俄国著名生理学家巴甫洛夫说：快乐是养生的唯一秘诀。 快乐在于有所作为 人在各年龄阶段的快乐是不一样的。老年人快乐是指健康、经济有安全感，被社会接受，不感到寂寞，觉得自己还有用，有信仰，感到满足。

20世纪，我们的期望寿命史无前例地大幅增加，但生活质量同步增加了吗?出人意料地——是的！在TED女性大会上，心理学家劳拉.卡斯滕森展示了相关研究，表明人们年龄渐长的同时变得更快乐、更满足，对世界有了更积极的观点。

Older people are happier

Laura Carstensen

In the 20th century we added an unprecedented number of years to our lifespans, but is the quality of life as good? Surprisingly, yes! Psychologist Laura Carstensen shows research that demonstrates that as people get older they become happier, more content, and have a more positive ou...

About the speaker

Laura Carstensen is the director of the Stanford Center on Longevity, and has extensively studied the effects on wellbeing of extended lifetimes.

老年人更快乐

劳拉·卡斯滕森

在 20 世纪，我们的寿命增加了前所未有的年数，但生活质量是否一样好？令人惊讶的是，是的！心理学家劳拉·卡斯滕森 (Laura Carstensen) 的研究表明，随着年龄的增长，人们会变得更快乐、更满足，并拥有更积极的情绪……

劳拉·卡斯滕森

心理学家 是斯坦福长寿中心的主任，她广泛研究了延长寿命对健康的影响。

Older people are happier

People are living longer and societies are getting grayer.

人们现在越活越久，社会也逐渐变得老龄化。

You hear about it all the time. You read about it in your newspapers.

你可能总是听到别人这么说。你从报纸上如是读到。

You hear about it on your television sets.

你也可以从电视上看到。

Sometimes, I'm concerned that we hear about it so much

有时候我很担心，我们听过长寿太多次，

that we've come to accept longer lives with a kind of a complacency, even ease.

以至于人们带着自满甚至安逸的情绪开始接受长寿的事实。

But make no mistake, longer lives can -- and, I believe, will improve quality of life at all ages.

但是请别搞错，长寿能够--而且我相信，它肯定会--改善所有年龄的人们的生活品质。

Now to put this in perspective, let me just zoom out for a minute.

现在让我们先拉个远景，从宏观的角度来看。

More years were added to average life expectancy in the 20th century than all years added across all prior millennia of human evolution combined.

人们的平均寿命在整个20世纪增加的年数要比上千年来人类进化过程中所增加的总和还要多。

In the blink of an eye, we nearly doubled the length of time that we're living.

就在眨眼之间，我们已经将我们的寿命延长了一倍。

So if you ever feel like you don't have this aging thing quite pegged, don't kick yourself. It's brand new.

所以，如果你觉得你对变老这件事并不关心，不要自责。这个话题太新了。

And because fertility rates fell across that very same period that life expectancy was going up,

因为在同一时期内生育率下降了，平均寿命增加了，

that pyramid that has always represented the distribution of age in the population, with many young ones at the bottom

那个用来表示人口年龄分布的金字塔形底部的年轻人口总是很多，

winnowed to a tiny peak of older people who make it and survive to old age, is being reshaped into a rectangle.

延伸到老龄人口的尖顶，那些是成功存活到高龄的人（人口金字塔）形状发生了改变，变成了长方形。

And now, if you're the kind of person who can get chills from population statistics, these are the ones that should do it.

如果你是那种对人口统计感到恐惧的人，这些变化应该会让你感到难受。

Because what that means is that for the first time in the history of the species,

因为这变化表明在人类种族历史上头一回，

the majority of babies born in the developed world are having the opportunity to grow old.

大多数在发达国家出生的婴儿有机会活到老年。

How did this happen? Well, we're no genetically hardier than our ancestors were 10,000 years ago.

