英语名篇诵读 追求幸福

The Pursuit of Happiness

追求幸福

Lyan Peters(里扬·彼得斯)

We... have turned happiness into one more thing we “gotta have”. We're so self-conscious

about our “right” to it that it's making us miserable¹. So we chase it and equate² it with wealth

and success, without noticing that people who have those things aren't necessarily happier.

While happiness may be more complex for us, the solution is the same as ever. Happiness

isn't about what happens to us — it's about how we perceive what happens to us. It's the knack³

注 of finding a positive for every negative, and viewing a setback⁴ as a challenge. It's not wishing

for what we don't have, but enjoying what we do possess.

我们……把幸福当成了另一件我们“必须”拥有的事情。我们因太在意对幸福的“权

利”而感到非常痛苦。正因为此，我们追求幸福，把它与财富和成功相提并论。而没有注意

到，腰缠万贯、身居高位的人未必幸福。

虽然幸福对于我们过于复杂，但幸福之道永远如一。幸福不在于什么事情发生在我们

身上，而在于我们如何去看待发生在我们身上的事情。它是从每个不利中找到有利的一

面、把每个挫折都看作挑战的诀窍。幸福不是希望得到我们未曾拥有过的东西，而是享受

已经拥有的东西。

1 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

2 equate   

v.同等看待，使相等

参考例句：

• You can't equate passing examination and being intelligent.你不能把考试及格看成是聪明。
• You cannot equate his poems with his plays.你不可以把他的诗歌和他的剧本相提并论。

3 knack   

n.诀窍，做事情的灵巧的，便利的方法

参考例句：

• He has a knack of teaching arithmetic.他教算术有诀窍。
• Making omelettes isn't difficult,but there's a knack to it.做煎蛋饼并不难，但有窍门。

4 setback   

n.退步，挫折，挫败

参考例句：

• Since that time there has never been any setback in his career.从那时起他在事业上一直没有遇到周折。
• She views every minor setback as a disaster.她把每个较小的挫折都看成重大灾难。