2013年高考英语天津卷 - 阅读理解D

When asked about happiness, we usually think of something extraordinary, an absolute delight, which seems to get rarer the older we get.
当被问及幸福时，我们通常会想到一些不同寻常的事，一种绝对的快乐，随着年龄的增长，这种快乐似乎越来越少。

For kids, happiness has a magical quality. Their delight at winning a race or getting a new bike is unreserved.
对孩子们来说，快乐有一种神奇的品质。他们赢得比赛或得到一辆新自行车的喜悦是毫无保留的。

In the teenage years, the concept of happiness changes. 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.
十几岁时幸福的概念发生了变化。突然，它取决于兴奋、爱情和人气。我仍然记得在学校活动上被邀请与最有魅力的男孩跳舞时的兴奋。

In adulthood the things that bring deep joy - love, marriage, birth - also bring responsibility and the risk of loss. For adults, happiness is complicated.
成年阶段爱情、婚姻、出生可以带来深度快乐的事也会带来责任和失去的风险。对于成年人来说，幸福是复杂的。

My definition for happiness is "the capacity for enjoyment". 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.
我对幸福的定义是“享受的能力”。我们越能享受我们所拥有的，我们就越幸福。我们从朋友的陪伴，自由地生活在我们喜欢的地方，甚至健康中获得的快乐很容易忽视。

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. When the kids and my husband came home, I enjoyed their noise after the quiet of the day.
昨天，我经历了小小的快乐时刻。首先，当我合上最后一个午餐盒，独自拥有这所房子时，我欣喜若狂。然后，我花了一个上午不间断写作，这是我喜欢的。当孩子们和我丈夫回家时，我享受了安静一天后他们带来的喧闹。

Psychologists tell us that to be happy we need a mix of enjoyable leisure time and satisfying work. 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.
心理学家告诉我们，要想快乐，我们需要拥有愉快的闲暇时间和令人满意的工作。我认为养育了14个孩子的祖母两者都没有。但她有亲密的朋友和家人，也许这就是她满意的地方。

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're so self-conscious about our "right" to it that it's making us miserable. So we chase it and equal it with wealth and success, without noticing that the people who have those things aren't necessarily happier.
然而，我们有如此多的选择，在每个领域都有如此大的成功压力，我们已经把幸福变成了我们必须拥有的另一件事。我们如此自我意识到我们拥有幸福的“权利”，以至于它让我们痛苦。所以我们追逐幸福，并将其与财富成功等同起来，而没有注意到拥有这些东西的人并不一定更幸福。

Happiness isn't about what happens to us - it's about how we see what happens to us. 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.
幸福不是我们遇上了什么事，而是我们如何看待遇上的事。幸福是一种巧妙的方式，为每一件消极的事找到积极的一面。幸福不是希望得到我们没有的，而是享受我们拥有的。