14
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████ 重点词汇
████ 难点词汇
████ 生僻词
████ 词组 & 惯用语
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Chapter 14: Work ↵ Whether work should be placed
among the causes of happiness or among the causes
of may perhaps be regarded as a
doubtful question. There is certainly much work
which is , and
work is always very painful. I think, however,
that, provided work is not excessive in amount,
even the dullest work is to most people less
painful than . There are in work all
grades, from mere relief of up to the
profoundest delights, according to the nature of
the work and the abilities of the worker. Most of
the work that most people have to do is not in
itself interesting, but even such work has
certain great advantages. 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. And whatever they decide on, they
are troubled by the feeling that something else
would have been pleasanter. To be able to fill
leisure is the last product of
civilisation, and at present very few people have
reached this level. Moreover, the exercise of
choice is in itself . Except to people
with unusual initiative it is positively
be told what to do at each hour of
the day, provided the orders are not too
unpleasant. Most of suffer
boredom as the price of their freedom
from . 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.
Accordingly, the more intelligent rich men work
nearly as hard as if they were poor, while rich
women for the most part keep themselves busy with
of whose earth-shaking
importance they are firmly persuaded. ↵ Work,
therefore, is desirable, , as a
preventive of boredom, for the boredom that a man
feels when he is doing necessary though
work is as nothing in comparison
with the boredom that he feels when he has
nothing to do with his days. 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 in his free time than an idle
man could possibly find. ↵ The second advantage
of most paid work and of some is that
it gives chances of success and opportunities for
ambition. In most work success is measured by
income, and while our 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. 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 .
However dull work may be, it becomes if
it is a means of building up a reputation,
whether in the world at large or only in one's
own circle. 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. In this respect those women
whose lives are occupied with housework are much
less fortunate than men, or than women who work
outside the home. The wife does not
receive wages, has no means of bettering herself,
is taken for granted by her husband (who sees
practically nothing of what she does), and is
valued by him not for her housework but for quite
other qualities. , this does not apply
to those women who are sufficiently well-to-do to
make beautiful houses and beautiful gardens and
become their neighbours; but such
women are comparatively few, and for the great
majority housework cannot bring as much
satisfaction as work of other kinds brings to men
and to professional women. ↵ The satisfaction of
killing time and of affording some outlet,
however modest, for ambition, belongs to most
work, and is sufficient to make even a man whose
work is dull happier on the average than a man
who has no work at all. But when work is
interesting, it is capable of giving satisfaction
of a far higher order than mere relief from
. The kinds of work in which there is some
interest may be arranged in a hierarchy. I shall
begin with those which are only mildly
interesting and end with those that are worthy to
absorb the whole energies of a great man. ↵ Two
chief elements make work interesting: first, the
exercise of skill, and second, construction. ↵
Every man who has acquired some unusual skill
enjoys exercising it until it has become a matter
, or until he can no longer improve
himself. This motive to activity begins in early
childhood: a boy who can stand on his head
becomes stand on his feet. A great
deal of work gives the same pleasure that is to
be derived from games of skill. The work of a
lawyer or a politician must contain in a more
form a great deal of the same pleasure
that is to be derived from playing bridge. Here,
, there is not only the exercise of
skill but the of a skilled opponent.
Even where this competitive element is absent,
however, the performance of difficult feats is
. A man who can do in an
aëroplane finds the pleasure so great that for
the sake of it he is willing to risk his life. I
imagine that an able surgeon, the
painful circumstances in which his work is done,
derives satisfaction from the precision
of his operations. The same kind of pleasure,
though in a less intense form, is to be derived
from a great deal of work of a kind. I
have even heard of who enjoyed their
work, though I have never had the good fortune to
meet one. All skilled work can be ,
provided the skill required is either variable or
capable of improvement. If these
conditions are absent, it will cease to be
interesting when a man has acquired his maximum
skill. A man who runs three-mile races will cease
to find pleasure in this occupation when he
passes the age at which he can beat his own
previous record. Fortunately there is a very
considerable amount of work in which new
circumstances call for new skill and a man can go
on improving, at any rate until he has reached
middle age. In some kinds of skilled work, such
as politics, for example, it seems that men are
at their best between sixty and seventy, the
reason being that in such occupations a wide
experience of other men is essential. For this
reason successful politicians are be
happier at the age of seventy than any other men
of equal age. Their only competitors in this
respect are the men who are the heads of big
businesses. ↵ There is, however, another element
possessed by the best work, which is even more
important as a source of happiness than is the
exercise of skill. This is the element of
. In some work, though by no
means in most, something is built up which
remains as a monument when the work is completed.
