【新闻精讲】

The trend is not confined to the private sector. Several governments, including those of America, Britain, France and Australia, now publish for the benefit of their citizens regular reports on levels of national well-being. Bhutan has long measured its gross national happiness, and the United Arab Emirates boasts a brand-new Ministry of Happiness.
这一趋势不仅局限在私营部门。包括美国、英国、法国及澳大利亚在内的多国政府出于国民利益考虑，现在都定期发布国民福祉水平报告。不丹长期以来测量国民总幸福指数，而阿联酋则对全新设立的“幸福部”引而为傲。
confine v.限制，囚禁
- He was confined in a prison.
well-being n. 幸福安宁（the state of being happy, healthy or successful）
boast v. 夸赞

Businesspeople have long known there is money to be made in the field. Dale Carnegie, a leadership guru, said the best way to win friends and influence people was to seem upbeat. Disneyland is still “the happiest place on Earth”. American firms regularly bid their customers to “have a nice day”. One of the sharpest books published on the phenomenon is “The Managed Heart” from 1983, in which Arlie Hochschild, a sociologist at the University of California, Berkeley, noted that many employers demanded “emotional labour” from workers in the form of smiles and other expressions of “positive emotion”. Firms are keen to extract still more happiness from their employees as the service sector plays an ever greater role in the economy. Run-of-the-mill service firms are fighting for their lives against discounters. As customers, most people prefer their service with a smile rather than a snarl.
商人们早就知道这是有利可图的领域。领袖学大师戴尔•卡耐基（Dale Carnegie）说过，一副乐观向上的样子最有助结交朋友及施展影响力。迪士尼乐园依然是“地球上最快乐的地方”。美国公司总是祝愿客户“拥有美好的一天”。对这一现象分析得最为尖锐的图书之一是1983年出版的《被管理的心》（The Managed Heart）。加州大学伯克利分校的社会学家阿莉•霍克希尔德（Arlie Hochschild ）在该书中指出，许多雇主要求员工以微笑及其他形式的“正向情绪”提供“情绪劳动”。随着服务业在经济中份量日重，公司更是热衷要求员工进一步展现快乐情绪。一般的服务公司正绝地反击来自折扣店的竞争。作为顾客，大多数人都喜欢得到微笑服务而非恶言怒吼。
upbeat adj.高兴的
extract v.提取
run-of-the-mill adj.普通的（average, ordinary)
discounter n.折扣店
- discount n.折扣
snarl v.生气咆哮

Some firms are trying to create some wellbeing, too, showering their employees with mindfulness courses, yoga lessons and anything else that proves that managers are interested in “the whole person”. Only happy fools would take that at face value. Management theorists note that a big threat to corporate performance is widespread disengagement among workers. Happy people are more engaged and productive, say psychologists. Gallup claimed in 2013 that the “unhappiness” of employees costs the American economy $500 billion a year in lost productivity.
一些公司也正努力为员工创造福祉，为他们提供正念课程、瑜伽课程以及其他证明管理层乐于把员工打造为“全人”的手段。只有不知愁的傻子才会相信这只是为了创造快乐。管理理论指出，公司绩效的一大威胁便是员工普遍散漫无心。心理学家说，快乐的人工作更投入、更有生产力。市场调查公司盖洛普称，在2013年，员工“不快乐”令美国经济因生产力下降而损失5000亿美元。
disengagement n.不配合

One problem with tracking happiness is that it is such a vague metric: it is difficult to prove or disprove Gallup’s numbers since it is not entirely clear what is being measured. Companies would be much better off forgetting wishy-washy goals like encouraging contentment. They should concentrate on eliminating specific annoyances, such as time-wasting meetings and pointless memos. Instead, they are likely to develop ever more sophisticated ways of measuring the emotional state of their employees. Academics are already busy creating smartphone apps that help people keep track of their moods, such as Track Your Happiness and Moodscope. It may not be long before human-resource departments start measuring workplace euphoria via apps, cameras and voice recorders.
追踪计算快乐程度的一大问题是那是个模糊的指标：很难证实或反驳盖洛普的数据，因为你不完全清楚所测量的是什么。公司要是能舍弃“鼓励知足”这类模糊不定的目标，境况会好得多。它们应专注扫除具体的恼人问题，比如浪费时间的会议和毫无意义的备忘录。但相反，它们很可能会制定出越发繁琐的方式来测量员工的情绪状态。学者们已忙于创制智能手机应用来帮助人们记录自己的情绪变化，例如“追踪你的快乐度”（Track Your Happiness）及“情绪仪”（Moodscope）。也许在不久的将来，人力资源部就会开始采用应用、摄像头和录音设备来测量员工在职场的快乐指数。
track v.追踪
metric n.衡量标准
better off adj.情况更好的
wishy-washy adj.软弱无能的（weak）
- wishy-washy leadership
eliminate v.去除
annoyance n.烦恼
- annoy v.使烦恼
sophisticated adj.成熟的
euphoria n. 兴高采烈
-euphoric adj. 高兴的
-=bubbly, jolly, upbeat