美文賞析 幸福的本質是什么?

　　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.

　　我住在好萊塢。你可能認為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，而幸福則是活動之后的體驗。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.

　　去游樂場或去看球賽，看電影或看電視，這些都是娛樂活動，有助于我們放松身心，暫時忘卻自己的難題，甚至讓我們放聲大笑。但是，這一切并不能帶來幸福，因為娛樂一結束，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系。作為個人，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--這一切似乎意味著“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后的不幸：憂郁、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，以為充滿歡笑、沒有痛苦的生活就等于幸福；這實際上減少了他們真正臻于幸福之境的可能性。如果娛樂和快樂等同于幸福的話，那么痛苦必然等同于不幸福。可事實正相反：導致幸福的一切常常蘊含著些許痛苦。

　　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，許多人不愿努力，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，他們因而對于這一切心懷畏懼。

　　美文欣賞:你可以選擇自己想過的生活

　　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:

　　生活有時候困難得難以置信，但又不容置疑。我們面臨的挑戰與困境似乎無法抵御，試圖毀滅我們生活，甚至使你猶疑是否繼續走下去。但是你總有選擇的余地。從人生低谷走向新生活的杰西卡·赫斯樂普，在這里與我們分享她啟迪心靈、充滿震撼力的生活之旅。

　　In 2012 I had the worst year of my life.

　　2012年是我生活中最艱難的一年。

　　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.

　　我做著討厭的財務工作，住在難尋綠色的高樓林立的城市。我忙于無意義的交往，在一些膚淺表面的東西上大筆開銷。我尋找快樂，卻又不知道它在哪里。

　　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勞綜合癥，幾乎到了臥床不起的地步。我不得不辭掉工作，同時也就斷了財源。我和那時僅相處了3個月的男友住在一起，經濟上完全依賴于他，我們的關系承受著巨大壓力。終于我恢復健康，但不久，我接到家里的電話，父親的癌癥急劇惡化，已經住進了臨終關懷中心。

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

　　我離開了城市，回家陪父親。

　　He died 6 months later.

　　6個月之后，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.

　　父親的事讓我徹底清醒。他一直很強壯，在他咽氣之后一分鐘里，我真的認為，他會活過來。我不能相信，我再也不能依偎在他溫暖的懷抱里，享受他寬大的胸懷帶給我的安全感。

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

　　母親和我們5個兄弟姐妹極為難過，但至少我們還擁有彼此。

　　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，那時我大姐開始抱怨著背痛，2個月后，因疼痛加劇也住進了醫院。

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

　　醫生們檢查發現，她已是骨癌晚期，對此他們已無能為力。

　　She died 1 month later.

　　1個月之后，她也走了。

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

　　大姐的逝去讓我陷入難以形容的痛苦之中。

　　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.

　　在這個世界上，她是一個能走路、會說話的天使，我最喜歡的人。如果有人問我，世界上發生的最壞的事情是什么，那就是失去她。

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

　　她是我的靈魂伴侶，我從來沒有想過，我會走過沒有她陪伴的生命旅程。

　　The Moment Of Deliberate Choice

　　抉擇時刻

　　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.

　　我被打擊和極度的心痛擊挎了。強烈的痛苦使世界在我眼中變得如此凄涼。我沒有真正意義上的家，沒有錢，沒有工作，也沒有關心我的朋友。沒有一個人因我失去親人而寄給我慰問卡。

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

　　我嘗試著活下去，結果住進了醫院。

　　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.

　　我記得，躺在病床上，看著天花板，看到姐姐美麗的面龐。她整夜守候著我。

　　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，我意識到我可以選擇。要么結束生命，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.

　　望著姐姐的眼睛，我決定不跟她走。我要留下來，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.

　　同時，我還決定，不只為生活而生活，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，這一想法第一次清晰得如同一盞在黑暗閃爍的明燈。好像腳下的地球版塊變換了，每一樣東西在我眼前都真實得前所未有。