We may distinguish construction from destruction
by the following criterion. In construction the
initial stage of affairs is comparatively
, while the final state of affairs
embodies a purpose; in destruction is
the case: the initial state of affairs embodies a
purpose, while the final state of affairs is
, that is to say, all that is intended
by the is to produce a state of affairs
which does not embody a certain purpose. This
criterion applies in the most literal and obvious
case, namely the construction and destruction of
buildings. In constructing a building a
previously made plan is carried out, whereas in
destroying it no one decides exactly how the
materials are to lie when the demolition is
complete. Destruction is of course necessary very
often as a subsequent
construction; in that case it is part of a whole
which is constructive. But a man
will engage in activities of which the purpose is
destructive without regard to any construction
that may come after. Frequently he will conceal
this from himself by the belief that he is only
sweeping away in order to build , but it is
generally possible to this , when
it is a , by asking him what the
subsequent construction is to be. On this subject
it will be found that he will speak vaguely and
without enthusiasm, whereas on the preliminary
destruction he has spoken precisely and with
. This applies to not a few revolutionaries
and and other of violence.
They are , usually without their own
knowledge, by hatred; the destruction of what
they hate is their real purpose, and they are
comparatively the question of what
is to come after it. Now I cannot deny that in
the work of destruction as in the work of
construction there may be joy. It is a fiercer
joy, perhaps at moments more intense, but it is
less profoundly satisfying, since the result is
one in which little satisfaction is to be found.
You kill your enemy, and when he is dead your
occupation is gone, and the satisfaction that you
derive from victory quickly fades. The work of
construction, on the other hand, when completed,
is delightful to contemplate, and moreover is
never so fully completed that there is nothing
further to do about it. The most satisfactory
purposes are those that lead on from
one success to another without ever coming to a
dead end; and in this respect it will be found
that construction is a greater source of
happiness than destruction. Perhaps it would be
more correct to say that those who find
satisfaction in construction find in it greater
satisfaction than the lovers of destruction can
find in destruction, for if once you have become
filled with hate you will not easily derive from
construction the pleasure which another man would
derive from it. ↵ At the same time few things
are so likely to cure the habit of hatred as the
opportunity to do constructive work of an
important kind. ↵ The satisfaction to be derived
from success in a great constructive enterprise
is one of the most massive that life has to
offer, although unfortunately in its highest
forms it is only open to men of exceptional
ability. Nothing can rob a man of the happiness
of successful achievement in an important piece
of work, unless it be the proof that after all
his work was bad. There are many forms of such
satisfaction. The man who by a scheme of
irrigation has caused to blossom
like the rose enjoys it in one of its most
tangible forms. The creation of an organisation
may be a work of supreme importance. So is the
work of those few who have devoted
their lives to producing order out of chaos, of
whom is the supreme type in our day. The
most obvious examples are artists and men of
science. Shakespeare says of his verse:'So long
as men can breathe, or eyes can see, so long
lives this. And it cannot be doubted that the
thought him for . In his
he maintains that the thought of his
friend reconciled him to life, but I cannot help
suspecting that the he wrote to his
friend were even more effective for this purpose
than the friend himself. Great artists and great
men of science do work which is in itself
delightful; while they are doing it, it secures
them the respect of those whose respect is worth
having, which gives them the most fundamental
kind of power, namely power over men's thoughts
and feelings. They have also the most solid
reasons for thinking well of themselves. This
combination of fortunate circumstances ought, one
would think, to be enough to make any man happy.
