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 paininevitably brought by such things as marriage, raising children, professional achievement, religious commitment(承担的义务), self improvement.

Ask a bachelor(单身汉) 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 quitepainful. 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 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 ourhappiness. It liberates money: buying that new car or those fancy clothes that will do nothing to increaseour happiness now seems pointless. And it liberates us from envy: we now understand that all those who arealways having so much fun actually may not be happy at all.

练习题：

Choose correct answers to the question:

1. 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

2. Raising children, in the author's opinion, is_______

A. a moral duty

B. a rewarding task

C. a thankless job

D. a source of inevitable pain

3. From the last paragraph, we learn that envy sometimes stems from______

A. hatred

B. misunderstanding

C. prejudice

D. ignorance英语四级成绩什么时候出来

4. 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

5. What is the author trying to tell us?

A. Happiness often goes hand in hand with pain.

B. One must know how to attain happiness.

C. It is important to make commitments.

D. It is pain that leads to happiness.

1.[A] 第3段第2句解释了单身汉为什么不愿结婚的原因，A项的reluctant to take on family responsibilities是对原文中afraid of making a commitment的同义替换,故选A。本题中D项的干扰性比较强，但这不是单身汉不愿结婚的直接原因，且文中也说到Marriage has such moments,所以put an end的说法也不正确，故排除。

2.[C] 原文第4段中说，虽然养孩子的过程实在不能算是“有趣”,但决定不要孩子的夫妇们永远也不能了解看着孩子长大的那种欢乐以及与孙儿一起玩耍的欢乐。换言之，在作者看来，养孩子虽辛苦，但也是值得的，故答案为C。

3.[B] 文章最后一段最后一句说它还让我们从嫉妒中解脱出来：我们现在了解到那些总有很多乐趣的人也许根本就不幸福。这说明我们嫉妒别人是误以为那些总有很多乐趣的人很幸福，这是一种误解，故选B。

4.[D] 由文章第1段和最后一段第1句可看出要理解真正的幸福就要把fun和happiness区分开，故选D。

5.[A] 本题是主旨题。主旨题的答案常位于首段或结尾段。本题的答案可以在文章第1段最后一句找到：通往幸福的路上多半会涉及到痛苦，因此本题选A。D中虽也提到pain,但对分强调pain对幸福的作用，故错误。