Being cheerful on the outside can help you – and others – feel it on the inside
外表开朗可以使自己和他人内心愉悦
By Donna Ferguson
唐娜·弗格森
Cheerfulness can boost your energy levels, even in tough times – as philosophers and writers have long recognized.
众多哲学家和作家表示开朗有助于使人精力充沛，即使你处于在万事不如意的时刻。
“The surest sign of wisdom is a constant cheerfulness,” wrote the French philosopher Michel de Montaigne in the 16th century. “Be cheerful,” commands Prospero – arguably the wisest of all of Shakepeare’ s characters – in The Tempest. Yet the impact of cheerfulness – and the power it gives us to get through difficult moments in our lives – is hard to define and easy to disregard or dismiss, even as we strive to be happy.
法国哲学家米歇尔·德·蒙田在十六世纪写道：“智慧最可靠的标志就是持续开朗。”在《暴风雨》中，莎士比亚笔下最聪明的角色普洛斯彼罗就命令道：“要开朗起来。”然而即使我们努力追寻快乐，也很难去界定开朗的影响以及在人生艰难时刻开朗所给予我们的力量，并且开朗的力量也容易被我们忽略或否定。
And that is one of the reasons Timothy Hampton, a professor in the department of comparative literature at the University of California, Berkeley, decided to write a book about it. Cheerfulness: A Literary and Cultural History explores how “cheerfulness” functions as a theme in the works of great philosophers and writers from Shakespeare to Jane Austen, and how it is portrayed in everything from 16th-century medical books to the Boy Scout handbook.
因此，加州大学伯克利分校比较文学系教授蒂莫西·汉普顿决定就开朗的影响写一本书。这本书的书名为《愉悦的心情：文学和文化史》，该书探讨了“开朗”是如何在从莎士比亚到简·奥斯丁的伟大哲学家和作家的作品中作为一个主题发挥关键作用的，还有从16世纪的医学书籍到童子军手册的各类书籍中是如何描述“开朗”的。
“Cheerfulness is a psychological and emotional resource, a way of approaching actions and situations,” says Hampton. “I can say hello to you – but I can also say hello to you cheerfully. It’s not part of the saying ‘hello’, it’s some kind of coloring of what I am saying.”
汉普顿说：“开朗是一种心理和情感资源，一种应对各种行动和情形的方式。我可以跟你打招呼，但是我可以选择开朗地跟你打招呼。这不仅仅是在说‘你好’，更像是赋予我的话语一种色彩。”
The philosopher Spinoza called it an “affect”. And he says it’s the one affect “you can’t have too much of.”
哲学家斯宾诺莎称它为“影响”，他说这是一种“你拥有得越多就越好的影响力”。
Cheerfulness differs from happiness, Hampton says, because you have some control over it. “You can make yourself cheerful – I can tell you to cheer up and you know what that means. But you can’t make yourself happy. You can’t even buy it. Happiness is something you don’t have any control over. ”
汉普森表示开朗不同于愉悦，因为你对“开朗”有一种掌控力。他说，“你可以让自己开朗起来，比如我让你积极一些，你就明白我什么意思。但是你不能迫使自己开心，你不能买到开心。快乐是一种不受自己掌控的情绪。”
Cheerfulness is not optimism, he says, and it’s not positivity or hopefulness, either. “It’s ephemeral. It comes and goes. It’s a resource of the self, an uptick in one’s emotional wellbeing that raises your energy levels briefly. It’s not something that is easy to pin down – we don’t really recognise it, unless we’re doing it.”
他还说，开朗不代表乐观，无关积极向上，也无关满怀希望。“它是短暂的，来了又走了。它是一种自我的资源，一种人的情绪健康方面的提升，可以短暂地提升人的精力。开朗不是一种能轻易确定的情绪，除非我们正显露出开朗的一面，否则我们根本意识不到它的存在。”
For example, it doesn’t necessarily show on your face, he explains, the way stronger emotions do. “But when you do something, I can tell if you are cheerful, I can see the cheerfulness coming through your actions.”
