Who Are the Happiest People?
誰是世界上最幸福的人
只有傻瓜才不考慮別人的利益。拋棄自己國家的傳統來創造更好的社會是一種錯誤的方式。一個民族失去了自己的神話，就失去了自我。
[1]They live on a windswept island surrounded by glaciersand volcanoes. What makes them so content?
[1]他們生活在海風吹拂的小島上，被冰川和火山所環繞著。是什么使他們如此滿足?
[2]In a poll of 18 nations, The Gallup Organization discovered that Icelanders are the happiest people alive. All 267,809 of them. Eighty-two percent are satisfied with their personal lives. The United States ranked fifth at 72 percent; Japan came in seventh with 42 percent.
[2]美國的蓋洛普民意測驗組織對世界上18個國家的民意測驗表明：冰島人是世界上最快樂的人。參加測試的人數為26.78萬人。82%的冰島人表示滿意自己的生活;美國表示滿意自己生活的人數為72%，排列第五位;日本排列第七位，人數比率為42%。
[3]Some people would say that happy Iceland is a statistical fluke. This is a country so small, an ordinary citizen can make an appointment to see the president.
[3]有人會說：快樂的冰島僅僅是統計上的巧合。這個國家如此之小，普通的公民也能受到總統的接見。
[4]True, Iceland is no utopia. Icelanders are big boozers, with a fishing tradition of binge drinking. Almost a third of the births are out of wedlock. But that’s what makes the Gallup study so interesting. Icelanders have problems like the rest of us, yet they are happy with their lot. So what gives?
[4]確實，冰島并非天堂，冰島有傳統的打魚豪飲的習慣，酒鬼很多，近三分之一的孩子沒有父親。然而，正因為如此，蓋洛普的這項研究才顯得更加有趣。因為，像我們一樣，冰島人有許多問題，但是，他們卻安命樂天。這究竟是為什么呢?
[5]Consider Thorir Hlynur Thorisson, 28. For his vacation, he spent a month working 16-hour days, seven days a week, as a fishing guide. It was “heaven on earth,” he says. Then after a single night off, he was back at his regular job—on a fishing boat, working six hours on, six hours off, around the clock.
[5]讓我們來看一看，一個名叫索赫·赫利納·索雷遜的28歲的冰島人是怎樣看待生活的。索雷遜在一個月的假期中，為自己找了一份捕漁向導的工作，他一周工作7天，每天工作16個小時,他把這種生活稱作“人間的天堂”。假期結束后，他只休息了一個晚上，又接著正常工作起來——在一艘輪船上，每天6小時工作、6小時休息地輪流當班。
[6]We would call Hlynur a workaholic, but so are most of his compatriots. It pays off. With a per-capita gross domestic product of $19,905 (the U.S. figure is $27,541), Icelanders are among the wealthiest people on earth. Their tax dollars buy them excellent education and medical care. Iceland has the lowest infant mortality rate in the world, and almost the highest longevity.
