新研究：消极词语真的会让你的人生变糟！_公共英语阅读理解

新研究：消极词语真的会让你的人生变糟！

To measure this phenomenon over time, the study’s authors examined the text of the New York Times and Google Books over the past 200 years. In addition to shifts in the predominance of optimistic language that correlate to times of national suffering or lower happiness levels, the study also found an overall decrease in positive words over the two centuries covered by the study. However, the latter conclusion should be taken with a few grains of salt for now, other researchers argue. Linguist Mark Liberman pointed out to the Times that tracking the tone of word choice over such a large period risks confounding overall changes in language with a decrease in positive word choice.

为了检测这种现象随时间的变化情况，研究者们统计了过去200多年的《纽约时报》和《谷歌图书》文本。除了发现在国难中或者幸福感较低的年代里“乐观语言”的主宰地位会发生动摇之外，研究人员还发现在他们涉足的两个多世纪里积极性词汇的使用率整体呈下降趋势。然而，其他一些研究者辩解说，第二项结论目前尚不足以令人信服。语言学家马克•利伯曼向《纽约时报》指出，在这么长的时间段里追踪措词的感情色彩，如果语言本身整体在改变，能选择的积极性词汇本来就在减少，那么研究结果就可能受到影响。

As with any single study, questions remain. The study’s authors suggested the need for more research into whether "objective circumstances and subjective mood have independent roles" in affecting positivity in language. The study found that "in the years when the level of national subjective happiness in the United States was lower, [linguistic positivity bias] tended to be lower also."