背景：

得过彩票大奖吗？没有？那你还会再买吗？如果答案是“会”，那你或许就是个乐观的人。

伦敦大学的研究表明，人类是天性乐观的生物。

Ever won the lottery? No? But did that stop you buying another lottery ticket?

If the answer is another 'no', you might call yourself an optimist.

But then, according to researchers at University College London, human beings are naturallysanguinecreatures.

It is all in the brain, they say. A study suggests it is very efficient at processing good news: about 80% of people have a tendencyto see the glass as half-full, not half-empty, even if they don't consider themselves to be optimists.

The good news is that this brings a health benefit. Being upbeat and having a positive outlook on life reduces anxiety. A study of nearly 100,000 women showed a lower risk of death from heart disease amongst optimists.

But there are pitfalls to always having anupbeat attitude. The authors of the study point out the 2008 financial crisis may have been caused by analystsoverestimatingtheir assets' performance evenin the face ofclear evidence to the contrary.

There are personal health risks too. Dr Tali Sharot, lead researcher, said: "'Smoking Kills' messages don't work as people think their chances of cancer are low. There's a very fundamentalbiasin the brain."

But, as they say,every cloud has a silver lining. Even ifseeing the world through rose-tinted glassesposes a risk to our health, it's not something that is likely to cause us to lose sleep.

Let's justkeep our chins upand keep smiling!

Glossary 词汇表

optimist 乐观主义者

sanguine （正式用语）满怀希望的

to see the glass as half-full, not half-empty 表示同样半杯水，乐观的人觉得杯子是半满， 悲观的人觉得杯子是半空的。

upbeat 乐观的，欢快的

to have a positive outlook on life 有一个积极的人生观

upbeat attitude 乐观的态度

to overestimate 过高估计

in the face of 纵然，面对，即使

bias 偏见

every cloud has a silver lining （喻）黑暗中总有一丝光明（原意：乌云也有银边）

to see the world through rose-tinted glasses （喻）把世界看得过于美好（原意：透过玫瑰色眼镜看世界）

to keep your chin up （喻）勇敢面对困难（原意：抬起下巴，仰起头）