《中英對照讀新聞》Smiling too much at work is bad for you工作時笑太多有害健康

◎鄭寺音

Pretending to smile can be bad for your health, a leading psychologist has warned.

裝出笑容可能有害你的健康，一名知名心理學家警告。

Office workers wanting to get on, shop assistants trying to sell and call centre workers ordered to be friendly all suffer higher stress levels if they regularly have to put on a grin, German scientist Professor Dieter Zapf said.

想出人頭地的辦公室員工、嘗試銷售的商店助理、奉命要友善的電話中心員工，如果必須固定帶著笑顏，都承受較大的壓力程度，德國科學家札夫教授說。

Trying to button-up our true feelings does more harm than good, Prof Zapf of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt warned.

試著關閉我們的真實感受弊多於利，法蘭克福歌德大學的札夫教授警告。

Smiling against one’s own will can lead to depression, affect the immune system, cause higher blood pressure and other problems, he said.

強顏歡笑可能導致憂鬱，影響免疫系統，造成高血壓等問題，他說。

The findings were based on a two-year project in which 4,000 volunteers were subjected to daily abuse in a fake call centre.

這項發現是根據一項2年研究計畫，該計畫找了4000名志願者在一間假冒的電話中心每天接受虐待。

They were split into two groups -- those who could answer back and those who had to grin and bear it.

他們被分成可以回嘴與必須微笑忍受2組。

While those allowed to answer back experienced a brief sharp surge in their heart rate, that soon subsided.

那些可以回嘴的人，心跳經歷短暫加速，很快就恢復平靜。

But the smilers continued to experience stress symptoms like a high heart rate long after the call had finished.

但微笑者繼續經歷壓力症狀，像是在電話結束後很久，心跳還是很快。

新聞辭典

get on：出人頭地。例句：He’s sure to get on in the world.（他一定會出人頭地。）

button-up： button up的意思是扣上鈕扣，也指守口如瓶。

subjected to：遭受、蒙受。例句：The suspect was subjected to cross-examination at the police station.（嫌犯在警察局受到盤問。）

自由時報-970529

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