So, I have a pretty fun job, which is to figure out what makes people happy.
我的工作很有趣，内容是搞清什么让人快乐。
It's so fun, it might almost seen a little frivolous,
它是如此有趣，以至看起来没啥用，
especially at a time where we're being confronted with some pretty depressing headlines.
尤其是当我们面临一些非常令人沮丧的头条新闻时。
But it turns out that studying happiness might provide a key to solving some of the toughest problems we're facing.
但结果发现，研究幸福可能是解决我们面临的这些难题的钥匙。
It's taken me almost a decade to figure this out.
我花了快10年时间才明白这点。
Pretty early on in my career, I published a paper in "Science" with my collaborators,
在我职业的早期阶段，我和我的合作者在《科学》上发表了一篇论文，
entitled, "Spending Money on Others Promotes Happiness."
题为“为他人花钱能带来幸福。”
I was very confident in this conclusion, except for one thing: it didn't seem to apply to me.
我对这个结论非常有信心，除了一点：它在我身上好像不起作用。
I hardly ever gave money to charity, and when I did, I didn't feel that warm glow I was expecting.
我几乎不给慈善组织捐钱，就算当我捐款了，我也没感受到预期的充实。
So I started to wonder if maybe there was something wrong with my research or something wrong with me.
于是我开始怀疑是不是我的研究存在问题或者我本人有什么问题。
My own lackluster emotional response to giving was especially puzzling
我自己在给予他人之后感觉很平淡，这让我很困惑，
because my follow-up studies revealed that even toddlers exhibited joy from giving to others.
因为我后续的研究发现，即便是蹒跚学步的孩子也能在给予中感到快乐。
In one experiment, my colleagues Kiley Hamlin, Lara Aknin and I brought kids just under the age of two into the lab.
在一个实验中，我和我的同事基利·哈姆林、劳拉·阿克宁把不到2岁的孩子带到实验室。
Now, as you might imagine, we had to work with a resource that toddlers really care about,
正像你们想的那样，我们必须用一些小孩特别喜欢的玩意，
so we used the toddler equivalent of gold, namely, Goldfish crackers.
所以我们使用了儿童非常喜欢的食物，也就是金鱼饼干。
We gave kids this windfall of Goldfish for themselves and a chance
我们给孩子们发了一笔“金鱼横财”，并给他们一个机会
to give some of their Goldfish away to a puppet named Monkey.
把他们的一部分金鱼送给一个叫猴子的木偶。
I found even more treats, and I'm going to give them all to you. Ooh. Thank you.
我发现了更多的糖果，我要把它们都给你。噢，谢谢你！
But, you know, I don't see any more treats. Will you give one to Monkey?
你知道嘛，除了你没人有糖果了哦。你愿意给猴子一个吗？
Yeah. Yeah? Yeah. Here. Ooh, yummy. Mmmm. All gone, he ate it.
我愿意。确定吗？嗯啊。给你。哇~真好吃~嗯~都没了，他吃光了。
Now, we trained research assistants to watch these videos and code toddlers' emotional reactions.
接着，我们培训研究助理观看这些视频并记录儿童的情感反应。
Of course, we didn't tell them our hypotheses.
当然，我们并没有告诉他我们的假设。
The data revealed that toddlers were pretty happy when they got this pile of Goldfish for themselves,
数据显示这些蹒跚学步的孩子在得到金鱼饼干时非常高兴，
but they were actually even happier when they got to give some of their Goldfish away.
但当他们把一些金鱼饼干分享给别人时，他们更高兴。
And this warm glow of giving persists into adulthood.
这种给予的热情会持续到成年。
When we analyzed surveys from more than 200,000 adults across the globe,
当我们分析来自全球20万成年人的问卷答案时，
we saw that nearly a third of the world's population reported giving at least some money to charity in the past month.
我们看到近1/3的全球人口表示至少在过去一个月有向慈善组织捐赠。
Remarkably, in every major region of the world,
值得注意的是，在全球每一个主要地区都是如此：
people who gave money to charity were happier than those who did not,
那些向慈善组织捐赠的人要比那些不捐赠的人更快乐，
even after taking into account their own personal financial situation.
即便考虑进了他们个人的经济情况。
And this correlation wasn't trivial.
这种相关性并非微不足道。
It looked like giving to charity made about the same difference for happiness as having twice as much income.
根据数据，给慈善机构捐款对幸福感的影响，相当于你的收入增加了一倍。
Now, as a researcher, if you're lucky enough to stumble on an effect that replicates around the world in children and adults alike,
作为一个研究员，如果你足够幸运，偶尔发现这种在全球各地的儿童和成人身上都能复制的效应，
you start to wonder: Could this be part of human nature?
