课文原文1-7 Unit 1 The Hidden Side of Happiness
1 Hurricanes, house fires, cancer, whitewater rafting accidents, plane crashes, vicious attacks in dark alleyways. Nobody asks for any of it. But to their surprise, many people find that enduring such a harrowing ordeal ultimately changes them for the better.Their refrain might go something like this: \I'm a better person for it.\
1飓风、房屋失火、癌症、激流漂筏失事、坠机、昏暗小巷遭歹徒袭击,没人想找上这些事儿。但出人意料的是,很多人发现遭受这样一次痛苦的磨难最终会使他们向好的方面转变。他们可能都会这样说:“我希望这事没发生,但因为它我变得更完美了。”
2 We love to hear the stories of people who have been transformed by their tribulations, perhaps because they testify to a bona fide type of psychological truth, one that sometimes gets lost amid endless reports of disaster: There seems to be a built-in human capacity to flourish under the most difficult circumstances. Positive responses to profoundly disturbing experiences are not limited to the toughest or the bravest.In fact, roughly half the people who struggle with adversity say that their lives subsequently in some ways improved.
2我们都爱听人们经历苦难后发生转变的故事,可能是因为这些故事证实了一条真正的心理学上的真理,这条真理有时会湮没在无数关于灾难的报道中:在最困难的境况中,人所具有的一种内在的奋发向上的能力会进发出来。对那些令人极度恐慌的经历作出?积极回应的并不仅限于最坚强或最勇敢的人。实际上,大约半数与逆境抗争过的人都说他们的生活从此在某些方面有了改善。
3 This and other promising findings about the life-changing effects of crises are the province of the new science of post-traumatic growth. This fledgling field has already proved the truth of what once passed as bromide: What doesn't kill you can actually make you stronger. Post-traumatic stress is far from the only possible outcome. In the wake of even the most terrifying experiences, only a small proportion of adults become chronically troubled. More commonly, people rebound-or even eventually thrive.
3诸如此类有关危机改变一生的发现有着可观的研究前景,这正是创伤后成长这一新学科的研究领域。这一新兴领域已经证实了曾经被视为陈词滥调的一个真理:大难不死,意志弥坚。创伤后压力绝不是唯一可能的结果。在遭遇了即使最可怕的经历之后,也只有一小部分成年人会受到长期的心理折磨。更常见的情况是,人们会恢复过来—甚至最终会成功发达。
4 Those who weather adversity well are living proof of the paradoxes of happiness.We need more than pleasure to live the best possible life. Our contemporary quest for happiness has shriveled to a hunt for bliss-a life protected from bad feelings,free from pain and confusion.
4那些经受住苦难打击的人是有关幸福悖论的生动例证:为了尽可能地过上最好的生活,我们所需要的不仅仅是愉悦的感受。我们这个时代的人对幸福的追求已经缩小到只追求福气:一生没有烦恼,没有痛苦和困惑。
5 This anodyne definition of well-being leaves out the better half of the story, the rich, full joy that comes from a meaningful life. It is the dark matter of happiness,the ineffable quality we admire in wise men and women and aspire to cultivate in our own lives. It turns out that some of the people who have suffered the most, who have been forced to contend with shocks they never anticipated and to rethink the meaning of their lives, may have the most to tell us about that profound and intensely fulfilling journey that philosophers used to call the search for \
5这种对幸福的平淡定义忽略了问题的主要方面—种富有意义的生活所带来的那种丰富、完整的愉悦。那就是幸福背后隐藏的那种本质—是我们在明智的男男女女身上所欣赏到并渴望在我们自己生活中培育的那种不可言喻
的品质。事实证明,一些遭受苦难最多的人-他们被迫全力应付他们未曾预料到的打击,并重新思考他们生活的意义—或许对那种深刻的、给人以强烈满足感的人生经历(哲学家们过去称之为对“美好生活”的探寻)最有发言权。 6 This broader definition of good living blends deep satisfaction and a profound connection to others through empathy. It is dominated by happy feelings but seasoned also with nostalgia and regret. \among many values in human life,\Columbia. Compassion, wisdom, altruism, insight, creativity-sometimes only the trials of adversity can foster these qualities, because sometimes only drastic situations can force us to take on the painful process of change. To live a full human life, a tranquil, carefree existence is not enough. We also need to grow-and sometimes growing hurts.
