OLDER PEOPLE ARE HAPPIER老年人更快樂

⊙By Laura Carstensen ⊙ 翻譯：思葦

OLDER PEOPLE ARE HAPPIER老年人更快樂

⊙By Laura Carstensen ⊙ 翻譯：思葦

都說老齡化問題是現代社會面臨的最大挑戰之一，各國政府紛紛出臺各種相關政策，應對日益嚴峻的養老形勢——但是，你知道嗎？根據多項權威社會調查，老年人竟然是幸福感最高的人群！沒想到吧，聽聽心理學家Laura對此的分析……

People are living longer and societies are getting grayer.You hear about it all the time.You read about it in your newspapers.You hear about it on your television sets.Sometimes,I’m concerned that we hear about it so much that we’ve come to accept longer lives with a kind of1)complacency [k?m?ple?s?ns?] n.自滿，自鳴得意complacency,even ease.

Now there are problems associated with aging—diseases,2)poverty [?p?v?t?] n.貧窮，貧困poverty,loss of social status.It’s hardly time to rest on our3)laurel [?l?r（?）l] n.桂冠，榮譽laurels.But the more we learn about aging,the clearer it becomes that a sweeping downward course is4)grossly [?gr??sl?] adv.很，非常grosslyinaccurate.Aging brings some rather remarkable improvements—increased knowledge,expertise—and emotional aspects of life improve.

That’s right,older people are happy.They’re happier than middle-aged people,and younger people,certainly.

The5)CDC 美國疾病控制預防中心（Centers for Disease Control）的首字母縮寫CDCrecently conducted a survey where they asked6)respondent [r??sp?nd（?）nt] n.應答者，調查對象respondentssimply to tell them whether they experienced significant psychological7)distress [d??stres] n.痛苦，困擾distressin the previous week.And fewer older people answered8)affirmatively [??fз?m?t?vl?] adv.肯定地，斷然地affirmativelyto that question than middleaged people,and younger people,as well.

So how can this be? Well,in our research,we’ve found that these changes are9)ground [gra?nd] v.基于，建立在groundedfundamentally in the uniquely human ability to10)monitor [?m?n?t?（r）] v.監測，監控monitortime—not just clock time and calendar time,but lifetime.And if there’s a11)paradox [?p?r?d?ks] n.悖論，反論paradoxof aging,it’s that recognizing that we won’t live forever changes our perspective on life in positive ways.When time12)horizon [h??ra?z（?）n] n.地平線，眼界，范圍horizonsare long and13)nebulous [?nebj?l?s] adj.霧狀的，朦朧的nebulous,as they typically are in youth,people are constantly preparing,trying to14)soak up 吸收soakupall the information they possibly can,taking risks,exploring.We might spend time with people we don’t even like because it’s somehow interesting.You know,we might learn something unexpected.We go on15)blind date 相親blind dates.You know,after all,if it doesn’t work out,there’s always tomorrow.

People over 50? Don’t go on blind dates.

As we age,our time horizons growshorter and our goals change.When we recognize that we don’t have all the time in the world,we see our16)priority [pra???r?t?] n.優先，優先事項prioritiesmost clearly.We take less notice of17)trivial [?tr?v??l] adj.瑣碎的，無關緊要的trivialmatters.We18)savor [?se?v?（r）] v.品嘗，盡情享受savorlife.We’re more19)appreciative [??pri????t?v] adj.感激的，感謝的appreciative,more open to20)reconciliation [?rek?ns?l??e??（?）n] n.和解，妥協reconciliation.We invest in more emotionally important parts of life,and life gets better,so we’re happier day-to-day.

What will happen to societies that are top-heavy with older people? The numbers won’t determine the outcome.Culture will.If we invest in science and technology and find solutions for the real problems that older people face and we21)capitalize [?k?p?t?la?z] v.利用capitalizeon the very real strengths of older people,then added years of life can22)dramatically [dr??m?t?k?l?] adv.顯著地，引人注目地dramaticallyimprove quality of life at all ages.

My father,who is 92,likes to say,“Let’s stop talking only about how to save the old23)folk [f??k] n.人們，特定階級的人（復數形式）folksand start talking about how to get them to save us all.”

It’s hardly time to rest on our laurels.

參考譯文

人們的壽命越來越長，社會逐漸走向老齡化。你經常聽到這種話，在報紙上讀過，在電視上看過。有時候，我會有點擔心，因為這樣的話聽多了，我們開始帶著一種有點兒自滿——甚至安逸的態度來接受長壽這個事實。

衰老會帶來各種各樣的問題，包括疾病、貧困，以及社會地位的喪失等。這可不是滿足于現狀的時候。不過，我們越是進行研究，事情就變得越發清晰——把衰老看作一條勢不可擋的下坡路是非常不準確的。衰老也會帶來一些非同尋常的進步，例如知識更加淵博，專業更加精深，人的情緒層面也會隨之進步。

沒錯，老年人是快樂的——他們比中年人快樂，當然也比年輕人快樂。

美國疾病控制預防中心最近進行了一次調查，他們要求受訪者簡單回答在過去一周里是否經歷過重大的心理困擾。對此做出肯定回答的老年人遠少于中年人，也比年輕人少。

這是為什么呢？我們在研究中發現，這些改變植根于人類一種獨特的能力——監控時間，不僅是時鐘的時間和日歷的時間，還包括生命的時間。如果說真有什么衰老悖論，那也是因為我們認識到自己無法永生，我們的人生觀變得更為積極。年輕時總覺得人生的終點遙遠又朦朧，所以人們總是躍躍欲試，希望盡可能地吸收各種信息，樂于冒險，到處探索。我們或許會跟不喜歡的人共度時光，因為這種感覺挺有趣的。我們或許會從中學到一些意想不到的東西。我們會去相親——你瞧，說到底，哪怕遭遇失敗，明天還是會到來的。

而年過半百的人呢？已經不去相親了。

隨著年齡的增長，我們與人生終點的距離在不斷縮短，我們的人生目標也不一樣了。當我們意識到自己的時間并非無限，我們就能清楚看到自己的優先項，對瑣碎之事的關注變少了，開始享受人生，更懂得感恩，更愿意和解。我們更專注于情感層面上的重要事情，生活變得更美好，因而快樂日增。

當社會因為老年人過多而出現頭重腳輕的人口結構時，會發生什么事情呢？人口比例并不能左右最終結果——文化才會。如果我們投入科學技術，為老年人面臨的實際問題找出解決之道，如果我們能夠充分發揮老年人的真正優勢，人類壽命的延長將會極大提升所有年齡層的整體生活質量。

我父親已經92歲了，他愛說這樣的話：“不要再嚷嚷解救老年人了，我們來談談如何讓老年人解救所有人吧。”