调查：英国成为欧洲最快乐的国度

爱思英语编者按：据英国每日邮报报道，尽管英国目前困难重重，但有件事可以让大家高兴一下：英国是欧洲最快乐的国度。调查显示，与欧洲其他国家人相比，英国人更爱笑，以乐观开朗而著称的西班牙人和热爱生活的意大利人位居其后。

而法国人和德国人都不爱笑——有些人可能并不会对此感到惊奇。波兰人最不爱笑，他们展颜微笑的几率只有英国人的一半。

Here's a reason to rejoice despite the nation's woes: Britons are the happiest people in Europe.

Research shows that we smile more than our continental cousins, with only the Spanish, known for their sunny outlook, and the Italians, with their love of life, coming close.
 
The French and Germans, some might say perhaps not surprisingly, fare poorly in the smile stakes.

Research shows that Britons are the happiest people in Europe

Bottom of the pile are the Poles, who it seems are twice as reluctant to crack a smile as Britons.

Piotr Szarota, a psychologist at the Polish Academy of Sciences, analysed 2,000 photos accompanying internet messages sent by men and women from nine European countries.

He found the residents of Eastern bloc nations to smile less often than those in the West, with the Poles the grimmest of the lot.

Dr Szarota, whose findings are published in the Journal of Nonverbal Behaviour, said this might be due to a 'post-Communist mentality'.

He added: 'East Europeans, generally regarded as less assertive, less friendly, and more distrustful, would be less likely to smile.'

However, differences in quality of life cannot fully explain the results, with France and Germany both sitting towards the bottom of the league table.

With fewer than half the French and Germans pictured smiling, they were more morose than the Slovenians and the Czechs.

This may be because, like the Poles, the French and Germans place a premium on sincerity, preferring to show their true feelings, rather than mask them with a smile.

In contrast, Dr Szarota said that Britons, who topped the table with more than 70 per cent of those pictured smiling, may be too polite to show how they really feel.