Against Happiness
February
27
Against Happiness
如今这个社会，每个人都在歌颂happiness。
人活着要开心，工作要开心，学习要开心。
不开心，与猪有什么区别？
这作者不会是个反社会人格吧？为什么要和快乐唱反调？
有时候，你以为的真理并非真理。
When other men blindly follow the truth, remember……Nothing is true.
When other men are limited, by morality or law, remember……Everything is permitted.
We work in the dark to serve the light.
We are Assassins.
（不小心暴露了我对游戏的热爱）
同我干了这碗毒鸡汤，大声喊出：我不快乐！
LORD Percy of Newcastle, Britain's minister of education in 1924-29, was no fan of the fad for happy-clappy “progressive” education that spread among the country's schools on his watch. He declared that it was all nonsense: “a child ought to be brought up to expect unhappiness.” This columnist feels the same suspicion of the fashion for happy-clappy progressive management theory that is rushing through the world's companies and even some governments.
词
汇
LORD Percy of Newcastle：同位语Britain's minister of education in 1924-29修饰，指明他是一个英国教育大臣。
请大家思考，为啥一开始搞个很牛逼的人类在这儿啊？
读文章的时候把自己放在作者的角度去思考，在陈述自己观点之前，引用一个很牛逼的人的观点，往往能够彰显作者思想的正确。这叫啥，引用观点。比如：Wilde once said: we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. 文章的逼格瞬间提升。
was no fan of a fad：他不支持现在的那股“快乐教育”风。Fad，一时的风潮，sb was no fan of sth某人对什么东西不来电。比如我对这东西不来电，可以说I am no fan of this或者I am not a fan。
it was all nonsense：胡扯nonsense，美剧中常说bullshit，不过这是口语，书面语用nonsense更委婉得体。
this columnist feels the same suspicion：大家要学习这种写法，不用oh I agree with him, 或者是he is so right，而用“笔者对于···持同样观点”，除了表达高级，把自己的位置也摆的很正，我跟很牛逼的人持同样观点。
happy-clappy progressive management theory：激进的快乐式管理理论。Happy-clappy是什么意思？这个短语似乎不怎么常见？我们查阅了一下Wikipedia，发现是这么解释的：
Happy-clappy or Happy clappers, is a derogatory term referring to a style of Christian worship particularly evident in Evangelical churches.This style of worship involves joyful congregational worship songs, often accompanied by acoustic guitars and drums in which the congregation clap along to the rhythm of the song, or raise one or both hands in the air, and occasionally dance.
大致意思是，是一种贬义术语，指的是一种用高兴地唱歌鼓掌来表达宗教信仰的流派。用在这里，指一种狂热的对“快乐”这种情绪的追捧风潮。
解
析
第一段开头引用了一个英国教育部长观点：不支持风靡全国的激进的快乐式教育，他认为，学生应当学会应对不快乐。
引出自己的观点：对，我也不支持这种激进的快乐式管理。可知后文一定会说这种快乐式管理是什么样的，有什么不好吧！
The leading miscreant is Zappos, an online shoe shop. The firm expects its staff to be in a state of barely controlled delirium when they sell shoes. Pret A Manger, a British food chain, specialises in bubbly good humour as well as sandwiches. Air stewards are trained to sound mellifluous but those at Virgin Atlantic seem on the verge of breaking out into a song-and-dance routine. Google until recently had an in-house “jolly good fellow” to spread mindfulness and empathy.
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Miscreant：one who behaves criminally or viciously，也就是恶棍，the leading miscreant，异端头子。
until recently had sth：直到今天才不做，也就是，以前做但是刚刚不做了。所以注意文中是说谷歌现在已经不这样做了。这种用法很原汁原味，大家平时也可以多使用这样的表达，例如：until recently their relationship was going well,潜台词是什么？也就是现在他们关系出现问题了吧。所以很多时候我们会用until recently来表达过去的状态，有点“刚刚还好好的，怎么就……”那种感觉。
“jolly good fellow”：快乐好伙伴
解
析
第二段列举了这种激进的快乐式管理法的典型代表Z公司。这个公司让员工卖鞋子时都得要开开心心的。接着作者又另外举出了两个例子，分别是Pret A Manger这家英国美食连锁公司以及维珍的空乘。不用看也知道，这三个都是一丘之貉，勒令员工必须快乐工作的。
A weird assortment of gurus and consultancies is pushing the cult of happiness. Shawn Achor, who has taught at Harvard University, now makes a living teaching big companies around the world how to turn contentment into a source of competitive advantage. One of his rules is to create “happiness hygiene”. Just as we brush our teeth every day, goes his theory, we should think positive thoughts and write positive e-mails.
