What is your favorite color? Do you like yellow, orange, red? If you do, you must be an optimist, a leader, an active person who enjoys life, people and excitement. Do you prefer grays and blues? Then you are probably quiet, shy, and you would rather follow than lead. You tend to be a pessimist (悲观主义者). This is what psychologists tell us. They tell us, among other facts, that we don't choose our favorite color as we grow up—we are born with our preference. If you happen to love brown, you did so as soon as you opened your eyes, or at least as soon as you could see clearly.
Colors do influence our moods; there is no doubt about it. A yellow room makes most people feel more cheerful and more relaxed than a dark green one. On the other hand, black is depressing. A black bridge over the Thames River, near London, used to be the scene of more suicides than any other bridge in the area—until it was repainted green. The number of suicide attempts immediately fell sharply; perhaps it would have fallen even more if the bridge had been done in pink or baby blue.
We often associate a particular color with a piece of music, a book, a play, a person, a number, or a letter. Doesn't look red and yellow? At the beginning of this century a French poet wrote that for him the letter A was always black; E was white, I red, O blue, and U green. For someone else, U might be deep purple or lemon yellow. A tragic (悲观的) story makes you think of black, red, and gold, while love stories vary from red to pink—or may be light blue? And why did the black American composers of sad jazz music call the songs "blues"?
Remember, then, that if you feel low, you can always brighten your day—or your life—with a new shirt or a few cans of paint. And don't forget that anyone can guess a lot about your personality when you choose a pair of socks or a lampshade.