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People tend to engage in unpleasant but necessary activities, such as paying bills or doing housework, when they are in a good mood and choose pleasurable activities as a way to feel better when they are in a bad mood, according to new research by a psychologist at Stanford University.
根据斯坦福大学一位心理学家的一项新研究显示，人们在愉悦状态下倾向于处理一些必要却痛苦的事项，比如买单或者做家务。而情绪消极时，又会选择做一些愉快的事情。
"These findings clarify how emotions shape behavior and may explain how humans trade off short-term happiness for long-term welfare," said James Gross, a professor of psychology who studies emotions and how people control or regulate their emotions.
研究情绪以及人们如何控制情绪的心理学教授詹姆斯·格罗斯表示：“这些研究剖析了人类的情感如何塑造其行为，并揭示了人类如何在短期快感与长期幸福间寻求平衡。”
"Overcoming such trade-offs might be critical for our personal well-being and our survival as a species."
“正确处理这种平衡关系对于个体的健康乃至人类种族的生存都是至关重要的。”
In their study, Gross and his fellow researchers used a smartphone app to randomly survey the activities and moods of more than 60,000 people over an average of 27 days, and found that mood plays a strong role in how people decide to spend their time each day.
在研究中，格罗斯和和他的团队利用一款手机应用，来随机调查记录了6万名接受测试者在27天内的行为和情绪。结果显示，心情对于人们决定如何度过每一天起着非常重要的作用。
Gross and his co-authors of a paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences call this dynamic "hedonic flexibility," namely people tend to use their good mood as a resource, allowing them to work on challenges, thus delaying short-term gratification for long-term benefits, such as regular sleep, stable employment and a clean, well-organized personal environment, all of which are linked to good mental and physical health.
格罗斯和合著作者发表在《美国国家科学院院刊》上的一篇文章将这个动态过程称为“快乐的灵活性”，即人们将积极情绪视为资源，用以消耗在挑战性工作中，推迟短期满足感从而获取长期幸福感。比如规律的睡眠、稳定的雇佣关系、清洁有序的个人环境等，这些均有助于提高我们的心理和生理健康水平。
The study showed that "hedonic flexibility" was consistently practiced in a range of daily choices made by respondents, such as when an upbeat mood helps one endure a long line at, say, the post office or grocery.
研究显示，“快乐的灵活性”始终如一的体现在受试者的一系列日常选择中，比如积极的情绪能帮助人们忍受在邮局或者杂货店排起的长队。
Suggesting that the ability of people to leverage a "good" mood to complete important but unpleasant tasks and use a "bad" mood to experience pleasurable activities may hold the key to happiness and well-being.
格罗斯认为，利用积极情绪来完成重要却不那么愉快的事，利用消极情绪来感受愉悦，这可能是幸福快乐的真谛。
Gross said the research confirms how human emotions shape behavior and may help persons become less focused on short-term pleasure and more centered on long-term stability.
他表示，该研究确认了人们的情感如何塑造其行为，并帮助人们少追求短期快感，更专注于培养获取长期幸福的能力。
