大约在930年前，威廉一世征服了英格兰，他拥有财富、权势和无情的军队。尽管以他那个时代的标准，他确实富得令人咂舌，可他连一个类似抽水马桶的东西都没有。没有纸巾，没有坐式割草机，他是如何勉强度日的呢？
历史上的富人不计其数，可比起我来，他们却是穷酸至极。我有三层隔离风暴的窗户，克罗伊斯王却没有。面对亚历山大大帝，全国的百姓都会瑟瑟发抖，可他连散装的猫食都买不到。沙皇尼古拉二世甚至没有一把复式轴锯。
比起这些逝去的著名人物，我是如此富有，你一定认为我已经心满意足了吧。可问题是，我像大多数人一样，把自己的财富与这些活着的人作比较：邻居、同学、电视剧中的人物。尽管法国的君主没能拥有带玻璃门的冰箱，但这并不能减轻我对朋友霍华德新厨房的强烈羡慕。
生活水平确实既没有提高也没有降低。几个世纪以来，人们只是寻找不同的素材来发牢骚而已。也许，你以为，只要没有黑死病，人们就会心情愉快，但是，不，我们还想要个热水浴盆。
当然，一个获得幸福快乐的方法是，要认识到，即使是按当代标准，我拥有的这些东西也是很不错的。比起许多投资银行家的豪宅，我的房子是小了点儿，但是，这些房间我和妻子还收拾不过来呢！
此外，要是让未来一两个世纪的人看来，那些银行家上等的精致柜台，看起来和我家陈旧的福米加塑料贴面一样简陋。现在我还不能与邻居相比，但是，等着瞧吧！
人比人气死人，货比货得扔！生活不能盲目地作比较，这会让我们失去享受生活的乐趣！
mower ['mu] n. 割草机；割草的人
May I borrow your lawn mower?
我可以借用你的割草机吗？
prosperity [prs'periti] n. 繁荣；成功
People enjoyed a prosperity undreamed of at the end of the war.
人们享受着在战争结束时做梦也想不到的繁荣。
grumpy ['rmpi] adj. 脾气暴躁的；性情乖戾的
She's very grumpy when her tooth aches.
她牙痛时脾气很暴躁。
contemporary [kn'temprri] adj. 当代的；同时代的；属于同一时期的
A translation should read as a contemporary of the translator.
译文读起来应该像译者同时代的作品。
他是如何勉强度日的呢？
历史上的富人不计其数，可比起我来，他们却是穷酸至极。
生活水平确实既没有提高也没有降低。
How did he get by?
get by：通过；过得去；过活；获得认可
Entire nations trembled before Alexander the Great, but he couldn't buy cat food in bulk.
in bulk：大批；大量；整批；散装
5用快乐激发出更多的快乐
Happiness Is a Stimulus
佚名 / Anonymous
Many have sought a variety of sources for their feeling of happiness. Some have put their heart and efforts into their work. Too many turned to drugs and alcohol. Untold numbers have looked for it in the possession of expensive cars, exotic vacation hoes, and other popular "toys". Most of their efforts have a root in one common fact that people are looking for a lasting source of happiness.
Unfortunately, I believe that happiness evades many because they misunderstand the process and journey of finding it.
Today, some people think that an expensive car is stimulus. Happiness is a response. A great paying job is stimulus. Happiness is a response. A loving relationship is stimulus. Happiness is a response. This belief leaves us thinking and feeling: "I'll be happy when ..."
It has been my finding that actually the opposite is true. I believe that happiness is a stimulus and response is what life brings to those who are truly happy. When we are happy, we tend to have more success in our work. When we are happy, people want to be around us and enjoy loving relationships. When we are happy, we more naturally take better care of our bodies and enjoy good health. Happiness is not a response—rather, it is a stimulus.
Happiness is a conscious choice we make every day of our lives. For unknown reasons to me, many choose to be miserable, frustrated and angry most of the time. Happiness is not something that happens to us after we get something we want—we usually get things we want after we choose to be happy.
很多人都找到了令自己快乐的源泉——有些人全身心地投入工作；很多人吸毒和酗酒；还有数不清的人，从拥有名贵汽车、异国情调的度假小屋和其他一些流行“玩具”中寻找到了快乐。他们的努力大多基于一个共同的事实：人们在寻找永恒的快乐源泉。
但我认为，很多人与快乐无缘。因为他们错误地理解了寻找快乐的过程。
现在，有些人认为名贵汽车、高薪工作和爱情都是刺激物，而快乐就是刺激的结果。这种想法让我们觉得：“当我拥有……时，我才会快乐。”
但我发现，事实恰好相反。我相信快乐也是一种刺激物，而它作为刺激的结果，是生活给那些真正快乐的人的馈赠。我们快乐时，就会在工作上取得更多的成功；我们快乐时，就会有融洽的人际关系，也会得到爱情垂青；我们快乐时，很自然地就会善待自己，关注自身健康。快乐并不是刺激的结果，而是一种刺激物。
快乐是我们每天在生活中作出的有意识的选择。不知为何，我认为，许多人多数时候都选择让自己痛苦、沮丧和恼怒。快乐并不是得到自己想要的东西之后的感觉——我们往往是在选择快乐之后，才会得到自己想要的东西。
快乐就像开花的蒲公英，能随风飘向世界的各个角落。一阵轻柔的风，午后温暖的阳光，都是你快乐的源泉！
exotic [i'ztik] adj. 外来的；异国的；异国情调的
In a field we found a lot of exotic flowers, though what we have
planted were potatos.
虽然我们种的是土豆，但在一块地里我们发现长出了许多奇异的花朵。
hoe [hu] n. 锄头
The old man knocked the hoe handle up.
那位老人用锄头柄往上敲。
evade [i'veid] v. 逃避；规避；逃脱
He managed to evade capture and escaped over the border.
他设法逃脱了追捕，并逃出了边境。
stimulus ['stimjuls] n. 刺激；激励；刺激物
Ambition is a great stimulus.
雄心是一种很大的激励。
我们快乐时，就会在工作上取得更多的成功。
我们快乐时，就会有融洽的人际关系，也会得到爱情垂青。
快乐是我们每天在生活中作出的有意识的选择。
Some have put their heart and efforts into their work.
put into：使进入；把……放进；在……上种植
When we are happy, we more naturally take better care of our bodies and enjoy good health.
take care of：照顾；注意；抚养
6远离忧虑才能获取快乐
Don't Let Happiness Run Away From Us
佚名 / Anonymous
A college student once told me: "I don't need to be happy—just successful."
It's an odd juxtaposition. She needn't be happy—"just successful". She places one in opposition to the other.
Students are today's expressions of tomorrow's practices. Their words can be the visible signs of the less visible struggles encountered by us all.
I have a memory from my own undergraduate years of a headline in my campus newspaper: "Why Aren't We Happy?" As the headline suggests, we fell short of leading joyful lives. Yet at least happiness was still on the agenda. What underlies the tendency of many of us, like my success-seeking student, to give up genuinely trying?
I've often failed to enjoy Sunday because of my schedule on Monday. At bottom, it was simply anticipatory anxiety over the work of the week ahead—fear that there would be unexpected complications or that I would fail to measure up in some way. Usually, when Monday came, I did quite well. Much of what I worried about never happened.
