新标准大学英语综合教程2课本翻译U2R3

Keep smiling

保持微笑

A couple of months ago I read an interesting article in a popular science magazine about how people from different cultures reveal their emotions through facial expressions. It said that Russians show the least emotion in their expressions –and Americans show the most. This seemed very interesting, but as an Indian I found I was even more interested to read what the researchers had to say about people who smile the most. India was quite near the bottom of the list – 124th, to be precise, while Denmark was at the top.

几个月以前，我在一份科普杂志上读到一篇有趣的文章，文章是关于不同文化背景下的人们是如何通过面部表情流露情感的。文章说，俄国人在面部表情中流露的情感最少——美国人流露的最多。这似乎非常有趣。但作为印度人，我觉得更有趣的是，研究人员还研究了哪个国家的人笑得最多。印度人在排行榜上几乎是垫底的——准确地说，位于第124名，而丹麦人则居于首位。

This made me think about myself, and my own experience. I remember that my daughter – she must have been about eight at the time –once asked me, "Dad, why is it that you only smile when foreigners come to the house?" And I realized that she was right. I usually only smiled when we had visitors from other countries and I made a conscious effort to change my normal facial behaviour. So I decided to start to smile more, around the house, and at work too.

这使我想到自己以及自己的经历。我记得我的女儿——那时候她肯定是八岁左右——曾经问我：“爸爸，为什么只有当外国人到家里来的时候你才微笑？”我意识到自己确实像她说的那样。通常，只有当外国客人来访时我才微笑。有外国客人时，我会有意识地努力改变我正常的面部表情。从女儿提醒我之后，我决定开始更多地微笑，在家里这样，上班也一样。

At first I had to force myself to do it. I remember reading somewhere that we use a lot more muscles when we frown than we do when we smile. But we still need to make an effort to smile –it's a learned behaviour, not a reflex action. But the curious thing is that, even as I lift those muscles at the side of my mouth, it makes me happy. In other words, the facial reaction enhances the emotion that it is expressing.

起初，我得强迫自己微笑。我记得在什么地方读到过，我们皱眉的时候比微笑的时候动用的肌肉要多得多。可是我们依然需要努力才会微笑——那是一种习得的行为，而不是一种反射动作。但令人奇怪的是，只要我拉起嘴角的肌肉，就觉得快乐。换句话说，面部反应能增强其所表达的情感。

A few days ago I made a train journey in the south of India. Sitting next to me was a young man who helped to make me comfortable by moving his bag to make more room for me. As he did so, he was smiling. The next thing I knew, we had settled into our seats and were chatting together about ourselves (in English). He said he worked in Europe, in a science laboratory, and added that living in a foreign country had made him change his body language and his facial expressions. By the time I reached my destination we had exchanged email addresses and arranged to meet again. It felt as if we were old friends – just because a young man had chosen to smile to a stranger on a crowded train.

几天前，我乘火车在印度南部旅行。我身边坐着一位年轻人，为了让我坐得舒服，他挪了挪包以便给我腾出更大的地方。他挪包的时候，一直在微笑。随后我们就各自落座，一起（用英语）聊起了各自的情况。他说，他在欧洲一间科学实验室工作，接着又说，在外国生活的经历改变了他的身体语言和面部表情。在我到达目的地之前，我们交换了电子邮件地址，并约好以后再见。我们一见如故——就因为在拥挤的火车上，一位年轻人选择了对陌生人微笑。