2.The Needs That Drive US All(1204)

Ninth grade rewrite

The Needs That Drive US All

【1】All living creatures, from the smallest insect to the most complex human, share a fundamental drive to survive and reproduce. This ensures that their species continue to exist. As life has evolved, humans have developed additional needs that go beyond just staying alive and having offspring. These include the need to feel connected and loved, to gain a sense of power, to enjoy freedom, and to experience joy and fun.

【2】These five needs are deeply ingrained in our nature, guiding us on how to live our lives. They are all essential, and we must find a way to satisfy them to achieve our full potential. The need for power stands out because it seems to be uniquely human. We constantly strive for power in every aspect of our lives, often in ways that other animals do not.

【3】When our needs are not met, we feel pain. But when they are fulfilled, we feel pleasure. The more quickly and deeply our needs are met, the more pleasure we experience. Basic survival needs, like hunger and thirst, are straightforward, and we quickly learn what happens when these needs are not met. However, when it comes to psychological needs such as belonging, fun, freedom, and power, we face more challenges in satisfying them.

【4】The need for power is particularly challenging because many cultures discourage the open pursuit of power. Even leaders try to appear humble, emphasizing their desire to serve rather than to control. But power itself is neither good nor bad. It's how we use it that matters. When power is used to help those who are powerless, it can be a force for good.

【5】Throughout history, there have been few examples of people like Martin Luther King Jr., who used their power to benefit the powerless. Instead, history is filled with those who used power to harm others. This is why many people view power negatively, as they have been its victims. Even tyrants speak of power as if it's a bad thing, promoting humility to maintain and grow their own power.

【6】It's easy to understand that those who seek power may become more dominant and have a better chance of survival. But it's harder for us to accept that this need is part of our genetic makeup. We have been taught by those in power to be humble, and it's remarkable how widely accepted this message is, even though it's clearly self-serving.

【7】We are highly competitive. If we believe we have a chance to do more than just survive, we become ambitious. We worry about winning, our honor, our pride, our integrity, our desire to be heard, our need to be right, recognition, achievement, wealth, appearance, influence—the list goes on.

【8】We are also easily jealous, and sometimes people call us arrogant when we are just competent. We worry about status, position, and influence. We try to avoid those who would coerce, manipulate, or use us. Many of us are also concerned with seeking revenge for past wrongs. Even the humble among us compete to be seen as the most humble.

【9】You might wonder whether power is used more for good or evil, but as a basic need, it has no moral value. Our needs push us to seek fulfillment, and whether we do right or wrong in the process is up to each of us to decide. I spend a lot of time on this need because it is particularly important, especially for young people. If students don't feel they have any power in their academic classes, they won't be motivated to work hard. The same goes for teachers.

【10】There is no greater work incentive than seeing that your efforts lead to more power. Freedom, another basic need, often conflicts with power. The more power you have, even if it's used for my benefit, the less freedom I have. It seems there must be a balance to power; unchecked power could be destructive to our species' survival. Therefore, much of what is said about power can also be said about freedom.

【11】For example, we may be competitive by nature, but we also want the freedom to lose without losing too much. And while a child may love her parents, she also wants the freedom to become independent. So you can see that freedom can be in conflict not only with power but also with belonging. If you want me around too much, I might feel stifled, but if you don't give me enough attention, I might feel unloved.

【12】Most people, after some thought, can accept 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 if we really need to have fun and what it is, exactly. It's hard to define, but we all know that fun is associated with laughter, play, and entertainment.

【13】Fun is the part of a job that you don't have to do, but doing it can be the best part of the job. It's never serious, but it's 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 more often spontaneous. It can balance a lot of misery, and it acts like a catalyst that makes anything we do better and worth doing again and again.

【14】Not only humans have fun. My observation is that all animals that can make choices to fulfill their needs seem to have fun at times. The higher the animal, the more fun it has. Lower animals, whose behavior is mostly instinctual and who have limited learning ability, don't seem to experience fun.

【15】I believe 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 connection between fun and learning, we would not learn nearly as much.

【16】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.

【17】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.

【18】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.

