The way people hold to the belief that a fun-filled, pain free life equals happiness actually reduces their chances of ever attaining real happiness. If fun and pleasure are equal to happiness then pain must be equal to unhappiness. But in fact, the opposite is true: more often than not things that lead to happiness involve some pain.
As a result, many people avoid the very attempts that are the source of true happiness. They fear the pain inevitably brought by such things as marriage, raising children, professional achievement, religious commitment, self-improvement.
Ask a bachelor why he resists marriage even though he finds dating to be less and less satisfying. If he is honest he will tell you that he is afraid of making a commitment. For commitment is in fact quite painful. The single life is filled with fun, adventure , excitement. Marriage has such moments, but they are not its most distinguishing features.
Couples with infant children are lucky to get a whole night’s sleep or a three-day vacation. I don’t know any parent who would choose the word fun to describe raising children. But couples who decide not to have children never know the joys of watching a child grow up or of playing with a grandchild.
Understanding and accepting that true happiness has nothing to do with fun is one of the most liberating realizations. It liberates time: now we can devote more hours to activities that can genuinely increase our happiness. It liberates money: buying that new car or those fancy clothes that will do nothing to increase our happiness now seems pointless. And it liberates us from envy: we now understand that all those who are always having so much fun actually may not be happy at all.
1.Raising children, in the author’s opinion, is .
A.a moral duty B.a thankless job
C.a rewarding task D.a source of inevitable pain
2.According to the author, a bachelor resists marriage chiefly because .
A .he is reluctant to take on family responsibilities
B. he believes that life will be more cheerful if he remains single
C. he finds more fun in dating than in marriage
D. he fears it will put an end to all his fun adventure and excitement
3.To understand what true happiness is, one must .
A have as much fun as possible during one’s lifetime
B. make every effort to liberate oneself from pain
C. put up with pain under all circumstances
D .be able to distinguish happiness from fun
4.From the last paragraph, we learn that envy sometimes results from .
A .hatred B .misunderstanding
C. prejudice D. ignorance
5..What is the author trying to tell us?
A. How to get happiness
B. Happiness often goes hand in hand with pain
C. The importance of happiness in our lives
D. Happiness equals fun
Measures must be taken to prevent pollution ________ happily.
A. from we live B. for us to live C. us living D. from our living
______ is surprising to us is that Tom, for ______ English was once boring, can speak English fluently as though he were a native speaker.
A. What; whom B. What; whose C. It; whose D. As; whom
When the question _____ at the meeting, no one could answer it.
A. rose B. arose C. came D. raised
We can’t _____ other countries in trade if we don’t develop our national economy.
A. compete for B. compete against C. catch up D. catch with
At first he refused to admit he had stolen but when he was shown the videotape, he _______ and admitted everything.
A. broke up B. broke away C. broke down D. broke in
