8.引語評論：幸福

Directions: For this part you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay on happiness by referring to the saying “Happiness is not the absence of problems, but the ability to deal with them.” You can cite examples to illustrate your point and then explain how you can develop your ability to deal with problems and be happy. You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.

As an old saying goes, “Happiness is not the absence of problems, but the ability to deal with them.” Why is difficult to define, or rather discover and achieve happiness? I maintain the major determinant lies in a person’s attitudes.

There is little correlation1 between the circumstance of people’s lives and how happy they are. Instead, happiness lies in the struggle to be happy. To demonstrate, people sometimes go to extremes2, and frantically pursue money, power, high social status, and so on, which are all symbols of success—but never of happiness. Perhaps if they shifted their life’s goal from ultimate success to unswerving efforts and to a confidence that they will be successful one day they would be a great deal happier.

Besides defining it, how do I achieve happiness? There is little doubt that3 various people have diverse ways of going about this task. As for me, the most significant secret is realizing that happiness is a by-product of something else. The most obvious sources are those pursuits that give our lives a purpose. These can be anything from playing tennis to studying insects. The more passions we have, the more happiness we are likely to experience.

正如諺語所說：“幸福並非沒有問題，而在於解決問題的能力”。為何很難定義、發(fā)現(xiàn)和獲得幸福？我認為最重要的因素在於人們的態(tài)度。

人們的生活環(huán)境和他們多麼幸福之間沒什麼關(guān)系。相反，幸福在於獲取幸福的奮斗之中。例如，人們有時候會走極端，瘋狂追求金錢、權(quán)利、很高的社會地位等等。這些都是成功的象征，但並非幸福的象征。也許如果他們把人生目標(biāo)從終極成功轉(zhuǎn)向未來他們必將成功的自信，他們將會更加幸福。

除了定義幸福之外，我如何來獲取幸福？毫無疑問不同的人對於實現(xiàn)這一目標(biāo)有著迥然不同的方式。對我而言，最大的秘密就是認識到幸福只是其他事情的一種副產(chǎn)品。最明顯的來源就是給予我們目標(biāo)的那些追求。這些追求可以使從打網(wǎng)球到研究昆蟲的任何事情。我們越有激情，我們越有可能感受到幸福。