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DanGilbert_2004-_我们为什么快乐_
When you have 21 minutes to speak, two million years seems like a really long time. [00:12]
But evolutionarily , two million years is nothing. [00:17]
evolutionarily:进化上;
And yet in two million years, the human brain has nearly tripled in mass , going from the one-and-a-quarter pound brain of our ancestor here, Habilis, to the almost three-pound meatloaf that everybody here has between their ears. [00:20]
tripled:adj.三倍的;三方的;n.三倍数;三个一组;vi.增至三倍;vt.使成三倍; mass:n.块,团; adj.群众的,民众的; v.聚集起来,聚集; meatloaf:n.烘肉卷;
What is it about a big brain that nature was so eager for every one of us to have one? [00:35]
Well, it turns out when brains triple in size, they don't just get three times bigger; they gain new structures . [00:42]
structures:n.结构; v.建造(structure的第三人称单数形式);
And one of the main reasons our brain got so big is because it got a new part, called the " frontal lobe ." [00:48]
frontal lobe:n.额叶(与行为、学习和个性有关);
Particularly , a part called the "pre-frontal cortex ." [00:54]
Particularly:adv.特别地,独特地;详细地,具体地;明确地,细致地; cortex:n.[解剖]皮质;树皮;果皮;
What does a pre-frontal cortex do for you that should justify the entire architectural overhaul of the human skull in the blink of evolutionary time? [00:57]
justify:v.证明合法;整理版面;替…辩护; architectural:adj.建筑学的;建筑上的;符合建筑法的; overhaul:vt.分解检查,大修;追上并超过;n.彻底检修,详细检查; skull:n.头盖骨,脑壳; blink:vt.眨眼;使…闪烁;vi.眨眼;闪烁;n.眨眼;瞬间;闪光; evolutionary:adj.进化的;发展的;渐进的;
It turns out the pre-frontal cortex does lots of things, but one of the most important things it does is an experience simulator . [01:07]
simulator:n.模拟器;假装者,模拟者;
Pilots practice in flight simulators so that they don't make real mistakes in planes. [01:15]
simulators:n.模拟器;假装者,模拟者;
Human beings have this marvelous adaptation that they can actually have experiences in their heads before they try them out in real life. [01:22]
marvelous:adj.了不起的;非凡的;令人惊异的;不平常的; adaptation:n.适应;改编;改编本,改写本;
This is a trick that none of our ancestors could do, and that no other animal can do quite like we can. [01:30]
It's a marvelous adaptation. [01:36]
It's up there with opposable thumbs and standing upright and language as one of the things that got our species out of the trees and into the shopping mall . [01:38]
opposable:adj.可反对的;可相对的; thumbs:n.拇指;;v.翘起拇指请求搭乘便车;用拇指摸;(thumb的第三人称单数和复数) upright:n.立柱;adj.直立的;挺直的;竖直的;垂直的;adv.竖立着;垂直着; species:n.[生物]物种;种类; shopping mall:un.商业区林荫路;
(Laughter) [01:47]
All of you have done this. [01:49]
Ben and Jerry's doesn't have liver-and-onion ice cream, and it's not because they whipped some up, tried it and went, " Yuck ." [01:51]
whipped:v.鞭打;鞭策;除去,抽出(whip的过去分词和过去式) Yuck:难吃;讨厌;恶心
It's because, without leaving your armchair , you can simulate that flavor and say "yuck" before you make it. [01:58]
armchair:n.扶手椅;足不出户的; simulate:vt.模仿;假装;冒充;adj.模仿的;假装的; flavor:n.情味,风味;香料;滋味;v.加味于;
Let's see how your experience simulators are working. [02:07]
Let's just run a quick diagnostic before I proceed with the rest of the talk. [02:10]
diagnostic:adj.诊断的;特征的;n.诊断法;诊断结论; proceed:n.收入;卖得金额;收益;v.继续;接着做;行进;前往;
Here's two different futures that I invite you to contemplate . [02:14]
contemplate:v.沉思;注视;思忖;预期;
You can try to simulate them and tell me which one you think you might prefer . [02:18]
prefer:v.更喜欢;宁愿;提出;提升;
One of them is winning the lottery . This is about 314 million dollars. [02:22]
lottery:n.彩票;碰运气的事,难算计的事;抽彩给奖法;
And the other is becoming paraplegic . [02:27]
paraplegic:n.下身麻痹患者;adj.截瘫的;
(Laughter) [02:30]
Just give it a moment of thought. [02:31]
You probably don't feel like you need a moment of thought. [02:33]
Interestingly , there are data on these two groups of people, data on how happy they are. [02:36]
Interestingly:adv.有趣地;
And this is exactly what you expected, isn't it? [02:42]
But these aren't the data. I made these up! [02:45]
