Do you want to be happy? Of course you do, but according to new research, resting and relaxation are no way to go about it.

想要快乐吗?你当然想啦，不过最新研究显示，休息放松可不能让你快乐起来。

You’re better off going to the theatre or exercising; even a visit to the library beats lounging around on the sofa.

你最好去剧院看场剧，或者去做运动，即使是去图书馆看书也比躺在沙发上无所事事要强。

Such were the findings of a joint study by the University of Sussex and the London School of Economics, which has come up with a list of 33 activities that make us happy.

这是苏塞克斯大学和伦敦经济学院共同研究的发现，从中还得出了一份清单，列出了33件可以让我们快乐的事。

One thing’s for certain, texting and social media come at the bottom of the list, only increasing our happiness by a puny 0.45 per cent.

可以肯定的是，短信和社交媒体只能让我们的快乐感增加微不足道的0.45%，排在了列表的末尾。

But happiness doesn’t have to come from other people. It can come from within - and connecting with the world around you.

但是快乐不一定是来自别人的，它还可以源于自身，与你周围的世界有着紧密的联系。

DIGGING IN THE GARDEN

园艺的快乐

By Sally Brampton

莎莉•布兰普顿

A few years ago I went through a period of such severe depression that life didn’t seem worth living. It was like permanent winter, so bleak and cold that the sun would never shine.

几年前，我曾有一段时间患了严重的抑郁症，生活于我几近无可眷恋。我感觉身处永久的严冬，连阳光也无法穿透刺骨的寒冷。

Then I saw snowdrops pushing through the freezing, iron-hard ground. I looked at them every day until I felt that if they could come back to life, then so could I.

后来我看到雪花莲从冰冷坚硬的泥土里钻出来了。我每天看着它们，心想，如果它们可以挺过这个寒冬，那我也可以。

Those green shoots gave me hope in a way that nothing else had.

唯独是这些绿色的嫩芽，用独特的方式给我带来了希望。

As spring came, I started to put in more and more plants, until the garden was ablaze with colour. Life was growing through my hands; gentle, peaceful, but, above all, optimistic. If I gave love, it was returned, a hundredfold.

春天来了，我开始不断地在花园里种各种花草，整个花园都充满了鲜艳的色彩。生命通过我的双手不断成长，迸发着柔和宁静、乐观向上的气息。我给它们的爱意，它们百倍地回报了我。

I could spend hours lost in gardening. The form of depressive illness I have is biological. It has affected generations of my family and follows no rhyme, reason nor circumstance. I can be depressed when the sun is shining or I am surrounded by a group of loving friends.

我陶醉在园艺中，不知不觉就会度过好几个小时。我患有的抑郁症是遗传性的，已经影响了我家里好几代人，无规律可循，原因不明，也不知道什么时候会发作。无论是阳光灿烂的时候，还是和一群好朋友在一起，我都有可能会郁郁寡欢。

Of course, fresh air and exercise help to alleviate depression, but for me gardening is more than that. It represents endurance as well as hope.

当然，呼吸新鲜空气和做运动能够减轻抑郁的症状，但对我来说，园艺不仅仅是一种治疗的手段。它代表着忍耐和希望。

At the end of the first garden I made stood a tree, huge and magnificent. It withstood freezing temperatures and gale-force winds. It bent but never broke.

在第一个花园的深处，我亲手种了一棵树，高大茂盛，经得住刺骨的严寒和凛冽的暴风，即使被吹弯了也从来没有折断过。

The leaves dropped until it looked no more than a stark skeleton, but it always, always came back to life. And so I learned that we may be battled and bruised, but hope is a living thing.

每次落叶纷飞，最后只剩下光秃秃的树枝，它总是可以恢复生机。从中我懂得了一个道理：我们会经受考验，会跌倒受伤，但希望是不灭的。