对别人说“谢谢”是好事，但这对你自己也有好处吗？研究结果表明，感恩对我们的身体和心理健康有积极影响，对我们的人际关系也有好处。(威廉莎士比亚，哈姆雷特，感激，感激，感激，感激，感激。

词汇：gratitude 感恩

Gratitude is more than just saying ‘thank you’ to someone who has helped us or given us a gift. Gratitude is a deeper appreciation for someone or something that makes us feel a positive emotion. And this positive emotion can be good for our health – our emotional and physical health, as well as the health of our relationships.

感恩不仅仅是对帮助过我们或给过我们礼物的人说声“谢谢”。感恩是对让我们感受到积极情绪的某人或某事更深层次的欣赏。这种积极的情绪对我们的健康有好处——我们的情绪和身体健康，以及我们的人际关系健康。

Let’s start by looking at the emotional or mental health benefits of expressing gratitude. There have been many studies, as described in a 2018 paper from the Greater Good Science Center titled ‘The Science of Gratitude’ , showing that writing a gratitude letter to another person or writing in a gratitude journal, if done regularly, improves mental health.

让我们先看看表达感激对情感或心理健康的好处。2018年，大善科学中心(Greater Good Science Center)发表了一篇题为《感恩的科学》(the Science of grateful)的论文，其中描述了许多研究，表明如果定期给他人写感谢信或在感恩杂志上写感谢信，可以改善心理健康。

One reason for this, is that gratitude stops us from ruminating on toxic, negative emotions, and writing a ‘thank you’ letter, for example, shifts our attention so that we focus on positive emotions. But even if we don’t share our writing with anyone, like in a journal, the act of completing the exercise alone makes us happier and more satisfied with life. And this gets better with time. As we are essentially training our brain to be more in tune with noticing the positive, after several weeks or months, this becomes more intuitive. And so, the more we express gratitude, the more positive we feel.

其中一个原因是，感恩阻止我们反复思考有毒的、消极的情绪，比如，写一封“感谢”信，可以转移我们的注意力，让我们专注于积极的情绪。但是，即使我们不与任何人分享我们的写作，比如在日记中，完成练习的行为本身就会让我们对生活更快乐、更满意。随着时间的推移，效果会更好。因为我们本质上是在训练我们的大脑去注意积极的事物，几周或几个月后，这变得更加直观。因此，我们表达的感激之情越多，我们就越积极。

Gratitude can also make us feel good in our bodies. There are studies linking a gratitude practice to better sleep quality, better eating habits, and reduced inflammation in people who have had heart problems. So gratitude is clearly good for us, but is it also good for the people in our lives?

感恩也能让我们的身体感觉良好。有研究表明，感恩与有心脏问题的人更好的睡眠质量、更好的饮食习惯以及减少炎症有关。所以，感恩显然对我们有好处，但它对我们生活中的人也有好处吗?

The simple answer is ‘yes’. When shared – spoken or written – gratitude is about feeling valued and helping others feel valued too. Feeling valued can help build stronger relationships – be it with family, partners, friends or even colleagues. And that’s on top of all the other ways gratitude is clearly good for us. Maybe we should all stop counting sheep or counting calories and start counting our blessings instead?

简单的回答是肯定的。当分享时——口头或书面——感激是关于感觉被重视和帮助别人也感觉被重视。感觉被重视有助于建立更牢固的关系——无论是与家人、伙伴、朋友，甚至是同事。这是感恩对我们有好处的最重要的方面。也许我们应该停止数羊或数卡路里，开始数我们的祝福?

词汇表

deep 深层次的
appreciation for 对…的感激之情
emotional 情感的
mental health 心理健康
express (v) 表达
study (n) 研究
ruminate on 反复思考
toxic 令人不愉快的
shift your attention 转移你的注意力
the act of …的行为
satisfied 满足的，满意的
essentially 本质上，基本上
be in tune with 与…一致
intuitive 凭直觉的
practice 实践
reduce 减少
inflammation 炎症
feel valued 感觉受到尊重
count your blessings 常怀感恩，知足

测验与练习

1. 阅读课文并回答问题。

1. What are two ways of expressing gratitude in writing?

2. True or False? Writing one ‘thank you’ letter improves mental health.

3. How does gratitude stop us ruminating on negative emotions?

4. Give three examples of how gratitude can be good for the body.

5. How can we make others feel valued through gratitude?

2. 选择意思恰当的单词或词组来完成下列句子。

1. Teachers’ Day is a day to _______ teachers and thank them for their hard work throughout the year.

shift your attention express appreciation for be in tune with feel valued

2. She spent weeks _______ the difficult decision to leave her husband.

linking to counting her blessings reducing ruminating on

3. Sometimes, the solution to a problem comes without thinking. It’s _______.

intuitive deep mental health satisfied

4. Smoking is _______ heart disease and other health problems.

inflammation on top of linked to toxic

5. We were in a car accident but weren’t badly injured. We _______ it wasn’t worse.

count our blessings are in tune with gratitude satisfied

答案

1. 阅读课文并回答问题。

1. What are two ways of expressing gratitude in writing?
Writing a gratitude, or ‘thank you’, letter to another person, and writing in a gratitude journal.

2. True or False? Writing one ‘thank you’ letter improves mental health.
False. If done regularly, writing a gratitude letter or writing in a gratitude journal improves mental health.

3. How does gratitude stop us ruminating on negative emotions?
It shifts our attention so that we focus on positive emotions.

4. Give three examples of how gratitude can be good for the body.
Better sleep quality, better eating habits, and reduced inflammation in people who have had heart problems.

5. How can we make others feel valued through gratitude?
When we share our gratitude with them – in spoken or written form.

2. 选择意思恰当的单词或词组来完成下列句子。

1. Teachers’ Day is a day to express appreciation for teachers and thank them for their hard work throughout the year.

2. She spent weeks ruminating on the difficult decision to leave her husband.

3. Sometimes, the solution to a problem comes without thinking. It’s intuitive.

4. Smoking is linked to heart disease and other health problems.

5. We were in a car accident but weren’t badly injured. We count our blessings it wasn’t worse.