Over the last 70 years, researchers have been studying happy and unhappy people and finally found out ten factors that make a difference. Our feelings of well-being at any moment are determined to a certain degree by genes. However, of all the factors, wealth and age are the top two.
在过去的70年里，研究人员一直在研究快乐和不快乐的人，并最终找出了十个不同的因素。我们的幸福感在一定程度上取决于基因。然而，在所有因素中，财富和年龄是最重要的两个因素。
Money can buy a degree of happiness. But once you can afford to feed, clothe and house yourself, each extra dollar makes less and less difference.
金钱可以买到一定程度的幸福。但是，一旦你能负担得起自己的衣食住行，多出美元的差别就越来越小。
Researchers find that, on average, wealthier people are happier. But the link between money and happiness is complex. In the past half-century, average income has sharply increased in developed countries, yet happiness levels have remained almost the same. Once your basic needs are met, money only seems to increase happiness if you have more than your friends, neighbors and colleagues.
研究人员发现，平均而言，富人更幸福，但金钱和幸福之间的关系很复杂。在过去的半个世纪里，发达国家的平均收入急剧增加，但幸福水平几乎保持不变。一旦你的基本需求得到满足，只有当你拥有的比你的朋友、邻居和同事更多时，金钱才会增加幸福感。
"Dollars buy status, and status makes people feel better," conclude some experts, which helps explain why people who can seek status in other ways－scientists or actors, for example－may happily accept relatively poorly-paid jobs.
一些专家总结道：“美元获得地位，地位让人感觉更好。”这有助于解释为什么那些可以用其他方式寻求地位的人，例如科学家或演员，可能会乐于接受报酬相对较低的工作。
In a research, Professor Alex Michalos found that the people whose desire－not just for money, but for friends, family, job, health－rose furthest beyond what they already had, tended to be less happy than those who felt a smaller gap. Indeed, the size of the gap predicted happiness about five times better than income alone. "The gap measures just blow away the only measures of income." Says Michalos.
在一项研究中，亚历克斯·迈克洛斯教授发现，那些欲望——不仅为了钱，还为了朋友、家人、工作、健康——远超现实的人，往往比那些差距小的人更不快乐。事实上，通过差距大小预测的幸福感准确度大约是通过收入预测的五倍。迈克洛斯说：“差距指标击败了唯一的收入指标”。
Another factor that has to do with happiness is age. Old age may not be so bad. "Given all the problems of aging, how could the elderly be more satisfied?" asks Professor Laura Carstensen.
另一个与幸福有关的因素是年龄。年老可能没那么糟糕，“考虑到老龄化的所有问题，老年人怎么能更满意呢？”劳拉·卡斯滕森教授问道。
In one survey, Carstensen interviewed 184 people between the ages of 18 and 94, and asked them to fill out an emotions questionnaire. She found that old people reported positive emotions just as often as young people, but negative emotions much less often.
在一项调查中，卡斯滕森采访了184名年龄在18岁至94岁之间的人，并要求他们填写一份情绪问卷。她发现，老年人报告积极情绪的频率与年轻人一样，但消极情绪的频率要低得多。
Why are old people happier? Some scientists suggest older people may expect life to be harder and learn to live with it, or they're more realistic about their goals, only setting ones that they know they can achieve. But Carstensen thinks that with times running out, older people have learned to focus on things that make them happy and let go of those that don't.
为什么老年人更快乐？一些科学家建议，老年人可能认为生活更艰难，并学会适应生活，或者他们对自己的目标更加现实，只设定自己知道能够实现的目标。但卡斯滕森认为，随着时间的流逝，老年人已经学会专注于让他们快乐的事情，而放弃那些不快乐的事情。
"People realize not only what they have, but also that what they have cannot last forever," she says. "A goodbye kiss to a husband or wife at the age of 85, for example, may bring far more complex emotional responses than a similar kiss to a boy or girl friend at the age of 20."
她说：“人们不仅意识到自己拥有什么，而且意识到自己所拥有的不可能永远存在。例如，与20岁的男女朋友接吻相比，85岁时与丈夫或妻子吻别可能会带来更复杂的情感反应。”
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