These are the data. [02:48]
You failed the pop quiz , and you're hardly five minutes into the lecture . [02:49]
pop quiz:n.(给学生的)突击小测验; lecture:n.演讲;讲座;讲课;谴责;v.开讲座;讲授;讲课;指责;告诫
Because the fact is that a year after losing the use of their legs, and a year after winning the lotto , lottery winners and paraplegics are equally happy with their lives. [02:53]
lotto:n.一种对号码的牌戏; paraplegics:n.下身麻痹患者;adj.截瘫的;
Don't feel too bad about failing the first pop quiz, because everybody fails all of the pop quizzes all of the time. [03:05]
quizzes:n.小测验(quiz复数形式);智力比赛;v.测验;盘问(quiz的第三人称单数形式);
The research that my laboratory has been doing, that economists and psychologists around the country have been doing, has revealed something really quite startling to us, something we call the " impact bias ," [03:11]
laboratory:n.实验室,研究室; psychologists:n.[心理]心理学家(psychologist的复数形式); revealed:v.揭示;显示;露出;(reveal的过去分词和过去式) startling:adj.惊人的;让人震惊的;极鲜亮的;v.使惊吓;使吓一跳;(startle的现在分词) impact:n.影响;效果;碰撞;冲击力;v.挤入,压紧;撞击;对…产生影响; bias:adv.使有偏见;n.偏见;偏心;偏爱;v.使有偏见;使偏向;adj.斜的;[电]偏动的;
which is the tendency for the simulator to work badly. [03:22]
tendency:n.倾向,趋势;癖好;
For the simulator to make you believe that different outcomes are more different than in fact they really are. [03:25]
outcomes:n.结果;成果;后果;出路;(outcome的复数) different than:不同于;
From field studies to laboratory studies, we see that winning or losing an election, gaining or losing a romantic partner, getting or not getting a promotion, passing or not passing a college test, [03:32]
romantic:adj.浪漫的;爱情的;n.浪漫的人;耽于幻想的人;
on and on , have far less impact, less intensity and much less duration than people expect them to have. [03:43]
on and on:继续不停地; intensity:n.强度;强烈;[电子]亮度;紧张; duration:n.持续时间;期间;
This almost floors me -- a recent study showing how major life traumas affect people suggests that if it happened over three months ago, with only a few exceptions, it has no impact whatsoever on your happiness. [03:51]
traumas:n.外伤;精神创伤(trauma的复数); whatsoever:pron.无论什么;
Why? [04:08]
Because happiness can be synthesized . [04:09]
synthesized:adj.合成的;综合的;v.合成(synthesize的过去分词);综合;
Sir Thomas Brown wrote in 1642, "I am the happiest man alive. [04:13]
I have that in me that can convert poverty to riches, adversity to prosperity . [04:17]
convert:v.转换; n.改变宗教(或信仰、观点)的人; poverty:n.贫困;困难;缺少;低劣; adversity:n.逆境;不幸;灾难;灾祸; prosperity:n.繁荣,成功;
I am more invulnerable than Achilles; fortune hath not one place to hit me." [04:23]
invulnerable:adj.无懈可击的;不会受伤害的; fortune:n.财富;命运;运气;v.给予财富,偶然发生
What kind of remarkable machinery does this guy have in his head? [04:27]
remarkable:adj.卓越的;非凡的;值得注意的; machinery:n.机械;机器;机构;机械装置;
Well, it turns out it's precisely the same remarkable machinery that all off us have. [04:31]
Human beings have something that we might think of as a " psychological immune system ." [04:37]
psychological:adj.心理的;心理学的;精神上的; immune system:n.免疫系统;
A system of cognitive processes , largely non-conscious cognitive processes , that help them change their views of the world, so that they can feel better about the worlds in which they find themselves. [04:42]
cognitive:adj.认知的,认识的; processes:n.过程; v.处理(process的第三人称单数形式); largely:adv.主要地;大部分;大量地; non-conscious:潜意识的,非意识的;
Like Sir Thomas, you have this machine. [04:55]
Unlike Sir Thomas, you seem not to know it. [04:57]
We synthesize happiness, but we think happiness is a thing to be found. [05:01]
Now, you don't need me to give you too many examples of people synthesizing happiness, I suspect . [05:07]
synthesizing:v.合成;(音响)合成;综合;(synthesize的现在分词) suspect:n.犯罪嫌疑人;v.怀疑;不信任;adj.可疑的;
Though I'm going to show you some experimental evidence , you don't have to look very far for evidence. [05:12]
experimental:adj.实验的;根据实验的;试验性的; evidence:n.证据,证明;迹象;明显;v.证明;
As a challenge to myself, since I say this once in a while in lectures, [05:17]
once in a while:偶尔;有时;
