《英语周报》有声：哪里的人们更快乐

　　2007-2008 学年 第25-26期

　　在线收听：
　　
　　(点击右键“另存为”可下载音频)

　　VOICE ONE:

　　I’m Bob Doughty.

　　VOICE TWO:

　　From the ancient Greeks and Romans to current day writers and professors, the debate about happiness continues. What makes someone happy? In what parts of the world are people the happiest? Why even study happiness? Today, we explore these questions and learn about several new books on happiness studies.

　　VOICE ONE:

　　The Greek philosopher Aristotle said that a person’s highest happiness comes from the use of his or her intelligence. Religious books such as the Koran and Bible discuss faith as a form of happiness. The British scientist Charles Darwin believed that all species were formed in a way so as to enjoy happiness. And, the United States Declaration of Independence guarantees “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” as a basic human right. People throughout history may have had different ideas about happiness. But today, many people are still searching for its meaning.

　　VOICE TWO:

　　But how do you study something like happiness? You could start with the World Database of Happiness at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. This set of information includes how to define and measure happiness. It also includes happiness averages in countries around the world and compares that information through time.

　　Some findings are not surprising. For example, the database suggests that married people are happier than single people. People who like to be with other people are happier than unsocial people. And people who have sex a lot are happier than people who do not. But other findings are less expected: People with children are equally happy as couples without children. And wealthier people are only a little happier than poorer people. The database suggests that people who live in strongly democratic and wealthy countries are happier than those who do not.

　　This database also shows that studying happiness no longer involves just theories and ideas. Economists, psychiatrists, doctors and social scientists are finding ways of understanding happiness by examining real sets of information.

　　VOICE ONE:

　　Positive psychology is the new term for a method of scientific study that tries to examine the things that make life worth living instead of life’s problems. Traditional psychology generally studies negative situations like mental suffering and sickness. But positive psychology aims to study the strengths that allow people and communities to do well. Martin Seligman is the director of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He says positive psychology has three main concerns: positive emotions, positive individual qualities and positive organizations and communities.

　　VOICE TWO:

　　There is also an increasing amount of medical research on the physical qualities of happiness. Doctors can now look at happiness at work in a person’s brain using a method called magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI. For example, an MRI can show how one area of a person’s brain activates when he or she is shown happy pictures. A different area of the brain becomes active when the person sees pictures of terrible subjects.

　　Doctors are studying brain activity to better understand the physical activity behind human emotions. This research may lead to better understanding of depression and other mental problems.

　　VOICE ONE:

　　Happiness is an extremely popular subject for books. If you search for "happiness" on the Web site of the online bookseller, Amazon.com, you will find more than two hundred thousand results. Experts from several areas of study recently published books on the subject.

　　The historian Darrin McMahon examines the development of happiness in “Happiness: A History.” Mister McMahon looks at two thousand years of politics and culture in western countries. He says it is only in recent history that people think of happiness as a natural human right.

　　Darrin McMahon explains how the ancient Greeks thought happiness was linked to luck. He says it was not until the Enlightenment period in eighteenth century Europe that people began to think they had the power to find happiness themselves. He notes that in demanding happiness, people may think something is wrong with them or others if they are not happy. Mister McMahon sees the pressure to be happy as actually creating unhappiness.

　　Darrin McMahon says his book will not make readers happier. But he says that by comparing your situation with people throughout history, you can have a better understanding of the idea of happiness.