汉普森解释道，开朗不像一些强烈的情绪，它不一定要体现在脸上。“当你做某件事的时候，我可以感受到你很开朗，我可以从你的行为中察觉它的存在。”
Most importantly, it is an accessible emotion, even in moments of extreme hardship. “I spent much of my early life in proximity to people who had suffered physical handicaps and been in accidents,” Hampton says, “and for whom getting through the day was very difficult. And cheerfulness, I realised, is a resource – you can make it, manage it and put it into action. And that seemed to me to be a really precious and interesting thing that we don’t think about as much as we should.”
最重要的是，开朗是一种人即使在极度困难的时刻也能获得的情感。汉普顿说：“在早期的生活中，我大部分时间都在和那些身体有缺陷和遭遇事故的人打交道。对他们来说，度过一天是非常困难的。我意识到，开朗是一种资源——你可以制造、管理以及付诸行动。对我来说，这是非常宝贵和有趣但鲜有人思考的东西。”
Hampton decided to find out whether cheerfulness was an emotion people have been thinking about for centuries and if the way we think about it has changed. “I discovered that cheerfulness is really a modern phenomenon that begins to emerge in the 16th century, during the Renaissance.”
汉普森决定去探寻“开朗”是不是一种人类已经思考了几个世纪的情感，以及人对于开朗的思考有没有改变。“我发现开朗真的是一种现代现象，出现于16世纪文艺复兴时期。”
The word cheerfulness first appears in English in 1530, and its roots lie in an old French word meaning “face”. “Chaucer uses it as a synonym for ‘face’. And in the 19th century, the French writer Madame de Staël talks about how, if you put a cheerful expression on your face when you’re in conversation with other people, it will spread to the inside of yourself. So even if a person is not actually cheerful on the inside, the emotional energy coming from their face will transform the interior of the self.”
“cheerfulness”这个词第一次在英语中出现是在1530年，源于一个古老的法语单词，意思是“脸”。“乔叟将它作为‘脸’的同义词使用。而在19世纪，法国作家德·斯塔尔夫人谈到，与其他人交谈时，脸上摆出开朗的表情，这种感情就会蔓延到你的内心。因此，即使一个人的内心实际上并不开朗，从他们脸上传来的情感能量也会改变自我的内部。”
This idea that cheerfulness can spread from the exterior to the interior is common in books and essays about cheerfulness, Hampton says, as is the idea that cheerfulness can spread from person to person, and build feelings of community and fellowship. “The philosopher Hume, for example, calls cheerfulness a flame or a contagion. He says when a cheerful person comes into a room where everybody is subdued, cheerfulness swoops around the room and envelops everyone. And suddenly, the conversation becomes gay and lively. So there’s a sense that, at a certain point, cheerfulness becomes something that’s bigger than any of us and is linked to our relationships to each other.”
汉普森说，大量有关开朗的书籍和文章中都体现出开朗可以从外表传到内心，并且开朗可以在人群中互相传染，给人带来一种归属感和认同感。他说，“哲学家休谟称开朗是一种火焰或一种‘传染病’。他说，当一个开朗的人走进一个氛围很压抑的房间时，开朗的情绪就会在房间里四散而来，笼罩着每个人。突然间，谈话变得轻松活泼。所以我感觉在某种程度上，开朗成为比我们任何人都强大的东西，它维系着彼此之间的关系。”
It is partly for this reason that Shakespeare, Hampton thinks, is interested in what happens when people lose their cheerfulness. “Across Shakespeare’s tragedies, there are a number of moments where – just before something terrible is about to happen – one of the characters will say to another character: you have lost your cheer.”
汉普森认为这也能部分解释为什么莎士比亚对人们不再开朗后所发生的事情感兴趣。他说，“纵观莎士比亚笔下所有的悲剧，当厄运来临前，某一人物总会对另一个说‘你不再开朗了’。”
This is what happens to Macbeth before Banquo’s ghost appears, for example. “When you lose your cheer, that’s the moment that tragedy strikes in Shakespeare’s plays, that’s the moment that a character becomes isolated from their community – and left alone.”
