What is the definition of "happiness?"Is it material wealth filled with fancy cars, a dream

house,exteravagant furs and jewelry? Or is happiness simply having a roof over your head? Food

in the fridge?Having a child? A pet?A swimming pool?A designer Gucci

bag?Parents?Grandchildren?Love?Money?The perfct job?Winning the Lottery?

“幸福”是什么?幸福是擁有豪華的汽車、夢想的居室、名貴的裘皮和珠寶等物質(zhì)上的富足

嘛?或者，幸福其實很簡單——有遮風(fēng)避雨的住所，冰箱里有食物，有孩子、寵物、游泳池、

Gucci 的包，有父母、子孫、有愛情、金錢和理想的工作，彩票中獎了呢?

According to the American Heritage Dictionary,"happiness"is derived from the Middle English

word hap—meaning"Luck."But does happiness really have anything to do with"luck?"Based on

this description,one could assume that if you avoide* * **tal traffic accident but got fired by

coming late to work,you would be filled with"happiness?"Is it luck or what you make of

it?Maybe,"happiness"is exactly defined by its indirect alias:happiness-perhaps,happiness is in fact

defined by the fortune thatwe permit to happen.

在《美國傳統(tǒng)字典》中，幸福是從中古英語“Hap”一詞演變而來，“Hap”意為“好運”。

幸福真的與“好運”有關(guān)聯(lián)嗎?基于此，想想看，如果你在一場必死無疑的交通事故中幸免

于難，卻因此遲到，導(dǎo)致被老板炒魷魚。對此，我們應(yīng)該感到“幸福”嗎?這是好運嗎?還

是要看個人如何看待這個問題呢?或許確切地說，幸福的定義應(yīng)當(dāng)直接從它的詞源來看——

事實上，幸?；蛟S就是命中注定要發(fā)生的事情。

Do you recall a time—let's say when you were about 5 years old—what defined happiness back

then?Was it getting a puppy for Christmas? Or maybe,you were a child of divorce;and all you wanted was for Mom and Dad to get back together again?Then as you got older,you were hoping

that someone would ask you to the prom that would've made your day,maybe your life for the

moment.During college,good grades made you happy,but it was short-lived.Becaust in the real

world,you had to look for a job,and competition was stark.It's an employer's world you

thought.But then, you got the perfect job—now you could be happy—or could you?

你能回憶起你5 歲時對幸福的理解嗎?那時，幸福是從圣誕樹上摘下的一只小狗嗎?或者爸爸媽媽離婚了，你唯一的愿望就是他們能和好如初，重新生活在一起?當(dāng)你漸漸長大，你希

望有人會邀請你參加舞會，希望所有的日子都凝固在那一天，那一刻。上大學(xué)期間，考試得

了高分讓你無比開心，但這種幸福感畢竟是短暫的。因為在現(xiàn)實中，你得找一份工作，而社

會競爭也相當(dāng)激烈。于是，你就會想，這是一個雇主的世界。隨后，你找到了一份理想的工

作——現(xiàn)在的你很開心，是嗎?

Life requires more than just what we want. Inevitably,one must understand to truly

find"happiness,"he must make his own happiness "happen".Sounds a bit redundant,but

truthfully,there is no set guidelines that will bring one happiness.There is no "magic wand"we can

wave to bring joy into our lives.Human nature thrives on the thrill of the chase.We dream and we

hope for the next big brea—it is the grand adventure of licing.

生活向我們索要的遠比我們想要的多。一個人必須明白，要想真正找到幸福，他就必須讓自

己幸福?？赡苈犉饋碛行┒嘤?，但確是如此——生活中，沒有能代來幸福的現(xiàn)成的指南，也

沒有揮一揮就能帶來歡樂的魔棒。人性在追求幸福的刺激中不斷升級、完善。我們夢想著，

期望著下一個大的轉(zhuǎn)變——這就是生活中的大冒險了。

We are hopeless creatures of comfort.We like having and accumulating things.Whether one admits

to it or not,to a certain degree,we all try to keep up with"the Jones".We work so we can pay our

rents,mortgages, credit card debts,school loans,car payments...the list goes on and on.And at some

point,we realize,that aside from having most of what we want,we still arem't happy.Now since

we've learned to adapt to new standards which we've created for ourselves,we find that we have

less time,less patience,less sleep,which equates to more stress,more worry and more

aggravation.So,is happiness honestly juest comprised of"things"?

