Everyone wants to live a happy life. How can one be happy? Read the following passage and see whether you can find an answer to that question.
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1. Britain's most prestigious(a. 有声望的) scientific institution, the Royal Society, will host a meeting for some of the world's top psychologists. Their aim is to find out why it is that some people's lives go so right. What is it that makes them happy and fulfilled, while others seem doomed to founder in misery, dissatisfaction and dejection (n.沮丧，气馁)
英国最负盛名的科研机构--皇家科学院,将要召开一个世界顶级心理学家大会.目的是找出为什么一些人过得如此的好.是什么使他们开心与充实.当其它人却好像命中注定要沉沦在痛苦,不满和沮丧之中.
2. Psychologists have known for some time that optimism is a good defence against,unhappiness. "If you're optimistic and you think life is going to get better, it will become a "self－fulfilling prophecy(3)n预言 ," says Baylis. "You will involve yourself more, you'll put yourself forward more, you will take more care of yourself. You'll figure that if you do more exercise and not booze (v. drink alcoholic liquor, excessively or habitually 豪饮)' as much, life will be better.
心理学家认为乐观是一个很好的防止不开心的方法. "如果你很乐观,而且你认为一切都会变得更好, 这将变成一种"自我满足先兆", B说,你会把自己与更多的事情联系起来, 更多的考虑到自己,更加关心自己. 你会认为如果你再多些运动并且不要过多饮酒,你的生活会变得更好.
3. But some of us are just not natural optimists. What are we supposed to do?
但我们中的一些人并不是天生的乐天派.我们该怎么做(才能使我们的生活变好)呢？
4. Positive psychologists believe optimism can be learned, and we can teach ourselves to see a half-empty glass as half-full. All we have to do is to spend time mulling (v. ponder or consider 深思)' over all the things that have gone right for us, rather than dwelling on what has gone badly. "Research on depression shows that one of the biggest causes of depression is ruminating （ruminate v. meditate, ponder 沉思）' about something that went wrong in the past," says Baylis. "What happens is you look into the past and think about some event and keep turning it over, saying, `I messed up, I messed up,' and you let it hurt you. You keep feeding it the oxygen of attention and the flames keep burning you.
积极的心理学家的认为乐观是可以学习的. 我们可以告诉自己去这样去看待半杯水:不是"差一半就没了"而是"差一半就满了".所有我们要做的, 只是去花时间去多想想事情对我们好的一面. 而不是停留在对我们不好的一面. "在对压郁心情的研究表明，导致压郁的最大的原因是经常去想一些以前不好的事情" B说: “这也许是这样的"你老回想过去的一些事情, 念叨着’是我弄糟了它的,是我弄糟了它的’,这样最终也伤害了你." 你越是关注它，它就越是伤害
5. But just as dwelling on negative events can lead to depression, dwelling on things that have gone well can help pick you up, he says: "You have to thank your lucky stars about what goes right on a daily basis. Whenever you get the feeling of being negative about things, just take a moment out and remind yourself of the stuff that has gone well. It could be anything from a conversation to your garden looking nice, or tl.1,t it didn't rain on you when you were out on your bike. It's an extremely powerful technique. "
正如徘徊在消极的事情上会导致我们郁闷一样, 停留在事情对我们积极的一面却能帮助我们重新振作, 他指出: “你要从心底里去感谢你的幸运星在它使得一些事情都是变得那么美好。你要去感谢你的幸运星，使你每天都有个好心情。无论什么时候一些事情让你感到消极，你都要找出一点时间来考虑，提醒你自己去想事情变得好的一方面。无论什么事情都可以，从一次交谈到你美丽的花园, 或者是当你在外面骑着自行车的时候没有淋着雨。这是一个非常有用的方法.”
6. By reminding ourselves what went well instead of what went wrong, positive psychologists believe we can build a buffer (n. 减震器，缓冲器)' against unhappiness, making us better able to take life's knocks when they come.
