2.The Needs That Drive US All(1617)

Passage Two

William Glasser (1925-) is a doctor and therapist who turned his attention to schools when he began to believe that they systematically deprive students of a chance to behave and learn in responsible ways.   In walling the students from the world and imposing our authority on them, we prevent them from learning how to understand their own basic needs and how to meet them.

威廉·格拉瑟(1925-)是一位医生和治疗师，当他开始相信学校系统地剥夺了学生以负责任的方式行事和学习的机会时，他把注意力转向了学校。把学生与世界隔离开来，把我们的权威强加给他们，我们阻止了他们学习如何理解自己的基本需求，以及如何满足这些需求。

The Needs That Drive US All

William Glasser

【1】All living creatures are driven by the basic need to stay alive and reproduce so that the species will continue. As creatures have evolved from simple to complex, they have developed additional basic needs. Humans not only need (1) to survive and reproduce, but also (2) to belong and love, (3) to gain power, (4) to be free, and (5) to have fun.

【2】All five needs are built into our genetic structure as instructions for how we must attempt to live our lives. All are important and must be reasonably satisfied if we are to fulfill our biological destiny. I italicize the need for power because, unlike the other four needs that are shared to some extent by many higher animals, the way we continually struggle for power in every aspect of our lives seems uniquely human.

【3】We are also born with no choice but to feel pain when a need is frustrated, and pleasure when it is satisfied. The quicker and more severe the frustration, the more pain we feel; the quicker and deeper the satisfaction, the more pleasure we experience.

【4】Simple survival needs like hunger, thirst, are relatively clear-cut, and we quickly learn what particular discomfort is attached to the denial of these basic needs. When we attempt to satisfy the non-essential psychological needs, such as belonging, fun, freedom, and especially power, we run into more difficulty.

【5】The need for power is particularly difficult to satisfy because in many cultures the mores of the culture condemn those who openly strive for it. Even politicians try to appear humble, emphasizing how much they wish to serve and how little they want to tell us what to do.

【6】But regardless of cultural prejudices, power itself is neither good nor bad. In fact, if it were not for the need for power, our whole economy would crumble because almost all that is bought and sold, except for bare necessities, is for the sake of power. When someone uses his power to help downtrodden people satisfy any of their needs, especially to get some power, this use of power is humane.

【7】But history records few examples of people like Martin Luther King, Jr., who used what power he had for the benefit of the powerless. Instead, history is full of tyrants who used their power to hurt people, and the reason that so many of us see power as bad is that so many people have been its victims. But even tyrants tend to talk about power as if it is bad. They preach the virtues of humility because the more people they can persuade to be humble, the more easily they can both preserve and add to the power that they have.

【8】While it is easy to understand that people who strive for power may become dominant and have a better chance to survive, most of us have difficulty accepting that this need is written in our genes. As I have mentioned, culturally we have been taught by those in power to be humble.

【9】That their teachings have been largely accepted when what they advocate is so obviously self-serving is a tribute to how effective they have been in getting their message across. But also, because we want power so badly, we often support those who are stronger in the hope that they will share a little of what they have with us. And if they are wise, they do. Successful politicians are masters of this approach, and the same expertise is not unknown in business, higher education, and even religion.

【10】If you look around in any society, you cannot fail to see the all-pervasive effect of this need. Families band together for power, but if they succeed in becoming very powerful, they tend in almost all cases to fight among themselves for the lion's share of what they have. Rather than go over what seems so obvious, just ask yourself one question: Who do you know is so completely satisfied with his life that he can go a week without complaining that someone has gotten in the way of what he wanted to do? Most of us cannot get through a day without complaint; to be satisfied with how others have treated us for a week would seem like an eternity.

【11】We are intensely competitive. If we think that we have any chance at all to move beyond bare survival, we are almost all ambitious. We worry about winning, our honor, our pride, our integrity, our desire to be heard, our need to be right, who recognizes us, whether we are achieving enough, whether we are rich enough, good-looking, well-dressed, influential—the list is endless.

【12】We are easily jealous, and "stupid" people call us arrogant when all we are is competent. We worry about status, position, and whether we have clout. We are constantly trying to avoid those who would coerce us, manipulate us, or use us. That we have often been wronged and seek revenge is much on the minds of many of us. Among us, even the humble compete for who can be the humblest of all.

【13】You can decide for yourself whether power is used more for good than for evil, but simply as a genetic need, it has no morality. Our needs push us to strive for fulfillment; whether in our attempt to satisfy them we do right or wrong is up to each of us to decide. I am spending so much time explaining this need because it is by far, especially for young people, the most important drive. If students do not feel that they have any power in their academic classes, they will not work in school. The same could also be said for teachers.