九年级改写

驱动我们所有人的需求

【1】所有生物，从最小的昆虫到最复杂的人类，都有一种生存和繁殖的基本动力。这确保了它们的物种继续存在。随着生命的进化，人类发展出了更多的需求，而不仅仅是生存和繁衍后代。这些需求包括需要感受到联系和被爱，需要获得权力感，需要享受自由，需要体验快乐和乐趣。

【2】这五种需求根植于我们的天性，指引着我们如何生活。它们都是必不可少的，我们必须找到一种方法来满足它们，以充分发挥我们的潜力。对权力的需求之所以突出，是因为它似乎是人类独有的。我们在生活的各个方面都在不断争取权力，通常是用其他动物不会用的方式。

【3】当我们的需求得不到满足时，我们会感到痛苦。但当它们得到满足时，我们会感到快乐。我们的需求得到满足的越快、越深刻，我们体验到的快乐就越多。基本的生存需求，如饥饿和口渴，是直截了当的，我们很快就会知道当这些需求得不到满足时会发生什么。然而，当涉及到归属感、乐趣、自由和权力等心理需求时，我们在满足这些需求方面面临更多挑战。

【4】对权力的需求尤其具有挑战性，因为许多文化都不鼓励公开追求权力。即使是领导者也会努力表现得谦逊，强调他们服务他人而不是控制他人的愿望。但权力本身并无好坏之分。重要的是我们如何使用它。当权力被用来帮助那些无能为力的人时，它可以成为一种好的力量。

【5】纵观历史，很少有像马丁·路德·金这样的人利用自己的权力为无权者造福。相反，历史上充满了那些利用权力伤害他人的人。这就是为什么许多人消极地看待权力，因为他们一直是权力的受害者。就连暴君也把权力说得好像是一件坏事，提倡谦卑来维持和发展自己的权力。

【6】很容易理解，那些追求权力的人可能会变得更有统治力，并有更好的生存机会。但我们很难接受这种需求是我们基因构成的一部分。我们一直被当权者教导要谦虚，令人惊讶的是，这条信息被广泛接受，尽管它显然是自私的。

【7】我们很有竞争力。如果我们相信我们有机会做的不仅仅是生存，我们就会变得雄心勃勃。我们担心胜利、我们的荣誉、我们的骄傲、我们的正直、我们被倾听的渴望、我们对正确的需要、认可、成就、财富、外表、影响力等等。

【8】我们也很容易嫉妒，当我们只是有能力的时候，人们有时会说我们傲慢。我们担心地位、地位和影响力。我们试图避开那些胁迫、操纵或利用我们的人。我们中的许多人也关心为过去的错误寻求报复。即使是我们当中最卑微的人也会竞争被视为最卑微的人。

【9】你可能想知道权力更多地被用来行善还是作恶，但作为一种基本需要，它没有道德价值。我们的需求驱使我们去寻求满足，在这个过程中我们做的是对还是错取决于我们每个人的决定。我花了很多时间在这个需求上，因为它特别重要，尤其是对年轻人来说。如果学生在课堂上感觉不到自己的力量，他们就不会有动力去努力学习。教师也是如此。

【10】看到自己的努力带来更大的权力，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。似乎必须有一种权力平衡;不受约束的权力可能会破坏我们物种的生存。因此，很多关于权力的说法也可以用在自由上。

【11】例如，我们可能天生好胜，但我们也希望有输的自由，但不要输得太多。虽然一个孩子可能爱她的父母，但她也想要独立的自由。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。如果你太想让我在你身边，我可能会感到窒息，但如果你没有给我足够的关注，我可能会感到不被爱。

【12】大多数人经过一番思考后，都能接受爱、权力和自由是像生存需要一样基本的东西。然而，他们可能会质疑我关于乐趣是一种基本需求的说法。他们想知道我们是否真的需要快乐，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。

【13】乐趣是工作中你不一定要做的部分，但做它却是工作中最好的部分。这句话并不严肃，但往往很重要:“只工作，不玩耍，聪明的孩子也变傻。”它可以是轻浮的，但不是必须的。它可以是有计划的，但更多的是自发的。它可以平衡很多痛苦，它就像催化剂，让我们做得更好，值得一次又一次地去做。

【14】并不是只有人类才有乐趣。我的观察是，所有能够做出选择来满足自己需求的动物似乎有时都很开心。动物越高级，它的乐趣就越多。低级动物的行为大多是本能的，学习能力有限，似乎不会体验到乐趣。

【15】我相信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。如果没有娱乐和学习之间的联系，我们就不会学到这么多东西。

【16】我认识到我们也为权力、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。

【17】无聊是乐趣的反面。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。

【18】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。