英語美文鑒賞 056
To be really happy and really safe, one ought to have at least two or three hobbies, and they must all be real. It is no use starting late in life to say: “I will take an interest in this or that.” Such an attempt only aggravates1 the strain of mental effort. A man may acquire great knowledge of topics unconnected with his daily work, and yet hardly get any benefit or relief. It is no use doing what you like; you have got to like what you do. Broadly speaking, human beings may be divided into three classes: those who are toiled2 to death, those who are worried to death, and those who are bored to death. It is no use offering the manual labourer, tired out with a hard week’s sweat and effort, the chance of playing a game of football or baseball on Saturday afternoon. It is no useinviting3 the politician or the professional or business man, who has been working or worrying about serious things for six days, to work or worry about trifling4 things at the weekend.
It may also be said that rational, industrious5 useful human beings are divided into two classes: first, those whose work is work and whose pleasure is pleasure; and secondly6, those whose work and pleasure are one. Of these the former are the majority. They have their compensations. The long hours in the office or the factory bring with them as their reward, not only the means of sustenance7, but a keen appetite for pleasure even in its simplest and most modest forms. But Fortune’s favoured children belong to the second class. Their life is a natural harmony. For them the working hours are never long enough. Each day is a holiday, and ordinary holidays when they come are grudged8 as enforced interruptions in an absorbing vocation9. Yet to both classes the need of an alternative outlook, of a change of atmosphere, of a diversion of effort, is essential. Indeed, it may well be that those whose work is their pleasure are those who most need the means of banishing10 it at intervals11 from their minds.
工作和娛樂
要想獲得真正的快樂與安寧，一個人應該有至少兩三種愛好，而且必須是真正的愛好。到晚年才說“我對什么什么有興趣”是沒用的，這只會徒然增添精神負擔。一個人可以在自己工作之外的領域獲得淵博的知識，不過他可能幾乎得不到什么好處或是消遣。做你喜歡的事是沒用的，你必須喜歡你所做的事。總的來說，人可以分為三種：勞累而死的、憂慮而死的、和煩惱而死的。對于那些體力勞動者來說，經歷了一周精疲力竭的體力勞作，周六下午讓他們去踢足球或者打棒球是沒有意義的。而對那些政治家、專業(yè)人士或者商人來說，他們已經為嚴肅的事情操勞或煩惱六天了，周末再讓他們?yōu)楝嵤聞谏褚彩菦]有意義的。
也可以說，那些理性的、勤勉的、有價值的人們可分為兩類，一類，他們的工作就是工作，娛樂就是娛樂;而另一類，他們的工作即娛樂。大多數人屬于前者，他們得到了相應的補償。長時間在辦公室或工廠里的工作，回報給他們的不僅是維持了生計，還有一種強烈的對娛樂的需求，哪怕是最簡單的、最樸實的娛樂。不過，命運的寵兒則屬于后者。他們的生活很自然和諧。對他們來說，工作時間永遠不嫌長。每天都是假日，而當正常的假日來臨時，他們總是埋怨自己所全身心投入的休假被強行中斷了。不過，有些事情對兩類人是同樣至關重要的，那就是轉換一下視角、改變一下氛圍、將精力轉移到別的事情上。確實，對那些工作即是娛樂的人來說，最需要隔一段時間就用某種方式把工作從腦子里面趕出去。