I took a copy of the New York Times and tried to find some instances of people synthesizing happiness. [05:21]
instances:n.相依物体,例子; v.举例说明(instance的第三人称单数形式);
Here are three guys synthesizing happiness. [05:26]
'"I am so much better off physically, financially , emotionally , mentally and almost every other way." [05:28]
financially:adv.财政上;金融上; emotionally:adv.感情上;情绪上;令人激动地;情绪冲动地; mentally:adv.精神上,智力上;心理上;
'"I don't have one minute's regret. It was a glorious experience." [05:33]
glorious:adj.光荣的;辉煌的;极好的;
'"I believe it turned out for the best ." [05:36]
for the best:出于好意;
Who are these characters who are so damn happy? [05:38]
damn:v.谴责;该死;n.诅咒;adj.可恶的;
The first one is Jim Wright . [05:40]
Wright:n.制作者;工人;
Some of you are old enough to remember: he was the chairman of the House of Representatives and he resigned in disgrace when this young Republican named Newt Gingrich found out about a shady book deal he had done. [05:42]
House of Representatives:众议院; resigned:adj.逆来顺受的;顺从的;v.辞职;辞去(某职务);(resign的过去分词和过去式) disgrace:n.丢脸;耻辱;不光彩;;v.使丢脸;使蒙受耻辱;使失去地位; Republican:adj.共和国的;共和政体的;共和主义的;拥护共和政体的;n.共和主义者; Newt:n.蝾螈;笨蛋;新手; shady:adj.背阴的;阴凉的;多阴的;成荫的;
He lost everything. [05:52]
The most powerful Democrat in the country lost everything. [05:53]
Democrat:n.民主党人;民主主义者;民主政体论者;
He lost his money, he lost his power. [05:56]
What does he have to say all these years later? [05:58]
'"I am so much better off physically, financially, mentally and in almost every other way." [06:00]
What other way would there be to be better off? [06:05]
Vegetably? Minerally? Animally? [06:07]
He's pretty much covered them there. [06:09]
Moreese Bickham is somebody you've never heard of. [06:11]
Moreese Bickham uttered these words upon being released . [06:14]
uttered:v.出声;说;讲(utter的过去分词和过去式) released:v.释放;使免除;已发布;(release的过去分词和过去式)
He was 78 years old. [06:17]
He'd spent 37 years in a Louisiana State Penitentiary for a crime he didn't commit . [06:18]
Louisiana:n.美国路易斯安那州; Penitentiary:adj.应处监禁的; n.监狱; commit:v.犯(罪等);干(坏事等);[法]提(审);判处;
[He was ultimately released for good behavior halfway through his sentence.] [06:22]
ultimately:adv.最终;最后;归根结底;终究;
What did he say about his experience? [06:27]
'"I don't have one minute's regret. It was a glorious experience." Glorious! [06:29]
He is not saying, "Well, there were some nice guys. They had a gym." [06:32]
'"Glorious," [06:36]
a word we usually reserve for something like a religious experience. [06:37]
reserve:n.储备,储存; vt.储备; vi.预订; religious:adj.宗教的;虔诚的;严谨的;修道的;n.修道士;尼姑;
Harry S. Langerman uttered these words, and he's somebody you might have known but didn't, because in 1949 he read a little article in the paper about a hamburger stand owned by two brothers named McDonalds. [06:40]
And he thought, "That's a really neat idea!" [06:51]
neat:adj.整洁的;整齐的;有序的;有条理的;
So he went to find them. They said, "We can give you a franchise on this for 3,000 bucks ." [06:53]
franchise:n.特权;公民权;经销权;v.给…以特许(或特权);赋予公民权; bucks:n.元;雄鹿;(buck的复数)
Harry went back to New York, asked his brother, an investment banker, to loan him the $3,000, and his brother's immortal words were, "You idiot , nobody eats hamburgers." [06:57]
investment:n.投资;投入;封锁; immortal:adj.不朽的;神仙的;长生的;n.神仙;不朽人物; idiot:n.笨蛋,傻瓜;白痴;
He wouldn't lend him the money, and of course, six months later Ray Kroc had exactly the same idea. [07:05]
It turns out people do eat hamburgers, and Ray Kroc, for a while , became the richest man in America. [07:10]
for a while:adv.片刻;暂时;一会儿;一时;
And then finally -- you know, the best of all possible worlds -- some of you recognize this young photo of Pete Best, who was the original drummer for the Beatles , [07:16]
finally:adv.终于;最终;(用于列举)最后;彻底地; recognize:v.认识;认出;辨别出;承认;意识到; original:n.原件;原作;原物;原型;adj.原始的;最初的;独创的;新颖的; drummer:n.鼓手;旅行推销员;跑街; Beatles:n.披头士合唱(摇滚乐队);