6这种对美好生活的更为广泛的定义把深深的满足感和一种通过移情与他人建立的深切联系融合在一起。它主要受愉悦情感的支配,但同时也夹杂着惆怅和悔恨。密苏里大学哥伦比亚分校的心理学家劳拉?金认为:“幸福仅仅是许许多多人生价值中的一种。”慈悲、智慧、无私、.洞察力及创造力—有时只有经历逆境的考验才能培育这些品质,因为有时只有极端的情形才能迫使我们去承受痛苦的改变过程。只过安宁的、无忧无虑的生活是不足以体验一段完整的人生的。(此文来自袁勇兵博客)我们也需要成长-尽管有时成长是痛苦的。
7 In a dark room in Queens, New York, 31-year-old fashion designer Tracy Cyr believed she was dying. A few months before, she had stopped taking the powerful immune-suppressing drugs that kept her arthritis in check. She never anticipated what would happen: a withdrawal reactions that eventually left her in total body agony and neurological meltdown. The slightest movement-trying to swallow, fqr example-was excruciating. Even the pressure of her cheek on the pillow was almost unbearable.
7在纽约市皇后区一间漆黑的房间里,31岁的时装设计师特蕾西?塞尔感到自己奄奄一息。就在几个月前,她已经停止服用控制她关节炎的强效免疫抑制药。她从没预见到接下来将要发生的事:停药之后的反应最终使她全身剧烈疼痛,神经系统出现严重问题。最轻微的动作—比如说试着吞咽—对她来说也痛苦不堪。甚至将脸压在枕头上也几乎难以忍受。
8 Cyr is no wimp-diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis at the age of two, she had endured the symptoms and the treatments (drugs, surgery) her whole life. But this time,she was way6 past her limits, and nothing her doctors did seemed to help. Either the disease was going to kill her or, pretty soon, she felt she might have to kill herself.
8塞尔并不是懦弱的人。她在两岁时就被诊断得了幼年型类风湿性关节炎,一生都在忍?受着病症和治疗(药物、手术)的折磨。但是这一次,她实在不堪忍受了,她的医生所做的一切似乎都不起作用。要么让疾病结束她的生命,要么她就得很快了结自己的生命了。
9 As her sleepless nights wore on, though, her suicidal thoughts began to be interrupted by new feelings of gratitude. She was still in agony, but a new consciousness grew stronger each night: an awesome sense of liberation, combined with an all-encompassing feeling of sympathy and compassion. \
everything I'd ever identified myself with,\in was useless-time, money, self-image, perception. Recognizing that was so freeing.\
9然而,在经历了若干个不眠之夜后,她想自杀的念头开始被新的感激之情所打断。虽然她仍然感到痛苦,但一种新的意识每一夜都变得更加强烈:一种令人惊叹的解脱感,结合着一种包容一切的同情和怜悯的情感。“我感到一切我曾经用来认同?自己身份的东西都被剥夺了,”六个月后她这样说道,“一切我认为我知道或相信的事物—时间、金钱、自我形象、对事物的看法—都毫无价值了。意识到这一点真是让我感到解脱。”
10 Within a few months, she began to be able to move more freely, thanks to a cocktail of steroids and other drugs. She says now there's no question that her life is better. \we're here: to be happy and to nurture other life. It's that simple.\
10在几个月内,得益于类固醇加其他药物的鸡尾酒疗法,她开始能够更加自如地活动了。她说,毫无疑问她现在的生活状况有了好转。“我感觉我窥探到了生命的秘密以及我们生存的意义,那就是快乐地生活,同时扶持他人。就这么简单!”
11 Her mind-blowing experience came as a total surprise. But that feeling of transformation is in some ways typical, says Rich Tedeschi, a professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte who coined the term \violent crime or sudden serious illness show that most feel dazed and anxious in the immediate aftermath; they are preoccupied with the idea that their lives have been shattered. A few are haunted long afterward by memory problems, sleep trouble and similar symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder 7. But Tedeschi and others have found that for many people-perhaps even the majority-life ultimately becomes richer and more Gratifying. 11她这种不可思议的经历完全是个惊喜。但是北卡罗来纳大学夏洛特分校心理学教授里奇?特德斯基认为,这种转变的感觉从某些方面看却是很典型的。里奇?特德斯基教授首创了“创伤后成长”一词。他对那些经历了诸如搏斗、暴力犯罪、突患重病等极端事件的人群进行了研究,这些研究表明,在刚经历不幸后大多数人随即都会感到茫然和焦虑。他们一心想的就是,自己的生活完全被毁了。有少部分人事后很久了还不断被记忆问题、失眠以及类似的创伤后应激障碍所折磨。但特德斯基和其他学者发现,对很多人(可能甚至是绝大多数人)来说,生活最终会变得更加丰富和更加令人满足。
12 Something similar happens to many people who experience a terrifying physical threat. In that moment, our sense of invulnerability is pierced, and the self-protective mental armor that normally stands between us and our perceptions of the world is torn away. Our everyday life scripts-our habits, self-perceptions and assumptions-go out the window, and we are left with a raw experience of the world.
