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Boiling Up With Anger 怒火中烧

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Are we bad for getting mad?  生气是件不好的事情吗？

Psychologists say it’s normal to get angry. We all do it – and we need to feel anger. It’s a basic human emotion, they say.

心理学家表示，生气其实很正常。我们大家都会生气──而且也有发脾气的需求。他们指出，怒气是一种人类的基本情绪。

More and more, though, we see people losing their cool in public.

不过，似乎愈来愈常看到人们在公共场所失控发火。

Psychologists and other experts disagree on whether people really are angrier or just have fewer inhibitions about acting out in public. Some say narcissism and feelings of entitlement, which are reportedly on the rise, make people upset when they don’t get what they want. And the culture of open expression suggests that explosive behavior is becoming routine.

（人们更常在公共场所发怒）是否真的代表人们变得更生气了，或只是因为以往抑制人们在公共场所流露真性情的压抑机制变弱了，心理学家和其他专家对此意见分歧。有些人表示，自恋和自认有权得到想要的东西等现象，据说都持续上扬中，当人们无法得到自己想要的事物时，就会变得心烦意乱。此外，公开表达的文化也显示，情绪爆炸的行为已俨然成为常态了。

Charles Spielberger, a psychologist known for developing a widely used system to measure people’s anger, says anger is “built into us” and has helped humans survive.

以研发出使用广泛的怒气测量系统闻名的心理学家查尔斯．史匹伯格表示，怒气原本就是「人类与生俱来的」，而且有助于人类存活。

“It’s at the extremes of anger that it becomes pathological and characteristic of some psychiatric disorders,” he says.

「极端的怒气才称得上病态，才能算是某些心理疾病显现的特性，」他如此表示。

Constructive anger  建设性的怒气

But anger is not all negative, psychologists caution. Anger can bring about change.

不过，心理学家也提醒，怒气并非全都是负面的，因为发怒也可能促成改变。

“Good anger can get you motivated to resolve conflicts and to fix social injustice and to overcome obstacles in your life,” Raymond DiGiuseppe, a psychology professor at St. John’s University, says. “You would never want to eliminate” all anger.

「正面的怒气能激发出足够的动机去解决冲突，或是进而修补社会不公等现象，并克服生命中的种种障碍，」因此圣约翰大学心理学教授雷．迪吉塞普表示，「你不会希望自己永远都刻意排除」所有怒气的。

In the workplace, anger also can motivate employees, as long as it’s not expressed in a shouting match, says Ricky Griffin, a professor at Texas A&M University-College Station who studies workplace aggression.

专门研究工作职场侵犯行为的（美国）德州农工大学教授里克．葛里芬指出，在工作职场中，怒气还可以激励员工，只要这种怒气不要透过互相嘶吼叫骂来表达就好。

“If my boss gives me a low performance appraisal, I may get angry about it, but it may make me want to prove my boss is wrong by working harder,” he says.

「如果我老板对我工作表现的评价很低，我有可能会生气，但这也可能促使我为了想证明老板是错的而更卖力工作，」他表示。

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disagree [͵dɪsəˋgri] v. 意见不合；有分歧[（+with/on）]

act out 把 ... 表演出来 to express (unconscious impulses, for example) in an overt manner without conscious understanding or regard for social appropriateness

narcissism [nɑrˋsɪsɪzm] n.（精神分析）自我陶醉；自恋  great interest in and admiration for one’s own appearance and qualities

entitlement [ɪnˋtaɪt!mənt] n. 应得的权利 a right that, customarily,is vested in a single person

build into 使成为…的一部分 a definite part of

pathological [͵pæθəˋlɑdʒɪkəl] adj. 病态的  unable to control part of one’s behavior; unreasonable

psychiatric [͵saɪkɪˋætrɪk] adj. 精神病的; 精神病学的

caution [ˋkɔʃən] v. & n. 警告，告诫

social injustice 社会不公 societal actions that are unjust or unfair toward others

shouting match 大声嚷嚷的争吵

aggression [əˋgrɛʃən] n. 侵略行动；侵犯行为

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Storing up anger  储存怒气

The popular idea of anger simmering until it reaches a boiling point is really a myth because the body doesn’t “store” anger, says Robert Allan, clinical psychologist and author of Getting Control of Your Anger.

临床心理学家及《控制你的怒气》一书作者罗伯．艾伦表示，一个很普遍的观念认为，怒气会一直酝酿，直到达到爆发点才倾泻而出，但其实那只是个迷思，因为人体其实无法「储存」怒气。

“If someone keeps bothering you, it may feel like anger is building up. But you are really responding to more negative stimulation. The same problem recurs …. you ‘explode,’” he says. But “the anger wasn’t accumulating; the stimuli keep recurring.”

