時差N小時:淡定的老人們

So here is a question for our listeners:

那么，我想問問我們的聽眾：

If there were apotion that would allow you to stayyoung forever, would youtake it?

如果有長生不老藥，有人愿意吃嗎?

That's obvious, Yael?

這個問題顯而易見，

Who wouldn't want to recapture their youth?

有誰不愿返老孩童?

I'm not so sure the answer is obvious.

我倒不這么認(rèn)為。

Because the researcher has shown that the olderyou get, the calmer and happier you tend tobe.

研究人員已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)人越老越平靜、快樂。

Wait a second, old age is hard.

等等，人老了可不輕松，

There is disease, loneliness, and depression.

比如：疾病、孤獨(dú)、抑郁。

True, I'm not saying that being old age is easy, but social scientists at the University ofTexashave found that overall,

你說得對，我并不是說人老了輕松，但是德克薩斯州大學(xué)的社會科學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)：

aging is associated more with positive, passive emotions instead ofnegative, active emotions.

大體而言，老年人情緒更加樂觀而被動，并非消極而主動。

Passive emotions?

被動情緒?

Yes, emotions can be passive and active as well as positive and negative.

沒錯，情緒可分為主動和被動;樂觀和消極。

So, for example,feeling calm is a passive emotion.

比如，淡定就是被動情緒，

And it's also usually seen as positive.

也被看作是樂觀情緒。

Anxiety and anger, on theother hand, are clearly negative emotions.

反之，焦慮和生氣很顯然是消極情緒。

And at least in many cases they're also active.

很多時候，還是主動情緒。

Can anger be passive when someone is passive aggressive?

因?yàn)樗硕枚窌r，生氣就是被動情緒嗎?

Sure, but the point is that in general, aging seems to make us more emotionally passive.

沒錯，關(guān)鍵是隨著人變老普遍的情緒會被動。

And being passive seems to correlate more with positive emotions like calm andcontentment.

而被動情緒和很多樂觀情緒相關(guān)。

It's not clear why aging has this effect, but maybe it's because when you're older you're nolonger trying to prove yourself, no longer as anxious about getting ahead.

比如平靜或知足。原因不詳，但可能是因?yàn)槿死狭?，再也不會試著表現(xiàn)自我，也不會爭先恐后。

Although, to be fair, the researchers found that the richer and more educated you are, the moreyou experience positive emotions.

公正地說，研究人員還發(fā)現(xiàn)越富裕和有文化的人，樂觀情緒會更多。