Whether work should be placed among the causes of happiness may perhaps be regarded as a doubtful question.
工作是否是產生快樂的眾多原因之一，似乎還是個令人疑惑的問題。
There is certainly much work which is exceedingly irksome, and an excess of work is always very painful.
的確有許多工作令人極度厭煩，而且超負荷地工作更是讓人叫苦不迭。
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，我卻認為，如果工作量不是很大的話，對于大多數人來說即便是最無聊的工作也比閑著無事要好得多。
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.
根據工作性質和工人的能力，工作被劃分為不同的等級，包括從僅能為人消除煩悶的到可以為人提供更深層次快樂的。
Most of the work that most people have to do is not in itself interesting, but even such work has certain great advantages.
大多數人不得不從事的工作本身大都無樂趣可言，但是，即便是這樣的工作也有很多益處。

To begin with, it fills a good many hours of the day without the needs of deciding what one shall do.
首先，它將一天中的大部分時間都占滿了，人們不需要去決定做什么。
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 pleasant to be worth doing, and whatever they decide on, they are troubled by the feeling that something else would have been pleasanter.
對于大多數人來說，當他們能夠自由支配時間，完全按照自己的選擇來做事情的時候，他們往往不知所措，想不出任何有趣而又值得去做的事情。不管最后決定做什么，他們都會心存困擾，總覺得還會有更令人開心的事情可做。
To be able fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization, and at present very few people have reached this level.
能夠明智地利用閑暇時間是文明社會的最終產物，而現在，很少有人能達到這種程度。
Moreover, the exercise of choice is in itself tiresome. Except to people with unusual initiative, it is positively agreeable to be told what to do at each hour of the day, provided that the orders are not too unpleasant.
此外，做出選擇本身就很無聊。除了那些有非凡的主動性的人之外，其他人肯定樂于被告知在一天的每時每刻應該做些什么，前提是命令他們做的事不能太令人厭煩。
Most of the idle rich suffer unspeakable boredom as the price of their freedom from drudgery. 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，比較聰明的有錢男人會像窮人一樣努力地工作，而大多數富有的女人則忙碌于瑣事，并堅持認為自己所做的事情異常重要。
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.
作為大多數無所事事的有錢人擺脫單調乏味工作之苦的代價，他們都忍受著一種無以言表的無聊。有時，他們通過去非洲狩獵或環球旅行來解悶，但這類刺激畢竟數量有限，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，首先因為它能夠防止無聊情緒的產生，因為與整天無所事事的無聊相比，人們做著盡管無趣卻必需的工作時所帶來的煩躁就顯得無所謂了。
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 his vigour, he is likely to find far more zest in his free time than an idle man could possibly find.
與此相關的優點還有一個，就是假日的到來會令人感覺更加美妙。如果一個人不必因工作而累得體力不支的話，他就可能比那些無事可做的人發現更多的閑暇樂趣。
The second advantage of most paid work and of some unpaid work is that it gives chances of success and opportunities for ambition.
多數有報酬的工作和某些沒有報酬的工作還有第二個好處，那就是它們提供了成功的機會和實現抱負的可能。
In most work success is measured by income and while our capitalistic society continues, this is inevitable. It is only where the best work is concerned that this measure ceases to be the natural one to apply.
在多數工作中，收入的多少是衡量成功與否的標準，當我們這個資本主義社會繼續存在時，這是不可避免的。只有在工作最好的情況下收入才不再被用作當然的衡量標準。
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.
人們想增加收入當然是出自錢多了可以獲得更多的舒適享受這一愿望，但同樣也出自想獲得成功的愿望。
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.
無論工作多么枯燥單調，如果它是能夠使人逐漸成名的手段，無論是在世界上出名還是就在自己的圈子里出名，那么這工作就不再難以忍受了。
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.
歸根結底，幸福的最重要的因素之一是有始終如一的目的感。而對多數人來說這樣的目的感主要來自他們的工作。