新高级阅读前（双语）61（1055）

PASSAGE SIXTY-ONE

What is happiness

1.When asked about happiness, we usually think of something extraordinary, an absolute delight, which seems to get rarer the older we get. For kids, happiness has a magical quality. 

2.Their delight at winning a race or getting a new bike is unreserved. In the teenage years the concept of happiness changes. 

3.Suddenly it’s conditional on such things as excitement, love and popularity. I can still recall the excitement of being invited to dance with the most attractive boy at the school party.

4.In adulthood the things that bring deep joy—love, marriage, birth—also bring responsibility and the risk of loss. For adults, happiness is complicated. My definition for happiness is“the capacity for enjoyment”. 

5.The more we can enjoy what we have, the happier we are. It’s easy to overlook the pleasure we get from the company of friends, the freedom to live where we please,and even good health.

6.I experienced my little moments of pleasure yesterday. First I was overjoyed when I shut the last lunch-box and had the house to myself. Then I spent an uninterrupted morning writing, which I love. 

7.When the kids and my husband came home, I enjoyed their noise after the quiet of the day. Psychologists tell us that to be happy we need a mix of enjoyable leisure time and satisfying work. 

8.I don’t think that my grandmother, who raised 14 children, had much of either. She did have a network of close friends and family, and maybe this is what satisfied her.

9.We, however, with so many choices and such pressure to succeed in every area, have turned happiness into one more thing we’ve got to have. We’ve so self-conscious about our“right” to it that it’s making us miserable. 

10.So we chase it and equal it with wealth and success, without noticing that the people who have those things aren’t necessarily happier. Happiness isn’t about what happens to us—it’s about how we see what happens to us.

11.It’s the skillful way of finding a positive for every negative. It’s not wishing for what we don’t have, but enjoying what we do possess.

第六十一篇

何为幸福

1.当被问及幸福时，我们通常会想到一些不寻常的事情，一种绝对的快乐，这种快乐似乎随着年龄的增长而变得越来越少。对孩子们来说，幸福有一种神奇的品质。

2.他们赢得比赛或得到一辆新自行车时的喜悦是毫无保留的。在青少年时期，幸福的概念发生了变化。

3.突然之间，它就以兴奋、爱和声望为条件了。我仍然记得在学校聚会上被邀请与最迷人的男孩跳舞时的兴奋。

4.在成年期，爱情、婚姻、生育等带给我们深刻快乐的事物也带来了责任和失去的风险。对于成年人来说，幸福是复杂的。我对幸福的定义是“享受的能力”。

5.我们越能享受我们所拥有的，我们就越快乐。我们很容易忽视我们从朋友的陪伴中获得的快乐，在我们喜欢的地方自由生活，甚至是健康的身体。

6.昨天我经历了我的快乐时光。首先，当我关上最后一个饭盒，独自呆在家里时，我欣喜若狂。然后我花了一个不间断的早晨写作，我喜欢这样。

7.当孩子们和我丈夫回家时，我享受着一天的宁静之后他们的吵闹声。心理学家告诉我们，要想快乐，我们需要愉快的休闲时间和令人满意的工作。

8.我的祖母养育了14个孩子，我不认为她有太多这两样东西。她确实有一个亲密的朋友和家人的网络，也许这就是她满意的地方。

9.然而，面对如此多的选择和在各个领域取得成功的压力，我们已经把幸福变成了我们必须拥有的另一件事。我们对自己的“权利”有如此强烈的自我意识，以至于这让我们很痛苦。

10.所以我们追求幸福，把它与财富和成功等同起来，却没有注意到拥有这些东西的人并不一定更幸福。幸福不是发生在我们身上的事，而是我们如何看待发生在我们身上的事。

11.这是一种从消极中找到积极的巧妙方法。幸福不是希望得到我们没有的东西，而是享受我们已经拥有的东西。