书城外语双语学习丛书-人生之道
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第2章 The Road to Happiness幸福之路(1)

There are a great many people who have all the material conditions of happiness, i.e. health and a sufficient income, and who, nevertheless, are profoundly unhappy.

The Road to Happiness

Bertrand Russell

It is a commonplacecommonplace n.平凡的事, 平常话 among moralists that you cannot get happiness by pursuing it. This is only true if you pursue it unwisely. Gamblers at Monte Carlo are pursuing money, and most of them lose it instead, but there are other ways of pursuing money which often succeed.

许多人都拥有获取幸福的全部物质条件,例如健康的身体和丰厚的收入,可是他们却很不快乐。

幸福之路

伯特兰·罗素

道德家们经常提到:用不理智的方式去追求幸福,是不会得到幸福的。蒙特卡洛的赌徒们追求钱财,但大多数却把钱都输掉了,而另外一些追求金钱的方法却往往取得成功。

So it is with happiness. If you pursue it by means of drink, you are forgetting the hangover. EpicurusEpicurus 伊壁鸠鲁(公元前342?—前270, 古希腊杰出唯物主义和无神论者) pursued it by living only in congenial congenial adj.性格相似的, 适意的 society and eating only dry bread, supplementedsupplement v.补充 by a little cheese on feast days.

His method proved successful in his case, but he was a valetudinarian valetudinarian n.体弱多病的人 , and most people would need something more vigorous vigorous adj.精力旺盛的, 有力的, 健壮的 .

For most people, the pursuit of happiness, unless supplemented in various ways, is too abstract and theoretical to be adequateadequate adj.适当的, 足够的 as a personal rule of life.

追求幸福也是一样的道理。假如你通过痛饮来追求幸福,那你就忘记了醉酒之后的不舒服。伊壁鸠鲁追求幸福的办法是只与志同道合的人一起生活,只吃没有涂上黄油的面包,过节才加上一点儿奶酪。

他的生活方式在他看来是成功的,但他是一个羸弱多病的人,而大多数人需要的则是精力充足。

就大多数人来讲,除非你还有别的方法来补充,这样的追求快乐就会显得太过于抽象和脱离实际,不适合作为个人的生活准则。

But I think that whatever personal rule of life you may choose it should not, except in rare and heroic cases, be incompatible incompatible adj.性质相反的, 矛盾的, 不调和的 with happiness.

There are a great many people who have all the material conditions of happiness, i.e. health and a sufficient sufficient adj.充分的, 足够的 income, and who, nevertheless nevertheless conj.然而, 不过 , are profoundly unhappy. In such cases it would seem as if the fault must lie with a wrong theory as to how to live.

In one sense, we may say that any theory as to how to live is wrong. We imagine ourselves more different from the animals than we are. Animals live on impulse, and are happy as long as externalexternal adj.外部的, 客观的, [医]外用的, 外国的, 表面的 conditions are favorable.

但是,我觉得无论你选择哪种生活准则,除了那些罕见的以及英雄人物的例子之外,都应当是和幸福相包容的。

许多人都拥有获取幸福的全部物质条件,例如健康的身体和丰厚的收入,可是他们却很不快乐。就这种情况来看,好像问题出在错误的生活理论上。

从某种意义上来说,我们可以认为任何关于生活的理论都是错误的。我们和动物的差异并没有我们想像得那么巨大。动物是根据内在的需求生活的,只要客观条件对其有利,它们就是快乐的。

If you have a cat it will enjoy life if it has food and warmth and opportunities for an occasional night on the tiles tile n.瓦片, 瓷砖 . Your needs are more complex than those of your cat, but they still have their basis in instinct instinct n.本能 .

In civilized societies, especially in Englishspeaking societies, this is too apt apt adj.易于……的, 有……倾向的, 灵敏的 to be forgotten. People propose to themselves some one paramount paramount adj.极为重要的 objective, and restrain all impulses that do not minister to it.

A businessman may be so anxious to grow rich that to this end he sacrifices sacrifice v.牺牲, 献出, 献祭, 供奉 health and private affections. When at last he has become rich, no pleasure remains to him except harrying other people by exhortations exhortation n.劝告, 讲道词, 训词 to imitate his noble example.

假如你有一只猫,它只要有吃的东西,感到温暖,偶尔晚上有机会上屋顶寻欢,它就会很快乐。可能你的需求比猫的需求要复杂一些,但那还是以本能为基础的。

在文明社会当中,特别是在讲英语的社会中,这一点十分容易被忽略。人们为自己定下一个最高的目标,对一切不利于这一目标实现的需求都加以遏制。

商人可能因急于发财致富而不惜牺牲掉健康和爱情。等他终于成为了有钱人,他除了成为被推崇的榜样而让人心烦之外,并没有得到什么快乐。