美文赏析 幸福的本质是什么?

　　I live in Hollywood. You may think people in such a glamorous, fun-filled place are happier than others. If so, you have some mistaken ideas about the nature of happiness.

　　我住在好莱坞。你可能认为住在这样一个魅力四射、充满欢笑的地方要比其他人更幸福。倘若如此，你就误解了幸福的本质。

　　Many intelligent people still equatehappiness with fun. The truth is that fun and happiness have little or nothing in common. Fun is what we experience during an act. Happiness is what we experience after an act. It is a deeper, more abiding emotion.

　　许多聪明人依旧将幸福与娱乐等同起来。事实上，娱乐与幸福很少、甚至毫无共同之处。娱乐是某个活动进行中的体验，而幸福则是活动之后的体验。幸福是更深刻、更持久的情感。

　　Going to an amusement park or ball game, watching a movie or television, are fun activities that help us relax, temporarily forget our problems and maybe even laugh. But they do not bring happiness, because their positive effects end when the fun ends.

　　去游乐场或去看球赛，看电影或看电视，这些都是娱乐活动，有助于我们放松身心，暂时忘却自己的难题，甚至让我们放声大笑。但是，这一切并不能带来幸福，因为娱乐一结束，它们的正面效应亦随之终结。

　　I have often thought that if Hollywood stars have a role to play, it is to teach us that happiness has nothing to do with fun. These rich, beautiful individuals have constant access to glamorousparties, fancy cars, expensive homes, everything that spells "happiness".

　　我常常这样想，如果好莱坞明星起到某种作用的话，那就是向我们昭示幸福与娱乐毫无关系。作为个人，他们富有，楚楚动人，可以随时出席令人神往的宴会，拥有顶尖级汽车、昂贵的宅第--这一切似乎意味着“幸福”。

　　But in memoir after memoir, celebrities reveal the unhappiness hidden beneath all their fun: depression, alcoholism, drug addiction, broken marriages, troubled children, profound loneliness.

　　然而，在一部又一部的回忆录中，名流们揭示了隐藏在这一切娱乐活动背后的不幸：忧郁、酗酒、吸毒成瘾、失败的婚姻、饱受困扰的孩子、极度的孤独。

　　The way people clingto the belief that a fun-filled, pain-free life equates happiness actually diminishes their chances of ever attaining real happiness. If fun and pleasure are equated with happiness, then pain must be equated with unhappiness. But, in fact, the opposite is true: More times than not, things that lead to happiness involve some pain.

　　人们执迷不悟，以为充满欢笑、没有痛苦的生活就等于幸福；这实际上减少了他们真正臻于幸福之境的可能性。如果娱乐和快乐等同于幸福的话，那么痛苦必然等同于不幸福。可事实正相反：导致幸福的一切常常蕴含着些许痛苦。

　　As a result, many people avoid the very endeavors that are the source of true happiness. They fear the pain inevitably brought by such things as marriage, raising children, professional achievement, religious commitment, civicor charitablework, and self-improvement.

　　因此，许多人不愿努力，而这些努力恰恰正是真正幸福的源泉。诸如婚姻、抚育子女、职业成就、宗教信仰、公共及慈善事业、自身修养等必然带来痛苦，他们因而对于这一切心怀畏惧。

　　美文欣赏:你可以选择自己想过的生活

　　Occasionally, life can be undeniably, impossibly difficult. We are faced with challenges and events that can seem overwhelming, life-destroying to the point where it may be hard to decide whether to keep going. But you always have a choice. Jessica Heslop shares her powerful, inspiring journey from the worst times in her life to the new life she has created for herself:

　　生活有时候困难得难以置信，但又不容置疑。我们面临的挑战与困境似乎无法抵御，试图毁灭我们生活，甚至使你犹疑是否继续走下去。但是你总有选择的余地。从人生低谷走向新生活的杰西卡·赫斯乐普，在这里与我们分享她启迪心灵、充满震撼力的生活之旅。

　　In 2012 I had the worst year of my life.

　　2012年是我生活中最艰难的一年。

　　I worked in a finance job that I hated and I lived in a concrete jungle city with little greenery. I occupied my time with meaningless relationships and spent copious quantities of money on superficialities. I was searching for happiness and had no idea where to find it.

