How culture affects sadness

6 Minute English

语言学习

2023-04-13

6 分钟

单集文稿 ...

  • I'm Sam.

  • And I'm Neil.

  • When Helen Russell was three years old,

  • her new-born baby sister died suddenly.

  • Looking back at that sad time,

  • Helen remembers making a big decision –

  • she wanted to be happy.

  • She became a bestselling author

  • and wrote a book called, The Atlas of Happiness.

  • She got married,

  • and even moved to the famously happy city of Copenhagen in Denmark.

  • But the sadness Helen felt didn't disappear,

  • and the longer she lived abroad, the more she wondered

  • whether her feelings were somehow connected to being born in England,

  • into a culture where, traditionally, expressing your emotions was discouraged.

  • In this programme,

  • we'll be investigating

  • how the way people express sadness is influenced by their culture,

  • and, as usual, we'll be learning some new, useful vocabulary as well.

  • But first I have a question for you, Neil.