「如果有人老是来烦你，感觉起来可能像是怒气正在累积酝酿。只不过，你其实是在对更负面的刺激起反应而已。同样的问题再发生时……你就『爆发了，』」他表示，但「其实并不是怒气会累积，而是同样的刺激一再发生。」

Such blow-ups can cause very real damage, including increased risk of heart attack and other health problems, he says.

这类发怒可能会导致实际的伤害，其中包括心脏病发的风险增高，和其他健康上的问题，他如此表示。

“If you’re quietly angry at whomever, your blood pressure and heart rate are normal.” That’s far less damaging to your health, Allan adds.

「如果你对某人生闷气，那么你的血压和心率还能保持正常，」（生闷气）对健康的危害较小，艾伦补充说。

Predicting aggression  预测侵犯的情绪

DiGiuseppe’s newest research looks at issues of revenge as a major driver of aggression. He says revenge turns out to be the strongest predictor of whether someone will behave in an aggressive way – either outwardly aggressive or passively aggressive.

迪吉塞普最新的研究探讨报复的种种问题，而报复是使人产生侵犯行为的主要驱策力。他指出，结果是报复最能预测出某人究竟会不会产生侵犯行为──无论是外在的侵犯行为，或是消极反抗，都是如此。

Managing those feelings  情绪管理

For real anger issues, many people look to anger management to help handle their feelings. While programs vary, experts say no one really knows how much of an impact court-ordered sessions actually have because follow-up is spotty and little data exists about results.

如果有真正的怒气问题，很多人会寻求透过怒气管理来帮助自己理清情绪。虽然有各式各样的（情绪管理）疗程，但专家认为，没有人知道法院指定的情绪管理疗程究竟能发挥多大作用，因为只有零星的后续研究可供参考，而且有关人们参加疗程后的成效的资料也不多。

“The real problem of referring people for anger management is they don’t want to give up their anger,” says DiGiuseppe. “They feel justified in their anger.”

「转介人们去接受怒气管理的真正问题在于，这些人根本就不想放弃发怒，」迪吉塞普表示，「他们觉得自己发脾气是情有可原的。」

Spielberger says the first step in dealing with angry feelings is to recognize them. “The next step is to try to understand the circumstances that have evoked those feelings. Then you need to look at expressing the anger in ways that will deal with the problem instead of ways that can injure other people.”

史匹伯格指出，处理愤怒情绪的第一步，就是要辨认出那就是怒气。「下一步则是，要试着去了解会引发那些情绪的情境有哪些，之后还需要去察明，有哪些方法可以表达怒气，而且真正能处理问题，而不至于会伤害到其他人。」

−by Sharon Jayson

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store up 储存；积聚 to keep a lot of something so that you can use it later

simmer [ˋsɪmɚ] v. 煨炖; 慢慢沸腾

boiling point 沸点; 爆发点

build up 积累, 聚集, 增加

stimulus [ˋstɪmjələs] n. 刺激；刺激品

blow-up n. 大发雷霆 explosion; outbreak

revenge [rɪˋvɛndʒ] n. 报仇；报复

predictor [prɪˋdɪktɚ] n. 预言性事物；藉以作出预测的事物; 预报器 information that supports a probabilistic estimate of future events

outwardly [ˋaʊtwɚdlɪ] adv. 外表上；表面上

passively aggressive 消极反抗的 in a manner that avoids direct confrontation, but instead manipulates and resists through procrastination, stubbornness, inefficiency, etc.

session [ˋsɛʃən] n. (某项活动的)一段时间 a period of time spent on a particular

follow-up 后续行动; 继续; 后续 an article or a report giving further information on a previously reported item of news

refer [rɪˋfɝ] v. 将…转到（医院就医）；将…转给（专科医生）

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Vocabulary Focus

lose one’s cool 沉不住气 to suddenly become very angry and start shouting

inhibition [͵ɪnhɪˋbɪʃən] n. 抑制 a feeling of embarrassment or worry that prevents one from saying or doing what one wants

appraisal [əˋprez!] n. 评价 an assessment or estimation of the worth, value, or quality of a person or thing

stimulation [͵stɪmjəˋleʃən] n. 刺激 something that stirs someone to action

spotty [ˋspɑtɪ] adj. 零星的; 非始终如一的 not always good; irregular

justified [ˋdʒʌstəfaɪd] adj. 有正当理由的；情有可原的 having a good reason for something