词
汇
gurus：=teacher, mentor，是其梵文的说法，相较于teacher，guru这个词更为权威，比如fashion gurus，就是指时尚界的icon，而且这个词还有一个深层次的含义就是其有一种spiritual guide的感觉，比较像灵魂向导的感觉更符合这里快乐教派的语境。
cult：狂热，崇拜，极端宗教，贬义居多
happiness hygiene：快乐心理卫生
解
析
一群奇怪的大师们、咨询公司们都在推崇“快乐”怪潮。比如一个曾任教于哈佛大学的大师， 叫SA，现在到处讲课，兜售自己的观点：把满足感变成竞争力的源泉。SA主张的原则之一就是要构建“快乐心理卫生”，每天让开心、快乐的想法冲洗人们的心灵，锻炼正向的积极的思考方式。
啥意思，就是今天你没有快乐你就觉得不干净，哎呀。。。。快乐就像刷牙，每天都要进行。话说当你变得每天不得不快乐的时候，那是什么状态？
Zappos is so happy with its work on joy that it has spun off a consultancy called Delivering Happiness. It has a chief happiness officer (CHO), a global happiness navigator, a happiness hustler, a happiness alchemist and, for philosophically minded customers, a happiness owl. Plasticity Labs, a technology firm which grew out of an earlier startup called the Smile Epidemic, says it is committed to supporting a billion people on their path to happiness in both their personal and professional lives.
词
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spin off：有一种公司称之为spin-off company，就是衍生公司。另外它还可以用在其他的语境中：比如衍生剧（把原剧里的一些支线拿出来拍）也是spin-off。
CHO：类比CEO（Chief Executive Officer）。例如，霞姐是我们的CEO。（Chief Eating Officer首席吃饭官）。
解
析
接下来又提到了Z这家公司，哦，就是第二段说的the leading miscreant恶棍头子哦，为什么提它？因为这公司玩的比较6，人家专门成立了一家名为“传递快乐”的咨询公司，还设有首席快乐官呢，可以看出作者态度是讽刺。
这一段作者其实讲了两家这样的公司。主要目的想要强调它们已经太离谱了they are going too far!
The trend is not confined to the private sector. Several governments, including those of America, Britain, France and Australia, now publish for the benefit of their citizens regular reports on levels of nationa1 well-being. Bhutan haslong measured its gross national happiness, and the United Arab Emirates boasts a brand-new Ministry of Happiness.
词
汇
Not confined to……不限于
gross national happiness 国民幸福总值，类比 gross national product国民生产总值
解
析
上面作者说你看到多企业都瞎搞快乐管理，其实啊就是一帮大师在后面撺掇的。而到这里更让作者悲愤的是那只企业这么搞啊。连很多政府都这样搞，很多国家政府都开始关注这一问题了呢。比如不丹，像搞GNP一样，还搞了个gross national happiness，国民幸福总值呗。甚至阿联酋很是得意自己国家设立的新部门，幸福部。
Business people have long known there is money to be made in the field. Dale Carnegie, a leadership guru, said the best way to win friends and influence people was to seem upbeat. Disneyland is still “the happiest place on Earth”. American firms regularly bid their customers to “have a nice day”. One of the sharpest books published on the phenomenon is “The Managed Heart” from 1983, in which Arlie Hochs child, a sociologist at the University of California, Berkeley, noted that many employers demanded “emotional labour” from workers in the form of smiles and other expressions of “positive emotion”. Firms are keen to extract still more happiness from their employees as the service sector plays an ever greater role in the economy. Run-of-the-mill service firms are fighting for their lives against discounters. As customers, most people prefer their service with a smile rather than a snarl.
词
汇
leading guru：没忘我们刚刚说的guru吧，这里用一个leading修饰，可见是大师中的大师，相当于领军人物。
Upbeat：注意不是心跳（heartbeat），upbeat就是积极乐观的，=positive。这里同义词替换，避免重复。
解
析
商人们早就意识到了这是一个有利可图的领域，比如领军人物卡耐基，N年前其成功学可谓是全球脱销，他说：赢得朋友和影响他人的最好办法就是看起来积极向上。美国公司总是祝愿客户“拥有美好的一天”，迪士尼乐园依然是“the happiest place on Earth”，很多的雇主都要求自己的员工在工作中展现快乐的情绪，全世界的每个角落似乎都在散发了幸福的光辉，可是are you happy? Like, for real?
Some firms are trying to create some wellbeing, too, showering their employees with mindfulness courses, yoga lessons and anything else that proves that managers are interested in “the whole person”. Only happy fools would take that at face value. Management theorists note that a big threat to corporate performance is widespread disengagement among workers. Happy people are more engaged and productive, say psychologists. Gallup claimed in 2013 that the “unhappiness” of employees costs the American economy $500 billion a year in lost productivity.
