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The satisfaction of killing time and of affording some outlet, however modest, for ambition， belongs to most work, and is sufficient to make even a man whose work is dull happier on the average than a man who has no work at all. But when work is interesting, it is capable of giving satisfaction of a far higher order than mere relief from tediousness.
大凡工作都有打发时间，并使自己的抱负多少得到施展的满足感，这种满足感足以使一个从事单调乏味工作的人通常比一个没有工作的人快乐。而当工作有意义时，便能带来高层次的满足感，而不仅仅是摆脱无聊。
The chief element which makes work interesting is the exercise of skill. Every man who has acquired some unusual skill enjoys exercising it until it has become a matter of course, or until he can no longer improve himself. This motive to activity begins in early childhood: aboy who can stand on his head becomes reluctant to stand on his feet. A great deal of work gives the same pleasure that is to be derived from games of skill. The work of a lawyer or a politician must contain in a more delightful form a great deal of the same pleasurethat is to be derived from playing bridge.Here of course there is not only the exercise ofskill but the conquering of a skilled opponent. Even where this competitive element is absent, however, the performance of rare skills is agreeable. A man who can do stunts1 in an aeroplane finds the pleasure so great that for the sake of it he is willing to risk his life. I imagine that an able surgeon, in spite of the painfol circumstances in which his workis done, derives satisfaction from the wonderful precision of his operations. The same kind of pleasure, though in a less intense form, is to be derived from a great deal of work ofa humbler kind. All skilled work can be pleasurable, provided the skill required is either variable or capable of indefinite improvement. If these conditions are absent, it will cease to be interesting when a man has acquired his maximum skill. A man who runs three-mile races will cease to find pleasure in this occupation when he passes the age at which he can beat his own previous record.Fortunately there is a very considerable amount of work in which new circumstances call for new skill and a man can go on improving, at any rate until he has reached middle age.In some kinds of skilled work, such as politics, for example, it seems that men are at their best between sixty and seventy, the reason being that in such occupations a wide experience of other men is essential. For this reason successful politicians are apt to be happier at the age of seventy than any other men of equal age.Their onlycompetitors in this respect are the men who are the heads of big businesses.
使工作变得有意义的主要因素是技能的施展。任何一个掌握非凡技能的人都乐于施展其本领，直到习以为常或无法再自我提高方才停止。这一动因自孩提时代便有了：一个会倒立的孩子不愿意站立。很多工作能像竞技比赛一样带来乐趣。律师或政治家在工作中肯定会领略到与打桥牌同样的很多乐趣,而且是能给人带来更多愉快的乐趣。当然，这当中不仅仅有技能的施展，更包括战胜老练的对手。即使没有这种竞争因素，非凡技能的表现也是令人愉快的。 一个能进行特技飞行的人从中获得无比的乐趣，为此甘冒生命的危险。我想一位干练的外科医生能从其精湛的手术中获得满足，尽管他的工作是在令人不愉快的环境之中进行的。从许多较为微贱的工作中能得到同样的快乐，虽然程度不那么强烈。所有需要技能的工作都能带来快乐，只要所需要的技能是有变化的，或能够无止境地改进的。要是没有这些条件，那么当一个人达到其技能的顶点时，工作就不再有意思了。一个跑3英里赛跑的人，当他过了能打破自己原先记录的年龄时，就不会再从这一活动中获得乐趣。幸而在相当多的工作中，新的环境要求新的技能，一个人至少在到达中年之前可以不断提高。在诸如政治之类需要娴熟技巧的职业中，一个人似乎要到六、七十岁才达到炉火纯青，其原因在于，在这些职业中，与别人广泛的接触和了解是至关重要的。正因为如此，成功的政治家在70岁时往往比其他同龄人快乐。在这方面，唯一能与他们媲美的是大企业的老总们。
