Do you want to be happy? Of course you do, but according to new research, resting and relaxation are no way to go about it.

想要快樂嗎?你當然想啦，不過最新研究顯示，休息放松可不能讓你快樂起來。

You’re better off going to the theatre or exercising; even a visit to the library beats lounging around on the sofa.

你最好去劇院看場劇，或者去做運動，即使是去圖書館看書也比躺在沙發上無所事事要強。

Such were the findings of a joint study by the University of Sussex and the London School of Economics, which has come up with a list of 33 activities that make us happy.

這是蘇塞克斯大學和倫敦經濟學院共同研究的發現，從中還得出了一份清單，列出了33件可以讓我們快樂的事。

One thing’s for certain, texting and social media come at the bottom of the list, only increasing our happiness by a puny 0.45 per cent.

可以肯定的是，短信和社交媒體只能讓我們的快樂感增加微不足道的0.45%，排在了列表的末尾。

But happiness doesn’t have to come from other people. It can come from within - and connecting with the world around you.

但是快樂不一定是來自別人的，它還可以源于自身，與你周圍的世界有著緊密的聯系。

DIGGING IN THE GARDEN

園藝的快樂

By Sally Brampton

莎莉?布蘭普頓

A few years ago I went through a period of such severe depression that life didn’t seem worth living. It was like permanent winter, so bleak and cold that the sun would never shine.

幾年前，我曾有一段時間患了嚴重的抑郁癥，生活于我幾近無可眷戀。我感覺身處永久的嚴冬，連陽光也無法穿透刺骨的寒冷。

Then I saw snowdrops pushing through the freezing, iron-hard ground. I looked at them every day until I felt that if they could come back to life, then so could I.

后來我看到雪花蓮從冰冷堅硬的泥土里鉆出來了。我每天看著它們，心想，如果它們可以挺過這個寒冬，那我也可以。

Those green shoots gave me hope in a way that nothing else had.

唯獨是這些綠色的嫩芽，用獨特的方式給我帶來了希望。

As spring came, I started to put in more and more plants, until the garden was ablaze with colour. Life was growing through my hands; gentle, peaceful, but, above all, optimistic. If I gave love, it was returned, a hundredfold.

春天來了，我開始不斷地在花園里種各種花草，整個花園都充滿了鮮艷的色彩。生命通過我的雙手不斷成長，迸發著柔和寧靜、樂觀向上的氣息。我給它們的愛意，它們百倍地回報了我。

I could spend hours lost in gardening. The form of depressive illness I have is biological. It has affected generations of my family and follows no rhyme, reason nor circumstance. I can be depressed when the sun is shining or I am surrounded by a group of loving friends.

我陶醉在園藝中，不知不覺就會度過好幾個小時。我患有的抑郁癥是遺傳性的，已經影響了我家里好幾代人，無規律可循，原因不明，也不知道什么時候會發作。無論是陽光燦爛的時候，還是和一群好朋友在一起，我都有可能會郁郁寡歡。

Of course, fresh air and exercise help to alleviate depression, but for me gardening is more than that. It represents endurance as well as hope.

當然，呼吸新鮮空氣和做運動能夠減輕抑郁的癥狀，但對我來說，園藝不僅僅是一種治療的手段。它代表著忍耐和希望。

At the end of the first garden I made stood a tree, huge and magnificent. It withstood freezing temperatures and gale-force winds. It bent but never broke.

在第一個花園的深處，我親手種了一棵樹，高大茂盛，經得住刺骨的嚴寒和凜冽的暴風，即使被吹彎了也從來沒有折斷過。

The leaves dropped until it looked no more than a stark skeleton, but it always, always came back to life. And so I learned that we may be battled and bruised, but hope is a living thing.

每次落葉紛飛，最后只剩下光禿禿的樹枝，它總是可以恢復生機。從中我懂得了一個道理：我們會經受考驗，會跌倒受傷，但希望是不滅的。