until they, you know, sent him out on an errand and snuck away and picked up Ringo on a tour. [07:26]
errand:n.使命;差事;差使; snuck:潜行(sneak的过去式和过去分词);
Well, in 1994, when Pete Best was interviewed [07:32]
interviewed:v.对(某人)进行面试(或面谈); (媒体)采访(interview的过去分词和过去式)
- yes, he's still a drummer; yes, he's a studio musician -- he had this to say: "I'm happier than I would have been with the Beatles." [07:34]
studio:n.工作室;[广播][电视]演播室;画室;电影制片厂;
Okay. There's something important to be learned from these people, and it is the secret of happiness. [07:40]
Here it is, finally to be revealed. [07:45]
First: accrue wealth , power, and prestige , then lose it. [07:47]
accrue:vi.产生;自然增长或利益增加;vt.获得;积累; wealth:n.财富;大量;富有; prestige:n.威望,声望;声誉;
(Laughter) [07:50]
Second: spend as much of your life in prison as you possibly can. [07:53]
(Laughter) [07:56]
Third: make somebody else really, really rich. [07:57]
And finally: never ever join the Beatles. [08:01]
(Laughter) [08:03]
OK. Now I, like Ze Frank , can predict your next thought, which is, "Yeah, right." [08:05]
Frank:adj.坦白的,直率的;老实的;n.免费邮寄特权;v.免费邮寄; predict:v.预报;预言;预告;
Because when people synthesize happiness, as these gentlemen seem to have done, we all smile at them, but we kind of roll our eyes and say, " Yeah right , you never really wanted the job." [08:11]
Yeah right:民谣摇滚;
'"Oh yeah, right. You really didn't have that much in common with her, and you figured that out just about the time she threw the engagement ring in your face ." [08:23]
in common with:与…一样; engagement ring:n.订婚戒指; in your face:挑衅;咄咄逼人的;
We smirk because we believe that synthetic happiness is not of the same quality as what we might call "natural happiness." [08:31]
smirk:v.傻笑;自鸣得意地笑;n.假笑;傻笑,得意的笑 synthetic:adj.综合的;合成的,人造的;n.合成物;
What are these terms? [08:38]
Natural happiness is what we get when we get what we wanted, and synthetic happiness is what we make when we don't get what we wanted. [08:39]
And in our society, we have a strong belief that synthetic happiness is of an inferior kind. [08:48]
inferior:adj.较差的; n.不如别人的人;
Why do we have that belief? [08:54]
Well, it's very simple. [08:56]
What kind of economic engine would keep churning if we believed that not getting what we want could make us just as happy as getting it? [08:58]
economic:adj.经济的,经济上的;经济学的; churning:n.搅乳;一次提制的奶油;v.搅拌(churn的现在分词);
With all apologies to my friend Matthieu Ricard, a shopping mall full of Zen monks is not going to be particularly profitable , because they don't want stuff enough. [09:08]
profitable:adj.有利可图的;赚钱的;有益的; stuff:n.东西:物品:基本特征:v.填满:装满:标本:
(Laughter) [09:18]
I want to suggest to you that synthetic happiness is every bit as real and enduring as the kind of happiness you stumble upon when you get exactly what you were aiming for. [09:19]
enduring:adj.持久的;耐久的;v.忍耐;忍受;持续;持久;(endure的现在分词) stumble:v.踌躇,蹒跚;失足;犯错;n.绊倒;蹒跚而行;
I'm a scientist, so I'm going to do this not with rhetoric , but by marinating you in a little bit of data. [09:30]
rhetoric:n.修辞,修辞学;华丽的词藻;adj.花言巧语的; marinating:v.腌,浸泡(食物);(食物)腌,浸泡;(marinate的现在分词)
Let me first show you an experimental paradigm that is used to demonstrate the synthesis of happiness among regular old folks. [09:35]
paradigm:n.范例;词形变化表; demonstrate:vt.证明;展示;论证;vi.示威; synthesis:n.综合,[化学]合成;综合体;
And this isn't mine. [09:42]
It's a 50-year-old paradigm called the "free choice paradigm." [09:43]
It's very simple. [09:46]
You bring in, say, six objects, and you ask a subject to rank them from the most to the least liked. [09:48]
In this case, because this experiment uses them, these are Monet prints. [09:54]
So, everybody can rank these Monet prints from the one they like the most, to the one they like the least. [09:58]
Now we give you a choice: "We happen to have some extra prints in the closet . [10:03]
extra:adj.额外的:n.额外的事物:adv.额外:另外: closet:n.贮藏室;壁橱adj.隐藏(身份等)的;v.把…关在房间里;
