保持快乐的秘诀：写日记

 　　Note to self: the key to happiness is keeping a diary and writing down the things that make you smile.

　　写给自己：保持幸福的诀窍就是记日记，记下那些让你快乐的事。

　　For while fictional¹ diarists Bridget Jones and Adrian Mole² used journals to record their woes³ and embarrassments⁴, paying attention to the things that lift our moods mean we can learn how to cheer ourselves up, says a leading physicist⁵.

　　一位著名的物理学家说，《BJ单身日记》和《艾德里安·莫尔的秘密日记》等虚构日记的作者用日记记录他们的伤心和尴尬事，不过多关注那些能提振我们心情的事情或许意味着我们可以学会让自己快乐起来。

　　Author Dr Stefan Klein has found that being happy is a skill that can be learned like a foreign language, and one way to train ourselves to be happy is to write down the little things that cheer us up each day – a technique he practises himself.

　　作者斯蒂芬·克莱因博士发现保持快乐是一门技巧，它可以像学习外语一样通过学习来掌握，训练我们自己快乐的方法之一就是记下每天让我们高兴的事，这门技巧他自己也在研习。

　　保持快乐的秘诀：写日记

　　Dr Klein, who analysed psychological research for his book The Science of Happiness, added he often writes about his three young children, despite occasionally finding them ‘incredibly annoying’.

　　克莱因博士在他的著作《幸福的科学》一书中进行了心理学研究，他表示，他会经常写一些关于他三个小孩儿的事情，虽然偶尔也会发现这些孩子“出奇地恼人”。

　　Speaking at the Cheltenham Science Festival, the German-born researcher said that decades of study into happiness has shown that people who are clinically depressed⁶ often believe there are no sources of joy in their lives.

　　出生于德国的克莱因博士在切尔腾纳姆科学节的演讲中表示，几十年来对于幸福的研究表明，那些通过临床诊断为抑郁的人们通常认为在他们的生活中没有快乐的来源。

　　But a study by Italian psychiatrist⁷ Giovanni Fava found that when patients were asked to keep diaries of events that made them happy, it ‘helped them a lot to get better’.

　　但是，意大利精神病学家乔瓦尼·法瓦通过研究发现，当病人被要求将那些使他们快乐的事情记录下来时，“他们的情况好转很多。”

　　Dr Klein said: ‘It is incredibly simple – you just sit down in the evening and write down the moments where you feel happy and the circumstances.

　　克莱因博士说：“这个方法非常简单，你只要每晚坐下来，然后把那些让你感到快乐的时刻与当时的情景写下来就可以了。”

　　‘The object of the exercise is to simply make you more aware of these moments to know yourself better.

　　“这个练习的目的只是为了让你更多地意识到那些感觉良好的时刻，让你更了解自己。”

　　‘Even in states of severe depression there are moments of happiness, but the person suffering it doesn’t believe they have these moments in their lives.’

　　“即使处于严重的抑郁状态，也总会有幸福快乐的时刻，但是患抑郁的人却不相信在他们的生命中也有快乐的时刻。”

　　And if you decide to take Dr Klein’s advice, you can make yourself even happier by recommending the technique to others.

　　如果你决定接受克莱因博士的建议，那么把这个技巧介绍给他人吧，这会让你更快乐。

　　Happiness occurs when the brain releases endorphins – chemicals that trigger positive feelings – and scientists have found this occurs not only when we achieve one of our own goals, but when we help someone else achieve theirs.

　　当大脑释放内啡肽（能引发积极情感的化学物质）时，幸福感就会产生。此外，科学家发现幸福感不仅仅在我们达到自己的预期目标时产生，在我们帮助他人实现目标时也会产生幸福感。

　　Dr Klein added it is important not to dwell on the times we felt sad, saying: ‘Going deep down into your negative feelings, [the idea] it has a cathartic⁸ effect, and you have to cry your tears out and shout your fears out, is really c**p’.’

　　克莱因博士补充道，最重要的是不要一味沉浸于那种悲伤情绪之中，“沉入你内心的负面情绪，（那种说）这样做有宣泄作用，你必须哭出来，将害怕的情绪宣泄出来，那都是胡说。”

　　The idea we should delve⁹ into our sadness became popular under Sigmund Freud, who saw the mind as a pressure cooker that needed to let out steam. But Dr Klein argued this was a ‘misguided analogy’.

　　精神分析学家西格蒙德·佛洛伊德，将心灵看做一个需要释放压力的高压锅，在他的提倡下，深入探究我们的悲伤情绪这种理念得以普及。但是克莱因博士却认为这种看法是个“有误导性的类比”。

　　Vocabulary

　　woe: 苦恼，悲痛

　　trigger: 引发

　　dwell on: 老是想着

1 fictional   

adj.小说的，虚构的

参考例句：

• The names of the shops are entirely fictional.那些商店的名字完全是虚构的。
• The two authors represent the opposite poles of fictional genius.这两位作者代表了天才小说家两个极端。

2 mole   

n.胎块；痣；克分子

参考例句：

• She had a tiny mole on her cheek.她的面颊上有一颗小黑痣。
• The young girl felt very self- conscious about the large mole on her chin.那位年轻姑娘对自己下巴上的一颗大痣感到很不自在。

3 woes   

困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉

参考例句：

• Thanks for listening to my woes. 谢谢您听我诉说不幸的遭遇。
• She has cried the blues about its financial woes. 对于经济的困难她叫苦不迭。

4 embarrassments   

n.尴尬( embarrassment的名词复数 )；难堪；局促不安；令人难堪或耻辱的事

参考例句：

• But there have been many embarrassments along the way. 但是一路走来已经是窘境不断。 来自互联网
• The embarrassments don't stop there. 让人难受的事情还没完。 来自互联网

5 physicist   

n.物理学家，研究物理学的人

参考例句：

• He is a physicist of the first rank.他是一流的物理学家。
• The successful physicist never puts on airs.这位卓有成就的物理学家从不摆架子。

6 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

7 psychiatrist   

n.精神病专家；精神病医师

参考例句：

• He went to a psychiatrist about his compulsive gambling.他去看精神科医生治疗不能自拔的赌瘾。
• The psychiatrist corrected him gently.精神病医师彬彬有礼地纠正他。

8 cathartic   

adj.宣泄情绪的；n.泻剂

参考例句：

• His laughter was cathartic,an animal yelp that brought tears to his eyes.他哈哈大笑以宣泄情绪，声音如野兽般尖厉，眼泪都笑出来了。
• The drug had a cathartic effect.这药有导泻的作用。

9 delve   

v.深入探究，钻研

参考例句：

• We should not delve too deeply into this painful matter.我们不应该过分深究这件痛苦的事。
• We need to delve more deeply into these questions.这些是我们想进一步了解的。