我們是無助的享樂者，喜歡擁有和積攢東西。不論人們承認與否，一定程度上，我們都在相

互攀比。我們之所以工作，是因為要付房租，償還抵押貸款，還清信用卡透支費用，償付助

學(xué)貸款，買車，等等。此類費用接連而至，讓我們應(yīng)接不暇。于是，我們會突然意識到，盡

管擁有了想要的一切，我們?nèi)匀徊恍腋！Ｗ詮倪m應(yīng)了自己定下的新生活標(biāo)準，我們的時間短

了，耐性沒了，睡眠少了，但壓力大了，焦慮多了，脾氣也暴躁了。鑒于此，幸福真的是由

“物質(zhì)”組成的嗎?

Sometimes,we virtually reade our lives for not only basic necessities,but for excessive items and

services as well.We become so obsessed with finding happiness,that we lose sight of the fact that

happiness is within—always.Certainly you've heard of individuals trying to "find

themselves",or"rediscover themselves".The reason they are attempting these innovantive

approaches is because they are seeking inner happiness.But the point has been missed:Happiness

is already there.

事實上，有時，我們不僅用生命交換生活必需品，還用生命交換多余的物質(zhì)享受和服務(wù)。我

們這般沉迷于追求幸福，卻忽略了一個事實——幸福一直就在我們心中。當(dāng)然，你一定聽過

這樣的事，即有些人一直都在苦苦“找尋自我”或“重新發(fā)現(xiàn)自我”。他們創(chuàng)新嘗試的理由

只不過是想找尋心靈深處的幸福。但他們忽略了一點，即幸福從頭至尾到在心中。

Disappointments and reagedies in life will come and go,but happiness never leaves you.The human's capacity to be resilient to reials is unfathomable.We can lose our jobs,but be grateful for

our spouses.We can lose our homes to nature,but be thankful to alive.

失望和悲傷在生命中交替輪回，但幸福從不會舍你而去。人類對困難的適應(yīng)能力無可限量。

我們可以失去工作，但會為擁有愛人而感恩不已;我們可以流離失所，但會為活著而心存感

激。

Happiness is a perception of each indivdual.We are instincively compelled to find fault in our lives.By human nature,we begin our "fault-find-ing"mission the moment we're capable of

free-thinking.It is then,that we lose sense of self-worth and the bigger picture of vitality

altogether.Stuck in the patterns of the happiness paradox,we simply cannot find where our

happiness has gone.

幸福是個人的一種感知。我們本能地受限于外界，找尋著生活的瑕疵，出于人的天性，我們

從有能力自由思考的那刻起，就開始對生活吹毛求疵。也就在那時，我們失去了對自我價值

的認知，也失去了生命的活力，陷于幸福的矛盾中，找不到幸福的方向。

It's not a matter of bargaining,it's not an issue of money or fame—instead,happiness is what you

resolve to accept.If we live through optimis-tic hope;if we dare to dream;if we empower ourselves

to fully live;then we have regained our sense of happiness,There is no in berween.There is no

other replacement.We only have one physical life to live—we have no choice but to make the

most of it

幸福是你決定去接受的東西，沒有任何商量的余地，它于金錢或名譽毫無瓜葛。只要我們活

在樂觀希望之中，敢于大膽夢想，活得簡單純粹，那么，我們就會重新?lián)碛行腋５母杏X。那

種感覺并非懸于幸于不幸之間的真空地帶，也無任何替代品。我們只能活一次——除了好好

活著，我們別無選擇。