We're going to give you one as your prize to take home. [10:07]
We happen to have number three and number four," we tell the subject. [10:09]
This is a bit of a difficult choice, because neither one is preferred strongly to the other, but naturally , people tend to pick number three because they liked it a little better than number four. [10:13]
preferred:v.较喜欢;喜欢…多于…;(prefer的过去式和过去分词) naturally:adv.自然地;自然而然地;轻而易举;天生地;大方地;
Sometime later -- it could be 15 minutes; it could be 15 days -- the same stimuli are put before the subject, and the subject is asked to re-rank the stimuli. [10:24]
stimuli:n.刺激;刺激物;促进因素(stimulus的复数);
'"Tell us how much you like them now." [10:32]
What happens? [10:34]
Watch as happiness is synthesized. [10:35]
This is the result that has been replicated over and over again . [10:37]
replicated:重复的; over and over again:adv.一再地;反复不断地;
You're watching happiness be synthesized. [10:41]
Would you like to see it again? [10:43]
Happiness! [10:45]
'"The one I got is really better than I thought! [10:47]
That other one I didn't get sucks !" [10:49]
sucks:v.吮吸;吸;咂;啜;抽吸;抽取;(suck的第三人称单数)
That's the synthesis of happiness. [10:51]
(Laughter) [10:53]
Now, what's the right response to that? [10:54]
response:n.响应;反应;回答;
'"Yeah, right!" [10:57]
Now, here's the experiment we did, and I hope this is going to convince you that "Yeah, right!" was not the right response. [10:59]
convince:v.使确信;使相信;说服,劝说;
We did this experiment with a group of patients who had anterograde amnesia . [11:06]
patients:n.接受治疗者,病人;(patient的复数) anterograde:adj.顺行的;前进的; amnesia:n.健忘症,[内科]记忆缺失;
These are hospitalized patients. [11:09]
hospitalized:vt.住院;入院就医;(hospitalize的过去分词);
Most of them have Korsakoff's syndrome , a polyneuritic psychosis . [11:11]
syndrome:n.[临床]综合征;综合症状;并发症状;校验子;并发位; psychosis:n.精神病;精神错乱;
They drank way too much, and they can't make new memories. [11:16]
OK? They remember their childhood , but if you walk in and introduce yourself, and then leave the room, when you come back, they don't know who you are. [11:20]
childhood:n.童年;幼年;孩童时期
We took our Monet prints to the hospital. [11:28]
And we asked these patients to rank them from the one they liked the most to the one they liked the least. [11:31]
We then gave them the choice between number three and number four. [11:38]
Like everybody else, they said, "Gee, thanks Doc! That's great! I could use a new print. [11:42]
I'll take number three." [11:46]
We explained we would have number three mailed to them. [11:48]
We gathered up our materials and we went out of the room, and counted to a half hour. [11:52]
(Laughter) [11:56]
Back into the room, we say, "Hi, we're back." [11:57]
The patients, bless them, say, "Ah, Doc, I'm sorry, [12:00]
I've got a memory problem; that's why I'm here. [12:04]
If I've met you before, I don't remember." [12:06]
'"Really, you don't remember? I was just here with the Monet prints?" [12:08]
'"Sorry, Doc, I just don't have a clue ." [12:12]
clue:n.提示;迹象;(纵横填字谜、游戏或问题的)提示词语;v.提示;为…提供线索;
'"No problem, Jim. All I want you to do is rank these for me from the one you like the most to the one you like the least." [12:14]
What do they do? [12:22]
Well, let's first check and make sure they're really amnesiac . [12:23]
amnesiac:adj.记忆缺失的;遗忘的;n.[内科]健忘症患者;
We ask these amnesiac patients to tell us which one they own, which one they chose last time, which one is theirs. [12:26]
And what we find is amnesiac patients just guess. [12:33]
These are normal controls, where if I did this with you, all of you would know which print you chose. [12:37]
But if I do this with amnesiac patients, they don't have a clue. [12:41]
They can't pick their print out of a lineup . [12:45]
lineup:n.阵容;一组人;电视节目时间表;
Here's what normal controls do: they synthesize happiness. [12:49]
Right? This is the change in liking score, the change from the first time they ranked to the second time they ranked. [12:53]
