美文賞析 幸福的本質是什麼?

問問你自己：我幸福嗎？我認爲幸福的本質是什麼？它跟痛苦，付出有關係嗎？如果娛樂和快樂等同於幸福的話，那麼痛苦必然等同於不幸福。可事實正相反：導致幸福的一切常常蘊含着些許痛苦。

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.
我住在好萊塢。你可能認爲住在這樣一個魅力四射、充滿歡笑的地方要比其他人更幸福。倘若如此，你就誤解了幸福的本質。

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.
許多聰明人依舊將幸福與娛樂等同起來。事實上，娛樂與幸福很少、甚至毫無共同之處。娛樂是某個活動進行中的體驗，而幸福則是活動之後的體驗。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.
去遊樂場或去看球賽，看電影或看電視，這些都是娛樂活動，有助於我們放鬆身心，暫時忘卻自己的難題，甚至讓我們放聲大笑。但是，這一切並不能帶來幸福，因爲娛樂一結束，它們的正面效應亦隨之終結。

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".
我常常這樣想，如果好萊塢明星起到某種作用的話，那就是向我們昭示幸福與娛樂毫無關係。作爲個人，他們富有，楚楚動人，可以隨時出席令人神往的宴會，擁有頂尖級汽車、昂貴的宅第--這一切似乎意味着“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，在一部又一部的回憶錄中，名流們揭示了隱藏在這一切娛樂活動背後的不幸：憂鬱、酗酒、吸毒成癮、失敗的婚姻、飽受困擾的孩子、極度的孤獨。

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.
人們執迷不悟，以爲充滿歡笑、沒有痛苦的生活就等於幸福；這實際上減少了他們真正臻於幸福之境的可能性。如果娛樂和快樂等同於幸福的話，那麼痛苦必然等同於不幸福。可事實正相反：導致幸福的一切常常蘊含着些許痛苦。

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，許多人不願努力，而這些努力恰恰正是真正幸福的源泉。諸如婚姻、撫育子女、職業成就、宗教信仰、公共及慈善事業、自身修養等必然帶來痛苦，他們因而對於這一切心懷畏懼。