这是怎么发生的？我们并不是在基因上比一万年前的祖先强壮。

This increase in life expectancy is the remarkable product of culture

平均寿命的增加全要归功于文化，

the crucible that holds science and technology and wide-scale changes in behavior that improve health and well-being.

一个包含了科学和技术以及广泛的（社会）行为改变的熔炉，导致人们的健康和福利的增进。

Through cultural changes, our ancestors largely eliminated early death so that people can now live out their full lives.

通过文化的改变，我们的祖先大幅度地消除了早亡，所以现在的人可以走完完整的一生。

Now there are problems associated with aging -- diseases, poverty, loss of social status.

老龄化催生了很多问题，疾病、贫困、社会地位的丧失。

It's hardly time to rest on our laurels.

这可不是坐享荣誉的时候。

But the more we learn about aging, the clearer it becomes that a sweeping downward course is grossly inaccurate.

不过当我们研究的越多，老龄化就变得越清晰，把它说成是一条单纯的下坡路是非常不准确的。

Aging brings some rather remarkable improvements -- increased knowledge, expertise and emotional aspects of life improve.

衰老也带来一些非同凡响的进步，知识的增加，专业的精深，人生的情绪层面也有所提升。

That's right, older people are happy.

这句话很对，老年人是快乐的。

They're happier than middle-aged people, and younger people, certainly.

他们比中年人更快乐，更理所当然地比年轻人更快乐。

Study after study is coming to the same conclusion.

一个又一个的研究证实了相同的结论。

The CDC recently conducted a survey where they asked respondents simply to tell them

疾病防治中心（CDC）最近进行了一次调查，他们简单地要求受试者来报告，

whether they experienced significant psychological distress in the previous week.

在过去的一周里自己是否经历了重大的心理困扰。

And fewer older people answered affirmatively to that question than middle-aged people, and younger people as well.

老年人承认有这类问题的比中年人少，也比年轻人少。

And a recent Gallup poll asked participants how much stress and worry and anger they had experienced the previous day.

一项近期的盖洛普调查询问参与者有多少压力、焦虑和愤怒情绪他们在前一天体验过。

And stress, worry, anger all decrease with age.

压力、焦虑、愤怒都随着年龄增长而减少。

Now social scientists call this the paradox of aging.

社会学家称这种现象为老龄化悖论。

I mean, after all, aging is not a piece of cake.

老龄化可不是小事。

So we've asked all sorts of questions to see if we could undo this finding.

我们问了各种各样的问题，试图推翻这个研究结论。

We've asked whether it may be that the current generations of older people are and always have been the greatest generations.

我们提出这可能是因为现在正值老年的这一代人一直以来都是最伟大的一代人。

That is that younger people today may not typically experience these improvements as they grow older.

而现在的年青一代可能不会在成长过程中经历同样的进步。

We've asked, well, maybe older people are just trying to put a positive spin on an otherwise depressing existence.

我们也提出，也许老年人只是在发扬阿Q精神，来应对令人沮丧的事实。

But the more we've tried to disavow this finding, the more evidence we find to support it.

然而我们越是想要颠覆这个结论，反而找到越多的证据来支持这个结论。

Years ago, my colleagues and I embarked on a study where we followed the same group of people over a 10-year period.

很多年前，我和同事一起开始了一项研究，我们对同一组人进行跟踪调查长达十年。

Originally, the sample was aged 18 to 94.

这组人最开始的年龄从18岁到94岁不等。

And we studied whether and how their emotional experiences changed as they grew older.

我们研究了他们的情绪体验是否随着岁月而改变。

Our participants would carry electronic pagers for a week at a time,

研究参与者随身携带电子纸张，每次持续一周时间，

and we'd page them throughout the day and evenings at random times.

我们在早晚的任意时间呼叫他们。

And every time we paged them, we'd ask them to answer several questions

每一次我们呼叫他们，我们会问他们几个问题，

"On a one to seven scale, how happy are you right now?"

“用1到7的量表来衡量你们现在高兴的程度。”

"How sad are you right now?" "How frustrated are you right now?"