Normal controls show -- that was the magic I showed you; now I'm showing it to you in graphical form -- "The one I own is better than I thought. [12:58]
graphical:adj.图解的;绘画的;生动的;
The one I didn't own, the one I left behind, is not as good as I thought." [13:06]
Amnesiacs do exactly the same thing. Think about this result. [13:11]
Amnesiacs:adj.记忆缺失的;遗忘的;n.[内科]健忘症患者;
These people like better the one they own, but they don't know they own it. [13:15]
'"Yeah, right" is not the right response! [13:22]
What these people did when they synthesized happiness is they really, truly changed their affective , hedonic , aesthetic reactions to that poster . [13:26]
affective:adj.情感的;表达感情的; hedonic:adj.享乐的;享乐主义的; aesthetic:adj.美的;美学的;审美的,具有审美趣味的; reactions:n.反应;回应;抗拒;生理反应;副作用(reaction的复数) poster:n.海报;巨幅装饰画;发布消息的人;
They're not just saying it because they own it, because they don't know they own it. [13:37]
Now, when psychologists show you bars, you know that they are showing you averages of lots of people. [13:44]
And yet, all of us have this psychological immune system, this capacity to synthesize happiness, but some of us do this trick better than others. [13:50]
capacity:n.能力;容量;资格,地位;生产力;
And some situations allow anybody to do it more effectively than other situations do. [13:59]
It turns out that freedom [14:07]
- the ability to make up your mind and change your mind -- is the friend of natural happiness, because it allows you to choose among all those delicious futures and find the one that you would most enjoy. [14:10]
make up your mind:下定你的决心;
But freedom to choose, to change and make up your mind, is the enemy of synthetic happiness. [14:22]
And I'm going to show you why. Dilbert already knows, of course. [14:28]
Dilbert:n.呆伯特(卡通人物,身居斗室的生意圈里的平庸之辈);
You're reading as I'm talking. [14:31]
'"Dogbert's tech support. How may I abuse you?" [14:33]
abuse:n.滥用;虐待;辱骂;弊端;恶习,陋习;v.滥用;虐待;辱骂;
'"My printer prints a blank page after every document." [14:35]
'"Why complain about getting free paper?" [14:38]
complain:v.投诉;发牢骚;诉说;
'"Free? Aren't you just giving me my own paper?" [14:40]
'"Look at the quality of the free paper compared to your lousy regular paper! [14:42]
compared:adj.比较的,对照的; v.相比; (compare的过去式和过去分词) lousy:adj.非常糟的;极坏的;恶劣的;
Only a fool or a liar would say that they look the same!" [14:46]
liar:n.说谎的人;
'"Now that you mention it, it does seem a little silkier!" [14:49]
'"What are you doing?" [14:51]
'"I'm helping people accept the things they cannot change." Indeed. [14:53]
The psychological immune system works best when we are totally stuck, when we are trapped . [14:57]
trapped:adj.受困的;受限制的;v.使落入险境;使陷入困境;(trap的过去分词和过去式)
This is the difference between dating and marriage. [15:03]
You go out on a date with a guy, and he picks his nose; you don't go out on another date. [15:05]
You're married to a guy and he picks his nose? [15:09]
He has a heart of gold . Don't touch the fruitcake ! [15:11]
a heart of gold:金子般的心;道德高尚的人; fruitcake:n.水果蛋糕;
You find a way to be happy with what's happened. [15:14]
(Laughter) [15:18]
Now, what I want to show you is that people don't know this about themselves, and not knowing this can work to our supreme disadvantage . [15:19]
supreme:adj.最高的;至高的;最重要的;n.至高;霸权; disadvantage:n.不利因素;障碍;不便之处;
Here's an experiment we did at Harvard . [15:27]
Harvard:n.哈佛大学;哈佛大学学生;
We created a black-and-white photography course, and we allowed students to come in and learn how to use a darkroom . [15:29]
black-and-white:adj.印刷的;黑白混合的;用笔写的; photography:n.摄影;摄影术; darkroom:n.暗房;[摄]暗室;
So we gave them cameras; they went around campus; they took 12 pictures of their favorite professors and their dorm room and their dog, and all the other things they wanted to have Harvard memories of. [15:36]
dorm:n.(美口)宿舍;
