你所不知道的快乐秘笈：乐善好施

　　Giving for Your Own Good 乐善好施

　　This may come as a surprise to the "Me Generation," but happiness doesn't come from living in a big house, buying the latest techno-gadget, and getting stamps from exotic locales in your passport.

　　这也许对“80后(Me Generation)”的人来说是不可思议的，但是快乐并非来自于住大房子，购买最新的科技产品，以及在你的护照上盖上充满异国情调的章。

　　In fact, a poll by Time Magazine found that helping others was a major source of happiness for 75 percent of Americans.

　　事实上，《时代》杂志民意调查发现，对于75%的美国人来说，帮助别人是快乐的主要来源。

　　"Volunteering is an opportunity to be socially engaged and contribute to the lives of others,” says Stephen Post, a professor at Case Western Reserve University who co-authored the book Why Good Things Happen to Good People with Jill Neimark. “It's not material goods that make us happy--it's having purpose and meaning in our lives."

　　“志愿活动为社会交往和奉献他人提供了机会，”美国凯斯西保留地大学的教授、与吉尔·莱马克合著《好事为何青睐好人》的作者斯蒂芬·波斯特说，“物质财富并不能为我们带来快乐——生活有目的、有意义才使我们快乐。”

　　In fact, some recent research suggests that we're actually hard-wired for helping. Even thinking about helping others is enough to stimulate the part of our brain associated with feel-good chemicals like oxytocin.

　　事实上，最近的一些研究表明，我们实际上有帮助别人的本能。即使只是想象着帮助别人就已经足以刺激我们大脑某些部位，那些部位会产生让人感觉良好的化学成分，比如说后叶催产素(脑下垂体后叶荷尔蒙的一种)。

　　Helping others doesn't just make us happier, there's also evidence it makes us healthier too. "Recent research out of England shows that cities with higher rates of volunteerism had the lower rates of depression and heart disease," says Post.

　　帮助别人并非仅仅让我们更加快乐，有迹象显示，它还能让我们更加健康。“最近英格兰的一项研究显示，那些志愿者比率较高的城市抑郁症和心脏病的发病率较低。” 波斯特说。

　　Don't have a lot of free time? No worries. People who volunteer just two hours per week (100 hours per year) enjoy lower rates of depression and better physical health.

　　没有许多空余时间？别担心。参加志愿活动的人们每周只须花费2个小时的时间(每年100个小时)，就可以免抑郁症的困扰，并且拥有更健康的身体。