推開幸福的大門

推開幸福的大門

by Alexandra Shuman

翻譯：淺由 吳雨奇

Track 8

世界上雖然沒有絕對的幸福，卻有不肯快樂的心。很多時候，我們心中會裝著太多的東西，“幸福”根本擠不進來。在日常生活中，你有沒有常常感覺到不幸福？你會不會因為別人擁有的東西比你多就感到不幸福？怎樣才可以感到幸福呢？老套地說一句，簡單就是幸福。用簡單的眼光看待事情，用簡單的心與人交往，你會發現，幸福的選擇權真的就在我們手中。趕緊使出你的“洪荒之力”去推開幸福的大門吧！

As a child, I was generally happy, singing and dancing to my favorite songs, smiling and laughing with my friends and family. But as far back as second grade, I noticed a “darkness” about me. I didn’t enjoy engaging in many things. I didn’t1)relate to my peers in2)elementary school because they appeared so happy, and I didn’t have that ability to achieve happiness so easily.

In middle school, things in my life began to get even worse. I began3)withdrawing from everything I once enjoyed—swimming, tennis, family. I hated going to sleep knowing I had to wake up to another day. I was always tired. Everything was horrible. Finally,4)midway through eighth grade, I was told I had a chemical5)imbalance,6)diagnosed with7)clinical depression, and put on8)medication. It took months for me to feel the effects of the medication.

1) relate [r?'le?t] v. 產生共鳴，與……有聯系

2) elementary [?el?'ment?r?] adj. 初步的，基本的

3) withdraw [w?e'dr??] v. 撤回，撤離

4) midway ['m?d?we?] adv. 在（時間的）中途

5) imbalance [?m'b?l?ns] n. 不均衡

6) diagnose ['da??gn??z] v. 診斷

7) clinical depression 臨床抑郁癥

8) medication [?med?'ke???n] n. 藥物治療

9) therapy ['θer?p?] n. 治療

10) inward ['?nw?d] adj. 內在的

11) quote [kw??t] n. 引語

12) describe [d?s'kra?b] v. 描述，形容

13) define [d?'fa?n] v. 定義

14) clutter ['kl?t?] v. 使雜亂

15) appall [?'p??l] v. 使驚駭

16) utterly ['?t?l?] adv. 完全地，絕對地

17) constantly ['k?nst?ntl?] adv. 不斷地，時常地

18) overnight [???v?'na?t] adv. 突然，一夜之間

When I began to feel happy again is when I realized that I had to take the responsibility for getting better myself, rather than relying on medication and9)therapy alone. Aristotle注1said, “To live happily is an10)inward power of the soul,” and I believe that this11)quote12)describes what I had to do to achieve happiness. Happiness is a journey. Everyone seems to need different things to be happy. But I believe people are blinded from what truly makes one happy.

Growing up, we’re encouraged to be successful in life, but how is success13)defined? Success and happiness are imagined now as having a lot of money. It is so untrue. Recently I went to Costa Rica注2and visited the small town of El Roble注3. I spent the day with a nine-year-old girl named Marilyn. She took me to her house to meet her parents. It was obvious that they were not rich, living in a small house with seven children. The house was14)cluttered but full of life. Those who have decided that success and happiness come from having money and a big house would be15)appalled at how16)utterly happy this family from El Roble is. People say that seeing things simply makes you appreciate what you have, but for me, it made me envy them for being so happy without all the things I have.

“The essentials to happiness are something to love, something to do, and something to hope for,” a quote from William Blake注4sums up what I believe people need to realize to be truly happy in life. People need love; I feel they need their family and their friends more than anything in the world. People need work to do, something to make them feel they are making a difference in the world. People need to know that more good is to come in the future, so they continue to live for “now” instead of17)constantly worrying about the bad that could come. And most importantly, people need to know that happiness is not something that happens18)overnight. Love and hope are happiness.

注1：亞里士多德（Aristotle），世界古代史上偉大的哲學家、科學家和教育家。

注2：哥斯達黎加（Costa Rica），拉丁美洲的一個共和國，是世界上第一個不設軍隊的國家。

注3：埃爾羅夫萊（El Roble），哥斯達黎加的一個城鎮。

注4：威廉·布萊克（William Blake），英國文學史上最重要的偉大詩人之一。主要詩集有《純真之歌》《經驗之歌》等。

參考譯文

小時候，我一直都感到很幸福，唱著歌、隨著我最愛的歌曲跳舞，和我的家人朋友們一起開懷大笑。但在二年級時，我注意到了自己“陰郁”的一面，很多活動我都不喜歡參與。讀小學時，我跟我的小伙伴們一點兒都不親近，因為他們看上去是如此快樂，我卻不具備那種輕易就高興起來的能力。

上中學時，問題變得更嚴重了。我開始不喜歡自己曾經熱愛的人和事—游泳、打網球和家人。我討厭懷著那種知道第二天要醒來的心情入睡。我常常感到疲憊。一切都是那么糟糕。最后，在八年級的學年中期，我被告知由于體內化學物質的不平衡，自己患上了臨床抑郁癥，并開始了藥物治療。我吃了幾個月的藥，才開始感覺到它起了作用。

當我意識到必須要為自己好起來負起責任，而不能僅僅依賴藥物和心理治療的時候，我開始重新快樂起來了。亞里士多德說過：“快樂地生活，是一種靈魂深處的力量。”我認為這句話概括出了我要追求幸福就必須做到的事。幸福是一段旅程，每個人對幸福的認知都是不同的。但我認為，人們對于真正能使他們感到幸福的東西是視而不見的。

在成長的過程中，人們常告訴我們要在自己的人生中獲得成功，但我們該如何定義成功呢？如今，成功和幸福的定義往往等同于擁有很多財富。這可大錯特錯。最近，我去了一趟哥斯達黎加的埃爾羅夫萊小鎮。我和一個名叫瑪麗琳的九歲女孩度過了一天的時光，她帶我到她家去見她父母。很顯然，他們并不富裕，七個孩子生活在一座小房子里。房子擁擠、雜亂，卻充滿了生活的氣息。那些堅信成功和幸福源于金錢和豪宅的人，倘若看到埃爾羅夫萊的這家人這般幸福，肯定會驚訝不已。人們說簡單地看待事情會讓你感恩自己所擁有的，但對我來說，我很羨慕他們即便沒有我所擁有的一切，仍是如此幸福。

威廉·布萊克說過：“幸福的本質就是—有所愛，有所為，有所希冀。”這句話概括了我的看法，即人們必須要認識到此話的真諦，才會在生活中獲得真正的幸福。人們需要愛；我認為在世上，人們最需要自己的家人和朋友。人們需要去工作，這會令他們覺得為世界做出了貢獻。人們需要相信更好的未來在前頭，才能繼續活在“當下”，而不是不斷地擔心會有糟糕的事在后頭。最重要的是，人們需要明白，幸福不是突然降臨的。愛與希望就是幸福。

The Essentials to Happiness