1. 我们都认识一些人，他们过着相对安逸的生活却根本不快乐。我们也认识一些人，他们经历了巨大的痛苦却往往仍然是快乐的。

We all know some people who have had a relatively easy life yet are essentially unhappy. And we also know some other people who have suffered a great deal but generally remain happy.

2. 我么的激情越多，我们有可能体验的快乐就越多。

The more passions we have, the more happiness we are likely to experience.

3. 不管你的哲学是什么，它都应该包括这个自明之理：如果你选择去发现每种情况的积极面，你就会得福；如果你执意去发现其消极面，你就会遭殃。

Whatever your philosophy, it should include this truism: if you choose to find the positive in virtually every situation, you will be blessed, and if you choose to find the awful, you will be cursed.

4. 要想获得幸福的生活，需要克服一些障碍，其中的三个是：与人攀比，追求完美和抱怨不休。

To achieve a happy life, it’s necessary to overcome some stumbling blocks, three of which are: comparing with others; pursuing perfection and complaining all the time.

5. 根据一家私人调查机构的说法， 去年新订婚的人中只有60%购买了订婚戒指，而在1995年这个比例是85%。

Only 60% of the newly betrothed forked out for diamond engagement rings last year, compared with 85% the year before last, according to a private research agency.

6. 情侣们不再购买昂贵的,最终只是躺在抽屉里的订婚戒指,他们开始买像名表这样可以整天戴着的东西,要不然就把钱用来度蜜月或是买房子.

Instead of buying an expensive engagement ring that just ends up in a drawer, couples are buying things they can wear all the time like brand-name watches, or maybe they are spending the money on a honeymoon or putting it toward buying a home. (P. S. 这个有点想不通, 戒指不可以像名表一样戴着吗?)

7. 超过四十岁的妇女中每五名就有一名从未生育过,而且这些未生育的妇女中大多数人以后也不打算要孩子.

One woman in five over the age of forty has never given birth to a child, and most of the women never will.

8. 根据人口统计局数据显示,在不久的将来,单身家庭和婚后无子女家庭的数字将超过有子女的家庭.

In the near future, according to the Census Bureau, the number of households with children will have been overtaken by the number of households consisting of single people or of married couples without children.

9. 当然对于父母来说,最好的回报莫过于看到孩子渐渐成长,变成对社会有用的人才.

Of course, the highest reward that parents expect is to see their children develop and become useful talents for society.

10. 在乐观与成功之间似乎有着某种自然的因果关系.

There seems to be a natural cause-and-effect relationship between optimism and success.

11.　乐观和悲观都是很强大的力量，我们每个人都必须选择用什么来塑造我们的世界观和规划我们的前程。

Optimism and pessimism are both powerful forces and each of us must choose which we want to shape our outlook and our expectations.

12. 我信奉活在现在，因为沉溺于过去于事无补，杞人忧天等于自寻烦恼，错过眼皮底下我所能把握的唯一现实则是错上加错。

I believe in living in the present because it is futile to dwell on the past, to worry about the future, or to miss anything in the only reality I know.

13. 过去的事情或许妙不可言，令人兴奋，可能会带来无尽的珍贵回忆，但是，过去的已成历史。

What existed or happened in the past may have been beautiful or exciting and may bring profound and precious memories; but the past is dead.

14. 未来有些事情是无法驾驭的，包括我们自身的死亡，但是如果我们整日为此担心，我们一生也就毁了。

There are events in the future, including our own deaths, over which we have little or no control, but which can ruin our lives if we worry about them all the time.

15. 每个人都需要一种历史感，特别是一种对自己根源的感觉；但是欣赏历史需要与之保持一定距离。

Everyone needs a sense of history, particularly a feeling for his or her own roots, but history needs to keep its distance to be appreciated.

责任编辑：admin