时文选读两篇

时文选读国法系134班王乙竹世界上最幸福的国家是哪个

CostaRicahasofficiallybeennamedthehappiestplacetoliveintheworldbyTheHappyPlanetIndex.Thestudycompileddatafrom151differentcountriestomeasurewherepeoplearelivinghappy,sustainablelives.So,exactlyhowdoesonemeasurehappinessanddoeslivinghappilyreallymatter?哥斯达黎加正式被“幸福星球指数”评为世界上最幸福的地方。该研究编译了来自151个不同国家的数据，衡量哪里的人生活得最幸福，最可持续。所以，我们是怎样衡量幸福的，幸福的生活指的是什么？TheHPIlooksatthreedifferentfactorstodetermineifpeoplearehappyinacertaincountry.First,itlooksatgeneralwell-being,bystudyingaGallupWorldPollthatusesthe“LadderofLife”method.Thepollaskspeopletoratetheirlifeonascaleof0-10,with0beingtheworstpossiblelifeand10beingthebest.Denmark,CanadaandNorwayfinishedinthetopthreewithTogocominginlast.Thentheytakethatnumberandmultiplyitbyeachcountry’slifeexpectancyusingdatafroma2011UnitedNationsstudy.“幸福星球指数”查看三个不同的因素来确定某个国家的人民生活的是否幸福。首先，查看整体福利状况，研究盖洛普世界民意调查“生命之梯”的方法。该民意测验要求人们给自己的生活打分，从0到10，0是最糟糕的生活，10是最幸福的生活。丹麦，加拿大和挪威位列前三，而多哥排在最后。然后他们记录该数字，乘以每个国家的人均寿命，使用的是2011年联合国一项研究的数据。Japanhasthehighestatnearly84years-almosttwicethatofSierraLeone,whichhasthelowestlifeexpectancyatonly47.8years.日本近84年来的人均寿命最高，几乎是塞拉利昂的两倍，其人均寿命最短，只有47.8岁。Thestudyalsofactorsineachcountry'secologicalfootprint.ThisstatisticisimportanttotheHPIbecauseit’sdirectlyconnectedtothesustainabilityofacountry’shappiness-asacountrybecomesmorepollutedandlessabletoproduceresourceslikefood,thelesslikelyitisthatthey’llhaveagoodorlonglife.Togettheirfinalscores,theytaketheLadderofLifeaverage,multipliedbylifeexpectancy,anddividethatbytheecologicalfootprint.该研究还将每个国家的生态足迹考虑在内。该统计数据对HPI非常重要，因为它直接与一个国家幸福状况的可持续性相关——随着一个国家的污染状况加重，不能生产食物等资源，这里的人们就不可能过上幸福长寿的生活。要计算最后得分，他们得到生命之梯的平均值，乘以人均寿命，然后除以生态足迹。So,that’showCostaRica,Vietnam,andColombiawerenamedthehappiestplacesintheworldtolive.But,isthisanaccurateassessment?Aretheyhappierthanothernations?所以，哥斯达黎加，越南，哥伦比亚成为世界上最幸福的地方。但是，该评估准确吗？他们比世界上其他国家更幸福吗？Well,Iguessitdependsonhowyoudefinehappy.TheOrganizationforEconomicCooperationandDevelopmentdeclaredAustraliaasthehappiestcountry,basedonelevendifferentstatisticslikeeducation,personalsecurityandincome.A2013reportbytheUNlistedDenmarkatthetop,usingGDP,lifeexpectancy,andcorruptionlevels-amongotherthings.我认为这应该取决于你怎样给幸福定义。经合组织宣布澳大利亚为最幸福的国家，根据11种不同的统计资料来很亮，比如教育，个人安全感和收入。2013年联合国一份报告认为丹麦是最幸福的国家，使用的是GDP，人均寿命和贪污腐败水平等因素来衡量。Ormaybeyoujudgehappinessontopicsnotbeingcovered,likehomiciderates,unemploymentorgunrights.或许你是根据非上述因素来衡量幸福的，比如自杀率，失业率和枪支所有权等等。See,that’stheproblemwithrankingcountriesbyhappiness.Happinessissubjective,andonethatwemaynotbeabletoaccuratelytrackacrossallcountries.Butthatobviouslyisn’tgoingtostopanyonefromtrying.所以，为每个国家的幸福状况排名存在问题。幸福是主观感觉，不可能按照统一标准对所有国家进行衡量。但是，这也不能成为阻止别人进行排名的理由。Infact,theUNthinkstrackinghappinessissoimportantthattheypassedaresolutiononitin2011,sayingthatcountriesnowneedtostarttrackinghappiness.实际上，联合国认为追踪幸福状况非常重要，他们在2011年通过了一项决议，称所有国家现在要开始追踪幸福状况。Andasfarascriteriaforhappinessgoes,theHappyPlanetIndexisprettysimple.Theyaskedpeopleiftheywerehappy,lookedathowlongthosepeoplewerepotentiallygoingtolive,andthendividedthatbyhowsustainabletheirenvironmentis.Ifyoufeelthosearethreeimportantqualificationsforbeinghappy,thenmaybeit’stimetopackyourbagsandmovetoCostaRica.尽管幸福的标准各有不同，而幸福星球指数则非常简单。他们问人们是否幸福，观察人的寿命会有多长，然后除以环境的可持续性。如果你觉得这是衡量是否幸福的重要标准，或许你应该考虑移民哥斯达黎加了。重点单词corruption[kə‘rʌpʃən]n.腐败，堕落，贪污联想记忆