你会开始好奇：这是人类本质的一部分吗？
We know that pleasure reinforces adaptive behaviors like eating and sex that help perpetuate our species,
我们知道快乐能增强适应性行为，诸如吃饭和性爱有助于物种延续，
and it looked to me like giving might be one of those behaviors.
看起来给予可能也属于这类行为。
I was really excited about these ideas, and I wrote about them in the "New York Times."
我对这些想法非常激动，还在《纽约时报》写了想法。
One of the people who read this article was my accountant.
其中一个看到这个文章的人是我的会计。
Yeah. At tax time, I found myself seated across from him,
没错。报税时，我坐在他对面，
watching as he slowly tapped his pen on the charitable giving line of my tax return with this look of, like, poorly concealed disapproval.
看着他对着我的纳税申报单慈善捐赠栏的地方慢慢地敲打着笔，带着一种毫不掩饰的反对表情。
Despite building my career by showing how great giving can feel, I actually wasn't doing very much of it.
尽管我的工作很多都是在揭示给予的感觉是多么棒，我其实很少这么去做。
So I resolved to give more.
所以我决定付出更多。
Around that time, devastating stories about the Syrian refugee crisis were everywhere.
那段时间，关于叙利亚难民危机的毁灭性报道无处不在。
I really wanted to help, so I pulled out my credit card.
我真的很想给予帮助，于是我掏出我的信用卡。
I knew my donations would probably make a difference for someone somewhere,
我知道我的捐赠或许可以让某地方的某个人改变人生，
but going to the website of an effective charity and entering my Visa number still just didn't feel like enough.
然而打开一个慈善机构的网站，输入我的信用卡信息仍然感觉做得不够。
That's when I learned about the Group of Five.
就在那时，我了解到了“五人小组”。
The Canadian government allows any five Canadians to privately sponsor a family of refugees.
加拿大政府允许任意五名加拿大人联合起来资助一个难民家庭。
You have to raise enough money to support the family for their first year in Canada,
你需要募集足够的钱来支持难民们初到加拿大第一年的费用，
and then they literally get on a plane to your city.
然后他们就坐飞机到你们城市。
One of the things that I think is so cool about this program is that no one is allowed to do it alone.
我觉得这个项目很酷的一个原因是没有人可以单独行动。
And instead of a Group of Five, we ended up partnering with a community organization and forming a group of 25.
我们没有选择“五人小组”，而是最终与一个社区组织合作，组成了一个25人的小组。
After almost two years of paperwork and waiting,
在将近2年的手续办理和等待后，
we learned that our family would be arriving in Vancouver in less than six weeks.
我们得知我们资助的家庭将在不到六周的时间内到达温哥华。
They had four sons and a daughter, so we raced to find them a place to live.
他们有4个男孩和1个女孩，所以我们赶紧给他们找地方住。
We were very lucky to find them a house, but it needed quite a bit of work.
我们很幸运给他们找到了房子，但需要花大量的时间来布置。
So my friends came out on evenings and weekends and painted and cleaned and assembled furniture.
所以我的朋友们在晚上和周末来粉刷、清洁和组装家具。
When the big day came, we filled their fridge with milk and fresh fruit and headed to the airport to meet our family.
当那一天终于到来时，我们在他们的冰箱里装满了牛奶和新鲜水果，然后去机场迎接他们。
It was a little overwhelming for everyone, especially the four-year-old.
这种场面让每个人都感觉有点紧张，尤其是那个四岁的小家伙。
His mother was reunited with her sister who had come to Canada earlier through the same program.
他的母亲和她的妹妹终于团聚了，她的妹妹早些时候也通过同样的项目来到加拿大。
They hadn't seen each other in 15 years.
她们已经有15年没见过彼此了。
When you hear that more than 5.6 million refugees have fled Syria,
当你听说有560多万难民逃离叙利亚时，
you're faced with this tragedy that the human brain hasn't really evolved to comprehend. It's so abstract.
你所面临的惨状已经超过了大脑所能够理解的范围。它是如此抽象。
Before, if any of us had been asked to donate 15 hours a month to help out with the refugee crisis,
以前，如果有人被要求每月捐出15个小时来帮助解决难民危机，
we probably would have said no. But as soon as we took our family to their new home in Vancouver,
我们很可能会拒绝。但是当我们带我们资助的家庭去温哥华的新家时，
we all had the same realization: we were just going to do whatever it took to help them be happy.
我们都有同样的认识：我们只想尽一切可能让他们开心。
This experience made me think a little more deeply about my research.
