Lesson Thirteen Work

　　究竟工作是幸福還是痛苦的源泉，這可能是一個難以回答的問題。

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

　　毫無疑問有許多工作是非常令人厭煩的，而且過多的工作總是十分痛苦的事。

　　There is certainly much work which is exceedingly irksome， and an excess of work is always very painful.

　　然而我認為，只要不過量，對多數人來說即使是最枯燥的工作也比終日無所事事要好些。

　　I think， however， that， provided work is not excessive in amount， even the dullest work is to most people less painful than idleness.

　　工作給人的愉快的程度多種多樣，從僅僅是消煩解悶到產生巨大的快樂，這會隨工作的性質和工作者的能力而異。

　　There are in work all grades， from mere relief of tedium up to the profoundest delights， according to the nature of the work and the abilities of the worker.

　　大多數人不得不從事的工作本身大都無樂趣可言，但即使是這樣的工作也有一些很大的好處。

　　Most of the work that most people have to do is not in itself interesting， but even such work has certain great advantages.

　　首先，工作可將一天的許多時間占滿，人們不必再費神來決定應干些什么，大多數人在可以自由地按自己的愿望打發時間時，常常會不知所措，想不起有什么令人愉快的事值得去做。

　　To begin with， it fills a good many hours of the day without the need of deciding what one shall do. 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 pleasant to be worth doing.

　　而他們的決定又總是受到干擾，覺得干別的什么事也許會更令人愉快。

　　And whatever they decide on， they are troubled by the feeling that something else would have been pleasanter.

　　能夠有意義地利用閑暇時間是文明發展到最高階段的結果，而目前很少有人能達到這一層次。

　　To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization， and at present very few people have reached this level.

　　何況作出選擇本身就是件令人厭煩的事。

　　Moreover the exercise of choice is in itself tiresome.

　　除了那些具有非凡主動性的人，其他的人肯定有人樂于被告訴一天中的每時每刻該做什么，當然命令他們做的事不能太令人厭煩。

　　Except to