Several times a year, I repair to my bolthole in a small village on the coast of Northumberland, where I spent my childhood. It's a happy place and just the right antidote¹ to busy, noisy, grimy London. It's beautiful, which helps, and it's hardly changed from the way it was when I went to school there.

我每年都会去诺森伯兰郡海岸的一个小村庄，去修缮我儿时长大的地方（每年都会去好几次）。那儿的生活无忧无虑，是一剂灵丹妙药，能让人忘了忙碌、嘈杂而又脏乱的伦敦。那儿很美，自打我上学开始，那儿就没怎么变。

What makes it so magical? I think it's the sense of community. Everyone knows everyone else and everyone cares. When I arrive, I trot² up the village street and drop in to the shops to say: "Hi, I'm back" for a few joyful minutes of chat. It feels like family. It's this quality, Canadian researchers say, that gives country living a considerable edge over town life. In fact, it offers eight times the happiness.

那它为何如此神奇？我想是因为社区意识吧。那儿的人们彼此熟悉、相互关心。每次到那儿，我都会走过乡间街道，路过商店的时候会打声招呼："嗨，我又回来啦"，然后愉快地和当地人聊上几分钟。整个村子就像一个大家族。加拿大研究员称，正是这种品质才让乡间生活比城镇生活更令人向往。事实上，乡间生活能使人们的幸福感提高8倍。

Cities have higher salaries, higher education levels and lower unemployment rates, but when the researchers surveyed 400,000 people across Canada using a happiness scale, they found those things meant nothing in terms of joy.

城市的工资水平更高、教育程度更高，且失业率更低，但当研究员对40万加拿大人的幸福度进行调查时，他们发现这些对于他们而言，根本算不上快乐。

最幸福的事情莫过于住在乡间.jpg

People who lived in the countryside were, on average, eight times happier than people in urban areas. The researchers attributed the findings to the undeniable importance of strong communities over social isolation³. Life is significantly less happy in urban areas. To assess happiness, the researchers asked people how satisfied they were with their lives on a scale of one to 10.

平均而言，生活在乡间的人比生活在城市的人更幸福，幸福指数是他们的8倍。研究员认为这是因为强大的社区意识比社会隔离更重要。显然，生活在城镇的人并不快乐。为了评估幸福感，研究人员请受试者对自己的生活满意度打分，1-10分。

In general, most people scored between 7.04 and 8.94 - just 5% fell below a rating of five out of 10. They found that people in cities were 800% less happy than those in small towns or rural areas. The reasons for this, the authors said, are many, but are mainly driven by the lack of a strong community base.

一般来说，大多数人的打分都在7.04至8.94分之间--只有5%的人打了5分以下。他们发现城市人口的幸福度比小镇人口或农村人口的幸福度低800%。作者表示，造成这一现象的原因很多，但主要是因为缺乏强大的社区基础。

There's a raft of information showing that city-dwellers tend not to have as much regular contact with family or friends. And, as a recent study found, social isolation can literally⁴ change the brain. It floods the brain with a chemical which fuels fear and aggression⁵.

大量信息表明：城市居民与家人和朋友的联系往往并不密切。最近的一项研究发现：与社会脱节真的会改变人们的大脑。使人变得恐惧和咄咄逼人的化学物质会侵占人们的大脑。