这个经历让我对我的研究思考得更深了一层。
Back in my lab, we'd seen the benefits of giving spike when people felt a real sense of connection with those they were helping
回到我的实验室，当人们与他们所帮助的人产生真正的联系，
and could easily envision the difference they were making in those individuals' lives.
以及可以很容易地想象到这一切能给受助人的生活带来的改变时，我们看到了给予帮助的好处。
For example, in one experiment, we gave participants an opportunity to donate a bit of money to either UNICEF or Spread the Net.
举个例子，在一个实验中，我们为参与者提供一个捐钱给联合国儿童基金会或Spread the Net的机会。
We chose these charities intentionally,
我们有意选择了这些慈善机构，
because they were partners and shared the same critically important goal of promoting children's health.
因为他们是合作伙伴，有着促进儿童健康的同样至关重要的目标。

But I think UNICEF is just such a big, broad charity
但我认为联合国儿童基金会是一个大而广的慈善机构，
that it can be a little hard to envision how your own small donation will make a difference.
人们会很难想象你的小小捐赠会产生什么作用。
In contrast, Spread the Net offers donors a concrete promise:
相比之下，Spread the Net给了捐赠者一个具体承诺：
for every 10 dollars donated, they provide one bed net to protect a child from malaria.
每捐赠10美元，他们会提供一个蚊帐来保护儿童免受疟疾的侵害。
We saw that the more money people gave to Spread the Net, the happier they reported feeling afterward.
我们看到给Spread the Net捐赠越多钱的人，他们事后报告的快乐也更多。
In contrast, this emotional return on investment was completely eliminated when people gave money to UNICEF.
相比之下，当人们把钱捐给联合国儿童基金会时，这种情感上的投资回报就完全消失了。
So this suggests that just giving money to a worthwhile charity isn't always enough.
所以这就意味着把钱捐给一个有价值的慈善机构并不足够。
You need to be able to envision how, exactly, your dollars are going to make a difference.
你必须得能够想象，确切地说，你的钱将如何发挥作用。
Of course, the Group of Five program takes this idea to a whole new level.
当然，“五人小组”的项目把这个想法带到一个全新的高度。
When we first took on this project, we would talk about when the refugees would arrive.
我们刚开始这个项目时，我们会讨论难民何时到达。
Now, we just refer to them as our family.
现在，我们把他们称作我们的家人。
Recently, we took the kids ice skating, and later that day,
最近，我们带孩子们去滑冰，那天晚些时候，
my six-year-old, Oliver, asked me, "Mommy, who is the oldest kid in our family?"
我六岁的儿子奥利弗问我，“妈妈，谁是我们家最大的孩子？”
I assumed he was talking about his plethora of cousins, and he was talking about them, but also about our Syrian family.
我猜想他指的是他那一大堆堂兄弟姐妹，他谈的是他们，但也包括我们的叙利亚家人。
Since our family arrived, so many people and organizations have offered to help,
自从我们的家人抵达后，很多的个人和组织提供了帮助，
providing everything from free dental fillings to summer camps.
从提供免费的口腔牙龈保护到夏令营的一些东西。
It's made me see the goodness that exists in our community.
它让我看到了存在我们社区的善良。
Thanks to one donation, the kids got to go to bike camp, and every day of the week,
多一份捐赠，让孩子能够参加单车夏令营，每天都能去，
some member of our group tried to be there to cheer for them.
我们组的一些成员都在那里为他们加油。
I happened to be there the day the training wheels were supposed to come off,
我碰巧在辅助轮应该被取下的那天到那，
and let me tell you, the four-year-old did not think this was a good idea.
我不得不说，这个四岁的孩子觉得这不是好主意。
So I went over and talked to him about the long-term benefits of riding without training wheels.
所以我过去告诉他关于不使用辅助轮的长期好处。
Then I remembered that he was four and barely spoke English.
然后我想起他才四岁，几乎不会说英语。
So I reverted to two words he definitely knew: ice cream.
于是我回到了他肯定知道的单词：冰淇淋。
You try without training wheels, I'll buy you ice cream. Here's what happened next.
你试试不带训练轮，我给你买冰淇淋。这是接下来发生的事情。
Yes. Yeah! I'm gonna try. Oh my God! Look at you go!
是的，对！我试试。老天，看你骑得多好！
Look at you go! You're doing it all by yourself! Good job!
看你骑得多好！完全不需要辅助轮了！好样的！
So this is the kind of helping that human beings evolved to enjoy,
享受这种帮助行为是人类进化而来的能力，
but for 40 years, Canada was the only country in the world that allowed private citizens to sponsor refugees.
