What Is the Relationship Between Age and Happiness?
年齡和幸福感之間存在著怎樣的關聯?
Are people less happy or more happy the older they get? If you answered more happy, then you were right, based on a study published two years ago. It found that people generally become happier and experience less worry after age fifty. In fact, it found that by the age of eighty-five, people are happier with their life than they were at eighteen.
隨著年齡的增長，人們是會變得更快樂還是更不快樂？如果你的答案是更快樂，那麼根據兩年前發表的一項研究顯示，你的回答是正確的。據該研究發現，人們在年過五旬後通常會變得更快樂，而煩惱也會更少。事實上，研究發現，人們到85歲後的生活會比18歲時更快樂。
The findings came from a Gallup survey of more than three hundred forty thousand adults in the United States in two thousand eight. At that time, the people were between the ages of eighteen and eighty-five.
該研究結果出自2008年蓋洛普（一家民意調查機構）對美國34萬多名成年人的一項調查。當時，參與調查者的年齡在18歲至85歲之間。
Arthur Stone in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stony Brook University in New York led the study. His team found that levels of stress were highest among adults between the ages of twenty-two and twenty-five. Stress levels dropped sharply after people reached their fifties.
紐約州立大學石溪分校精神病學和行為科學系亞瑟·斯通主導了這項研究。他的團隊發現，年齡在22至25歲之間的成年人承受的壓力最大，而年過五旬後壓力則會驟減。
Happiness was highest among the youngest adults and those in their early seventies. But the people least likely to report feeling negative emotions were those in their seventies and eighties. The survey also found that men and women have similar emotional patterns as they grow older. However, women at all ages reported more sadness, stress and worry than men did.
剛成年者和70歲出頭的人幸福感最強，但最不可能自稱具有消極情緒的則是七八十歲的人。調查還發現，隨著年齡的增長，男性和女性有著相似的情感模式。然而，在所有年齡段中，女性都比男性更為感到悲傷、壓力和憂慮。
The researchers also considered possible influences like having young children, being unemployed or being single. But they found that influences like these did not affect the levels of happiness and well-being related to age.
研究人員還考慮到育有子女、失業或單身等潛在影響因素。但他們發現，這些因素並不會影響與年齡相關的幸福感水平。
So why would happiness increase with age? One theory is that, as people get older, they become more thankful for what they have and have better control of their emotions. They also spend less time thinking about bad experiences. The findings appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
那麼幸福感為什麼會隨著年齡而增長呢？一種理論認為，隨著年齡的增長，人們會對自己所擁有的一切更為知足，同時也能更好地控制自己的情緒。他們也會花更少的時間去回想不好的經歷。這項研究最終發表在《美國科學院院報》上。
Happiness is not the only thing that apparently improves with age. In a study published this year, people in their eighties reported the fewest problems with the quality of their sleep.
隨著年齡的增長，人們有所提升的不僅僅是幸福感。據今年發表的一項研究顯示，80多歲的人自稱的睡眠質量問題最少。
Researchers surveyed more than one hundred fifty thousand American adults. The study, led by Michael Grandner at the University of Pennsylvania, appeared in the journal Sleep.
研究人員對美國超過15萬名成年人進行了調查研究。該研究由賓夕法尼亞大學的麥可·格蘭德納主導，研究結果最終發表在《睡眠》雜誌上。
The original goal was to confirm the popular belief that aging is connected with increased sleep problems. The survey did find an increase during middle age, especially in women. But except for that, people reported that they felt their sleep quality improved as they got older.
研究最初的目的是為了證實人們普遍認為的一種觀點，即睡眠問題會隨年齡的增長而增多。調查確實發現，中年人（尤其是中年女性）的睡眠問題會隨年齡的增長而增多。但除此之外，人們都自稱，隨著年齡的增長，他們感覺自己的睡眠質量有所改善。
重難點詞彙：
sharply [ ɑ rpli] adv. 急劇地；銳利地
negative [ neɡ t v] adj. 負的；消極的；否定的
apparently [ p r ntli] adv. 顯然地；似乎
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