我们幸福吗?

I love that Elmo, Daniel Gilbert is a professor of psychology¹ at Harvard University and author of "Stumbling² on Happiness", Professor Gilbert, good morning to you, (Good morning) can I call you Dan? (I appreciate it.)

I wanna ask you, everybody thinks, or most people think if I just lose some weight or I get a new job like I did ,or I meet somebody and fall in love that I'm gonna find happiness. And Yet, happiness seems to fade. So why are we so lousy at predicting what's gonna make us happy?

Well, that's a great question, one that economists³, psychologists and neuro-scientists have been thinking about now for over a decade. You know those things do make you happy, they just don't make you happy for as long as you anticipate. The brain is designed to respond to changes, so the moment you change from somebody who doesn't own a convertible⁴ to somebody who does you do feel happy. It's that moment of transition⁵ that you're imagining when you think convertible will make you happy, it does, but not for a very long time. We fail to think about how happiness will wear, how it will wear in the long way.

So in a few months,I'm gonna be miserable⁶?

Well I wouldn't say miserable but the, ah, exhilaration of hosting the Today Show will become more ordinary, the extraordinary becomes ordinary as things become familiar and our emotional reactions fade.

And you've said in your book that actually happiness is a place you visit, it's not a place you stay, why is that?

Well you know, happiness is a noun, then, so we make us a mistake of thinking of it like an object, that's a toaster and once I can get it, then that's mine, then I get to keep it. Happiness is a temporary state that we can visit, we can go there more often if we are smart about it, but it's not a place we can stay.

And perhaps may be a place we shouldn't stay?

Well certainly not a place we shouldn't stay. Think about what emotions are for? Why is nature designed us to even have them? Emotions are signals; they are your brain's way of telling you when you're doing something right and something wrong for your own survival⁷. You know, emotions are a compass, what good is a compass? It's always stuck on north? It doesn't tell you what to do next.

On the other hand, we want some tips that will help us to find happiness where we can. And you've studied the science of happiness; you've concluded that our greatest source of happiness comes from our relationships with friends and family. That sounds so obvious.

It does sound obvious, but if it were obvious enough, more people would be happy, wouldn't they? It's indeed the case. We're social mammals, and most of our happiness comes from our interactions and our relationships with other people. I often ask people if you could lose your friends or your eyesight, which would you choose? And they at least pause for a moment and think about it, that's a no-brainer. Blind people are ever being as happy as sighted people, but lonely people are not as happy as people with friends.

And you say forget about the big events, it's the small moments that count?

Well it turns out that it's the number of good things that happen in a day that predict your happiness, not the size of those good things. So indeed, for me ,I walk to work and I walk back from work, and neither of these things makes me euphoric, but it happens reliably twice every day, five days a week, that's a source of happiness.

You also suggest that it's important to value your experiences over objects.

This is true. You know, economists will say "if money doesn't make you happier, you're spending it wrong". And indeed there's some wisdom to that.Because most people think that a car is a more prudent⁸ investment, say, than a vacation, and an object lasts, and therefore it has this, durable⁹ power, and we should invest in these kinds of things. It turns out not to be true. Experiences tend to create more happiness than objects all other things being equal. Because objects have this annoying property of hanging around in the driveway until they start to disappoint us, vacations leave nothing but happy memories.

And finally you suggest that we shouldn't sweat every decision that no matter which way we flip¹⁰ the coin, and it will work out ok in the end. Is it a little of, of being happy, self-delusion, do you think, (well) convincing ourselves?

I'm not gonna say self-delusion, but it certainly is self-generated. We do know from a lot of research that people tend to be pretty happy no matter which way they decide when they're making decisions. Decisions look very important when you're in the act of choosing, but once having chosen, the two alternatives between which you are choosing tend to come together.

Are you happy today?
Oh! I'm very happy today.
Good I'm very happy today too.
Good, (Nice..) we must be doing the right thing. (Yes)Nice to meet you ,Dan Gilbert, thank you so much. If you like to learn more about happiness, just go to our website at Today.MSNBC.com

1.lousy: adj. (infml 口) very bad or ill 极坏的; 极不适的

2.exhilaration:n. Exhilaration is a strong feeling of excitement and happiness. 愉快的心情; 高兴

3.euphoric: adj.If you are euphoric, you feel intense happiness and excitement.心情愉快的; 心满意足的

4.self-delusion:n. Self-delusion is the state of having a false idea about yourself or the situation you are in.自欺

1 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

2 stumbling   

adj.摇摇晃晃或跌跌撞撞的v.（不顺畅地）说( stumble的现在分词 )；跌跌撞撞地走；绊脚；（说话、演奏等）出错

参考例句：

• The question of disarmament proved a major stumbling block to agreement. 结果证明裁军问题是达成协议的主要障碍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His stumbling attempts at colloquial Russian amused her. 他结结巴巴地学说俄语，把她逗乐了。 来自辞典例句

3 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 convertible   

adj.可改变的，可交换，同意义的；n.有活动摺篷的汽车

参考例句：

• The convertible sofa means that the apartment can sleep four.有了这张折叠沙发，公寓里可以睡下4个人。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了。

5 transition   

n.转变，变迁，过渡

参考例句：

• Adolescence is the period of transition between childhood and adulthood.青春期是童年与成年之间的过渡时期。
• They all support a peaceful transition.他们全部都支持和平过渡。

6 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

7 survival   

n.留住生命，生存，残存，幸存者

参考例句：

• The doctor told my wife I had a fifty-fifty chance of survival.医生告诉我的妻子，说我活下去的可能性只有50%。
• The old man was a survival of a past age.这位老人是上一代的遗老。

8 prudent   

adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的

参考例句：

• A prudent traveller never disparages his own country.聪明的旅行者从不贬低自己的国家。
• You must school yourself to be modest and prudent.你要学会谦虚谨慎。

9 durable   

adj.持久的，耐久的

参考例句：

• This raincoat is made of very durable material.这件雨衣是用非常耐用的料子做的。
• They frequently require more major durable purchases.他们经常需要购买耐用消费品。

10 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。