Nevertheless it is not so. for
example, was a profoundly unhappy man and
maintained (not, I am sure, with truth) that he
would not have troubled to produce works of art
if he had not had to pay the debts of his
relations. The power to produce great
art is very often, though by no means always,
associated with a , so
great that but for the joy which the artist
derives from his work he would be driven to
suicide. We cannot therefore maintain that even
the greatest work must make a man happy; we can
only maintain that it must make him less unhappy.
Men of science, however, are far less often
unhappy than artists are, and in
the main the men who do great work in science are
happy men, whose happiness is derived primarily
from their work. ↵ One of the causes of
among intellectuals in the present
day is that so many of them, especially those
whose skill is literary, find no opportunity for
the independent exercise of their talents, but
have to hire themselves out to rich corporations
directed by , who insist upon their
producing what they themselves regard as
nonsense. If you were to inquire among
journalists either in England or America whether
they believed in the policy of the newspaper for
which they worked, you would find, I believe,
that only a small minority do so; the rest, for
the sake of a , prostitute their skill
to purposes which they believe to be harmful.
Such work cannot bring any real satisfaction, and
in the course of the doing
of it a man has to make himself so cynical that
he can no longer derive satisfaction
from anything whatever. I cannot condemn men who
undertake work of this sort, since is
too serious an alternative, but I think that
where it is possible to do work that is
satisfactory to a man's constructive impulses
without entirely starving, he will be well
advised from the point of view of his own
happiness if he chooses it in preference to work
much more highly paid but not seeming to him
worth doing on its own account. Without
self-respect genuine happiness is scarcely
possible. And the man who is his work
can hardly achieve self-respect. ↵ The
satisfaction of constructive work, though it may,
as things are, be of a minority,
can nevertheless be of a quite
large minority. Any man who is his own master in
his work can feel it; so can any man whose work
appears to him useful and requires considerable
skill. The production of satisfactory children is
a difficult constructive work capable of
affording profound satisfaction. Any woman who
has achieved this can feel that as a result of
her labour the world contains something of value
which it would not otherwise contain. ↵ Human
beings differ profoundly in regard to the