例如，在班柯的鬼魂出现前，麦克白就遇到了这样的情况。“莎士比亚戏剧中，当人不再欢乐的那一刻，悲剧便会降临，自此那个人物角色与周边环境产生隔绝，会遭到抛弃。”
Cheerfulness is also seen as the antidote to melancholy: the right way for a character – particularly a woman in the 19th century – to weather a crisis or a tragedy in her life. For example, in Sense and Sensibility, after Marianne is jilted by Willoughby, Austen writes: “She said little, but every sentence aimed at cheerfulness.” Aiming at cheerfulness is what stops Marianne’s “anguish of heart” from descending into melancholy and madness, says Hampton. “It’s not about having a positive world view; it’s not about saying the sun will always come up tomorrow. It’s about taking one tiny little step at a time.”
开朗也有助于缓解忧郁。它可以帮助一个人，尤其是19世纪的女性，度过人生的一段危机或不幸遭遇。例如，在《理智与情感》中，玛丽安被威洛比抛弃后，奥斯汀写到“她不怎么说话，但是说的每句话都是为了让自己开朗起来。”汉普顿说“将开朗作为目标，可以压制玛丽安内心的痛苦，避免自己陷入忧郁和神志不清。这不是要培养一种积极的世界观，也不是说‘太阳明日照常升起’这样的话语。开朗是一种每次只需前进一小步的人生哲学。”
So how do we “aim at cheerfulness”? Hampton thinks the American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson provides some good advice. Emerson writes that no one can truly be a poet, unless they are cheerful, because poets “delight in the world, in man, in woman, for the lovely light that sparkles from them”.
如何做才算是“以开朗为目标”呢？汉普顿认为美国哲学家拉尔夫·沃尔多·爱默生给我们提供了好建议。爱默生写道，除非一个人是开朗的，否则他不能够真正成为一名诗人，因为诗人“对世界、对男人、对女人饶有兴致，看到他们身上闪烁着可爱的光芒”。
Hampton suggests that if you want to be cheerful, a good place to start is to “take delight in the world… For Emerson, the key to cheerfulness is an acceptance of the beauty of the world.”
汉普顿也给出自己的一个建议——如果你想变成一个开朗的人，不妨可以先“乐于生活在这个世界上……对爱默生来说，开朗的关键是接受世界的美”。
For Shakespeare, it’s a deliberate decision to “look on all things well”, while for Montaigne the state of cheerfulness “is like things above the moon, always clear and serene”.
对莎士比亚来说，“善待万物”是深思熟虑后的决定，而对蒙田来说，持有开朗的状态“就像是月亮上的东西，清明而宁静”。
Cheerfulness, Hampton says, also involves being able to rise above insults or problems and take refuge in humour. For example, the catchphrase of Ragged Dick – a cheerful character in a 19th-century rags-to-riches novel by American author Horatio Alger – is: “That’s a cheerin’ thought.” Hampton explains: “Someone will say to Ragged Dick, ‘I’m going to come and beat your brains in.’ And Ragged Dick will say, ‘Well, that’s a cheerin’ thought.’ He’s got an ironic sense of humour and an ability to distance himself from the situation.”
汉普顿说，开朗也要求我们扛住侮辱和麻烦，在幽默中寻求庇护。例如，美国作家霍雷肖·阿尔杰在19世纪写了一本有关白手起家的小说，书中衣衫褴褛的主人公迪克就是一位很开朗的人，他的口头禅就是“这是个令人振奋的想法”。“有人会对迪克说‘我要打破你的头’。迪克会说，‘嗯，这是一个令人振奋的想法’。他有一种讽刺性的幽默感，并且有能力让自己从这种情形中疏离开来。”
Cheerfulness is also shown by writers to be something anyone can deliberately put on, like a cloak. In David Copperfield, for example, Charles Dickens tries to show how even the most “wretched and miserable” characters cheer up when it is necessary to do so. Mrs Gummidge is a woman who rarely makes any remark other than a forlorn sigh – until disaster strikes at the heart of her community and little Emily is stolen away by Steerforth.
