The way people hold to the belief that a fun-filled, pain-free life equals happiness actually reduces their chances of ever attaining real happiness. If fun and pleasure are equal to happiness then pain must be equal to unhappiness. But in fact, the opposite is true: more often than not things that lead to happiness involve some pain.
As a result, many people avoid the very attempts that are the source of true happiness. They fear the pain inevitably brought by such things as marriage, raising children, professional achievement, religious commitment, self improvement.
Ask a bachelor why he resists marriage even though he finds dating to be less and less satisfying. If he is honest he will tell you that he is afraid of making a commitment. For commitment is in fact quite painful. The single life is filled with fun, adventure, excitement. Marriage has such moments, but they are not its most distinguishing features.
Couples with infant children are lucky to get a whole night’s sleep or three-day vacation. I don’t know any parent who would choose the word fun to describe raising children. But couples who decide not to have children never know the joys of watching a child grow up or of playing with a grandchild.
Understanding and accepting that true happiness has nothing to do with fun is one of the most liberating realizations. It liberates time: now we can devote more hours to activities that can genuinely increase our happiness. It liberates money: buying that new car or those fancy clothes that will do nothing to increase our happiness now seems pointless. And it liberates us from envy: we now understand that all those who are always having so much fun actually may not be happy at all.
1. According to the author, a bachelor resists marriage chiefly because .
A. he is reluctant to take on family responsibilities
B. he believes that life will be more cheerful if he remains single
C. he finds more fun in dating than in marriage
D. he fears it will put an end to all his fun adventure and excitement
2. Raising children, in the author’s opinion, is .
A. a moral duty C. a thankless job
B. a rewarding task D. a source of inevitable pain
3. From the last paragraph, we learn that envy sometimes stems form .
A) hatred B) misunderstanding C) prejudice D) ignorance
4. To understand what true happiness is one must .
A. have as much fun as possible during one’s lifetime
B. make every effort to liberate oneself from pain
C. put up with pain under all circumstances
D. be able to distinguish happiness from fun
5. What is the author trying to tell us?
A. Happiness often goes hand in hand with pain.
B. One must know how to attain happiness.
C. It is important to make commitments.
D. It is pain that leads to happiness.
参考答案 A B B D A
人们认为充满乐趣，没有痛苦的生活就是幸福，这种看法实际上减少了他们得到真正幸福的可能性。要是乐趣和快乐等于幸福的话，那么痛苦一定等同与不幸福。但实际上，正好相反，常常能导致幸福的事情往往会前涉到痛苦。
因此，许多人逃避追求幸福的尝试，这些尝试却是真正幸福的源泉。他们害怕诸如婚姻、抚养子女、职业成就、宗教义务、自我提高等这类事情，因为他们会不可避免的带来痛苦。
问问单身汉：尽管约会越来越不让人满意，但为什么不愿结婚呢？如果他诚实的话，他会告诉你他害怕承担义务。承担义务实际上是相当令人痛苦的。单身生活充满了乐趣、冒险和激动人心的事情。婚姻中也有这样的时刻，但这些不是婚姻的显著特点。
有婴儿的父母能够完整地睡一夜觉，能够完整的度过三天假日就很幸运了。我不认识任何一位父母会选择乐趣这个词来描述抚养孩子。但是那些决定不要孩子的父母将永远体验到看着孩子成长或与孙子一起玩耍的乐趣。
理解并接受真正幸福其实与乐趣无关的观点是最具有解放性的认识之一。这种认识解放了时间：现在我们就可以把更多的时间投入到能真正增加我们幸福感的事情了。这种认识同样也解放了金钱：购买那些丝毫不会增加我们幸福的新车或是时髦的衣服现在看来便没有意义了。这种认识也把我们从羡慕或嫉妒中解脱出来：现在我们明白了，那些看起来总有很多乐趣的人其实可能一点都不幸福。