tendency to regard their lives as a whole: To
some men it is natural to do so, and essential to
happiness to be able to do so with some
satisfaction. To others life is a series of
detached incidents without directed movement and
without unity. I think the former sort are more
likely to achieve happiness than the latter,
since they will gradually build up those
circumstances from which they can derive
and self-respect, whereas the others
will be blown about by the winds of circumstance
now this way, now that, without ever arriving at
any haven. The habit of viewing life as a whole
is an essential part both of wisdom and of true
morality, and is one of the things which ought to
be encouraged in education. Consistent purpose is
not enough to make life happy, but it is an
almost of a happy life.
And consistent purpose embodies itself mainly in
work. ↵
知识点
重点词汇
exquisite [ɪkˈskwɪzɪt] n. 服饰过于讲究的男子 adj. 精致的；细腻的；优美的，高雅的；异常的；剧烈的 {cet6 ky toefl ielts gre :8096}
lenin [ˈlenin] n. 列宁（俄国无产阶级革命领袖） { :8182}
indefinitely [ɪnˈdefɪnətli] adv. 不确定地，无限期地；模糊地，不明确地 {cet6 toefl :8406}
envy [ˈenvi] n. 嫉妒，妒忌；羡慕 vt. 嫉妒，妒忌；羡慕 vi. 感到妒忌；显示出妒忌 {gk cet4 cet6 ky ielts :8468}
misfortune [ˌmɪsˈfɔ:tʃu:n] n. 不幸；灾祸，灾难 {cet6 ky toefl ielts :8481}
indispensable [ˌɪndɪˈspensəbl] n. 不可缺少之物；必不可少的人 adj. 不可缺少的；绝对必要的；责无旁贷的 {cet4 cet6 ky toefl ielts :8544}
starvation [stɑ:ˈveɪʃn] n. 饿死；挨饿；绝食 {gk cet4 toefl :8598}
pretence [prɪˈtens] n. 假装；借口；虚伪 {gre :8669}
statesmen ['steɪtsmən] n. 政治家; 政治家( statesman的名词复数 ) { :8718}
apostles [əˈpɔsəlz] n. 使徒（apostle的复数）；传道者；倡导者 { :9040}
stunts [stʌnts] n. 绝技（stunt的复数）；惊人表演 v. 阻碍；表演绝技（stunt的单三形式） { :9106}
consoled ['kɒnsəʊl] n. [计] 控制台；[电] 操纵台 vt. 安慰；慰藉 n. (Console)人名；(意、罗)孔索莱 { :9160}
livelihood [ˈlaɪvlihʊd] n. 生计，生活；营生 {toefl :9184}
exceedingly [ɪkˈsi:dɪŋli] adv. 非常；极其；极度地；极端 {cet4 cet6 ky ielts :9520}
agreeable [əˈgri:əbl] adj. 令人愉快的；适合的；和蔼可亲的 {cet6 ky toefl ielts gre :9587}
procure [prəˈkjʊə(r)] vt. 获得，取得；导致 vi. 取得 {ielts gre :9906}
zest [zest] n. 风味；热心；强烈的兴趣 vt. 给…调味 {toefl ielts gre :10079}
innumerable [ɪˈnju:mərəbl] adj. 无数的，数不清的 {cet6 ky toefl ielts :11097}
haphazard [hæpˈhæzəd] n. 偶然；偶然事件 adj. 偶然的；随便的；无计划的 adv. 偶然地；随意地 {toefl ielts gre :11477}
destroyer [dɪˈstrɔɪə(r)] n. 驱逐舰；破坏者；起破坏作用的事物 { :11489}
unhappiness [ʌn'hæpɪnəs] n. 苦恼；忧愁 { :11535}
pleasurable [ˈpleʒərəbl] adj. 快乐的；心情舒畅的；令人愉快的 { :11542}
plumbers [ˈplʌməz] n. 管子工，水暖工( plumber的名词复数 ); [美][口]（防止泄密的）堵漏人员 { :11659}
trifles [t'raɪfəlz] n. 琐事；鸡毛蒜皮的事（trifle的复数形式） v. 嘲弄；轻视；虚耗光阴（trifle的第三人称单数形式） { :11802}
indefinite [ɪnˈdefɪnət] adj. 不确定的；无限的；模糊的 {cet4 cet6 toefl ielts :11948}
contentment [kənˈtentmənt] n. 满足；满意 { :12119}
sonnets [ˈsɔnɪts] n. 十四行诗( sonnet的名词复数 ) { :13178}
tiresome [ˈtaɪəsəm] adj. 烦人的，无聊的；令人讨厌的 {cet6 ky :13772}
