VOA标准英语2011--Smile, Happy People Live Longer

Smile, Happy People Live Longer

 

Happy people may not only enjoy life more, but new research suggests they also have more life to enjoy.

Almost 4,000 people, enrolled¹ in a long-term aging study in Britain, were asked to score how they were feeling on a particular day.

"We used quite simple measures," says Andrew Steptoe of University College London. "So the 'positive affect' measure was a combination of how happy people were feeling, how excited they were feeling, how content they were. And these were all rated on a simple scale, a five-point scale, from 'not at all' to 'extremely.'

Over the next five years, the researchers noted² deaths among study participants.

"What we found is that the people with higher positive affect - so if you like, the happiest people - were at reduced risk of dying over this period."

The happiest people, in fact, had a 35 percent lower risk of death than the least happy.

Jirouemon Kimura, of Japan, smiles on his 114th birthday in April 2011. A new study finds happy people tend to live longer.

In contrast to previous studies, in this research the people were asked how they felt at that moment. Previous studies usually asked questions like, 'how have you felt over the past week?' But Steptoe says psychologists have shown that people are not good at answering that type of question.

"For example, if their favorite football team lost the previous weekend or something like that, they would rate themselves less happy over the whole week, even though it might not actually have affected³ them in that way. So, getting at how people are feeling at the time overcomes that sort of problem."

At the same time the study participants answered questions about how they were feeling, they also gave a saliva⁴ sample. Researchers plan to test those samples for the presence of the stress hormone⁵ cortisol to see if there's also a link between stress and longevity⁶.

1 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

3 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

4 saliva   

n.唾液，口水

参考例句：

• He wiped a dribble of saliva from his chin.他擦掉了下巴上的几滴口水。
• Saliva dribbled from the baby's mouth.唾液从婴儿的嘴里流了出来。

5 hormone   

n.荷尔蒙，激素，内分泌

参考例句：

• Hormone implants are used as growth boosters.激素植入物被用作生长辅助剂。
• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body.这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。

6 longevity   

n.长命；长寿

参考例句：

• Good habits promote longevity.良好的习惯能增长寿命。
• Human longevity runs in families.人类的长寿具有家族遗传性。