翻译：

Most people would define optimism as being endlessly happy, with a glass that’s perpetually half full. But that’s exactly the kind of false cheerfulness that positive psychologists wouldn’t recommend.”Healthy optimism means being in touch with reality,” says Tal Ben-Shahar, a Harvard professor. According to Ben-Shahar, realistic optimists are those who make the best of things that happen, but not those who believe everything happens for the best.

Ben-Shahar uses three optimistic exercises. When he feels down—say, after giving a bad lecture---he grants himself permission to be human. He reminds himself that not every lecture can be a Nobel winner, some will be less effective than others. Next is reconstruction. He analyzes the weak lecture, learning lessons for the future about what works and what doesn’t. Finally, there is perspective, which involves acknowledging that in the grand scheme of life, one lecture really doesn’t matter.

许多人都将乐观定义为无穷无尽的开心，就像认为玻璃杯里永远还有一半水一样。但是心理学家并不承认这种错误的快乐。来自哈佛的教授Tal Ben-Shahar说到，健康的乐观意味着与现实的紧密相连。根据Tal Ben-Shahar的说法，真正的乐观是尽最大努力做好一件事，而不是相信每件事都会有最好的结果。

Ben-shahar讲述了通往乐观之路的三个步骤。当他感觉失落的时候，比如说在一个糟糕的演讲之后，他安慰自己这是人之常情。他告诉自己并不是每一个演讲都能够使他成为一个诺贝尔奖获得者，有一些演讲比其他演讲效果差。下一步是重塑，他分析了这个失败的演讲，为了日后能讲得更好而学习什么能有助于演讲而什么不行。最后，需要有这样一种观点，那就是在广阔的生命当中，一次演讲根本算不上什么。