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Can
We Cultivate Our Own Happiness?
An Epidemic of Depression?
Seligman is
leading the charge in what might be called Happiness Revolution in
psychology.
我们能创造幸福吗？
抑郁在流行？
Seligman正在领导一场心理学界的"幸福变革"。
Since World War II, psychologists have focused on fixing what is broken
-repairing psychosis, and neurosis. Research has piled up steadily when
it comes to looking at patients who are neurotic or dysfunctional, while
the happy or joyful people among us have received little scientific
scrutiny.
二战以来，心理学的研究重点是如何弥和创伤，即治疗精神症和神经症。有关神经症或精神失常患者的研究资料堆积如山，而幸福或快乐的人群几乎无人关注。
When Seligman did a search to find academic articles about such
"positive psychology" he found only 800 out of 70,000.
在7万篇相关学术论文中，Seligman仅找出800篇与"积极心理学"有关。
"Psychologists tend to be concerned with taking a negative 8
person, and helping him get to negative 2," said Seligman, a
University of Pennsylvania psychology professor. "My aim is to take
a plus 2 person and boost him to a plus 6."
Seligman是宾夕法尼亚大学心理学教授。他说："心理学家热衷于把-8的人提高到-2，而我的目标是把+2的人提升到+6"。
In the last 50 years, statistics have show that we are less happy as a
people.
半个世纪以来，统计数字表明我们的国民不如以往快乐。
"While our quality of life has increased dramatically over that
time, and we've become richer, we're in an epidemic of depression,"
Seligman said. "Depression is 10 times more common now, and life
satisfaction rates are down as well."
"我们的生活质量显著提高了，钱也多了，但越来越多的人感到抑郁。抑郁症患者人数剧增，人们对生活的满意程度也大大下降，"Seligman说。
Seligman argues that the new science he writes about is shifting
psychology's paradigm away from its narrow-minded focus on pathology,
victimology, and mental illness towards positive emotion, virtue and
strength, and positive institutions that increase people's happiness
quotient.
Seligman认为他著书阐述的新科学正在改变心理学的模式，使其从仅狭窄地注重病理学、受害心理学和精神症学的模式转变到关注能创造更多幸福的积极情感、品质、力量和积极机制。
If you want to be happy, forget about winning the lottery, getting a
nose job, or securing a raise.
如果你想得到幸福，那就忘掉彩票中奖、整鼻手术或强求加薪吧。
In his new book, Authentic Happiness, psychologist Martin
Seligman argues that overall lifetime happiness is not the result of
good genes, money, or even luck. Instead, he says we can boost our own
happiness by capitalizing on the strengths and traits that we already
have, including kindness, originality, humor, optimism, and generosity.
He has christened the discipline "Positive Psychology,"
arguing that we would be better off building on our own strengths rather
than bemoaning, and, hence, trying to repair, our weaknesses.
心理学家Martin
Seligman在他的新著《幸福的真谛》中强调，人生的幸福不是由优良基因、金钱和运气决定的；相反，幸福靠的是自身的力量和特点，包括心地善良、富于创造、幽默风趣、性情乐观和大度宽容。他认为与其哀怨叹息不如扬长避短，并称此为"积极心理学"。
By frequently
calling upon their strengths, people can build up natural buffers
against misfortune and negative emotions, he said.
他说，人们不断依靠自身的力量，就可以更自如地应付不幸和消极情绪。
Science has
shown that there are three distinct roads to being a happy person
-though happy might not mean what you think. Material goods - even
simple ones like ice cream cones, and massages - are only stimuli,
things that fleetingly give people a boost.
科学研究表明，有三条截然不同的幸福之路--虽然幸福并不一定象你所想的那样。甚至象冰淇凌、按摩如此简单的物质刺激，都能立马提高人的情绪。
Research found that lottery winners are no happier years after their
windfall than they had been before, and that paraplegics tended to be no
less happy in the years after their misfortune than they were before.
研究发现，彩票中奖者在突发横财之后的年月里，并不比中奖前更感到幸福；而截瘫者在遭遇不幸的岁月里，也不比遭难前更加感到不幸。
"We used to think that a happy person was just someone who giggled
a lot," Seligman said. "But if you define it solely by how
much you laugh, you confine yourself to one category."
Seligman说："我们过去以为感到幸福的人会咯咯笑个不停，但是如果你仅以笑的多少来衡量幸福，那就太片面单一了"。
Here are the three happy people categories that Seligman has set forth
in the book:
Seligman在书中将感到幸福的人分为以下三类：
The Good Life: Some
happy people are low on pleasure, but high on "absorption and
immersion," meaning they take great pleasure in the things that
they do. "Think of these people as hobbyists who become so immersed
in their work that time ceases to exist," Seligman said. "A
person who enjoys gardening discovers that the day has gone by without
notice, for example."
美好的生活：有些人不要求有很高的享受，但他们非常"专注、投入"，从自己所从事的事情中获得很大乐趣。Seligman说："这些人就象兴趣爱好者一样，对自己的工作非常投入，好象时间已经不存在了。比如一个爱好园艺的人发现不知不觉一天就过去了。"
The Pleasant Life: This is someone who laughs a lot, and thrives on
pleasures, such as eating good food. These are people who seem
surrounded with contentment, pleasure and hope.
愉快的生活：这类人爱笑，喜欢享受，如美餐一顿，好象生活在满足、愉快和希望之中。
The Meaningful Life: Those who apply their highest strengths and virtues
for the greater good, as through charities and volunteer work, religion
or politics.
有意义的生活：这类人发挥他们最大力量和品质，如通过慈善活动、志愿活动、宗教或政治活动，来达到尽善尽美。
To cultivate happiness, you must first identify which of the
aforementioned happiness categories you fall into, then ascertain your
individual strengths and virtues. Next, apply the qualities in such a
way as to enhance your happiness-generating category.
要创造幸福，你首先必须决定自己属于上述的哪一类，看看自己所具有的力量和品德，然后再利用发挥自己的特点使自己感到更加幸福。
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