《瘋狂英語》精選輯:什么是幸福？
What Is Happiness?
"Are you happy?" I asked my brother, Ian, one day.
"Yes. No. It depends on what you mean," he said.
"Then tell me," I said, "when was the last time you think you were happy?"
"April 1967," he said.
It served me right for putting a serious question to someone who has joked his way through life. But Ian's answer reminded me that when we think about happiness, we usually think of something extraordinary, a 1)pinnacle of 2)sheer delight. And those pinnacles seem to get rarer the older we get.
For a child, happiness has a magical quality. I remember making hide-outs in newly cut 3)hay, playing 4)cops and robbers in the woods, getting a speaking part in the school play. Of course, kids also experience lows, but their delight at such peaks of pleasure as winning a race or getting a new bike is 5)unreserved.
In the teenage years, the concept of happiness changes. Suddenly it's conditional on such things as excitement, love, popularity and whether that zit will clear up before a 6)prom night. I can still feel the agony of not being invited to a party that almost everyone else was going to. But I also recall the ecstasy of being plucked from obscurity at another event to dance with a 7)John Travolta look-alike.
In 8)adulthood the things that bring 9)profound joy - birth, love, marriage - also bring responsibility and the risk of loss. Love may not last, loved ones die. For adults, happiness is complicated.
My dictionary defines happy as "lucky" or "fortunate", but I think a better definition of happiness is "the capacity for enjoyment". The more we can enjoy what we have, the happier we are. It's easy to overlook the pleasure we get from loving and being loved, the company of friends, the freedom to live where we please, even good health.
I added up my little moments of pleasure yesterday. First there was sheer bliss when I shut the last lunchbox and had the house to myself. Then I spent an 10)uninterrupted morning writing, which I love. When the kids came home, I enjoyed their noise after the quiet of the day.
You never know where happiness will turn up next. When I asked friends what makes them happy, some mentioned 11)seemingly 12)insignificant moments. "I hate shopping," one friend said. "But there's this clerk who always chats and really cheers me up."
Another friend loves the telephone. "Every time it rings, I know someone is thinking about me."
We all experience moments like these. Too few of us register them as happiness.
While happiness may be more complex for us, the solution is the same as ever. Happiness isn't about what happens to us; it's about how we perceive what happens to us. It's the 13)knack of finding a positive for every negative, and viewing a 14)set-back as a challenge. It's not wishing for what we don't have, but enjoying what we do possess.
什么是幸福？
“你幸福嗎？”一天我問我的兄弟伊恩。
“又幸福，又不幸福。這要看你指的是什么，”他說。
“那么告訴我，”我說，“你最近一次感到幸福是什么時候？”
“1967年4月，”他說。
向一個游戲人生的人提問這么嚴肅的問題，我真是自討苦吃。但是伊恩的話啟發(fā)了我，當我們考慮幸福的時候，我們通常想到一些不同尋常的事情和愉快無比的時刻，而隨著年齡的增長，這種時刻是越來越少。
對于孩子來說，幸福充滿了魔力。我記得在新割下的草堆里捉迷藏，在樹林里扮演警察和強盜，在校劇中擔當有臺詞的角色。當然孩子也有情緒低落的時候，但是當贏了賽跑或得到一輛新自行車時，他們流露出快樂是無可比擬、沒有任何保留的。
到了少年時期，幸福觀發(fā)生了變化。突然間幸福有了條件，例如：刺激、愛情、名氣以及舞會前青春痘是否能消除等。我還能感受到因未被邀請去參加一個幾乎人人有份的晚會所體會到的痛苦；我還記得在另一次活動中因與一位酷似約翰·屈沃塔的人跳舞而大出風頭的那份激動心情。
成年時，能帶來深深歡樂的事情（如出生、愛情和婚姻），同時也帶來了責任和失去的危險。愛情也許難以持久；心愛的人也許會離開人世。對于成年人來說，幸福是復雜的。我的字典把幸福定義為“幸運”或“好運”。但是我想幸福更好的定義是“享受的能力”。我們越能享受所擁有的一切，我們就越幸福。從愛與被愛、友情、隨心所欲擇地而居、甚至到擁有的健康，其中獲得的快樂很容易被我們忽視了。
我總結了一下我昨天的幸福時刻：首先是我合上最后一個午餐飯盒，獨自在家時的那種無比幸福；然后過了一個寫作不受干擾的上午，令我愉快；等到孩子們回家，我享受安靜的一天過后他們吵鬧的聲音。
你永遠無法知道下一次幸福何時來臨。我問朋友們什么能使他們感到幸福，一些人舉出一些似乎不太重要的時刻。“我不喜歡購物，”一位朋友說，“但那里有一個愛聊天的售貨員，讓我感到很愉快。”
另一位朋友喜歡接電話。“每次電話鈴聲響，我就知道有人正想著我呢。”
我們都經歷過類似的事，但視之為幸福的人寥寥無幾。
雖然幸福對我們來說也許更錯綜復雜，但是獲得幸福的途徑永遠是一樣的。幸福不在于我們的遭遇如何，而在于我們如何看待所遭遇到的事情。這是化消極為積極、將挫折看作挑戰(zhàn)的訣竅。幸福不是憑空許愿，而是享受擁有。
[注釋]
1) pinnacle n. 頂點
2) sheer a. 全然的，純粹的
3) hay n. 干草
4) cop n. 警察
5) unreserved a. 無節(jié)制的，無保留的
6) prom n. 正式舞會
7) John Travolta 是好萊塢70年代的名演員，成名片是在1978年的“Grease”，他在其中演出的舞蹈風格曾一度風靡世界。
8) adulthood n. 成人期
9) profound a. 深刻的
10) uninterrupted a. 不被打斷或干擾的
11) seemingly ad. 表面上地
12) insignificant a. 無關緊要的，無意義的
13) knack n. 訣竅
14) set-back n. 挫折，障礙
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