TED演讲:经验与记忆之谜

 　　Everybody talks about happiness these days. 最近大家都在谈论着快乐。

　　I had somebody count the number of books with "happiness" in the title published in the last five years 在过去的五年里，我请人数了近年来有多本书的书名中提到“快乐”，

　　and they gave up after about 40, and there were many more. 他们数到大约有40本，而且还有更多没数到的。

　　There is a huge wave of interest in happiness, among researchers. 现今越来越多研究者都开始对快乐这个议题产生兴趣。

　　There is a lot of happiness coaching. 而且还有很多的“快乐教练”授课。

　　Everybody would like to make people happier. 让其他人更快乐是他们的宗旨。

　　But in spite of all this flood of work, 虽然此类工作多如牛毛，

　　there are several cognitive¹ traps that sort of make it almost impossible to think straight about happiness. 但现仍存在几个认知上的陷阱，这些陷阱将会增加使人领悟快乐本质的难度。

　　And my talk today will be mostly about these cognitive traps. 我今天将主要谈论这些认知陷阱。

　　This applies to laypeople thinking about their own happiness, 这些陷阱既会影响到一般人对自身快乐的观感，

　　and it applies to scholars thinking about happiness, 而且也会影响到学者对快乐的判断，

　　because it turns out we're just as messed up as anybody else is. 因为人无完人，我们皆会出错。

　　The first of these traps is a reluctance² to admit complexity³. 第一个陷阱是不愿意去承认快乐的复杂性。

　　It turns out that the word "happiness" is just not a useful word anymore, 事实证明快乐这个词已不再是常用词汇了，

　　because we apply it to too many different things. 因为我们已用其来诠释太多的事物了。

　　I think there is one particular meaning to which we might restrict it, 我想我们应该限定它的意思，

　　but by and large, this is something that we'll have to give up 不过，一般而言，我们得放弃这个想法

　　and we'll have to adopt the more complicated view of what well-being⁴ is. 并用更复杂的观点来看何谓快乐生活。

1 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。

2 reluctance   

n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿

参考例句：

• The police released Andrew with reluctance.警方勉强把安德鲁放走了。
• He showed the greatest reluctance to make a reply.他表示很不愿意答复。

3 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。

4 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。