【14】There is no greater work incentive than to be able to see that your effort has a power payoff. Freedom, another basic need, is often in conflict with power. The more power you have, even if you use it for my benefit, the less freedom I have. It seems that there has to be a counterforce to power; unbridled power would be destructive to the survival of the species. Therefore, almost everything said about power could also be reworded into the vocabulary of freedom.

【15】For example, we may be inherently competitive, but we want to be free to lose without losing too much. And as much as a child may love her parents, she also wants the freedom to branch out on her own. So you can see that freedom can be in conflict not only with power but also with belonging. For example, if you want me around too much, I claim you stifle me, but if you aren't constantly giving me attention, I may claim you don't love me.

【16】Most people, after some thought, have no difficulty accepting that love, power, and freedom are as basic as the need to survive. They might, however, question my claim that fun is a basic need. They wonder, do we really need to have fun, and what is it, anyway? It's hard to define, but we all know that fun is associated with laughter, play, and entertainment.

【17】It's the part of the job that you don't have to do, but doing it may be the best part of the job. It is never serious, but it is often important: "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." It can be frivolous, but it doesn't have to be. It can be planned, but is much more likely to be spontaneous. It can balance a lot of misery, and it is like a catalyst that makes anything we do better and worth doing again and again.

【18】Not only humans have fun. My observation is that all animals who can make choices as to what to do to fulfill their needs seem at times to have fun. The higher the animal, the more fun. Lower animals, whose behavior is essentially built-in and who do not have much ability to learn, are not involved with fun. If you want a fun pet, you would not choose a turtle.

【19】My guess is that we will survive in direct proportion to how much we can learn. So, driven by the need for fun, we always have a powerful genetic incentive to keep trying to learn as much as we can. Without the relationship between fun and learning, we would not learn nearly as much.

【20】I realize that we also learn for power, love, and freedom, but to satisfy these often requires long-term dedication. It is the immediate fun of learning that keeps us going day by day, especially when we are young and have so much to learn.

【21】Boredom is the opposite of fun. It always occurs when we have to spend time without learning: A monotonous task is always boring unless we can find a way to learn while doing something repetitive, or make the thing we are doing competitive or social, as Tom Sawyer did when he was painting the fence.

【22】A prisoner who is actively planning his escape finds his confinement much less oppressive. Anytime we can introduce power, freedom, or belonging into a situation, we find it more interesting. And as we do, we also find ourselves learning along the way.

第二课

驱动我们所有人的需求

威廉·格拉瑟

【1】所有生物都受到生存和繁殖的基本需求的驱使，以使物种得以延续。随着生物从简单到复杂的进化，它们产生了额外的基本需求。人类不仅需要(1)生存和繁衍，还需要(2)归属和爱，(3)获得权力，(4)自由，(5)享受乐趣。

【2】这五种需求都根植于我们的基因结构中，作为我们如何努力生活的指示。所有这些都很重要，如果我们要完成我们的生物命运，就必须合理地满足它们。我把对权力的需求用斜体字表示是因为，与许多高等动物在某种程度上共有的其他四种需求不同，我们在生活的各个方面不断为权力而斗争的方式似乎是人类独有的。

【3】我们也生来别无选择，只能在需求被挫败时感到痛苦，在需求得到满足时感到快乐。挫折越快、越严重，我们感到的痛苦就越多;满足得越快越深，我们体验到的快乐就越多。

【4】简单的生存需求，如饥饿、口渴，是相对明确的，我们很快就知道，拒绝这些基本需求会带来什么特别的不适。当我们试图满足非必要的心理需求时，比如归属感、乐趣、自由，尤其是权力，我们会遇到更多的困难。

【5】对权力的需求是特别难以满足的，因为在许多文化中，文化的习俗谴责那些公开争取权力的人。就连政客们也试图显得谦逊，强调他们多么希望为人民服务，多么不想告诉我们该怎么做。

【6】但抛开文化偏见不谈，权力本身并无好坏之分。事实上，如果没有对权力的需求，我们的整个经济就会崩溃，因为除了基本的必需品之外，几乎所有的买卖都是为了权力。当一个人用他的权力来帮助被压迫者满足他们的任何需求，特别是为了获得一些权力，这种权力的使用是人道的。

【7】但是历史记录中很少有像马丁·路德·金这样的人，他利用自己的权力为没有权力的人谋取利益。相反，历史上充满了利用权力伤害人民的暴君，我们这么多人认为权力不好的原因是，有这么多人成为它的受害者。但即使是暴君也倾向于把权力说成是坏事。他们宣扬谦卑的美德，因为他们能说服越多的人变得谦卑，他们就越容易保持并增加自己的权力。

【8】虽然很容易理解，那些追求权力的人可能会成为支配者，并有更好的生存机会，但我们大多数人很难接受这种需求是写在我们的基因里的。正如我所提到的，在文化上，当权者一直教导我们要谦虚。