scale[skeil]n.鳞，刻度，衡量，数值范围v.依比例决

exchange[iks‘tʃeindʒ]n.交换，兑换，交易所v.交换，兑换security[si‘kju:riti]n.安全，防护措施，保证，抵押，债券，证券

define[di‘fain]v.定义，解释，限定，规定联想记忆

poll[pəul]n.投票，民意测验，民意，票数v.做民意

planet[‘plænit]n.行星

subjective[səb‘dʒektiv]adj.主观的n.主格，主观事物

environment[in‘vaiərənmənt]n.环境，外界

accurate['ækjurit]adj.准确的，精确的联想记忆The

Science

of

Laziness

我们为什么那么懒惰It

can

feel

good

lounging

around

and

doing

nothing...sometimes

too

good!

Whether

it's

toavoid

work

or

escape

physical

activity,we've

all

had

those

days.

But

why

are

some

people

wiedlazier

than

others?

Is

there

a

'couch-potato

gene'

that

causes

lazy

behaviour?

Evolution

hasmolded

our

brains

and

bodies

to

respond

positively

to

natural

rewards

such

as

food,

sex

andeven

exercise.

Wait

-

exercise??

Yup,

the

pleasure

we

experience

comes

largely

from

thedopamine

system

in

our

brain,

which

conveys

these

messages

throughout

the

body,ultimatelyhelping

to

ensure

the

survival

of

our

species.

到处闲逛，什么都不做的感觉很好……有时感觉简直太好了！无论是躲避工作还是逃避体育活动，我们都有这种想要偷懒的日子。但是为什么有的人比其他人更懒呢？有没有一种所谓的“懒人基因”导致懒惰的行为呢？进化过程塑造我们的大脑和身体对食物，性爱甚至运动等自然反馈给出积极的反应。等等，运动？是的，我们经历的愉快感主要来自大脑中的多巴胺系统，通过身体传递这些信息，最终确保我们的种族得以生存。For

many,

the

pleasure

derived

from

exercise

can

become

just

as

addictive

as

food

and

sex.

Butwhile

we're

all

up

for

more

food

and

sex,

many

struggle

with

the

desire

for

physical

activity,even

though

it's

an

essential

part

of

human

biology.

对许多人来说，来自运动的快乐像食物和性一样上瘾。但是在我们渴望更多食物和性爱的时候，许多人则不想参加体育活动，尽管这是人类生物学的必要部分。Scientists

studying

mice

have

found

an

interesting

genetic

connection.

After

separating

miceinto

two

groups

-

those

that

chose

to

run

on

their

wheel

more

often,

and

those

that

decidednot

to

run

as

much

-

the

difference

was

clear

in

their

offspring.

After

10

generations,therunning

mice

would

run

on

their

wheels

75%

more

often

than

the

other

group,

and

by

16generations

they

were

running

7

miles

a

day

as

opposed

to

the

average

4

miles.

It

seemedtheir

motivation

for

physical

activity

was

genetic.科学家对老鼠进行研究，发现了有趣的基因联系。他们把老鼠分成两组，一些更经常奔跑，另一些则不那么喜欢跑动——它们的后代差异非常明显。10代以后，喜欢跑动的老鼠比另外一组老鼠跑动的多75%。16代以后，喜欢跑动的老鼠每天跑7英里，而另外一组每天跑4英里。看上去，他们运动的动机似乎是基因决定的。We

all

inherit

genes

from

our

parents

that

play

a

key

role

in

the

development

of

our

brains,and

these

genes

can

make

some

people

literally

crave

activity.

In

fact,

the

brains

of

therunning

mice

had

larger

dopamine

systems

and

regions

that

deal

with

motivation

and

reward.They

needed

activity,

otherwise

their

brains

would

react

similar

to

drug

addicted

rodents

whendeprived

of

cocaine

or

nicotine.They

were

genetically

addicted

to

running.

我们都从父母那里遗传在大脑发育中发挥关键作用的基因，这些基因会让一些人渴望运动。实际上，跑动的老鼠的大脑拥有更大的多巴胺系统和脑区，用来处理动机和回报。它们需要活动，否则，它们的大脑做出的反应就像有毒瘾的啮齿动物被剥夺了可卡因或尼古丁一样。它们从的基因决定它们对奔跑上瘾。We

also

inherit

genes

responsible

for

our

other

traits

-

from

impulsivity,

to

procrastinationto

work

ethic

and

straight

up

laziness.

And

it

turns

out

our

physical

laziness

may

be

linked

to

acouch

potato

gene

-

or

rather,a

mutation

in

a

normal

gene

which

regulates

activity

levels.

Thisgene

is

responsible

for

a

type

of

dop