　　我做着讨厌的财务工作，住在难寻绿色的高楼林立的城市。我忙于无意义的交往，在一些肤浅表面的东西上大笔开销。我寻找快乐，却又不知道它在哪里。

　　Then I fell ill with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and became virtually bed bound. I had to quit my job and subsequently was left with no income. I lived with my boyfriend of then only 3 months who financially supported me and our relationship was put under great pressure. I eventually regained my physical health, but not long after that I got a call from my family at home to say that my father’s cancer had fiercely progressed and that he had been admitted to a hospice.

　　然后我患上了慢性疲劳综合症，几乎到了卧床不起的地步。我不得不辞掉工作，同时也就断了财源。我和那时仅相处了3个月的男友住在一起，经济上完全依赖于他，我们的关系承受着巨大压力。终于我恢复健康，但不久，我接到家里的电话，父亲的癌症急剧恶化，已经住进了临终关怀中心。

　　I left the city and I went home to be with him.

　　我离开了城市，回家陪父亲。

　　He died 6 months later.

　　6个月之后，他去世了。

　　My father was a complete inspiration to me. He was always so strong that, for a minute after he drew his last breath, I honestly thought he would come back to life. I couldn’t believe I would never again cuddle into his big warm chest and feel safe no matter what.

　　父亲的事让我彻底清醒。他一直很强壮，在他咽气之后一分钟里，我真的认为，他会活过来。我不能相信，我再也不能依偎在他温暖的怀抱里，享受他宽大的胸怀带给我的安全感。

　　The grief that followed was intense for all of us 5 children and our mother, but we had each other.

　　母亲和我们5个兄弟姐妹极为难过，但至少我们还拥有彼此。

　　But my oldest sister at that time complained of a bad back. It got so bad after 2 months that she too was admitted to hospital.

　　但是，那时我大姐开始抱怨着背痛，2个月后，因疼痛加剧也住进了医院。

　　They discovered that she had highly advanced cancer in her bones and that there was nothing that they could do.

　　医生们检查发现，她已是骨癌晚期，对此他们已无能为力。

　　She died 1 month later.

　　1个月之后，她也走了。

　　I could never put into words the loss of my sister in my life.

　　大姐的逝去让我陷入难以形容的痛苦之中。

　　She was a walking, talking angel and my favourite person in the whole world. If someone could have asked me the worst thing that could ever happen, it would have been losing her.

　　在这个世界上，她是一个能走路、会说话的天使，我最喜欢的人。如果有人问我，世界上发生的最坏的事情是什么，那就是失去她。

　　She was my soul-mate and I never thought I would journey this lifetime without her.

　　她是我的灵魂伴侣，我从来没有想过，我会走过没有她陪伴的生命旅程。

　　The Moment Of Deliberate Choice

　　抉择时刻

　　The shock and extreme heart break brought me to my knees. The pain was so great and my world just looked desolate. I had no real home, no money, no job, and no friends that cared. Not one person had even sent me a sympathy card for my loss.

　　我被打击和极度的心痛击挎了。强烈的痛苦使世界在我眼中变得如此凄凉。我没有真正意义上的家，没有钱，没有工作，也没有关心我的朋友。没有一个人因我失去亲人而寄给我慰问卡。

　　I made an attempt of my own life and I ended up in hospital.

　　我尝试着活下去，结果住进了医院。

　　I remember lying in the hospital bed, looking up at the ceiling and seeing my sister’s beautiful face. She stayed with me all night long.

　　我记得，躺在病床上，看着天花板，看到姐姐美丽的面庞。她整夜守候着我。

　　I realised during that night that I had a choice. I could choose to end my life or I could choose to live it.

　　那天晚上，我意识到我可以选择。要么结束生命，要么活下去。

　　I looked in my sister’s eyes and I made a decision not to go with her just yet. That I would stay and complete my journey here.

　　望着姐姐的眼睛，我决定不跟她走。我要留下来，走完我的生命旅程。

　　I also made the decision that, I wouldn’t just live any life. I would live the life that I absolutely LOVE and nothing less.

　　同时，我还决定，不只为生活而生活，我要完全以自己想要的方式生活。

　　In that moment, the clarity that descended around me was like a light shining in a dark room for the first time. As if the earth’s plates had shifted under my feet and everything suddenly looked real for the first time.

　　在那一刻，这一想法第一次清晰得如同一盏在黑暗闪烁的明灯。好像脚下的地球版块变换了，每一样东西在我眼前都真实得前所未有。