【摘要】：威廉希尔app 整理了你想要哪种生活?你生活的目标是追求幸福?抑或是想活得更充实?幸福生活就等于是有意义的生活吗?
According to a new study, a happy life and a meaningful life are not the same thing. In fact, the single-minded pursuit of happiness can leave people less happy.
一项最新研究显示，幸福的人生和有意义的人生完全不是一回事。事实上，一味追求幸福只会让人们的幸福感降低。
The study will be published this year in the Journal of Positive Psychology. A recent article in The Atlantic provided a summary of the results.
这项研究成果年内将刊登在《积极心理学学刊》。近期发表在《大西洋月刊》上的一篇文章也概述了该研究成果。
Scientists asked nearly 400 US citizens aged 18 to 78 whether they thought their lives were meaningful and happy. These people were asked about their attitudes toward meaning, happiness and many other aspects in life, like stress levels, spending patterns, and family life. The researchers found that a meaningful life and a happy life overlap in certain ways, but are essentially different.
科学家就是否觉得生活幸福而充实这一问题采访了约400位，年龄介于18-78岁间的美国人。受访者就幸福、充实、以及压力水平、消费模式和家庭生活等生活方方面面的给出了自己的态度。研究人员发现，尽管充实生活与幸福生活在某些方面重合，但本质不同。
Leading a happy life, the researchers found, is associated with being a “taker”, while leading a meaningful life corresponds with being a “giver”.
研究人员发现，生活幸福的人往往是“索取者”，而生活充实的人则属于“赠予者”。
Happiness, the researchers found, is about feeling good and getting what we want. People who are happy tend to think that life is easy. They are in good physical health and able to buy the things that they need and want.
研究人员发现，幸福就是感觉良好并如愿以偿。幸福的人往往认为生活简单安逸。他们身体健康，而且买得起自己需要和想要的东西。
Happiness is about satisfying our needs and desires. The pursuit of happiness is often associated with selfish behavior. Animals have needs and desires and they can feel happy too. What sets human beings apart from animals is not the pursuit of happiness, the researchers said, but the pursuit of meaning, which is unique to humans.
幸福便是满足私欲。追求幸福往往伴随着一些自私行径。动物存在欲望，亦能感到幸福。研究人员表示，真正将人类与动物区分开来的，并非对于幸福的追求，而是对于人生意义的追求，这是人类的专属。
We can often find meaning in helping others or making a sacrifice for a “greater good”. Meaning often comes at the expense of happiness. That’s because people who have invested themselves in something bigger than themselves worry more and have higher levels of stress and anxiety in their lives than happy people. Volunteering in rural schools, for example, is meaningful but also entails hardship.
我往往在帮助他人，或者“牺牲小我完成大我”的过程中找到人生意义。获得人生意义总是要以幸福为代价。这是因为当人们投身比自身更重要的事业中时，总是要比幸福的人承受更多的压力和焦虑。比如去山区支教是件有意义的事，但同时也得历经苦难。
The study also found that meaning is not only about transcending the self, but also about transcending the present moment.
这项研究还发现，人生的意义不仅仅是超越自我，更是超越现在。