英語演講稿：The hidden power of smiling（附翻譯）

when i was a child, i always wanted to be a superhero. i wanted to save the world and then make everyone happy. but i knew that i'd need superpowers to make my dreams come true. so i used to embark on these imaginary journeys to find intergalactic objects from planet krypton, which was a lot of fun, but didn't get much result. when i grew up, and realized that science-fiction was not a good source for superpowers, i decided instead to embark on a journey of real science, to find a more useful truth.

我童年時，一直想成為一位超級英雄，我想拯救世界，讓每個人都快樂，但我知道需要超能力才能讓我的夢想成真，所以我展開這些想像之旅，到克利普頓星(超人的家鄉)尋找星際間的天體。這很有趣，但沒什麼成果。當我長大後，了解到科幻小說不是超能力的好來源，我決定展開一場真正的科學之旅，尋找更有用的真理。

i started my journey in california with a uc berkley 30-year longitudinal study that examined the photos of students in an old yearbook and tried to measure their success and well-being throughout their life. by measuring their student smiles, researchers were able to predict how fulfilling and long-lasting a subject's marriage will be, how well she would score on standardized tests of well-being and how inspiring she would be to others. in another yearbook, i stumbled upon barry obama's picture. when i first saw his picture, i thought that these superpowers came from his super collar. but now i know it was all in his smile.

我的旅程開始於加州，以柏克萊大學從事30年期的縱貫研究，研究一本舊年鑑中的學生照片，試著衡量他們一生的成就和幸福。藉由衡量學生的微笑，研究人員能夠預測研究對象的婚姻是否圓滿及長久，他在標準化幸福評量中能得到多少分，以及他能為別人帶來多少啟發。在另一本年鑑中，我偶然發現了歐巴馬的照片，當我第一次看到他的照片時，我認為這些超能力來自於他的超大衣領，但現在我知道這全來自於他的笑容。

another aha! moment came from a XX wayne state university research project that looked into pre-1950s baseball cards of major league players. the researchers found that the span of a players smile could actually predict the span of his life. players who didn't smile in their pictures lived an average of only 72.9 years, where players with beaming smiles lived an average of almost 80 years.

另一個啊哈!時刻，來自XX年wayne州立大學的研究項目，觀察50年代前職棒大聯盟球員的棒球卡，研究人員發現，球員微笑的寬度事實上可以預測他壽命的長度，相片中沒有笑容的球員，平均壽命僅72.9歲，擁有燦爛笑容的球員，平均壽命將近80歲。

(laughter)(笑聲)

the good news is that we're actually born smiling. using 3d ultrasound technology, we can now see that developing babies appear to smile, even in the womb. when they're born, babies continue to smile -- initially, mostly in their sleep. and even blind babies smile to the sound of the human voice. smiling is one of the most basic, biologically-uniform expressions of all humans.

in studies conducted in papua new guinea, paul ekman, the world's most renowned researcher on facial expressions, found that even members of the fore tribe, who were completely disconnected from western culture, and also known for their unusual cannibalism rituals, attributed smiles to descriptions of situations the same way you and i would. so from papau new guinea to hollywood all the way to modern art in beijing, we smile often, and you smile to express joy and satisfaction.

在巴布亞紐幾內亞進行的研究中，paul ekman，世界上最知名的臉部表情研究者發現，即使是fore部落中的成員，他們完全與西方文化隔絕，也因他們不尋常的吃人儀式而眾所皆知，他們就像你我一樣，也會在某些情況下微笑。因此，從巴布亞紐幾內亞到好萊塢，一直到北京的現代藝術，我們經常微笑著。你用微笑來表達喜悅和滿足。

how many people here in this room smile more than 20 times per day? raise your hand if you do. oh, wow. outside of this room, more than a third of us smile more than 20 times per day, whereas less than 14 percent of us smile less than five. in fact, those with the most amazing superpowers are actually children who smile as many as 400 times per day.

在這房間裡，有多少人每天微笑超過20次?如果有的話請舉起手。喔，哇!在這個房間外，超過三分之一的人每天微笑超過20次，不到14%的人每天微笑少於5次。事實上，擁有最驚人超能力的是孩童，他們每天微笑多達400次。

have you ever wondered why being around children who smile so frequently makes you smile very often? a recent study at uppsala university in sweden found that it's very difficult to frown when looking at someone who smiles. you ask, why? because smiling is evolutionarily contagious, and it suppresses the control we usually have on our facial muscles. mimicking a smile and experiencing it physically help us understand whether our smile is fake or real, so we can understand the emotional state of the smiler.