12许多经历过恐怖的人身威胁的人会遇到类似的情况。在事情发生的那一瞬间,我们的安全感被冲破了,平时处于我们与我们对世界的种种看法之间的自我保护的精神盔甲被剥离了。我们的日常生活轨迹(我们的习惯、自我认识和主观意念)全部被抛到九霄云外,只剩下对世界的原始体验。
13 Still, actually implementing these changes, as well as fully coming to terms with a new reality, usually takes conscious effort. Being willing and able to take on this process is one of the major differences between those who grow through adversity and those who are destroyed by it. The people who find value in adversity aren't the toughest or the most rational. What makes them different is that they are able to incorporate what happened into the story of their own life.
13尽管如此,要实际实现这些转变并完全接受新的现实,通常需要有意识地付出努力。是否愿意并有能力承担这个过程,就是那些在灾难中成长和那些被灾难所摧毁的人之间主要的区别之一。认为灾难有价值的人并不是最坚强或最理性的人。使他们与众不同的是他们能够将所遭遇的事融入他们自己的人生历程中。”
14 Eventually, they may find themselves freed in ways they never imagined.Survivors say they have become more tolerant and forgiving of others, capable of bringing peace to formerly troubled relationships. They say that material ambitions suddenly seem silly and the pleasures of friends and family paramount-and that the crisis allowed them to recognize life in line with their new priorities.
14最终,他们可能会发现自己以从未想到过的方式获得了解脱。幸存者往往说他们变得更加宽容,也更能原谅别人,能够缓和原本糟糕的关系。他们说物质追求突然间变得很无聊,而朋友和家庭带来的快乐变得极为重要,他们还说危机使他们能够按照这些新的优先之事来重新认识生活。
15 People who have grown from adversity often feel much less fear, despite the frightening things they've been through. They are surprised by their own strength, confident that they can handle whatever else life throws at them. \grow from it. They were just trying to survive. But in retrospect, what they gained was more than they ever anticipated.\
15从灾难中成长起来的人尽管经历过恐怖的事情,但他们的恐惧感往往大为减少。他们对自己的力量感到吃惊,相信不管今后生活中将要遭遇什么,他们都能应付。特德斯基说:“人们不会说他们所经历的是美好的。他们并不是特意要通过这样的经历来成长。他们只是尽其所能生存下来。但回顾起来,他们的收获远远大于他们所预料的。 16 In his recent book Satisfaction, Emory University psychiatrist Gregory Berns points to extreme endurance athletes who push themselves to their physical limits for days at a time. They cycle through the same sequence of sensations as do trauma survivors: self-loss, confusion and, finally, a new sense of mastery. For
ultramarathoners, who regularly run 100-mile races that last more than 24 hours, vomiting and hallucinating are normal. After a day and night of running without stopping or sleeping, competitors sometimes forget who they are and what they are doing.
16埃默里大学精神病学家格列高利?伯思斯在他的近作《满足》中指出,极限耐力运动员每次训练都要使自己的身体连续数天处于极限状态。他们和经历创伤的幸存者所经历的感觉过程一样:自我失落,困惑,最后获得一种新的驾驭感。对于经常跑超过24小时的l00英里比赛的超级马拉松运动员来说,呕吐和产生幻觉是常事。在一昼夜不停歇不睡觉地跑步之后,竞赛者有时会忘了自己是谁,忘了自己在干什么。
17 For a more common example of growth through adversity, look to one of life's biggest challenges: parenting. Having a baby has been shown to decrease levels of happiness. The sleep deprivation and the necessity of putting aside personal pleasure in order to care for an infant mean that people with newborns are more likely to be depressed and find their marriage on the rocks. Nonetheless, over the long haul, raising a child is one of the most rewarding and meaningful of all human undertakings. The short-term sacrifice of happiness is outweighed by other benefits, like fulfillment, altruism and the chance to leave a meaningful Legacy.
17更普遍的在逆境中成长的例子要数生命中最大的挑战之一:为人父母。生育孩子一直被认为会降低幸福程度。为了照顾婴儿而睡眠不足并且必须将自己的消遣撇到一边,意味着有了新生儿的人更有可能感到抑郁并且面临婚姻的危机。然而,长远看来,养育孩子是所有人类活动中最有意义、最值得去做的一件事情。短时间内牺牲了幸福,却有了更多的收获,比如满足感、无私以及有机会留下一笔意义深远的遗产。
18 Ultimately, the emotional reward can compensate for the pain and difficulty of adversity. This perspective does not cancel out what happened, but it puts it all in a different context: that it's possible to live an
extraordinary rewarding life even within the constraints and struggles we face. In some form or other, says King, we all must go through this realization. \you are going to be instead-and that turns out to be a pretty great life.\
18总之,情感上的回报可以弥补灾难带来的痛苦和艰难。这种精神收获并不能抵消所发生的苦难,但是它可以把这些苦难全部放在另一个不同的背景中来看待,..那就是即使我们面临约束和挣扎,我们仍然可以生存得极有价