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.
该研究发现，人们年过五旬后会变得更加幸福，担忧也会减少。实际上，研究人员发现，人们到85岁时的生活幸福度要高于18岁时。

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，当时这些参与调查者年龄在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 and Behavioral Science at Stony Brook 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.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.
研究结果表明，50岁后人们的压力锐减。刚刚成年和70来岁人群幸福度最高。但最不可能报告负面情绪的是七、八十岁的人群。

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，女性都比男性报告了更多的悲伤、压力和担心。

The findings appeared in the Proceedings 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。