通过提醒我们去想事情好的一面而不是坏的一面, 积极心理学家认为，我们可以让痛苦来得慢一些，当我们的生活遭受到打击时，我们会更有能力去应付它
7. Seligman, who is the figurehead"' of the positive psychology movement, goes further than suggesting people learn to think positively. He has worked out what he sees as a blueprint for happiness that people can use to set them on the path to a fulfilling and satisfying life. lie believes there are three routes to happiness, which he calls the "pleasant life", the "good life" and the "meaningful life". Some are better than others, although a mix of all three is ideal. The pleasant life sees superficial pleasures as the key to happiness, and it is this that many people mistakenly pursue, he says."The biggest mistake that people in the rich west make is to be enchanted with the Hollywood idea of happiness, which is really just giggling and smilffig a lot," he says. While a life bent on instant pleasure and gratification offers some degree of happiness, it is ultimately unsatisfying on its own, he says.
Seligman，是主张积极心理运动的领头羊, 他不仅建议人们要学会乐观，他自己也设计出了个他认为是快乐的蓝图, 人们可以利用它找到充实与满足的路。他认为，通常快乐有三快乐的方式, 他把它们叫作“快乐的生活”“美好的生活”“富有意义的生活”. 三种里面的一些要比另外一些要好，尽管三种混合在一起也是很理想的。“快乐的生活”认为表面的快乐是通往快乐的钥匙。而且也是很多人盲目追求的对象。最大的错误是在富有的西方的人们被好来坞式的快乐所迷惑, 那实际上只是经常笑笑而已。他说, 当一个人倾向于片刻的欢乐和与因满意而在某种程度上的开心时, 这并不能从根本上使他满足.
8. Money, it turns out, isn't the answer either. Seligman believes that once we have enough to pay for life's basics such as food and a roof over our heads, more money adds little to our happiness.
钱，当说到钱时，它也不是个解决的方法。S认为，一旦我们有了足够的钱去买一些基本的生活基本用品例如食物，简单的住所时，钱再多对幸福的帮助也很小。
9. To be seriously happy, Seligman says, we have to set our sights on a good life and a meaningful life. To do this we need to identify what he calls our signature trengths, which could be anything from perseverance(n. 坚持不懈).' And leadership to a love of learning.
要想真正的快乐，S说，我们要把视线转移到美好的生活和富有意义的生活里，为了达到这一点，我们要弄清楚他称之为的：我们的能力特点，它可以是任何东西，从意志力和领导才能 到 热爱学习。
10. Seligman says that once we know our signature strengths, using them more and more in our daily lives will make us feel happier and more fulfilled. By exploiting our strengths, he says, we will find life more gratifying and become completely immersed in what we are doing, whether working, making music or playing sport - a state positive psychologists call "flow".
S说，一旦我们了解我们的的能力特点, 在日常生活中经常用到它将会让我们感到更开心和更充实。通过利用我们的能力，他说, 我们会觉得生活更加令人满意，我们会完全沉浸于我们所做的事情之中，不管是工作，写歌还是做体育运动—一种 积极心理学家叫作“川流不息”的状态。
11. Using our signature strengths-in our working and social lives will help us achieve what Seligman calls a good life, while using them to help others will put us on course for achieving a meaningful life, he says.
他说:在工作与社交生活中利用我们的能力特点，将会帮助我们达到S所说的“美好的生活”, 而利用它来帮助别人，将会使我们达到一种“有意义的生活”.
12. Positive psychologists also stand accused of burying their heads in the sand and ignoring that depressed, even merely unhappy people, have real problems that need dealing with. Seligman counters this, saying positive psychology is not meant to replace other forms of therapy, but should be complementary, while people work through their negative feelings.
积极心里学家也同样被谴责为充耳不闻, 也忽略了压郁，即使是仅仅是不开心的人，也有很多问题要去解决。S反驳说, 当人们正处于消极的心态时，他说，积极心理（疗法）并不意味着要去取代其它形式的治疗， 但可以作为一个补充。