I'll give you an example.

我給你舉個例子。

There was a study in the city of Chicago.

芝加哥市曾進行過一項研究。

They were studying commuters, people who were about to get on the train and take the train to work, like they did every day.

他們研究的是通勤者，即像他們每天做的那樣，準備上車乘火車去上班的人。

And so they took a random sample of people in one group, and they were assigned to do what they always do on the train.

於是，他們隨機抽取了一組人，讓他們做在火車上經常做的事情。

It could have been listening to music or reading the news on their phone, whatever they did.

可能是在聽音樂，也可能是在用手機看新聞，不管他們做了什麼。

The other group, randomly, was assigned to talk to a stranger on the train, which none of them had ever done.

另一組人則被隨機分配在火車上與陌生人交談，他們中沒有人做過這樣的事。

And they asked them beforehand, how much do you think you're going to like this assignment we've just given you?

他們事先問他們：你覺得你會喜歡我們剛剛給你的這個任務嗎？

And the people who were assigned to talk to strangers said, I'm not going to enjoy this.

被派去和陌生人交談的人說，我不會喜歡這樣的。

Afterwards, after they completed their assignments, the people who had talked to strangers were much happier than the people who had done their usual staying on their phones or reading the newspaper.

之後，在他們完成任務後，與陌生人交談的人要比像往常一樣玩手機或看報紙的人快樂得多。

So it's an example of how we're not so good at knowing what's going to make us happy, and particularly when it comes to connecting with each other.

是以，這就是一個例子，說明我們並不擅長了解什麼能讓我們快樂，尤其是當涉及到彼此的聯繫時。

There's something about these kind of small conversations that we can have with strangers or even with someone we barely know that turn out to be very energizing more of the time than not.

我們可以與陌生人，甚至是我們幾乎不認識的人進行這種小範圍的交談，而這種交談在很多時候都會給我們帶來很大的啟發。

But we're always afraid.

但我們總是害怕。

We're afraid someone's going to think we're strange if we strike up a conversation, or we're going to get stuck talking to someone who we don't like.

我們害怕如果我們和別人搭訕，別人會覺得我們很奇怪，或者我們會陷入和一個我們不喜歡的人交談的困境。

But what we find is that the culture gives us these messages about what will make us happy that turn out not to be the truth.

但我們發現，文化給了我們這些關於什麼會讓我們快樂的資訊，而事實卻並非如此。

A lot of the messages are about consumerism.

很多資訊都是關於消費主義的。

We're told, if you buy this car, you're going to be happy.

我們被告知，如果你買了這輛車，你會很開心。

If you serve this brand of pasta, you're going to have blissful family dinners.

如果您食用這種品牌的意大利麵，您就會享受到幸福的家庭晚餐。

And even though we sort of know that this isn't the truth, the advertisements really do inculcate this sense that if we consume the right things, that we'll be happy.

儘管我們知道事實並非如此，但廣告確實灌輸了這樣一種觀念：只要我們消費正確的東西，我們就會快樂。

And what we know from our research and many other studies is that's just not so.

而從我們的研究和許多其他研究中得知，事實並非如此。

And that these connections with each other actually do make us happy.

而且，這些彼此間的聯繫確實能讓我們快樂。