手机APP下载

您现在的位置: 首页 > 英语听力 > 英语美文欣赏 > 英语名篇名段背诵精华 > 正文

英语名篇名段背诵精华:什么是幸福?

来源:疯狂英语 编辑:beck   可可英语APP下载 |  可可官方微信:ikekenet
  


扫描二维码进行跟读打分训练

对于孩子来说,幸福充满了魔力;到了少年时期,幸福观发生了变化;成年时,能带来深深欢乐的事情(如出生、爱情和婚姻),同时也带来了责任和失去的危险。

What Is Happiness?

"Are you happy?" I asked my brother, Ian, one day.
"Yes. No. It depends on what you mean," he said.
"Then tell me," I said, "when was the last time you think you were happy?"
"April 1967," he said.

It served me right for putting a serious question to someone who has joked his way through life. But Ian's answer reminded me that when we think about happiness, we usually think of something extraordinary, a 1)pinnacle of 2)sheer delight. And those pinnacles seem to get rarer the older we get.

For a child, happiness has a magical quality. I remember making hide-outs in newly cut 3)hay, playing 4)cops and robbers in the woods, getting a speaking part in the school play. Of course, kids also experience lows, but their delight at such peaks of pleasure as winning a race or getting a new bike is 5)unreserved.

In the teenage years, the concept of happiness changes. Suddenly it's conditional on such things as excitement, love, popularity and whether that zit will clear up before a 6)prom night. I can still feel the agony of not being invited to a party that almost everyone else was going to. But I also recall the ecstasy of being plucked from obscurity at another event to dance with a 7)John Travolta look-alike.

In 8)adulthood the things that bring 9)profound joy - birth, love, marriage - also bring responsibility and the risk of loss. Love may not last, loved ones die. For adults, happiness is complicated.

My dictionary defines happy as "lucky" or "fortunate", but I think a better definition of happiness is "the capacity for enjoyment". The more we can enjoy what we have, the happier we are. It's easy to overlook the pleasure we get from loving and being loved, the company of friends, the freedom to live where we please, even good health.

I added up my little moments of pleasure yesterday. First there was sheer bliss when I shut the last lunchbox and had the house to myself. Then I spent an 10)uninterrupted morning writing, which I love. When the kids came home, I enjoyed their noise after the quiet of the day.

You never know where happiness will turn up next. When I asked friends what makes them happy, some mentioned 11)seemingly 12)insignificant moments. "I hate shopping," one friend said. "But there's this clerk who always chats and really cheers me up."

Another friend loves the telephone. "Every time it rings, I know someone is thinking about me."

We all experience moments like these. Too few of us register them as happiness.

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 13)knack of finding a positive for every negative, and viewing a 14)set-back as a challenge. It's not wishing for what we don't have, but enjoying what we do possess.

重点单词   查看全部解释    
quality ['kwɔliti]

想一想再看

n. 品质,特质,才能
adj. 高品质的

 
ecstasy ['ekstəsi]

想一想再看

n. 狂喜,入迷
Ecstasy
n

联想记忆
complicated ['kɔmplikeitid]

想一想再看

adj. 复杂的,难懂的
动词complica

 
challenge ['tʃælindʒ]

想一想再看

n. 挑战
v. 向 ... 挑战

 
overlook [.əuvə'luk]

想一想再看

vt. 俯瞰,远眺,没注意到,忽视
n. 高出

联想记忆
insignificant [.insig'nifikənt]

想一想再看

adj. 无关紧要的,可忽略的,不重要的,无用的

 
popularity [.pɔpju'læriti]

想一想再看

n. 普及,流行,名望,受欢迎

联想记忆
obscurity [əb'skjuriti]

想一想再看

n. 昏暗,晦涩,不出名

 
concept ['kɔnsept]

想一想再看

n. 概念,观念

 
capacity [kə'pæsiti]

想一想再看

n. 能力,容量,容积; 资格,职位
adj.

联想记忆

发布评论我来说2句

    最新文章

    可可英语官方微信(微信号:ikekenet)

    每天向大家推送短小精悍的英语学习资料.

    添加方式1.扫描上方可可官方微信二维码。
    添加方式2.搜索微信号ikekenet添加即可。