Smart people may be far happier with their own company than meeting friends.

比起和朋友见面，聪明的人自己独处时更快乐。

A new study has found that for intelligent people, the more frequently they socialise with friends, the less satisfied they are with life.

最新研究发现，聪明的人和朋友们社交越频繁，他们对生活的满足感越低。

The findings come from two evolutionary psychologists who challenge the modern view that the more social contact we have the happier we will likely be.

这项发现来自于两位进化心理学家，他们要挑战当代人的这个观点：社交生活越丰富，我们的幸福感越强。

Satoshi Kanazawa of the London School of Economics and Norman Li of Singapore Management University propose that the core social skills developed in our ancient past still hold sway over our happiness today.

伦敦经济学院的禅洲金泽和新加坡管理大学的诺曼·李认为，发源于古代社会的核心社交能力依然主导着我们今天的幸福。

They propose that the 'savannah theory' is at the root of modern happiness. This theory dictates that the factors which made early humans satisfied are still true with modern life.

他们认为，“草原理论”是影响现代人幸福感的根源。该理论认为，那些令早期人类感到满足的因素，在现代生活中依然发挥着作用。

Using data from a long-term study, which surveyed adults from 18 to 28, they applied the theory to explain the findings of self-reported levels of life satisfaction.

基于对18到28岁成年人进行的一项长期调查得出的数据，他们将上述理论，用于解释受调查者关于生活中自我满意度的研究结果。

The pair focused on just two of myriad factors, which they say characterise basic differences between modern life and the way our ancestors lived - population density and how frequently we interact with friends.

影响这种满意度的因素有很多，他们两人主要关注两点——人口密度和我们与朋友互动的频次。这两点也是现代生活方式与古代生活方式之间最基本的不同之处。

As might be expected, they found people living in more densely populated areas reported lower levels of life satisfaction.

不出所料，他们发现，生活在人口稠密地区的人们，生活满意度水平较低。

For anyone who braves the daily grind of the rush hour commute in a city, this is no surprise.

对于那些要每天面对上下班交通高峰的人来说，这不足为奇。

Also as we might expect, more frequent socialisation with friends had a more positive association with levels of life satisfaction.

同样如我们所料，跟朋友间的交往越频繁，生活满意度水平越高。

But these two factors interact strongly with intelligence.

但这两个因素与当事人的智力程度有极大关系。

The authors explained that'among the extremely intelligent' more frequent social interaction is actually linked with reduced satisfaction.

两位作者解释称，“在极聪明的人中”，频繁的社交活动实际上降低了生活满意度。

According to the Washington Post, self-reported happiness is higher in small towns than in cities.

据《华盛顿邮报》报道，小城镇居民的生活自我满意度比大城市高。

Kanazawa and Li's approach suggests the brains of our hunter-gatherer ancestors were perfectly adapted to life on the African savannah, where the population would have been sparse, living in groups of around 150.

金泽和李的研究表明，我们的祖先以狩猎为生，他们的大脑完全适应了在非洲大草原的生活，那里人口稀少，多为150人左右的群居。

Social interaction would have been crucial to survival, in terms of co-operation and finding a mate, but the space was equally important.

虽然社会交往对生存来说至关重要，比如合作和寻找配偶，但空间距离也同样重要。

The pair believe there may be a mismatch between the way we have evolved and the rapid lives we lead today – where society has left our minds and bodies struggling to keep up.

两位研究者认为，我们的进化方式和我们今天的快节奏生活之间可能并不匹配——我们的头脑和身体不得不努力跟上如今的社会发展。

The researchers believe smarter individuals may be able to better adapt to the challenges of modern life, and may find it easier to leave ancestral social roots behind in order to forge ahead.

研究人员认为，聪明的人可以更好地适应现代生活的挑战，更容易脱离祖先的根源性影响，去锐意进取。

For the most intelligent among us, it may be that there is conflict between aspiring to greater goals and being tied to our evolutionary past.

而对于我们中最聪明的那部分人来说，追寻更大目标与维持进化关联之间，可能存在冲突。

Vocabulary

hold sway：支配，统治

grind：煎熬，折磨