你有沒有想過，為什麼身處在經常微笑的孩子身邊，也會讓你經常微笑?最近在瑞典uppsala大學的一項研究發現，當看著正在微笑的人時是很難皺眉的。你會問為什麼?因為微笑具有演化上的感染性，它能抑制我們平時對臉部肌肉的控制，模仿一個微笑並實際體驗它，幫助我們了解我們的微笑是假是真，因此我們可以了解微笑者的情緒狀態。

in a recent mimicking study at the university of clermont-ferrand in france, subjects were asked to determine whether a smile was real or fake while holding a pencil in their mouth to repress smiling muscles. without the pencil, subjects were excellent judges, but with the pencil in their mouth, when they could not mimic the smile they saw, their judgment was impaired.

最近在法國clermont-ferrand大學的一次模仿研究中，要求測試對象在口中含住一支鉛筆抑制微笑肌肉時，判斷一個微笑是真是假。不含住鉛筆時測試對象有優秀的判斷力，但當他們口中含著鉛筆時，就無法模仿他們看到的笑容，他們的判斷力就會受損。

(laughter)(笑聲)

in addition to theorizing on evolution in "the origin of species", charles darwin also wrote the facial feedback response theory. his theory states that the act of smiling itself actually makes us feel better -- rather than smiling being merely a result of feeling good. in his study, darwin actually cited a french neurologist, guillaume duchenne, who used electric jolts to facial muscles to induce and stimulate smiles. please, don't try this at home.

除了在《物種起源》中闡述進化論以外，達爾文還寫了臉部回饋理論。他的理論闡述，微笑這個行為本身，事實上能讓我們感覺更好，而不僅是感覺不錯的一個結果。在他的研究中，達爾文事實上引用了法國神經學家guillaume duchenne的實驗，他使用電刺激臉部肌肉，誘發及激起微笑產生。請不要在家裡嘗試這個。

(laughter)(笑聲)

in a related german study, researchers used fmri imaging to measure brain activity before and after injecting botox to suppress smiling muscles. the finding supported darwin's theory by showing that facial feedback modifies the neural processing of emotional content in the brain in a way that helps us feel better when we smile. smiling stimulates our brain reward mechanism in a way that even chocolate -- a well-regarded pleasure inducer -- cannot match.

在德國一項相關研究中，研究人員使用功能性核磁共振造影(fmri)，拍攝在注射肉毒桿菌抑制微笑肌肉前後，對大腦活動進行測量的照片，這個發現支持達爾文的理論，顯示當我們微笑時，臉部回饋會改變大腦中情緒部份的神經處理程式，在某種程度上幫助我們感覺更好。微笑刺激我們的大腦獎勵機制，在某種程度上，甚至連朱古力，一個公認的快樂誘導物，都無法比擬。

british researchers found that one smile can generate the same level of brain stimulation as up to 2,000 bars of chocolate. (laughter) wait. the same study found that smiling is as stimulating as receiving up to 16,000 pounds sterling in cash. that's like 25 grand a smile. it's not bad. and think about it this way: 25,000 times 400 -- quite a few kids out there feel like mark zuckerberg every day.

英國研究人員發現，一個微笑可以使大腦產生與XX根朱古力棒相同程度的刺激。(笑聲)等等，同樣的研究發現，微笑造成的刺激跟得到16000英鎊現金相同，一個微笑就像25000美金，還不錯。再想想看，25000乘以400，世上不少孩子每天都有像mark zuckerberg的感覺(facebook創辦人)。

and, unlike lots of chocolate, lots of smiling can actually make you healthier. smiling can help reduce the level of stress-enhancing hormones like cortisol, adrenaline and dopamine, increase the level of mood-enhancing hormones like endorphin and reduce overall blood pressure.

而且，不像一大堆朱古力，大量微笑事實上可以讓你更健康。微笑可以幫助降低提升壓力荷爾蒙的含量，如皮質醇、腎上腺素和多巴胺，增加提升情緒荷爾蒙的含量，如腦內啡，並降低整體血壓。

and if that's not enough, smiling can actually look good in the eyes of others. a recent study at penn state university found that when you smile you don't only appear to be more likable and courteous, but you actually appear to be more competent.

如果這還不夠，微笑事實上可以使你在他人眼中看起來更好。最近一項在賓州州立大學的研究發現，當你微笑時，你不僅顯得更可愛、更有禮貌，事實上你會顯得更能幹。

so whenever you want to look great and competent, reduce your stress or improve your marriage, or feel as if you just had a whole stack of high-quality chocolate -- without incurring the caloric cost -- or as if you found 25 grand in a pocket of an old jacket you hadn't worn for ages, or whenever you want to tap into a superpower that will help you and everyone around you live a longer, healthier, happier life, smile.

所以，當你想看起來很棒、很能幹、減少你的壓力，或改善你的婚姻，或想要感覺像是吃了一堆高質量朱古力，而不需承受熱量的代價，或彷佛在一件多年沒穿的舊夾克口袋中發現二萬五千元，或當你想使用超能力幫助自己和周圍每個人活得更長久、更健康、生活得更幸福，微笑吧!

(applause)(掌聲)

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