環(huán)球英語—857：What Makes Us Happy?

Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Adam Navis.
Voice 2
And I'm Ruby Jones. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
If you could wish for one thing, what would it be? Is there one thing that would make you happy? You may wish for a larger house, a better job, or a new car. These are all normal things which people think will bring them happiness. Most people believe that the rule for happiness is simple: happiness is getting what you want. But you know what? People are wrong.
Voice 2
Today's Spotlight is on this question: what makes people happy? In the end, we will find that people who seem happy as children are not always happy as adults. Also, people are not that good at knowing what will make them happy. And finally we will see how happiness has more to do with ourselves than with our situation.
Voice 1
Some important research began in 1937. It was called the Grant Study. This study involved several hundred male college students. It followed their lives over the next seventy [70] years. Every few years the men were examined by doctors. They had mental tests and answered a series of written questions. This information was collected and organized. Today, the men are old, so the information is being collected together. The results are interesting.
Voice 2
People who were happy as children were not always happy or successful as adults. The study used students from Harvard University. Harvard is one of the United State's top universities - and one of the most costly. As children, the students had financial security. They attended the best schools. As far as anyone could see, they were on the path to a good job, a good family, and happy life.
Voice 1
But not everyone developed into a happy healthy adult. In fact, those who reported the most happiness as adults often grew up in difficult situations, such as having a parent who hit them. The study showed that it was not a question of which men would experience trouble, but how they would react when they did. Everyone experiences trouble. It is often those people who have learned to deal with trouble when they were children who are best able to deal with it as adults.
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Joshua Wolf Shenk is a writer. In the magazine ‘Atlantic Monthly', he wrote about some of the results of the research:
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"... People learn how to deal with trouble from the pain of experience. They then use these skills through their whole lives. For example, compare two men - the study names them "David Goodhart" and "Carlton Tarrytown." Both men grew up afraid and lonely. Goodhart was raised in a lower class family. His father drank alcohol and his mother was "very tense, afraid, and worried." Tarrytown was raised in a wealthy family. But his father also drank alcohol. His mother was so depressed that Tarrytown was afraid she would kill herself. Goodhart went on to become a leader on human rights issues. Goodhart was in the top fifth of the Grant Study in mental health. However, Tarrytown was in the bottom fifth. He was divorced three times. He drank alcohol and took drugs to deal with his pain. At age fifty-three [53], Tarrytown killed himself. Goodhart lived to seventy."
Voice 1
What was the difference between these two men? Why did one grow into a happy adult who improved the lives of other people, while the other destroyed himself?
Voice 2
The Grant Study was not able to answer these questions. However it did notice that some qualities were common among people who said they were happy. These qualities are: being able to deal with trouble in a positive way, education, having a strong marriage, not smoking, not drinking too much alcohol, taking some exercise, and keeping a healthy weight. It is important to be able to satisfy your basic needs. However, more money, power, or material goods do not add much at all to a person's happiness.
Voice 1
Interestingly, there are actually two kinds of happiness. The first is the kind we talked about at the beginning of the program: getting what you want. This is called, "natural happiness." The other kind of happiness is called, "synthetic happiness." Synthetic is another word for made-by-humans. However, just because synthetic happiness is something we make ourselves it does not mean it is not a real kind of happiness.
Voice 2
Synthetic happiness is what we "make" when we do not get what we want. For example, imagine you do not get the job you want. Over time you begin to believe that you are better off not getting that job. You are in fact happier because you did not get that job. Are you lying to yourself? No. This is just a healthy way to deal with life. It is how adults manage the fact that much of life is out of our control. This happiness may seem like a lie, but the happiness is real. It is lasting. This shows that happiness is not easy to measure outside of a person's head!
Voice 1
In the end, it turns out that happiness depends less on our situation than we think. There are some things that we should choose over others. For example, we should prefer to make more money than to get sick. But we should be careful not to believe that a change in our situation will have a big effect on our level of happiness. In fact, putting too much hope in such a change will probably lead to disappointment and unhappiness.
Voice 2
There is one area of life that does affect our happiness: love and relationships. People are not meant to be alone. People are designed to be with other people. It is the same for all of us - no matter what age, sex, or country of origin. Even people who enjoy time alone need to spend some time with other people.
Voice 1
This is not a new idea. The Bible claims that God designed people to live together. If we were created to live with other people, then it makes sense that our happiness comes from other people. It also makes sense that cars, money, or being famous do not make us happy. So, if you want to live a happy life, make sure you put your time and energy into the people you care about.