BBC News:斯多葛哲學(xué)的生活藝術(shù)

I am Valory Sundus with aselection of highlights from across BBC World Service News today.

Coming up, Tehran says it wants to make the interim agreement on its nuclear programpermanent. And we also hear the inside story of the secret talks between the US and Iran thatled to the deal. The date has been announced for a new round of peace talks on the Syrianconflict.

And later, we speak to the photographer beaten up as he covered an anti-governmentprotest in Thailand.

We find out what's bouncing the cost of chocolate ever higher.

What about adopting stoicism as a way of life? According to academics and psychotherapistsfrom two UK universities, we can learn from the ancient philosophy. They are calling on peopleto live like a stoic for a week. So how do we do that?

"There is one type of person who whenever he has done a good deed to another, expects andcalculates to have the favor repaid. There is a second type of person who does not calculate insuch a way, but who nevertheless deep within himself regards the other person as someonewho owes him something, and he remembers that he's done the other a good deed. But thenthere is a third type of person who in some sense does not even remember the good deed hehas done, but who instead is like a vine producing its grape, seeking nothing more than havingbrought forth his own fruit, just like a horse when it does run, a dog when it has followed itsscent, a bee when it has made honey."

So does the philosophy of stoicism help us lead better and healthier lives?

"The ideal behavior of a stoic is someone who can meet any circumstance in life well. Theyfocus on the idea that there are some things which are under our control and some thingswhich simply are not and that often we tend out time worrying about things which aren't underour control instead of things which are under our control which we can always do and dowell."

"I suppose the popular view of a stoic is somebody whose life is pretty rubbish but just getson with it."

"Uh, that would be the unfair popular view I think. The stoics were actually the first to putforward the idea of community of human kind and the idea that we should really aim tocontribute to the common good of humanity. And in addition to that, they actually focusedon cultivating positive motions."

"So in a modern world where you are constantly bombarded with pressures, with demands,with e-mails, how could a stoic cope? "

"All the things e-mails and phonecalls that come in, they just come to us. But the stoic knowsthat he or she can always focus on responding to those events well, calmly and collectively."