The range of things that can make us joyful or distressed is simply vast. Witnessing a beautiful sunset, making love, eating an ice cream, and listening to Bachs cantatas are four very different kinds of activity, but they are all capable of inducing joy. On the downside, losing your favorite teddy bear, failing an exam, and hearing about the death of a loved one can all provoke distress. Is there any pattern underlying this bewildering persity?
能让我们快乐或痛苦的事情实在是太多了。观看美丽的日落、做爱、吃冰淇淋、听巴赫的康塔塔是四种截然不同的活动，但它们都能带来快乐。反之，丢了你最喜欢的泰迪熊、考试不及格、听到爱人去世的消息都可能引发痛苦。这种令人眼花缭乱的多样性背后有什么模式吗?
According to a huge database compiled by psychologists, happiness is not the same as joy, but it is closely linked. Joy is a basic emotion, and, like the other basic emotions, a single episode lasts only a few seconds, rarely more than a minute. Happiness is a mood, and moods last much longer from several minutes to several hours.
根据心理学家所建的庞大数据库，幸福和快乐不一样，但它们是紧密相连的。快乐是一种基本情绪，而且，像其他基本情绪一样，只持续几秒钟，很少超过一分钟。幸福是一种心境，而这种心境持续的时间要长得多，从几分钟到几个小时不等。
Moods are background states that raise or lower our susceptibility to emotional stimuli. In a happy mood, for example, we will be more likely to react joyfully to good news, while, in a sad mood, we might not react so intensely. Conversely, someone in a sad mood is more likely to cry at bad news, while a person in a happy mood might laugh it off. In an anxious mood, we are more easily frightened, while an irritable mood makes us more readily angered.
心境是一种背景状态，可以提高或降低我们对情绪刺激的敏感性。例如，在快乐的情绪下，我们更有可能对好消息做出快乐的反应，而在悲伤的情绪下，我们可能不会做出如此强烈的反应。相反，心情不好的人听到坏消息更容易哭，而心情愉快的人可能会一笑置之。在焦虑的情绪中，我们更容易受到惊吓，而在烦躁的情绪中，我们更容易发怒。
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