afresh [əˈfreʃ] adv. 重新；再度 { :13805}
unspeakable [ʌnˈspi:kəbl] adj. 无法形容的；不能以言语表达的；坏透了的 { :14026}
infrequently [ɪn'fri:kwəntlɪ] adv. 很少发生地；稀少地 { :14159}
pernicious [pəˈnɪʃəs] adj. 有害的；恶性的；致命的；险恶的 {gre :15230}
idleness ['aɪdlnəs] n. 懒惰；闲散；失业 {cet6 :15250}
domesticated [dəʊ'mestɪkeɪtɪd] adj. 家养的；驯服的；喜欢家庭生活的 v. 驯养（domesticate的过去分词）；使习惯于家庭生活 {toefl :15736}
难点词汇
intelligently [ɪn'telɪdʒəntlɪ] adv. 聪明地，明智地 { :17447}
delectable [dɪˈlektəbl] adj. 美味的；令人愉快的 {toefl ielts gre :18357}
temperamental [ˌtemprəˈmentl] adj. 喜怒无常的；性情的；易兴奋的 {ky :18395}
uninteresting [ʌnˈɪntrəstɪŋ] adj. 无趣味的，乏味的；令人厌倦的 { :18414}
bearable [ˈbeərəbl] adj. 可忍受的；支持得住的 { :18563}
outwitting [aʊtˈwɪtɪŋ] v. 以智取胜，以计击败( outwit的现在分词 ) { :18706}
unmask [ˌʌnˈmɑ:sk] vt. 撕下……的假面具；揭露 vi. 脱去假面具 { :18764}
tedium [ˈti:diəm] n. 沉闷；单调乏味；厌烦 {toefl gre :18839}
drudgery [ˈdrʌdʒəri] n. 苦工，苦差事 {toefl ielts gre :19455}
Michelangelo [.mi:kel'ɑ:ndʒelɒ:] n. 米开朗基罗（意大利文艺复兴时期成就卓著的科学家，艺术家） { :19911}
philistines [ˈfɪlɪˌsti:nz] n. 市侩，庸人( philistine的名词复数 ); 庸夫俗子 { :20080}
irksome [ˈɜ:ksəm] adj. 令人厌烦的，讨厌的；令人厌恶的 {gre :20102}
wholehearted [ˌhəʊlˈhɑ:tɪd] adj. 一心一意的 { :20289}
capitalistic [ˌkæpɪtə'lɪstɪk] adj. 资本主义的；资本家的 { :24082}
actuated [ˈæktʃu:ˌeɪtid] adj. 开动的；动作的 v. 驱动；激励（actuate的过去分词形式）；使运转 { :29241}
militarists ['mɪlɪtərɪsts] n. 军国主义者，军事家( militarist的名词复数 ) { :30713}
temperamentally [ˌtemprə'mentəlɪ] adv. 气质地 { :31372}
impecunious [ˌɪmpɪˈkju:niəs] adj. 没有钱的；贫穷的 {gre :32953}
生僻词
constructiveness [kənst'rʌktɪvnəs] 组织, 构造
earth-shaking ['ɜ:θʃ'eɪkɪŋ] adj. 惊天动地
humbler [ˈhʌmblə(r)] adj. 较低级的；更加谦卑的（humble的比较级） n. 谦虚的人
self-respect [ˌselfrɪˈspekt] n. 自重，自尊
three-mile [ ] [网络] 三里岛；三厘岛；三英里
well-to-do [wel tə dʊ] adj. 小康的；富裕的
词组
agreeable to [ ] 欣然同意的；适合的，适宜的；遵照，顺从，依从；赞同(提议等)
an excess of [ ] 过多的…
apt to [æpt tu:] adj. 易于；善于 [网络] 有……的倾向；常会；容易
ashamed of [ ] adj. 耻于 [网络] 羞愧；害臊；羞耻
envy of [ ] [网络] 羡慕
first and foremost [fə:st ænd ˈfɔ:məust] na. 首先 [网络] 首要地；首要的是；第一位的和首要的
idle rich [ ] 游手好闲的富人
in spite [ ] na. 为泄愤 [网络] 工人们还是很早就出发了；恶意地；尽管
in spite of [in spait ɔv] na. spite of 不管；〔古语〕无视 [网络] 尽管；不顾；虽然 {toefl :0}
indifferent to [ ] prep. 不关心 [网络] 不在乎；无兴趣；对…漠不关心
indispensable condition [ ] [网络] 必要条件；绝对必要条件
not infrequently [ ] [网络] 经常；不止一次
preliminary to [priˈliminəri tu:] 为…作准备，先于
reconcile himself to [ ] vt.甘心于
reluctant to [ ] [网络] 不愿意；不情愿的；勉强的
spite of [ ] conj.不管,无视
the envy of [ ] 令人嫉妒〔羡慕〕的人〔事物〕
the idle rich [ ] na. 有闲阶级 [网络] 无所事事的富人；饱食终日无所用心的有钱人；有钱而又有闲的人
the privilege [ ] [网络] 特权
the reverse [ ] [网络] 反转；反转乐团；颠倒黑白
the wilderness [ ] [网络] 荒野；旷野历程；荒野协会
unpaid work [ ] [网络] 无偿工作；无薪工作；等无酬工作
惯用语
of course
单词释义末尾数字为词频顺序
zk/中考 gk/中考 ky/考研 cet4/四级 cet6/六级 ielts/雅思 toefl/托福 gre/GRE
* 词汇量测试建议用 testyourvocab.com