The Secret of Happiness

The Secret of Happiness

I live in the land of Disney. 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.

Many intelligent people still equate happiness 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.

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.

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 glamorous parties, fancy cars, expensive homes, everything that spells “happiness”. But in memoir after memoir, celebrities reveal the unhappiness hidden beneath all their fun: depression, alcoholism, drug addiction, broken marriages, troubled children, profound loneliness.

The way people cling to 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.

As a result, many people avoid the very endeavors that are the source of true happiness. They fear the pain inevitably trough by such things as marriage, rainsing children, professional achievement, religious commitment, civic or charitable work, self-improvement.

【难词点击】

glamorous adj. 魅力四射的abiding adj. 持久的

temporarily adj. 暂时地positive adj. 积极的

memoir n. 佳略，佳记diminish v. 减少

endeavor n. 努力commitment n. 承诺，信奉

幸福的秘密

我住在迪斯尼乐园。你可能认为住在这样一个魅力四射、充满欢笑的地方的人要比其他人更幸福。倘若如此，你就误解了幸福的本质。

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。娱乐是某种活动进行中的体验，而幸福则是活动之后的体验。幸福是更深刻、更持久的情感。

去游乐场或去看球赛，看电影或看电视，这些都是娱乐活动，有助于我们放松身体，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。

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，拥有顶尖极的汽车、昂贵的宅第——这一切似乎意味着“幸福”。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。

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。可事实相反：导致幸福的一切常常蕴含着些许痛苦。

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，他们因而对这一切心怀畏惧。

【理解·思考】

1. The land of Disney is .

A. the place of happiness

B. the place of depression

C. a fun-filled place

D. a lonely place

2. Which of the following about happiness and fun isn’t true?

A. Fun and happiness have little or nothing in common.

B. Fun is what we experience during an act.

C. Happiness is what we experience after an act.

D. People equate happiness with fun.

3. They are fun activities except .

A. happiness

B. going to an amusement park

C. watching TV

D. watching a movie

4. In memoirs, Hollywood stars revealed .

A. happiness

B. unhappiness

C. rich

D. fancy cars

5. The source of true happiness is .

A. a fun-filled life

B. a pain-free life

C. fun and pleasant

D. some pain

【参考详解】

1. C

2. D

3. A

4. B

5. D