金錢買不到幸福 也許時間可以

While on vacation in distant locales, people often find that time moves quite differently than inthe places they’re used to. In the tropics, we settle into the grooves of “island time” and relaxthanks to a more leisurely rhythm. A trip to a big city can leave us exhilarated but alsodrained by the energetic whir of life there.

據(jù)科技雜志Nautilus報道，當人們?nèi)ミh方度假時，往往會發(fā)現(xiàn)時間過得與平時很不一樣。熱帶地區(qū)悠閑的節(jié)奏讓我們習慣于“島上的時間”，過得更加放松。去大城市令人興奮，卻也被充滿活力的快節(jié)奏生活弄得筋疲力盡。

The different paces of different communities also seem to be connected to other culturalcharacteristics. Robert Levine and his colleagues have studied the speed of life in cities aroundthe world and across the U.S. In a series of experiments they measured how fast solitarypedestrians in a downtown core covered a distance of 60 feet (being careful to exclude thosewho are obviously window shopping), timed how long it took to complete a simple commercialtransaction, and recorded the accuracy of randomly selected clocks in the downtownbusiness area. They found that places with a faster pace of life also had more robust economies(as measured by GDP per capita, average purchasing power, and average caloric intake), andthat people in larger cities tended to move faster than those in less populated areas. They alsofound truth to the stereotype that people move slower in hotter places.

群體間不同的生活節(jié)奏是與他們的文化有關的。羅伯特?萊文和他的同事們對全球各個城市和美國各地的生活節(jié)奏做了一個調(diào)查。通過一系列的實驗，他們計算出了每個城市里的人走過60英尺需要的時間(他們仔細地將其中明顯是在逛街的人排除在外)，計算了一樁買賣成交需要的時間，并且記錄了在中心商業(yè)區(qū)隨機挑選的時鐘的準確性。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)節(jié)奏快的地方往往是那些經(jīng)濟更加發(fā)達的地方(通過對比人均GDP、平均購買力還有平均熱量攝入)，并且人們在大城市里比在人口少的地方走得更快。他們也發(fā)現(xiàn)了人們在熱的地方走得更慢這一慣例。

So as you might expect, fast-moving people are associated with fast-moving economies. Butdoes that faster life translate into greater happiness? In faster places (specifically, economicallydeveloped areas of North America, Western Europe, and Asia), people were more likely tosmoke, less likely to take the time to help strangers in need, and more likely to die fromcoronary heart disease. Yet Levine and his colleagues found that residents in faster placestended to report feeling somewhat happier with their lives than those who lived in slower places.A city’s pace of life was indeed “significantly related” to the physical, social, and psychologicalwell-being of its inhabitants.

正如你所想象的那樣，快節(jié)奏的人們和高速增長的經(jīng)濟相關。但是快節(jié)奏的生活就意味著幸福么?在快節(jié)奏的地方(尤其是經(jīng)濟發(fā)達地區(qū)，如北美、西歐和亞洲)，更多的人抽煙，更少的人會去幫助那些需要幫助的人，并且更容易死于冠心病。但是萊文和他的同事們發(fā)現(xiàn)，在快節(jié)奏城市生活的人覺得自己比那些生活在慢節(jié)奏城市的人更加幸福。一個城市的生活節(jié)奏明顯與居民的身體健康、社會意識和心理狀態(tài)息息相關。

Perhaps the higher reported rates of happiness simply reflect the fact that faster places havemore robust economies. But the relationship between income and reported happiness is farfrom obvious. According to the “Easterlin paradox” (named after economist Richard Easterlin),once people have enough money to meet their basic needs, having more money is notnecessarily correlated with higher self-reported happiness. Easterlin’s claims are controversialand not universally accepted; even if his theory is correct, wealthier nations might be happieroverall if they address the basic needs to more of their people. In any case, the ongoingdebate indicates that we need to tread carefully when making connections between happinessand overall economic factors.

也許更高的幸福指數(shù)反應出了這樣一個事實：快節(jié)奏的城市擁有更好的經(jīng)濟發(fā)展。但是收入與幸福指數(shù)間的關系并不明顯。根據(jù)伊斯特林悖論(以經(jīng)濟學家理查德?伊斯特林的名字命名)，一旦人們擁有足夠的錢滿足基本的生活需求，收入與幸福指數(shù)關聯(lián)得并不緊密。伊斯特林悖論存在著爭議也沒有被普遍接受，盡管他的理論是對的，在滿足了更多人們的基本生活需求時，總的來說更富有的國家幸福指數(shù)會高些。無論如何，依舊持續(xù)著的爭議告訴我們將幸福指數(shù)和整體經(jīng)濟因素進行關聯(lián)時需要多加小心。

Among individuals in a society, busyness—or the feeling of busyness—seems to be animportant factor in well-being. That feeling of busyness—of having a lot to do and too littletime in which to do itis often associated with stress and anxiety. However in many contextsbeing “busy” is badge of honor: Busy parents are seen as devoted to their children’s well-being, the busy real estate agent must be closing lots of sales, and the busy lawyer can chargea premium hourly rate. In US studies, the happiest people reported that they were busy, in thesense that they had little excess time, yet did not feel rushed. Like big-city dwellers, theyseemed to thrive at a faster pace.

對社會中的個體來說，忙碌——或者感覺忙碌——似乎是影響狀態(tài)的重要因素。忙碌的感覺——有很多的事情要做，卻沒有多少時間的感覺經(jīng)常帶來壓力與焦慮。但在很多的情況下，忙碌是一個光榮的標志：忙碌的父母被認為是為了讓孩子過得好;忙碌的房地產(chǎn)經(jīng)紀人則與客戶更加親密;忙碌的律師的時薪也更高。在美國的調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，幸福指數(shù)最高的人都很忙，也就意味著他們沒有多余的時間，也不覺得匆忙。就好像大城市的居民們，他們似乎喜歡更快的生活節(jié)奏。

Levine’s work raises the intriguing possibility that an individual’s feelings about their use oftime contribute as much or more to their happiness as does economics. Now the bigchallenge is to find out which way the causal chain works: Does the feeling of being active, yetnot rushed, contribute to happiness? Or does happiness allow people to perceive their use oftime in positive ways?

萊文的研究顯示了對時間利用的個人感覺可能比經(jīng)濟更加影響幸福指數(shù)?，F(xiàn)在的問題時需要找出這樣的影響是怎樣發(fā)生的：是因為充實并不匆忙的感覺令人幸福?還是幸福讓人們更加積極地利用他們的時間?