【9】尽管他们所提倡的显然是自私的，但他们的教导却在很大程度上被接受，这表明他们在传达信息方面是多么有效。但同时，因为我们非常想要权力，我们经常支持那些更强大的人，希望他们能与我们分享一点他们拥有的东西。如果他们是明智的，他们就会这么做。成功的政治家是这种方法的大师，同样的专业知识在商业、高等教育甚至宗教中并不陌生。

【10】如果你环顾任何一个社会，你就会发现这种需求的影响无处不在。家族为了权力而联合起来，但如果他们成功地变得非常强大，在几乎所有情况下，他们往往会为了自己拥有的最大份额而自相残杀。与其重复那些看似显而易见的事情，不如问自己一个问题:你知道谁对自己的生活如此满意，以至于他可以一周都不抱怨别人阻碍了他想做的事?我们大多数人都无法不抱怨地度过一天;满足于别人如何对待我们一个星期似乎是永恒的。

【11】我们竞争激烈。如果我们认为我们有任何机会超越勉强生存，我们几乎都是雄心勃勃。我们担心胜利，我们的荣誉，我们的骄傲，我们的正直，我们渴望被倾听，我们需要正确，谁认可我们，我们是否取得了足够的成就，我们是否足够富有，我们是否漂亮，我们是否穿着得体，我们是否有影响力，这个名单是无止境的。

【12】我们很容易嫉妒，“愚蠢”的人说我们傲慢，而我们其实很能干。我们担心自己的地位和地位，担心自己是否有影响力。我们总是试图避开那些胁迫我们、操纵我们或利用我们的人。我们经常被冤枉，并寻求报复，这是我们许多人的想法。在我们中间，即使是最卑微的人也会竞争谁是最卑微的。

【13】你可以自己决定权力是多用于善还是多用于恶，但仅仅作为一种遗传需要，它是没有道德的。我们的需求促使我们努力实现;在我们试图满足他们时，我们做的是对还是错，这取决于我们每个人的决定。我花了这么多时间来解释这种需求，因为它是迄今为止，尤其是对年轻人来说，最重要的动力。如果学生在课堂上感觉不到自己的力量，他们就不会在学校工作。同样的道理也适用于教师。

【14】看到自己的努力有了巨大的回报，是最大的工作激励。自由，另一个基本需求，经常与权力相冲突。你的权力越大，即使是为了我的利益，我的自由就越少。似乎必须有一种反权力的力量;不受约束的权力将对物种的生存造成破坏。因此，几乎所有关于权力的说法都可以改写成自由的词汇。

【15】例如，我们可能天生具有竞争性，但我们希望在不损失太多的情况下自由地失败。尽管一个孩子可能爱她的父母，但她也希望有自己发展的自由。所以你可以看到，自由不仅会与权力发生冲突，也会与归属感发生冲突。例如，如果你太想让我在你身边，我会说你扼杀了我，但如果你不经常关注我，我可能会说你不爱我。

【16】大多数人经过一番思考后，不难接受爱、权力和自由都是生存的基本需要。然而，他们可能会质疑我关于乐趣是一种基本需求的说法。他们想知道，我们真的需要快乐吗?快乐到底是什么?这很难定义，但我们都知道，乐趣与笑声、玩耍和娱乐有关。

【17】这是工作中你不必做的部分，但做它可能是工作中最好的部分。它从来不是严肃的，但往往是重要的:“只工作，不玩耍，聪明的孩子会变傻。”它可以是无聊的，但它不必是。它可以是有计划的，但更可能是自发的。它可以平衡很多痛苦，它就像一种催化剂，让我们做得更好，值得一遍又一遍地去做。

【18】并不是只有人类才有乐趣。我的观察是，所有能够选择做什么来满足自己需求的动物，有时似乎都很开心。动物越高级，越有趣。低级动物的行为本质上是内在的，它们没有太多的学习能力，不参与娱乐。如果你想要一个有趣的宠物，你不会选择一只乌龟。

【19】我的猜想是，我们的生存与我们能学到多少成正比。因此，在对乐趣的需求的驱使下，我们总是有一种强大的基因激励，让我们尽可能多地学习。如果没有乐趣和学习之间的关系，我们就不会学到这么多东西。

【20】我意识到我们也为权力、爱和自由而学习，但要满足这些往往需要长期的奉献。正是学习的直接乐趣使我们日复一日地前进，尤其是当我们年轻、有很多东西要学的时候。

【21】无聊是乐趣的对立面。当我们不得不花时间不学习时，这种情况就会发生:单调的任务总是无聊的，除非我们能在做重复的事情时找到一种学习的方法，或者让我们正在做的事情具有竞争性或社交性，就像汤姆·索亚在刷栅栏时所做的那样。

【22】一个积极计划逃跑的囚犯发现他的监禁不那么压抑了。每当我们把权力、自由或归属感引入一种情况时，我们就会发现它更有趣。当我们这样做的时候，我们也发现自己在学习。