词
汇
“the whole person”：这里相当于“全面发展的人”
face value：其实就是literally，也就是字面上的意思。这一表达也是一个金融术语，也就是面值
解
析
很多的公司尝试着为员工创造福祉，致力于打造全面的人，又学这又学那，各种洗脑。 只有不知愁的傻子才会相信这只会为了创造快乐。接着说了管理理论和心理学研究，都是在说散漫无心，消极的工作态度如何影响公司效益。不开心真是给全人类拖了后腿啊！
作者当然是极度不爽的，所以作者说了：有问题！
One problem with tracking happiness is that it is such a vague metric: it is difficult to prove or disprove Gallup's numbers since it is not entirely clear what is being measured. Companies would be much better off forgetting wishy-washy goals like encouraging contentment. They should concentrate on eliminating specific annoyances, such as time-wasting meetings and pointless memos. Instead, they are likely to deve1op ever more sophisticated ways of measuring the emotional state of their employees. Academics are already busy creating smartphone apps that help people keep track of their moods, such as Track Your Happiness and Mood scope. It may not belong before human-resource departments start measuring work-place euphoria via apps, cameras and voice recorders.
词
汇
wishy-washy：这是一个口语化的表达，大多数人在生活中都会遇到自己的这样一种状态，它的用法比较广泛，比如Don't be wishy-washy; you can't go wrong by listening to what I say。意思就是犹豫不决，没有主心骨，又比如political wishy-washy，政治空言。
解
析
终于，作者的观点出现了，指出这里存在有问题对不对？问题出在哪里：标准很模糊。想想：未来很有可能会有一个极其复杂的机器或者是手机端app，你一有些不开心，手机就哇哇叫，或者每天搞出一个情绪报告来追踪你的精神指数，想来多么可怕。这里代表所有员工给公司诚恳的建议，不要老是监督员工快不快乐，做些实事，比如精简冗长的会议亦或者是抛弃毫无意义的备忘录，员工也许会真的快乐很多。
Be miserable. It'll make you feel better.
The idea of companies employing jolly good fellows and “happiness alchemists” may be cringe- making, but is there anything else really wrong with it? Various academic studies suggest that “emotional labour” can bring significant costs. The more employees are obliged to fix their faces with a rictus smile or express joy at a customer's choice of shoes, the more likely they are to suffer problems of burnout. And the contradiction between companies demanding more displays of contentment from workers, even as they put them on miserably short-term contracts and turn them into self-employed “partners”, is becoming more stark.
解
析
上面出现了一下小标题，很明显，作者这里就是直接阐述自己的观点了。Be miserable, you will feel better….呃，好吧，这作者是真不是一般人，悲惨一点，你会感觉更好？但是，我们是读者，所以先不质疑，继续站在作者角度看完全文。
The idea,肯定是上文提到的快乐管理相关的idea吧，这些想法可能有些不好，一个很严重的问题就是：情绪劳动是有成本的。你想想，天天乐，多累。员工都是每天咧着嘴，不变成面瘫，就是感觉身体被掏空啊！
But the biggest problem with the cult of happiness is that it is an unacceptable invasion of individual liberty. Many companies are already overstepping the mark. A large American health-care provider, Ochsner Health System, introduced a rule that workers must make eye contact and smile whenever they walk within ten feet of another person in the hospital. Pret A Manger sends in mystery shoppers to visit every outlet regularly to see if they are greeted with the requisite degree of joy. Pass the test and the entire staff gets a bonus-a powerful incentive for workers to turn themselves into happiness police. Companies have a right to ask their emp1oyees to be polite when they deal with members of the public. They do not have a right to try to regulate their workers' psy-chological states and turn happiness into an instrument of corporate control.
词
汇
Overstep：越线
happiness police：英文其实是“快乐警局”，中文翻译是互相督促，保持快乐。
你会发现中英文一个很有意思的区别，中文善于使用动词，而英文更偏向于使用名词，比如：她爱好音乐。直接翻译she likes music，low 不low，挺low 的吧，如果这样表达呢？she has a great taste for music。很逼格有木有，大家平时在进行英语表达的时候，也可以多注意使用。
解
析
另外仍然存在的一个很大的问题就是，对个人自由的过渡侵犯。很多公司已经越线。有的公司会派出卧底到门店进行观察，看员工在工作的过程中是否足够愉悦。这里有一个好玩的地方，通过测试, 公司会给予全体员工奖励，这就是一个很强有力的刺激，让员工们互相监督。最后作者提出了中肯的建议，公司的确有权利要求员工礼貌，但是不能够规划管理员工的心理状态，把happiness变成一种企业管理的手段。
读完全文，我们发现，作者是站在人性的角度上来说，人应当尊重自己，释放情绪。
所谓，你不是真正的快乐。微笑是我们的保护色。
虽然人们都喜欢成天乐呵呵的朋友，尤其是服务业，客户对服务的满意度很大程度上系于服务人员的笑容是否温暖，但是，从人性的角度看，人不能强装快乐，公司更不应以是否表现的快乐为标准评判员工。
可是，当情绪与公司利益想挂钩，这种“快乐管理学”想必仍然会风靡下去。
果然，其实很多事，本没有对错，只有立场。
很多所谓大师说的话，并不一定是真理，只是从他们的立场出发，或是从他们所代表的利益集团出发，对他们最有利的罢了。
英文原文: Schumpeter: Against happiness | The Economist Global Business Review
讲解：霞姐/Tiassa
编排/校对：魔力校花
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