:哈佛医学教授TED演讲：什么样的人活得更美好（中英文）

　　这项研究的发起者无论如何也不可能想到，75年之后我能够站在这里，告诉你们这项研究仍然在继续。每两年，我们充满耐心和辛勤的研究人员打电话给我们的研究对象，询问是否能够再寄给他们一套有关他们生活的问卷。

　　波士顿城郊的许多研究对象问我们：“你们怎么总是不断地想要研究我？我的生活没什么意思啊。”而哈佛的毕业生从没问过这个问题。为了得到他们人生最清晰的画卷，我们不仅仅只是寄给他们问卷。我们在他们的客厅里对他们进行访谈。我们从他们的医生那里获取医疗记录。我们获取他们的血样，扫描他们的大脑。我们和他们的孩子们交谈。我们用摄像机记录他们和自己的妻子谈论最隐秘的担忧。大概十年前，我们终于询问他们的妻子们，是否愿意作为研究对象加入我们的研究。很多女士都说：“你知道，是时候了。”

　　The founders of this study would never, in their wildest dreams, have imagined that I would be standing here today, 75 years later, telling you that the study still continues. Every 2 years, our patient and dedicated research staff calls up our men and asked them whether we could send them yet one more set of questions about their lives. Many of the intercity Boston men ask us, “Why do you keep wanting to study me? My life just isn’t that interesting”. The Harvard men never asked that question. (Laughter) To get the clearest picture of these lives, we don’t just send them questionnaires. We interviewed them in their living rooms. We get their medical records from their doctors. We draw their blood. We scanned their brains. We talk to their children. We videotaped them talking with their wives about their deepest concerns. And when about a decade ago we finally asked the wives if they would join us as members of this study, many of the women said, “you know，it’s about time”. (Laughter)

　　那么我们学到了什么？我们从这些人生活中提取出来的长篇累牍的信息到底教会我们什么？其实，完全无关财富、名声或者拼命工作。我们从这项长达75年的研究中得到的最清晰的信息是：良好的关系让我们更快乐，更健康。就这样！

　　So what have we learned? What are the lessons that come from that tens of thousands of pages of information that we’ve generated on these lives. Well the lessons aren’t about wealth or fame or working harder and harder. The clearest message that we get from this 75-year study is this: good relationships keep us happier and healthier.Period!

　　对于关系，我们学到了三条。第一条是，社会连结真的对我们有益，而孤独却有害。

　　事实证明，和家庭、朋友和周围人群连结更紧密的人更幸福。他们身体更健康，他们也比连结不甚紧密的人活得更长。而孤单的体验是有害的。和不孤独的人相比，那些比自己所希望的样子更孤单的人觉得自己更不幸福，他们到中年时健康状况退化地更快，他们的大脑功能衰退更早，而且他们的寿命更短。令人遗憾的是，任何一个时刻，每5个美国人中就有不只1个说自己孤独。我们知道，在人群中你也可能感到孤独，在婚姻中你也可能感到孤独。

　　We’ve learned 3 big lessons about relationships. The first is that social connections arereally good for us and that loneliness kills. It turns out that people who are more socially connected to family, to friends, to community are happier. They are physically healthier and they live longer than people who are less well connected. And the experience of loneliness turns out to be toxic. People, who are more isolated than they want to be from others, find that they’re less happy, their health declines earlier in mid-life, their brain functioning declines sooner, and they live shorter lives than people who are not lonely. And the sad fact is, that at any given time, more than 1 in 5 Americans will report, that they are lonely. And we know that you can be lonely in a crowd, and you can be lonely in a marriage.

　　所以我们学到的第二条信息是，起决定作用的不是你拥有的朋友的数量，不是你是否在一段稳定的亲密关系中，而是你的亲密关系的质量。

　　事实证明，处于冲突之中真的对我们的健康有害。举个例子，充满冲突而没有感情的婚姻，对我们的健康非常不利，甚至有可能比离婚还糟。而生活在良好、温暖的关系中是有保护作用的。