A Richer Life by Seeing the Glass Half Full

　　受用乐观主义

　　The definition of an optimist: Someone, like me, who plans to get more done than time permits.

　　所谓乐观主义者，是这样的一个人： 他计划做许多事情，哪怕时间不允许，比如像我。

　　Or, having failed to achieve the impossible, someone, like me, who is sure everything will somehow get done anyway.

　　或者：在尝试一件不可能做到的事情失败之后，他仍然坚信，事情总会有解决的办法，比如像我。

　　A more classical definition from the Mayo Clinic: “Optimism is the belief that good things will happen to you and that negative events are temporary setbacks to be overcome.”

　　关于乐观主义，梅奥诊所(Mayo Clinic)给出了一个更经典的定义：“乐观就是相信好事终究会发生在你身上，而所有的坏事都只是暂时的困难，总有一天会克服。

　　In one study, adults shown to be pessimists based on psychological tests had higher death rates over a 30-year period than those who were shown optimistic. No doubt, the optimists were healthier because they were more inclined to take good care of themselves.

　　一项研究表明，经心理测试为悲观主义的成年人，在以后30年中的死亡率，比乐观主义者更高。毫无疑问，乐观主义者比较健康是因为他们更倾向于好好照顾自己。

　　Unlike Voltaire’s Candide, I’ve yet to be stripped of my optimism, though there are clearly forces in this country and the world that could subdue even the most ardent optimist.

　　在这个世界上，国家里，有太多的力量会彻底改变哪怕是最热情的乐观主义者，然而，我并没有像伏尔泰笔下的“老实人”，我还保留着最后一份乐观。

　　I am a realist, after all, and I do fret over things I may be able to do little or nothing about directly: economic injustice; wars and the repeated failure to learn from history; our gun-crazy society; the overreliance on tests to spur academic achievement; and attempts to strip women of their reproductive rights.

　　毕竟，我也是个现实主义者，遇到自己能力有限或无能为力的事情，我也会闷闷不乐，比如，经济上的不公平、战争、人们一次次地忘记历史教训、我们这个枪支泛滥的社会、教育中对考试的过分依赖，还有社会试图剥夺女性的生育权利。

　　But I’ve found that life is a lot more pleasant when one looks at the bright side, seeing the glass half full and assuming that reason will eventually prevail.

　　但是我发现，生活可以变得美好，只要我们能看到光明的一面，看到杯子里还有半杯水，并相信理智终会胜利。

　　Not Just About Being Positive 不仅仅是积极心态

　　Murphy’s Law — “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong” — is the antithesis of optimism. In a book called “Breaking Murphy’s Law,” Suzanne C. Segerstrom, a professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky, explained that optimism is not about being positive so much as it is about being motivated and persistent.

　　墨菲定律说，“任何事情，如果它有可能出问题，那么它迟早会出问题。”这与乐观主义正好相反。肯塔基大学的心理学教授苏珊·赛格斯特伦(Suzanne C. Segerstrom)在一本叫做《打破墨菲定律》的书中说，乐观，最主要的不是保持积极心态，更多的是要有动力，并坚持不懈。

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