中國網(wǎng)站品牌欄目（頻道）
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 Research shows that Britons are the happiest people in Europe.
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Here’s a reason to rejoice despite the nation's woes: Britons are the happiest people in Europe. Research shows that we smile more than our continental cousins, with only the Spanish, known for their sunny outlook, and the Italians, with their love of life, coming close. The French and Germans, some might say perhaps not surprisingly, fare poorlyin the smile stakes. Bottom of the pile are the Poles, who it seems are twice as reluctant to crack a smile as Britons. Piotr Szarota, a psychologist at the Polish Academy of Sciences, analysed 2,000 photos accompanying internet messages sent by men and women from nine European countries. He found the residents of Eastern bloc nations to smile less often than those in the West, with the Poles the grimmest of the lot. However, differences in quality of life cannot fully explain the results, with France and Germany both sitting towards the bottom of the league table. With fewer than half the French and Germans pictured smiling, they were more morose than the Slovenians and the Czechs. This may be because, like the Poles, the French and Germans place a premium on sincerity, preferring to show their true feelings, rather than mask them with a smile. In contrast, Dr Szarota said that Britons, who topped the table with more than 70 percent of those pictured smiling, may be too polite to show how they really feel. (Read by Renee Haines. Renee Haines is a journalist at the China Daily Web site.) (Agencies) |
盡管英國目前困難重重，但有件事可以讓大家高興一下：英國是歐洲最快樂的國度。 調(diào)查顯示，與歐洲其他國家人相比，英國人更愛笑，以樂觀開朗而著稱的西班牙人和熱愛生活的意大利人位居其后。 而法國人和德國人都不愛笑——有些人可能并不會對此感到驚奇。 波蘭人最不愛笑，他們展顏微笑的幾率只有英國人的一半。 波蘭科學(xué)院的心理學(xué)家皮歐特?薩羅塔對歐洲九個國家的男性和女性在發(fā)送網(wǎng)絡(luò)訊息時附帶發(fā)送的2000張照片進(jìn)行了分析。 他發(fā)現(xiàn)，東歐人不如西歐人愛笑，其中波蘭人最不愛笑。 不過，生活質(zhì)量的差異不能完全解釋這一結(jié)果，因?yàn)榉▏撕偷聡说呐琶脖容^靠后。 在法國人和德國人發(fā)送的照片中，只有不到一半是面帶笑容的，比斯洛文尼亞人和捷克人還要嚴(yán)肅。 這也許是因?yàn)榉▏撕偷聡伺c波蘭人一樣，都比較真誠，更愿意表現(xiàn)出自己的真實(shí)情感，而不是為了笑而笑。 相比之下，英國人可能是太禮貌而不愿表現(xiàn)出自己的真實(shí)情感。在他們發(fā)送的照片中，有70%面帶笑容，位居各國之首。 相關(guān)閱讀 （中國日報網(wǎng)英語點(diǎn)津 陳丹妮 編輯蔡姍姍） |
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Vocabulary: in the ... stakes: used to say how much of a particular quality a person has, as if they were in a competition in which some people are more successful than others （評論一個人的某種品質(zhì)高或低）要是比……的話，論…… crack a smile: 展顏微笑 league table: a list that shows how successful an organization such as a sports team or a business is when it is compared to other similar organizations（排名表） |
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