They bring us the camera; we make up a contact sheet; they figure out which are the two best pictures; and we now spend six hours teaching them about darkrooms. [15:46]
contact:n.接触,联系;v.使接触,联系;
And they blow two of them up, and they have two gorgeous eight-by-10 glossies of meaningful things to them, and we say, "Which one would you like to give up?" [15:53]
gorgeous:adj.华丽的,灿烂的;极好的; glossies:adj.光滑的;有光泽的; meaningful:adj.严肃的;重要的;重大的;意味深长的;
They say, "I have to give one up?" [16:01]
'"Yes, we need one as evidence of the class project. [16:02]
So you have to give me one. You have to make a choice. [16:05]
You get to keep one, and I get to keep one." [16:08]
Now, there are two conditions in this experiment. [16:11]
In one case, the students are told, "But you know, if you want to change your mind, [16:14]
I'll always have the other one here, and in the next four days, before I actually mail it to headquarters ," [16:18]
headquarters:n.总部;指挥部;司令部;
- yeah, "headquarters" -- "I'll be glad to swap it out with you. [16:24]
swap:n.交换;交换之物;vt.与...交换;以...作交换;vi.交换;交易;
In fact, I'll come to your dorm room, just give me an email. [16:30]
Better yet, I'll check with you. [16:32]
You ever want to change your mind, it's totally returnable ." [16:35]
returnable:adj.可归还的;可退回的;可回答的;
The other half of the students are told exactly the opposite: "Make your choice, and by the way , the mail is going out, gosh, in two minutes, to England. [16:37]
other half:n.另一半(指配偶或男友,女友); by the way:顺便说一下;
Your picture will be winging its way over the Atlantic . [16:45]
Atlantic:adj.大西洋的;巨人阿特拉斯的;n.大西洋;
You will never see it again." [16:48]
Half of the students in each of these conditions are asked to make predictions about how much they're going to come to like the picture that they keep and the picture they leave behind . [16:50]
predictions:n.预测,预言(prediction复数形式); leave behind:留下,丢下
Other students are just sent back to their little dorm rooms and they are measured over the next three to six days on their liking, satisfaction with the pictures. [16:59]
measured:adj.缓慢谨慎的; v.测量; (measure的过去分词和过去式) satisfaction:n.满意,满足;赔偿;乐事;赎罪;
And look at what we find. [17:09]
First of all , here's what students think is going to happen. [17:10]
First of all:adv.首先;
They think they're going to maybe come to like the picture they chose a little more than the one they left behind, but these are not statistically significant differences. [17:13]
statistically:adv.统计地;统计学上; significant:adj.重大的;有效的;有意义的;值得注意的;意味深长的;n.象征;有意义的事物;
It's a very small increase, and it doesn't much matter whether they were in the reversible or irreversible condition. [17:23]
irreversible:adj.不可逆的;不能取消的;不能翻转的;
Wrong-o. Bad simulators. Because here's what's really happening. [17:29]
Both right before the swap and five days later, people who are stuck with that picture, who have no choice, who can never change their mind, like it a lot! [17:34]
And people who are deliberating -- "Should I return it? [17:45]
deliberating:v.仔细考虑;深思熟虑;反复思考;(deliberate的现在分词)
Have I gotten the right one? Maybe this isn't the good one? [17:48]
Maybe I left the good one?" -- have killed themselves. [17:50]
They don't like their picture, and in fact even after the opportunity to swap has expired , they still don't like their picture. [17:53]
expired:adj.过期的;v.失效,期满,去世(expire的过去分词和过去式)
Why? [18:00]
Because the [reversible] condition is not conducive to the synthesis of happiness. [18:01]
conducive:adj.有益的;有助于…的;
So here's the final piece of this experiment. [18:07]
We bring in a whole new group of naive Harvard students and we say, "You know, we're doing a photography course, and we can do it one of two ways. [18:10]
naive:adj.天真的,幼稚的;
We could do it so that when you take the two pictures, you'd have four days to change your mind, or we're doing another course where you take the two pictures and you make up your mind right away and you can never change it. [18:19]
