為了幸福生活 和好朋友結(jié)婚吧.

　　新近發(fā)表的一篇經(jīng)濟學(xué)論文，給正面臨生活壓力的人提了一個有些老派的建議：找最好的朋友做你的配偶。下面我們來看看相關(guān)的雙語研究內(nèi)容，以了解更加詳細的研究事實。

　　Social scientists have long known that married peopletend to be happier, but they debate whether that isbecause marriage causes happiness or simplybecause happier people are more likely to getmarried. The new paper, published by the NationalBureau of Economic Research, controlled for pre-marriage happiness levels.

　　社會科學(xué)家向來知道，已婚人士往往更幸福，但對于這是因為婚姻帶來了幸福，還是說越幸福的人越可能走進婚姻，他們意見不一。美國國家經(jīng)濟研究局(National Bureau of Economic Research)新近發(fā)表的一篇論文，將婚前的幸福水平作為控制變量。

　　It concluded that being married makes people happier and more satisfied with their lives thanthose who remain single – particularly during the most stressful periods, like midlife crises.

　　文章的結(jié)論是，婚姻使人們比孑然一身者更幸福，對生活更滿意，特別是在壓力最大的時期，如中年危機。

　　Even as fewer people are marrying, the disadvantages of remaining single have broadimplications. It’s important because marriage is increasingly a force behind inequality. Stablemarriages are more common among educated, high-income people, and increasingly out ofreach for those who are not. That divide appears to affect not just people’s income and familystability, but also their happiness and stress levels.

　　盡管結(jié)婚的人減少了，但單身的弊端影響廣泛。這一點頗為重要，因為婚姻越來越成了不平等背后的一個因素。穩(wěn)定的婚姻在受過教育的高收入人群中更普遍，而情況與之相反的人則越來越難獲得穩(wěn)定的婚姻。這一差異影響的似乎不僅是人們的收入和家庭的穩(wěn)定，還有他們的幸福和壓力狀況。

　　A quarter of today’s young adults will have never married by 2030, which would be the highestshare in modern history, according to Pew Research Center. Yet both remaining unmarried anddivorcing are more common among less-educated, lower-income people. Educated, high-incomepeople still marry at high rates and are less likely to divorce.

　　皮尤研究中心(Pew Research Center)稱，當(dāng)下的年輕人中，有四分之一不會在2030年前結(jié)婚，這一比例將是現(xiàn)代歷史上的最高水平。但在受教育較少、收入較低的人群中，未婚和離異都更普遍。受過教育的高收入人群結(jié)婚的比例依然較高，離婚的可能性也更小。

　　Those whose lives are most difficult could benit most from marriage, according to theeconomists who wrote the new paper, John Helliwell of the Vancouver School of Economics andShawn Grover of the Canadian Department of Finance. “Marriage may be most important whenthere is that stress in life and when things are going wrong,” Mr. Grover said.

　　這篇文章的作者是兩名經(jīng)濟學(xué)家，分別是溫哥華經(jīng)濟學(xué)院(Vancouver School of Economics)的約翰·赫利韋爾(John Helliwell)和加拿大財政部的肖恩·格羅弗(Shawn Grover)。他們認(rèn)為，生活最困難的人從婚姻中的受益最大。“當(dāng)生活中出現(xiàn)了壓力，有了問題時，婚姻可能是最重要的，”格羅弗說。

　　They analyzed data about well-being from two national surveys in the United Kingdom and theGallup World Poll. In all but a few parts of the world, even when controlling for people’s lifesatisfaction bore marriage, being married made them happier. This conclusion, however, didnot hold true in Latin America, South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

　　他們對英國的兩項全國性調(diào)查，以及蓋洛普全球民意調(diào)查(Gallup World Poll)中和幸福有關(guān)的數(shù)據(jù)進行了分析。全世界除少數(shù)幾個地方外，即便將婚前的生活滿意度作為控制變量，婚姻也會讓人們更幸福。然而，這一結(jié)論對拉美、南亞和撒哈拉以南的非洲來說不成立。

　　Intriguingly, marital happiness long outlasted the honeymoon period. Though some socialscientists have argued that happiness levels are innate, so people return to their natural levelof well-being after joyful or upsetting events, the researchers found that the benits ofmarriage persist.

