英语PK台 第345期:罗素名篇《论工作与快乐》节选赏析

 　　Whether work should be placed among the causes of happiness may perhaps be regarded as a doubtful question.

　　工作是否是产生快乐的众多原因之一，似乎还是个令人疑惑的问题。
　　There is certainly much work which is exceedingly irksome, and an excess of work is always very painful.
　　的确有许多工作令人极度厌烦，而且超负荷地工作更是让人叫苦不迭。
　　I think, however, that provided work is not excessive in amount, even the dullest work is to most people less painful than idleness.
　　然而，我却认为，如果工作量不是很大的话，对于大多数人来说即便是最无聊的工作也比闲着无事要好得多。
　　There are in work all grades, from mere 1 relief of tedium 2 up to the profoundest delights, according to the nature of the work and the abilities of the worker.
　　根据工作性质和工人的能力，工作被划分为不同的等级，包括从仅能为人消除烦闷的到可以为人提供更深层次快乐的。
　　Most of the work that most people have to do is not in itself interesting, but even such work has certain great advantages.
　　大多数人不得不从事的工作本身大都无乐趣可言，但是，即便是这样的工作也有很多益处。
　　To begin with, it fills a good many hours of the day without the needs of deciding what one shall do.
　　首先，它将一天中的大部分时间都占满了，人们不需要去决定做什么。
　　Most people, when they are left free to fill their own time according to their own choice, are at a loss to think of anything sufficiently 3 pleasant to be worth doing, and whatever they decide on, they are troubled by the feeling that something else would have been pleasanter.
　　对于大多数人来说，当他们能够自由支配时间，完全按照自己的选择来做事情的时候，他们往往不知所措，想不出任何有趣而又值得去做的事情。不管最后决定做什么，他们都会心存困扰，总觉得还会有更令人开心的事情可做。
　　To be able fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization, and at present very few people have reached this level.
　　能够明智地利用闲暇时间是文明社会的最终产物，而现在，很少有人能达到这种程度。
　　Moreover, the exercise of choice is in itself tiresome 4. Except to people with unusual initiative, it is positively 5 agreeable to be told what to do at each hour of the day, provided that the orders are not too unpleasant.
　　此外，做出选择本身就很无聊。除了那些有非凡的主动性的人之外，其他人肯定乐于被告知在一天的每时每刻应该做些什么，前提是命令他们做的事不能太令人厌烦。
　　Most of the idle rich suffer unspeakable boredom 6 as the price of their freedom from drudgery 7. At times they may find relief by hunting big game in Africa, or by flying round the world, but the number of such sensations is limited, especially after youth is past.
　　因此，比较聪明的有钱男人会像穷人一样努力地工作，而大多数富有的女人则忙碌于琐事，并坚持认为自己所做的事情异常重要。
　　Accordingly, the intelligent rich men work nearly as hard as if they were poor, while rich women for the most part keep themselves busy with innumerable trifles of whose earthshaking importance they are firmly persuaded.
　　作为大多数无所事事的有钱人摆脱单调乏味工作之苦的代价，他们都忍受着一种无以言表的无聊。有时，他们通过去非洲狩猎或环球旅行来解闷，但这类刺激毕竟数量有限，尤其到了中年以后更是如此。
　　Work therefore is desirable, first and foremost, as a preventive of boredom, for the boredom that a man feels when he is doing necessary though uninteresting work is nothing in comparison with the boredom that he feels when he has nothing to do with his days.
　　所以，工作是值得期待的，首先因为它能够防止无聊情绪的产生，因为与整天无所事事的无聊相比，人们做着尽管无趣却必需的工作时所带来的烦躁就显得无所谓了。
　　With this advantage of work another is associated, namely that it makes holidays much more delicious when they come. Provided a man does not have to work so hard as to impair 8 his vigour 9, he is likely to find far more zest 10 in his free time than an idle man could possibly find.
　　与此相关的优点还有一个，就是假日的到来会令人感觉更加美妙。如果一个人不必因工作而累得体力不支的话，他就可能比那些无事可做的人发现更多的闲暇乐趣。
　　The second advantage of most paid work and of some unpaid 11 work is that it gives chances of success and opportunities for ambition.
　　多数有报酬的工作和某些没有报酬的工作还有第二个好处，那就是它们提供了成功的机会和实现抱负的可能。
　　In most work success is measured by income and while our capitalistic society continues, this is inevitable 12. It is only where the best work is concerned that this measure ceases to be the natural one to apply.
　　在多数工作中，收入的多少是衡量成功与否的标准，当我们这个资本主义社会继续存在时，这是不可避免的。只有在工作最好的情况下收入才不再被用作当然的衡量标准。
　　The desire that men feel to increase their income is quite as much a desire for success as for the extra comforts that a higher income can procure 13.
　　人们想增加收入当然是出自钱多了可以获得更多的舒适享受这一愿望，但同样也出自想获得成功的愿望。
　　However dull work may be, it becomes bearable if it is a means of building up a reputation, whether in the world at large or only in one's own circle.
　　无论工作多么枯燥单调，如果它是能够使人逐渐成名的手段，无论是在世界上出名还是就在自己的圈子里出名，那么这工作就不再难以忍受了。
　　Continuity of purpose is one of the most essential ingredients of happiness in the long run, and for most men this comes chiefly through their work.
　　归根结底，幸福的最重要的因素之一是有始终如一的目的感。而对多数人来说这样的目的感主要来自他们的工作。