VOA慢速英语2011--For Lots of People, Getting Older Means

Health Report - For Lots of People, Getting Older Means Getting Happier

健康报道 - 越老越幸福

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语健康报道节目。

Old age may not sound exciting. But recent findings offer good news for older people and for people worried about getting older.

年老听起来可能不太令人振奋。但最近的一项调查结果给老年人，以及担心变老的人带来了一个好消息。

Researchers found that people become happier and experience less worry after they reach the age of fifty. In fact, they say by the age of eighty-five, people are happier with their life than they were when they were eighteen years old.

研究人员发现，当人们年过50岁后，他们变得更快乐，也少了一份担心。实际上，研究人员表示，人们在85岁时的生活幸福度比他们18岁时更高。

The findings came from a survey of more than three hundred forty thousand adults in the United States. The Gallup Organization questioned them by telephone in two thousand eight. At that time, the people were between the ages of eighteen and eighty-five.

这项调查结果源自盖洛普（Gallup，民意调查机构）2008年对美国超过34万成年人的电话调查，调查人群年龄在18岁到85岁之间。

The researchers asked questions about emotions like happiness, sadness and worry. They also asked about mental or emotional stress.

研究人员询问了一些情感方面的问题，例如幸福、悲伤、忧虑。他们还问到了关于精神或情绪紧张的问题。

Arthur Stone in the Department of Psychiatry 1 and Behavioral Science at Stony 2 Brook 3 University in New York led the study. His team found that levels of stress were highest among adults between the ages of twenty-two and twenty-five.

纽约州立大学石溪分校精神病学和行为科学系的亚瑟·斯通（Arthur Stone）领导了这项研究。该研究小组发现，成年人中22到25岁年龄段人群压力最大。

The findings showed that stress levels dropped sharply after people reached their fifties.

研究结果表明，50岁后人们的压力锐减。

Happiness was highest among the youngest adults and those in their early seventies. The people least likely to report feeling negative emotions were those in their seventies and eighties.

他们在18到70岁来岁年龄段人群中幸福度最高，当他们7、80岁时也更少报告负面情绪。

The study also showed that men and women have similar emotional patterns as they grow older. However, women at all ages reported more sadness, stress and worry than men.

该研究同时表明，随着年龄增长，男性和女性情绪模式近似。但是，在所有年龄段中，女性都比男性更多地报告悲伤、压力和担心。

The findings appeared in the Proceedings 4 of the National Academy of Sciences.

这项研究结果刊登在美国科学院院报上。

Researchers say they do not know why happiness increases as people get older. One theory is that, as people grow older, they grow more thankful for what they have and have better control of their emotions. They also spend less time thinking about bad experiences.

研究人员称他们不知道为什么随着人们变老幸福度反而提升。一种理论认为，随着人们年龄的增长，他们对当前拥有的一切更加知足，也能更好地控制自己的情绪。同时也更少去想那些不幸的遭遇。

Professor Stone says the emotional patterns could be linked to changes in how people see the world, or maybe even changes in brain chemistry.

斯通教授表示，情绪模式可能与人们如何看待世界的变化有关，甚至也可能与大脑化学物质的变化有关。

The researchers also considered possible influences like having young children, being unemployed 5 or being single. But they found that influences like these did not affect the levels of happiness and well-being 6 related to age.

研究人员还考虑到了类似有了小孩、失业或单身等可能的影响因素，但他们发现，这些因素无法影响到与年龄相关的快乐幸福的程度。

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Brianna Blake. Tell us what you think about the relationship between happiness and age. You can post comments on our website, voaspecialenglish.com, or on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. I'm Barbara Klein.