　　有趣的是，婚姻帶來的幸福遠比蜜月期更長久。一些社會科學(xué)家稱，幸福感是與生俱來的，因而在令人高興或苦惱的事情過后，人們會回歸天生的幸福感，但研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，婚姻帶來的益處會持續(xù)下去。

　　One reason for that might be the role of friendship within marriage. Those who consider theirspouse or partner to be their best friend get about twice as much life satisfaction frommarriage as others, the study found.

　　原因之一或許是婚姻中的友誼所起的作用。研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，視配偶或伴侶為至交的人，從婚姻中獲得的生活滿足感大約是其他人的兩倍。

　　The fect of friendship seems to be the result of living with a romantic partner, rather thanthe legal status of being married, because it was as strong for people who lived together butweren’t married. Women benit more from being married to their best friend than men do,though women are less likely to regard their spouse as their best friend.

　　友誼的這種影響，似乎源自和一個浪漫的伴侶一起生活，而非法律上的已婚身份，因為它對那些未婚同居的人的影響同樣大。和男性相比，女性從與至交結(jié)婚中受益更多，不過女性視配偶為至交的可能性更低。

　　“What immediately intrigued me about the results was to rethink marriage as a whole,” Mr.Helliwell said. “Maybe what is really important is friendship, and to never forget that in the pushand pull of daily life.”

　　“相關(guān)結(jié)果立即引起我的興趣，讓我重新從整體上考慮婚姻，”赫利韋爾說?！盎蛟S真正重要的是友誼，并且永遠不要在日常生活的波折起伏中忘了這一點?！?/p>

　　Marriage has undergone a drastic shift in the last half century. In the past, as the Nobel-winning economist Gary Becker described, marriage was utilitarian: Women looked for ahusband to make money and men looked for a woman to manage the household.

　　過去半個世紀(jì)，婚姻經(jīng)歷了劇變。從前，就像獲得了諾貝爾獎的經(jīng)濟學(xué)家加里·貝克爾(Gary Becker)所描述的那樣，婚姻是功利的：女性為了找個丈夫掙錢，男性為了找個妻子持家。

　　But in recent decades, the roles of men and women have become more similar. As a result,spouses have taken on roles as companions and confidants, particularly those who arinancially stable, as the economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers have discussed.

　　但近幾十年，男女的角色變得更加相似。結(jié)果，就像經(jīng)濟學(xué)家貝特西·史蒂文森(Betsey Stevenson)和賈斯汀·沃夫斯(Justin Wolfers)討論的那樣，配偶承擔(dān)起了同伴和知己的角色，特別是那些經(jīng)濟狀況穩(wěn)定的人。

　　The benits of marital friendship are most vivid during middle age, when people tend toexperience a dip in life satisfaction, largely because career and family demands apply the moststress then. Those who are married, the new paper found, have much shallower dips – even inregions where marriage does not have an overall positive fect.

　　人到中年，往往會經(jīng)歷生活滿意度的下降，主要是因為這時職業(yè)和家庭需求帶來的壓力是最大的。這個時候，婚姻中的友誼益處最為明顯。新發(fā)表的這篇文章發(fā)現(xiàn)，即便是在婚姻總體上未產(chǎn)生積極影響的地區(qū)，已婚者生活滿意度下降的幅度也要小得多。

　　“The biggest benits come in high-stress environments, and people who are married canhandle midlife stress better than those who aren’t because they have a shared load andshared friendship,” Mr. Helliwell said.

　　“最大的益處出現(xiàn)在高壓環(huán)境中，和單身或離異者相比，已婚者能更好地應(yīng)對中年壓力，因為有人和他們一起承擔(dān)壓力，分享友誼，”赫利韋爾說。

　　Overall, the research comes to a largely optimistic conclusion. People have the capacity toincrease their happiness levels and avoid falling deep into midlife crisis by finding support inlong-term relationships. Yet those relationships seem to be less achievable for the leastadvantaged members of society.

　　總的來說，這項研究得出的結(jié)論基本上是樂觀的。人們有能力通過在長期關(guān)系中找到支持，來增強幸福感，避免深陷中年危機。但對最弱勢的社會成員而言，形成這種關(guān)系的可能性似乎更小。