“你们现在悲伤的程度。你们现在沮丧的程度。”

so that we could get a sense of the kinds of emotions and feelings they were having in their day-to-day lives.

这样我们就能监测到他们情绪和感觉上的日常状况。

And using this intense study of individuals,

通过这种对个人的密集调查，

we find that it's not one particular generation that's doing better than the others,

我们发现并没有任何一代人比其他人更好，

but the same individuals over time come to report relatively greater positive experience.

但是同一个人随着年岁增长，开始报告相对更积极的体验。

Now you see this slight downturn at very advanced ages.

现在你看到在非常高的年龄。

And there is a slight downturn.

这里有些许下降。

But at no point does it return to the levels we see in early adulthood.

这里的确有一些下降，但是绝没有回复到他们早期成年期的水平。

Now it's really too simplistic to say that older people are "happy."

当然，光说老年人更“快乐”，那太过草率。

In our study, they are more positive.

在我们的研究里，他们更积极。

But they're also more likely than younger people to experience mixed emotions

但他们也比年轻人更能体会到复杂的情感，

sadness at the same time you experience happiness; you know, that tear in the eye when you're smiling at a friend.

悲喜交加，你们知道，就是冲着朋友微笑的同时眼含泪花。

And other research has shown that older people seem to engage with sadness more comfortably.

有其他研究显示，老年人能够更从容地应对悲伤。

They're more accepting of sadness than younger people are.

他们比年轻人更能接受悲伤情绪，

And we suspect that this may help to explain why older people are better than younger people at solving hotly charged emotional conflicts and debates.

我们怀疑这能帮助解释为什么老年人比年轻人更擅长处理激烈的情绪冲突和争论。

Older people can view injustice with compassion, but not despair.

老年人看待不公，能够带着怜悯，而不是绝望。

And all things being equal, older people direct their cognitive resources,

在同等条件下，老年人会将自己的认知资源，

like attention and memory, to positive information more than negative.

比如注意力和记忆力，更多地导向积极信息，而不是消极信息。

If we show older, middle-aged, younger people images, like the ones you see on the screen,

我们向老年组、中年组和青年组展示图像，正如你们在屏幕上看到的，

and we later ask them to recall all the images that they can,

过后我们让他们回忆他们看到的图像，

older people, but not younger people, remember more positive images than negative images.

老年组，而非青年组，记得的积极图像多过消极图像。

We've asked older and younger people to view faces in laboratory studies, some frowning, some smiling.

我们让老年组和青年组去看实验室研究所用的脸部表情，一些皱眉、一些微笑。

Older people look toward the smiling faces and away from the frowning, angry faces.

老年组看向微笑的脸，而回避皱眉的、愤怒的脸。

In day-to-day life, this translates into greater enjoyment and satisfaction.

在日常生活中，这转换成更大的乐趣以及满足。

But as social scientists, we continue to ask about possible alternatives.

但作为社会学家，我们继续问是否有其他可能。

We've said, well, maybe older people report more positive emotions because they're cognitively impaired.

也许老年人报告更多的积极感受是因为他们认知机能受损。

We've said, could it be that positive emotions are simply easier to process than negative emotions,

会不会积极情绪比消极情绪更易处理，

and so you switch to the positive emotions?

所以他们更倾向于积极情绪？

Maybe our neural centers in our brain are degraded such that we're unable to process negative emotions anymore.

也许我们脑内的神经系统退化了，以致无法处理消极情绪。

But that's not the case. The most mentally sharp older adults are the ones who show this positivity effect the most.

但事实并非如此。老年组里思维最敏捷的，恰恰是最积极的。

And under conditions where it really matters, older people do process the negative information just as well as the positive information.

在关键时刻老年人处理消极情绪和处理积极情绪的能力是一样的。

So how can this be? Well, in our research,

这是为什么呢？在我们的研究里，

we've found that these changes are grounded fundamentally in the uniquely human ability to monitor time

我们发现这些改变在最基本上植根于人类监控时间的独特能力，

not just clock time and calendar time, but lifetime.