在作家笔下，“开朗”就像是一件外衣，任何人都可以故意披上这件外衣。比如，在《大卫·科波菲尔》一书中，查尔斯·狄更斯想展示即使是最“可恶和悲惨”的人物，在必要时也会站起来。小说中，格米治夫人很少发表任何言论，她只是发出哀叹，但是当灾难降临她所处的群体，小爱弥丽被斯特福兹偷走的时候，她变了。
“What a change in Mrs. Gummidge in a little time! She was another woman,” Dickens writes. Instead of deploring her misfortunes, “she appeared to have entirely lost the recollection of ever having had any. She preserved an equable cheerfulness.”
狄更斯写道“在短短的时间里，格米治夫人发生了多么大的变化！她变了一个人。”她没有因为自己的不幸自怨自艾，她似乎失去了对往事的回忆。她时刻保持着一种平和的愉悦心情。
“There’s a sense that in a moment of crisis,” says Hampton, “that the community generates its own kind of cheerfulness and even the most melancholy member of the community suddenly becomes cheerful.”
汉普顿说，“我觉得在危机时刻，开朗会在社区中萌芽，甚至人群中最忧郁的人都会变得开朗起来。”
That’s one reason why he thinks we need to consider cheerfulness in the current moment. “We’re living in a moment of terrible crisis in our own community.” Cheerfulness, he says, is a tool we can use to cope with the instability all around us. “Which is not to say: be Pollyanna-ish or don’t look at the evil in the world. But I think cheerfulness is a resource that you can use, in the moment. And we don’t have many resources – so we should take advantage of whatever we have got.”
汉普顿认为一个人在危机时刻萌生出要开朗的想法是有原因的。他说，“当下，我们生活的社会面临着一场可怕的危机。”我们可以利用开朗应对身边的动荡。“这并不是说要有波利安娜式的盲目乐观精神，不要看世界上邪恶的一面。我认为开朗是一种资源，你可以在当下使用。而我们又没有很多资源，所以我们应该利用自己所拥有的一切。”
Psychotherapist Tess Ridgeway agrees that choosing to be cheerful doesn’t mean walking on air. “Rather, it means you are committed to being a person who focuses on the good, looks for the best in people and picks yourself up from bad events with stoicism and determination to carry on. It isn’t flighty or dependent on good fortune. It’s a decision you make, to walk through life with good humour, humility and optimism.”
心理治疗师泰斯·里奇韦也认为选择开朗并不意味着你要飘飘然。”相反，这意味着你要成为一个专注于身边美好事物的人，找寻人身上最美好的东西，坚强而又决绝地从不幸中脱身，带着开朗重新出发。这不是说要变得轻浮或者依赖好运。这是一种选择，选择带着幽默、谦逊和乐观度过这一生。”
If that all sounds difficult, there is one final remedy. Hampton found advice on stimulating cheerfulness in medical books, from the 16th to the 18th century: “Good conversation, one glass of wine – not two, because two leads to chattering – good music and a well-lit room. These things, we’re told, will all lead to a cheering of the self.”
如果一切听上去很难，还有最后一条补救之法。汉普顿发现，16至18世纪的医学书籍中给出了一些关于调动人开朗情绪的建议。“我们需要舒心的谈话，一杯酒——不是两杯，因为两杯会让人喋喋不休——悦耳的音乐和一间光线充足的房间。书上说有了这些，开朗这种情绪就会被调动起来了。”
From The Guardian
选自《卫报》
【VOCABULARY】
1. dismiss v. 否定
2. portray v. 描绘
3. the Renaissance n. 文艺复兴
4. synonym n. 同义词
5. swoop v. 猛冲，突然袭击
6. envelop v. 覆盖，包围
7. melancholy n. 忧郁
8. jilt v. 抛弃
9. serene adj. 静谧的
10. insult n. 侮辱
11. catchphrase n. 口头禅
12 rags-to-riches 从赤贫到巨富的，白手起家的
13. cloak n. 斗篷
14. walk on air 洋洋得意
15. stoicism n. 坚韧
16. flighty adj. 轻浮的，反复无常的