hear it. Maybe we should gild this script - to gild something is to cover it in a thin layer of gold. We also heard about the word jolly which means 'cheerful and happy'.

很高兴听你这么说。也许我们应该给这个剧本镀金——镀金就是给它涂上一层薄薄的金。我们还听说了jolly这个词，意思是“快乐的”。

Neil: And being jolly can be used as a coping mechanism - that's something someone does to deal with a difficult situation. If something doesn't go well, you just smile and carry on.

还有“being jolly”用来作为一种应对机制——即某人在处理困难的情况时所做的事情。如果事情不顺利，你只需微笑着继续。

Rob: Well, there's no need to do that in this programme. Now there's just time to remind you that we have a website with lots more learning Enish content. The address is bbclearningenish.com.

听我们节目是肯定无需如此的。现在是时候提醒你，我们有一个有着更多英语学习内容的网站。网址是bbclearningenish.com。

Neil: Thanks for joining us and goodbye.

感谢收听我们的节目，再见。

Rob: Goodbye!

再见!