不光是时钟的时间和日历的时间，更是生命的时间。

And if there's a paradox of aging,

如果说老龄化悖论成立，

it's that recognizing that we won't live forever changes our perspective on life in positive ways.

那也是因为我们认识到生命易逝，而使我们把人生观变得更积极。

When time horizons are long and nebulous, as they typically are in youth, people are constantly preparing,

人生的终点遥远又朦胧，年轻时通常都这么想，人们就会一直跃跃欲试，

trying to soak up all the information they possibly can, taking risks, exploring.

试图尽可能地去吸收信息、承担风险、探索未知。

We might spend time with people we don't even like because it's somehow interesting.

我们可能会跟不喜欢的人共度时光，因为感觉这挺有趣。

We might learn something unexpected. We go on blind dates.

我们也许不经意间学到一些不该学的东西。我们去相亲。

You know, after all, if it doesn't work out, there's always tomorrow.

毕竟，就算失败了，也还有明天。

People over 50 don't go on blind dates.

超过50岁的人，就不会去相亲了。

As we age, our time horizons grow shorter and our goals change.

当我们逐渐变老，跟人生终点的距离不断缩短，我们的人生目标从而改变。

When we recognize that we don't have all the time in the world, we see our priorities most clearly.

当我们意识到时间不再多的可以尽情挥霍，就能清楚地看到事情的轻重缓急。

We take less notice of trivial matters. We savor life.

我们变得不在意琐碎之事了。我们享受人生。

We're more appreciative, more open to reconciliation.

我们更懂感恩，更向往和谐。

We invest in more emotionally important parts of life, and life gets better, so we're happier day-to-day.

我们更致力于精神层面上重要的东西，生活变得更好，所以日益快乐。

But that same shift in perspective leads us to have less tolerance than ever for injustice.

但是这种观念的改变也降低了对不公的容忍。

By 2015, there will be more people in the United States over the age of 60 than under 15.

到2015年，美国人口中60岁以上的人口将会超过不满15岁的人口。

What will happen to societies that are top-heavy with older people?

社会老龄化之后会有什么改变？

The numbers won't determine the outcome. Culture will.

数量并不能左右结果。文化才会。

If we invest in science and technology and find solutions for the real problems that older people face

如果我们投入科学和技术，为老龄化问题找出解决之道，

and we capitalize on the very real strengths of older people,

我们充分发挥老年人的真正优势，

then added years of life can dramatically improve quality of life at all ages.

那么，寿命的增加将会戏剧性地改善人们的生活质量。

Societies with millions of talented, emotionally stable citizens

无论是哪个年龄段，社会上有上百万的有才能而且情绪稳定的市民，

who are healthier and better educated than any generations before them,

与他们之前的任何一代人比，他们更健康，受过更高的教育，

armed with knowledge about the practical matters of life

用知识武装自己，了解人生的各种状况，

and motivated to solve the big issues can be better societies than we have ever known.

积极主动地去解决重大问题，社会将变得更加美好，比我们已知的更好。

My father, who is 92, likes to say,

我父亲已经92岁了，他喜欢说，

"Let's stop talking only about how to save the old folks and start talking about how to get them to save us all." Thank you.

“让我们不要再说解救老年人这种话了。我们要开始谈谈如何让老年人解救所有人。”谢谢。

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重点单词：

Perspective

n. 远景；看法；透视

adj. 透视的

形容词: perspectival 副词: perspectively

Pyramid

n. 金字塔；棱锥体；[证券]金字塔式交易法

v. 急速增加；以金字塔的模型构建

Current

n. 趋势；(水、气、电)流

adj. 现在的；流通的

词语用法：

current作形容词表示“最近的”，无需用very等程度副词修饰

Evidence

n. 证据；证词；根据；迹象

v. 证明；证实

Random

adj. 任意的；随机的；随意的

n. 随意；任意

adv. 随机地

Paradox

n. 悖论；似非而是的论点；自相矛盾的话

adj. (形容词)悖论的

v. (动词)发表悖论

Spin

v. (使)旋转；疾驰；纺织；结网；眩晕

n. 纺织；旋转；眩晕；疾驰

词语用法：

v. (动词)