right away:立刻;
Which course would you like to be in?" Duh! [18:30]
66 percent of the students, two-thirds , prefer to be in the course where they have the opportunity to change their mind. [18:32]
two-thirds:n.三分之二;三分之二的;三分之二地;
Hello? 66 percent of the students choose to be in the course in which they will ultimately be deeply dissatisfied with the picture. [18:39]
dissatisfied:adj.不满意的; v.使不满(dissatisfy的过去式和过去分词);
Because they do not know the conditions under which synthetic happiness grows. [18:47]
The Bard said everything best, of course, and he's making my point here but he's making it hyperbolically : "'Tis nothing good or bad / But thinking makes it so." [18:54]
Bard:n.吟游诗人; hyperbolically:夸张地;双曲线地;
It's nice poetry , but that can't exactly be right. [19:04]
poetry:n.诗;诗意,诗情;诗歌艺术;
Is there really nothing good or bad? [19:07]
Is it really the case that gall bladder surgery and a trip to Paris are just the same thing? [19:10]
gall bladder:n.胆囊; surgery:n.外科;外科手术;手术室;诊疗室;
That seems like a one-question IQ test. [19:15]
They can't be exactly the same. [19:20]
In more turgid prose , but closer to the truth, was the father of modern capitalism , Adam Smith, and he said this. [19:22]
turgid:adj.肿胀的;浮夸的;浮肿的; prose:n.散文;v.用散文写;译成散文;平淡无趣地写; capitalism:n.资本主义;
This is worth contemplating : "The great source of both the misery and disorders of human life seems to arise from overrating the difference between one permanent situation and another -- [19:28]
contemplating:v.考虑;思量;考虑接受;深思熟虑;沉思;(contemplate的现在分词) source:n.来源;水源;原始资料; misery:n.痛苦,悲惨;不幸;苦恼;穷困; disorders:n.无秩序,混乱; v.[电子]扰乱(disorder的单三形式); arise:v.出现;发生;产生;起身; permanent:adj.永久的,永恒的;n.烫发;
Some of these situations may, no doubt, deserve to be preferred to others, but none of them can deserve to be pursued with that passionate ardor which drives us to violate the rules either of prudence or of justice , or to corrupt the future tranquility of our minds, [19:40]
deserve:vi.应受,应得; pursued:v.追击,追踪;继续从事(pursue的过去分词形式); passionate:adj.热情的;热烈的,激昂的;易怒的; ardor:n.热情;狂热;灼热; violate:v.违反,违背(法律、协议等);侵犯(隐私等);亵渎; prudence:n.审慎; justice:n.公平;公正;司法制度;审判; corrupt:v.损坏;破坏;使腐化;使堕落;adj.贪污的;受贿的;腐败的;营私舞弊的; tranquility:n.宁静;平静;
either by shame from the remembrance of our own folly , or by remorse for the horror of our own injustice ." [20:00]
remembrance:n.回想,回忆;纪念品;记忆力; folly:n.愚蠢;荒唐事;讽刺剧; remorse:n.懊悔;同情; horror:n.恐惧;厌恶;震惊;对某事物的强烈畏惧(或憎恨); injustice:n.不公正;不讲道义;
In other words: yes, some things are better than others. [20:08]
We should have preferences that lead us into one future over another. [20:13]
preferences:n.偏爱;爱好;喜爱;偏爱的事物;(preference的复数)
But when those preferences drive us too hard and too fast because we have overrated the difference between these futures, we are at risk. [20:18]
overrated:v.对…评价过高;高估;(overrate的过去分词和过去式)
When our ambition is bounded, it leads us to work joyfully . [20:29]
ambition:n.追求的目标;野心;志向;抱负; joyfully:adv.高兴地,喜悦地;
When our ambition is unbounded , it leads us to lie, to cheat, to steal, to hurt others, to sacrifice things of real value. [20:32]
unbounded:adj.无限的;不受控制的; sacrifice:n.牺牲;舍弃;祭献;祭祀;祭品;v.牺牲;献出;作祭献
When our fears are bounded, we're prudent , we're cautious , we're thoughtful . [20:41]
prudent:adj.谨慎的;精明的;节俭的; cautious:adj.谨慎的;十分小心的; thoughtful:adj.深思的;体贴的;关切的;
When our fears are unbounded and overblown , we're reckless , and we're cowardly . [20:46]
overblown:adj.停息的; v.吹散; reckless:adj.鲁莽的,不顾后果的;粗心大意的; cowardly:adj.怯懦的,懦弱的;胆小的;adv.胆怯地;
The lesson I want to leave you with, from these data, is that our longings and our worries are both to some degree overblown, because we have within us the capacity to manufacture the very commodity we are constantly chasing when we choose experience. [20:52]
longings:n.(对…的)渴望;(longing的复数) manufacture:v.(用机器)大量生产; n.大量制造; commodity:n.商品,货物;日用品; constantly:adv.不断地;时常地;
Thank you. [21:10]