譯文及生詞短語整理：朗讀者小組

Translation

For most of history, people didn’t assume they deserved to be happy. What changed?

歷史上大多數(shù)時(shí)期蚓土，人們并不認(rèn)為他們值得開心脖旱。有什么變化了呢夏跷？

By Darrin M. McMahon

At a time when it’s easy to grow despondent at the state of the world, it may help to consider that feeling good is overrated. That’s not a sentiment often heard in Western culture, which tends to emphasize entertainment, pleasure, and immediate comfort. But the truth is that where the pursuit of a full and flourishing life is concerned, good times matter less than we think.

在世界的現(xiàn)狀讓人們?nèi)菀鬃兊镁趩实臅r(shí)候缆八，一個(gè)人如果認(rèn)為感覺良好是期望過高的，那么這么想有助于改善自己的心境子刮。這不是在西方文化中經(jīng)常聽到的觀點(diǎn)币狠，他們的觀點(diǎn)傾向于強(qiáng)調(diào)娛樂、快感和即時(shí)的安慰太闺。但事實(shí)是，追求一個(gè)充實(shí)嘁圈、滿足的人生才是關(guān)鍵省骂，好時(shí)光與我們認(rèn)為的相比其實(shí)沒那么重要。

For centuries, in fact, that insight was spread by the world’s religious traditions and reaffirmed by philosophers and sages, who understood that life was hard and suffering inevitable. It was not until the 18th century that Western thinking underwent a revolution in human expectations, transforming what men and women understood as their earthly due.

事實(shí)上最住，幾個(gè)世紀(jì)以來钞澳，這種見解被世界的宗教傳統(tǒng)所傳播，并得到哲學(xué)家和圣人的肯定涨缚。他們認(rèn)為生活是艱難的轧粟，痛苦是不可避免的。直到十八世紀(jì)脓魏，西方的思想才經(jīng)歷了人類期望的革命逃延，改變了男人和女人的對于苦與樂的理解。

As a wise man declares in Herodotus’s The History, written in the fifth century BCE, “There is not a man in the world, either here or elsewhere, who is so happy that he does not wish—again and again—to be dead rather than alive.” A grim accounting, that. Yet it captures nicely the ancients’ understanding that suffering, even in the best of circumstances, was impossible to avoid. From the Book of Job to the first of the Buddha’s four noble truths, peruse the wisdom of the past and you will find the message again and again: The world is a painful place.

隨著一個(gè)哲人在希羅多德寫于公元前5世紀(jì)的《歷史》中斷言“世界上沒有這樣一個(gè)人轧拄，無論是在這里亦或是別的地方，他實(shí)在是太高興了以至于他一次又一次地希望自己能活著而不是死去讽膏￠莸纾”這是一個(gè)冷酷的敘述。然而府树，它很好地抓住了古人理解的精髓俐末，他們的理解是即使在最好的情況下，痛苦也是不可避免的奄侠。你從《約伯記》到佛教的四圣諦中仔細(xì)追尋過去的智慧卓箫，將一遍又一遍地了解到：世界是一個(gè)痛苦的地方。

Yet what all of these traditions shared was the belief that suffering, though pervasive, could be overcome through discipline and sacrifice. It was important to resist short-term pleasures in favor of long-term cultivation of the mind, spurning fleeting seductions in favor of more lasting harmony and peace.

然而垄潮，所有這些傳統(tǒng)所共有的是相信盡管痛苦是普遍的烹卒，但可以通過紀(jì)律和獻(xiàn)祭來克服。抵制短期的樂趣有利于長期的思想的培養(yǎng)弯洗，摒棄轉(zhuǎn)瞬即逝的誘惑有助于更持久的和諧與平和旅急。

New words

1. despondent 英? [d?'sp?nd(?)nt] 美? [d?'spɑnd?nt]?

adj. 沮喪的；失望的

e.g He was despondent over the breakup of his marriage.

他為婚姻破裂而沮喪牡整。

2. flourishing 英? ['fl?r????] 美? ['flauri?i?]?

adj. 繁榮的藐吮；繁茂的；盛行的

e.g Boston quickly became a flourishing port.

波斯頓迅速成為一個(gè)繁榮的港口。

3. sage 英? [se?d?] 美? [sed?]?

n. 圣人

e.g Not everybody is a sage. Who can be entirely free from error?

人非圣賢谣辞，孰能無過?

4. earthly 英? ['??θl?] 美? ['?θli]?

adj. 地球的迫摔；塵世的；可能的

e.g ...the need to confront evil during the earthly life.

…塵世生活中對抗罪惡的需要泥从。

5. BCE? before common era 公元前

e.g The Babylonian Empire was conquered by the Persian Empire in 539 BCE.

巴比倫帝國于公元前539年被波斯帝國征服句占。

6. grim 英? [gr?m] 美? [ɡr?m]?

adj. 冷酷的；糟糕的歉闰；殘忍的

e.g Not all of their conclusions were that grim.

其實(shí)并非所有結(jié)論都是那么的嚴(yán)峻辖众。

7. pervasive 英? [p?'ve?s?v] 美? [p?'ves?v]?

adj. 普遍的

e.g Gaps in health outcomes have multiple causes, but poverty is the most pervasive factor.

健康結(jié)果方面的差距有眾多原因，但貧窮是最普遍的因素和敬。

8. short-term 英? [,??:t't?:m] 美? [,??rt't?m]?

adj. 短期的

e.g Investors weren't concerned about short-term profits over the next few years.

投資者不關(guān)心今后幾年里的短期收益凹炸。

9. long-term 英? [,l??'t?:m] 美? ['l??t?m]?

adj. 長期的

e.g They want their parents to have access to affordable long-term care.

他們希望他們的父母可以得到負(fù)擔(dān)得起的長期看護(hù)。

10. spurn 英? [sp??n] 美? [sp?:n]?

vt. 唾棄

e.g He spurned the advice of management consultants.

他拒絕了管理顧問的勸告昼弟。

11. fleeting 英? ['fli?t??] 美? ['flit??]?

adj. 飛逝的

e.g The girls caught only a fleeting glimpse of the driver.

姑娘們只是匆匆瞥了那個(gè)司機(jī)一眼啤它。

12. seduction 英? [s?'d?k?(?)n] 美? [s?'d?k??n]?

n. 誘惑

e.g In the 1994 movie "The Last Seduction," a femme fatale coaxes her lover into killing her husband for money.

1994年的電影《最后的誘惑》中，一個(gè)女人為了錢哄騙她的情人殺死了她的丈夫舱痘。

Phrases

1.for centuries 幾個(gè)世紀(jì)以來

2.undergo a revolution 經(jīng)歷革命变骡，經(jīng)歷巨變

3.Book of Job 圣經(jīng)·約伯書

4.four noble truths 【佛教】四諦(四圣諦)

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