富國并不比窮國幸福。根據蓋洛普2015年發布的全球幸福體驗指數，貧窮的南美國家巴拉圭位居榜首。89%的巴拉圭人說:“他們經歷了很多快樂，經常開懷地笑，休息的很好并且能夠得到尊重。”而只有79%的美國人和75%的中國人表達了同樣的觀點。

By David Blair

I recently stumbled on a youtube video of "The Happy Baby Song." Caspar Addyman and Lauren Stewart, both psychologists at Goldsmiths, University of London, used babies' brainwaves to find out what kinds of sounds make them happy. They like, for example, words that start with the letters "P" and "B", but not with "L". They like the pitch to be in the range of a female human voice, with fast tempos. Grammy award winning songwriter Imogen Heap used this research to write a song designed to make babies happy.
我最近偶然在YouTube上發現了《快樂寶貝歌》的視頻。倫敦大學金史密斯學院的兩位心理學家卡斯帕?阿迪曼和勞倫?斯圖爾特通過嬰兒的腦電波找出讓嬰兒們開心的音樂。比如，寶寶們喜歡以字母“P”和“B”開頭的單詞，而以字母“L”開頭的單詞不那么受他們青睞。寶寶們喜歡快節奏的女性音調。格萊美獎得主、作曲家伊莫金?希普利用這項研究創作了一首旨在讓寶寶快樂的歌曲。

It worked. All the babies in the video started laughing on hearing the song.
這個歌很管用。視頻中所有寶寶聽到這首歌時都開始大笑。

I hope they are working on a "Happy Old Man" song next.
我希望接下來有作曲家能寫一首《快樂老頭歌》。

Bhutan, the tiny Buddhist kingdom in the Himalayans, included the goal of enhancing "Gross National Happiness" in its 2008 constitution. Amazingly, the country's legal code of 1729 states "if the government cannot create happiness for its people, there is no purpose for the government to exist. Famously, the US Declaration of Independence says the reason governments exist is to secure the rights of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The similar Chinese concept of "harmony" goes all the way back to Confucius.
不丹坐落于喜馬拉雅山腳下，是一個很小的佛教王國。該國將提高“國民幸福指數”的目標寫入2008年的《憲法》。令人不可思議的是，1729年的不丹的法律就規定，“如果政府不能為人民創造幸福，那么就失去了存在的價值。”美國《獨立宣言》有句著名的話：政府存在的原因就是要保障人們“生存、自由和追求幸福”的權利。而中國也有相似的概念，孔子時期就曾提出“和諧”。

Unfortunately, GDP, which is the main metric of success for all countries, except Bhutan, has very little to do with happiness. It's just a measure of the "goods and services" produced by the country.
不幸的是，GDP是所有國家（除了不丹）衡量成功的主要標準，而它與幸福幾乎沒有關系。GDP只是衡量國家生產的“商品和服務”的指標。

But, some of those goods are really "bads." A company spewing chemicals into a lake would count as an increase in GDP, but no one would be happier—except maybe the company's owner. Ironically, cleaning up the lake also counts as GDP. Putting a million new cars on Beijing's roads would count as GDP, but almost everyone would be made less happy.
但是，有些商品確實是“垃圾貨”。公司向湖水中排放的化學物質將會計入GDP的增長，但除了公司的所有者，沒有人會感到高興。具有諷刺意味的是，清理湖水也算作GDP增長。北京的道路上增加一百萬輛新車會被看成GDP的增長，但幾乎所有人都對此感到不開心。

Rich countries are not happier than poor ones. According to the 2015 Gallup Positive Experience Index, the poor South American country of Paraguay ranked happiest in the world. 89% of its people said "they experienced a lot of enjoyment, smiled of laughed a lot, felt well-rested and felt treated with respect." 79% of American and 75% of Chinese agree with that statement.
富國并不比窮國幸福。根據蓋洛普2015年發布的全球幸福體驗指數，貧窮的南美國家巴拉圭位居榜首。89%的巴拉圭人說：“他們經歷了很多快樂，經常開懷地笑，休息的很好并且能夠得到尊重。”而只有79%的美國人和75%的中國人表達了同樣的觀點。

Research by Nobel prize winning economists Angus Deaton and Daniel Kahneman concluded that, in the US, happiness increases with income up to about $75,000 per year. In most regions, that is about the amount a family needs to pay for the basics of life—food, housing, medical care, education, and the cars needed for transportation. After that, additional income does not lead to additional happiness. Logically, people could be made happy for less money if medical care and education were not so ridiculously expensive and if a better, cheaper, and a safer transportation system could be built.
諾貝爾獎得主、經濟學家安格斯?迪頓和丹尼爾?卡尼曼的研究認為，在美國，幸福感會隨著收入的增加而增加，但是能帶給人幸福感的收入是有上限的，約為年薪7.5萬美元。在大多數地區，7.5萬美元是一個家庭需要支付基本生活必需品的費用，這其中包括食物、住房、醫療保健、教育和出行工具。超過7.5萬美元時，額外的收入并不會帶來更多的幸福。從邏輯上講，如果醫療和教育不那么昂貴，而且交通系統能夠更加完善、便宜、安全，讓人們感到幸福的金錢數量會下降。

Research consistently shows that two factors are key to happiness--opportunities for social interaction and having a feeling of accomplishment. But in many countries, especially rich countries, society is structured to maximize goods production, while work time squeezes out social time.
研究反復證明，擁有社交互動的機會和成就感是獲得幸福的兩個關鍵因素。但是在許多國家，特別是富國，社會的結構就是為了最大限度地擴大商品生產，工作時間擠壓了社交時間。

Too many people in the US work long hours and commute long distances so they can afford big houses, big cars and other material things, but they lose touch with their children and don't know their neighbors. Dangerous, car-dependent cities deprive us of needed exercise, force us to waste time on the roads, and take away the places kids need to play. Of course, there are high pressure jobs and long commutes in China, too. But, many Chinese have been able to stick with family-based traditions.
在美國，有太多的人長時間地工作，長距離地通勤，他們通過努力買到了大房子、好汽車和其他物質產品，但他們失去了與孩子的溝通，也不認識自己的鄰居。現在的城市越來越依賴汽車，也因此變得更加危險。我們缺少了必要的鍛煉，不得不在路上浪費時間，孩子們也沒有可以玩耍的地方了。當然，中國也存在高壓工作和遠距離通勤。但是，很多中國人能夠堅守以家庭為核心的傳統。

Countries are like people. They need to concentrate on material goods up to a point. After that, other things are much more important.
國家的發展如同人的發展。國家需要把注意力集中在物質生產上，但當GDP增長到一定的程度后，其他事情就變得更加重要了。

英文來源：“CHINA DAILY”微信公眾號
翻譯：劉晨菲
編審：丹妮 董靜
音頻編輯：焦潔

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David Blair writes for the international weekly editions of China Daily.