1. spin用作名词的意思是“旋转”,转化为动词作“使…旋转”解,指人或物围绕着自身轴心或外部某一点快速转动,可用作不及物动词,也可用作及物动词。用作及物动词时接名词或代词作宾语。

2. spin用于比喻时作“讲述”“编造”“撰写”解,用作及物动词,接名词或代词作宾语,还可以接双宾语。

3. spin的过去式和过去分词均为spun。

Survey

n. 问卷；测量；调查；纵览；视察

v. 调查；审视；研究；测量；勘定；环视

词语用法：

v. (动词)

1. survey的基本意思是指从远处或高处来看远处的人或物,即“眺望,纵览”,也可指对某事进行彻底、深入的观察,或从全局出发对形势进行分析,以求得出结论,作出决策,即“鉴定”“审度”等。

2. survey多用作及物动词,后接名词或代词作宾语。可用于被动结构。

Psychological

adj. 心理(学)的

副词: psychologically 异体字: psychologic

Expertise

n. 专门知识；专门技术；专家的意见

词源解说：

868年进入英语，直接源自法语的expertise，意为专家报告，专家评估。

Suspect

v. 怀疑；猜想

n. 嫌疑犯

adj. 可疑的；不可信的

词语用法：

v. (动词)

1. suspect的基本意思是指“猜想”或“怀疑”某人〔事〕,也可指“猜想”或者“怀疑”某事已经发生或将会发生,主观色彩较浓,不一定有根据。

2. suspect是及物动词,接名词、代词、that从句、wh-从句作宾语。可用于被动结构。

3. suspect还可接以“(to be/as+) n./adj. ”或动词不定式充当补足语的复合宾语。

4. suspect常接介词of引出怀疑、推测的内容。

Engage

v. 雇佣；啮合；与……交战；答应；订婚；预定；参加；从事

词语用法：

v. (动词)

1. engage的基本意思是“约定”,即凭借契约、誓言或诺言等约束人或事。用于约束别人,即表示“雇”“聘”; 用于约束自己,则表示“许诺”“保证”。这种允诺可信,有约束力,并将履行一段时间,如“订婚”等。引申可表示“占用,吸引,引起”或“使忙于,使从事”等。

2. engage主要用作及物动词,接名词、代词作宾语。作“雇,聘”解时可以接以as短语充当补足语的复合宾语。作“保证”解时可接for+名词或that从句,也可接oneself+to- v 构成的复合结构。

3. engage接介词in可表示“参加”; 接介词with可表示“交战”; 表示“订婚”则接介词to。

1. engage表示“使某人订婚”，be engaged to sb表示“跟某人订婚”。

When did he become engaged to her?他跟她什么时候订婚？

2. 不加介词时engage表示“雇佣”的意思；

3. be engaged in和engage in的比较：一般来说，两者意思相似，不过前者强调状态，后者强调行为。但在表示一时的行为时，两者有所不同。

He is engaged in a game of tennis.他现在从事于打网球。

He engages in a game of tennis every morning．他每天早晨忙于打网球。

Cognitive

adj. 认识的；认知的；有认识力的

副词: cognitively

词源解说：

直接源自拉丁语的cognitio，意为识别，认识。

Grounded

adj. (情绪上)稳定的；[计算机] 接地的

动词ground的过去式和过去分词形式.

Nebulous

adj. 星云的；星云状的；朦胧的；模糊的

副词: nebulously 名词: nebulousness

Motivated

adj. 有积极性的；有动机的

动词motivate的过去式和过去分词

Reconciliation

n. 和解；调和