但是40年来，加拿大是全球唯一一个允许公民个人赞助难民的国家。
Now -- Canada! It's pretty great.
如今--加拿大万岁！好极了。
Now Australia and the UK are starting up similar programs.
现在澳大利亚和英国也开始了类似的项目。
Just imagine how different the refugee crisis could look if more countries made this possible.
试想一下，如果更多的国家能够做到这一点，难民危机将会变得多么不同。
Creating these kinds of meaningful connections between individuals provides an opportunity to deal with challenges that feel overwhelming.
在个人之间建立这种有意义的联系，提供了来应对那些让人难以承受的挑战的机遇。
One of those challenges lies just blocks from where I'm standing right now, in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver.
其中一个挑战就在离我现在所站的地方几个街区远的地方，在温哥华市中心的东侧。
By some measures, it's the poorest urban postal code in Canada.
从某些方面来看，它是加拿大最穷的城市地区。
We actually debated whether to bring over a family of refugees,
我们实际上在讨论是否要把一个难民家庭带来，
because there are so many people right here already struggling.
因为这里已经有很多人在挣扎。
My friend Evan told me that when he was a kid and his parents drove through this neighborhood,
我的朋友埃文告诉我在他小的时候，他的父母开车穿过这个街区，
he would duck down in the back seat.
他会在后座上蹲下身子。
But Evan's parents never would have guessed that when he grew up,
但埃文的父母绝不会猜到当他长大后，
he would open up the doors of a local restaurant and invite this community inside to enjoy three-course dinners.
他会打开当地这家餐厅的门邀请这个社区来享受三道菜的晚餐。
The program that Evan helped build is called "Plenty of Plates,"
埃文帮助建立的这个项目叫做“很多的盘子”，
and the goal is not just to provide free meals
但其目标不仅是提供免费午餐，
but to create moments of connection between people who otherwise might never make eye contact.
而是在那些从来不会彼此有眼神接触的人中创造连接的机会。
Each night, a local business sponsors the dinner and sends a team of volunteers who help make and serve the meal.
每个晚上都有一家本地企业赞助晚餐，并派出一队志愿者帮助制作和递送晚餐。
Afterward, the leftovers get distributed to people who are out on the street,
之后，剩饭剩菜会分发给街上的人们，
and importantly, there's enough money left to provide a thousand free lunches for this community in the days that follow.
重要的是，还剩下了足够的钱在接下来的日子里为这个社区提供一千份免费午餐。
But the benefits of this program extend beyond food.
但这个项目的益处超出食物本身。
For the volunteers, it provides an opportunity to engage with people, to sit down and hear their stories.
对于志愿者，它提供了一个与人互动的机会，坐下来听听他们的故事。
After this experience, one volunteer changed his commute so that instead of avoiding this neighborhood,
在这次经历后，一个志愿者改变了他的通勤路线，这样就不会避开这个邻区，
he walks through it, smiling or making eye contact as he passes familiar faces.
而是让他能够穿过去，当他经过熟悉的面孔时，他们会对彼此微笑或通过眼神交流。
All of us are capable of finding joy in giving.
我们都能在给予中找到快乐。
But we shouldn't expect this to happen automatically.
但我们不能预期它会自动发生。
Spending money helping others doesn't necessarily promote happiness. Instead, it matters how we do it.
把钱花在别人身上未必带来幸福感，关键在于我们如何做。
And if we want people to give more, we need to subvert the way we think about charitable giving.
如果我们想让人们给予更多，就需要颠覆我们对慈善捐赠的看法。
We need to create opportunities to give that enable us to appreciate our shared humanity.
我们需要创造机会，使我们能够欣赏我们共同的人性。
If any of you work for a charity, don't reward your donors with pens or calendars.
如果你们有谁在慈善组织工作，不要用笔或日历奖励你的捐赠者。
Reward them with the opportunity to see the specific impact that their generosity is having
奖励他们看到他们的慷慨产生的特别作用，
and to connect with the individuals and communities they're helping.
还有提供他们与帮助的个人和群体之间连接的机会。
We're used to thinking about giving as something we should do. And it is.
我们习惯于认为给予是我们应该做的事情。的确是这样的。
But in thinking about it this way, we're missing out on one of the best parts of being human:
但这样想，我们就会错过人类最好的一面：
that we have evolved to find joy in helping others.
我们已经进化到在助人中体会快乐。
Let's stop thinking about giving as just this moral obligation and start thinking of it as a source of pleasure. Thank you.
让我们停止把给予仅仅看作是一种道德义务，开始把它视作快乐的源泉吧。谢谢。