WhatIs Happiness?

JohnCiardi

(abridged)

 

1                  The right to pursue happiness is issued to Americans with their birth certificates, but no oneseems quite sure which way it runs. It may be we are issued a hunting license but offered no game.¹ JonathanSwift seemed to think so when he attacked the idea of happiness as “thepossession of being well-deceived,” the felicity of being “a fool amongknaves.” For Swift saw society as Vanity Fair, the land of false goals.

2                  It is, of course, un-American to thinkin terms of fools and knaves.² We do, however, seem to be dedicatedto the idea of buying our way to happiness. We shall all have made it toHeaven when we possess enough.³

3                  And at the same time the forces of Americancommercialism are hugely dedicated to making us deliberately unhappy. Advertising is one of our major industries, and advertisingexists not to satisfy desires but to create them — and to create them fasterthan any man’s budget can satisfy them. For that matter, our whole economy isbased on a dedicated insatiability. We are taught that to possess is to behappy, and then we are made to want. We are even told it is our duty to want.It was only a few years ago, to cite a single example, that car dealers acrossthe country were flying banners that read "You Auto Buy Now." Theywere calling upon Americans, as an act approaching patriotism,to buy at once, with money they did not have, automobiles they did not reallyneed, and which they would be required to grow tired of by the time the nextyear’s models were released.

4                  Or look at any of the women’s magazines.There, as Bernard DeVoto once pointed out, advertising begins as poetry in thefront pages and ends as pharmacopoeia and therapyin the back pages. The poetry of the front matter is the dream of perfectbeauty. This is the baby skin that must be hers. These, the flawless teeth. This, the perfumed breath she must exhale. This, the sixteen-year-old figure she must display at forty, at fifty, at sixty, and forever.

5                  Once past the vaguely uplifting fiction andfeature articles, the reader finds the other face of the dream in the backmatter. This is the harness into which Mother must strap herself in order todisplay that perfect figure. These, the chin straps she must sleep in. This isthe salve that restores all, this is her laxative, these are the tablets thatmelt away fat, these are the hormones of perpetualyouth, these are the stockings that hide varicose veins.

6                  Obviously no half-sane person can becompletely persuaded⁴ either by such poetry or by suchpharmacopoeia and orthopedics. Yet someone is obviously trying to buy the dreamas offered and spending billions every year in the attempt. Clearly thehappiness-market is not running out ofcustomers, but what are they trying to buy?

7                  The idea "happiness," to be sure,will not sit still for easy definitions: the best one can do is to try toset some extremes to the idea and then work in toward the middle.⁵To think of happiness as acquisitive and competitive will do to set the materialistic extreme.⁶ To think of itas the idea one senses in, say, a holy man of India will do to set thespiritual extreme. That holy man’s ideal of happiness is in needing nothingfrom outside himself. In wanting nothing, he lacks nothing. He sitsimmobile, rapt in contemplation, free even of his own body.⁷ Ornearly free of it. If devout admirers bring himfood, he eats it; if not, he starves indifferently. Why be concerned? What isphysical is an illusion to him. Contemplation is his joy and he achieves itthrough a fantastically demanding discipline,the accomplishment of which is itself a joy within him.⁸

8                  But, perhaps because I am Western, I doubtsuch catatonic happiness, as I doubt the dreams of the happiness-market. Whatis certain is that his way of happiness would be tortureto almost any Western man. Yet these extremes will still serve to frame thearea within which all of us must find some sort of balance. Thoreau — acreature of both Eastern and Western thought — had his own firm sense of thatbalance. His aim was to save on the low levels in order to spend on thehigh.⁹

9                  Possession for its own sake or incompetition with the rest of the neighborhood would have been Thoreau’s idea ofthe low levels. The active discipline of heightening one’s perception of what is enduring in nature would havebeen his idea of the high.¹⁰ What he saved from the low was timeand effort he could spend on the high. Thoreau certainly disapproved of starvation, but he would put into feeding himself only as much effort as wouldkeep him functioning for more important efforts.

10              Happiness is never more than partial.¹¹ There are no pure states ofmankind. Whatever else happiness may be, it is neither in having nor inbeing, but in becoming.¹² What the Founding Fathers declared for us as an inherentright, we should do well to remember, was not happiness but the pursuit ofhappiness. What they might have underlined,could they have foreseen the happiness-market,is the cardinal fact that happiness is in thepursuit itself, in the meaningful pursuit of what is life-engaging andlife-revealing,¹³ which is to say, in the idea of becoming. Anation is not measured by what it possesses or wants to possess, but by what itwants to become.

 

Paragraphs 1-2

Questions

1.What does the author mean when he says “The right to pursue happinessis issued to Americans with their birth certificates”? (Paragraph 1)

Here the author alludes to thewell-known statement in the Declaration of Independence of theUnited States of America: “We hold these truths tobe self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by theirCreator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuitof Happiness.” The sentence means that everyone is born with the right topursue happiness.

2. What do the quoted expressions from Swift mean? (Paragraph 1)

Both expressions “the possessionof being well deceived” and “a fool among knaves” are used by Swift to describea conception of happiness, i.e., a state of being deceived. The word “possession”here means “a state of being completely under the influence of an idea oremotion” and in this particular expression “the state of being deceived.” “A foolamong knaves” refers to a person who is easily deceived without realizing it.

3. Why does the author say, “It is, ofcourse, un-American to think in terms of fools and knaves”? (Paragraph 2)

Because mostAmericans take it for granted that pursuing happiness, or buying their way toit is in accordance with American national character.

 

Words and Expressions

1. pursue vt.try to achieve something

e.g. He urges all sides in the conflict to pursuepeace.

We are working together to pursuea common goal.

Derivation:

  pursuit n.

Collocation:

  inthe pursuit of

e.g. Sheshowed steadiness and courage in the pursuit of her aims.

 

2. issue vt. to provide sb. with the thingsthey need for a particular action

e.g. The police inBritainare not usually issued withguns.

Visitors are issued with identitycards to wear inside the factory.

Collocation:

  issuesth. (to sb.) 将某物发给、供给或分配给某人使用

e.g. The office will be issuing permits on Tuesday andThursday mornings.

Derivation:

  issuen.

 

Sentences

1. It maybe we are issued a hunting license but offered no game.(Paragraph 1)

Explanation: It may be we are given the rightof pursuing happiness but we don’t know where it is, because maybe there is nohappiness as such at all. Note “game” originally refers to a wild animal orbird hunted for sport. Here it is a metaphor for what is being pursued, i.e.happiness. It is roughly equivalent to “false goals” at the end of thisparagraph.

Paraphrase: It may be that you have received the license for hunting but you don’t have the chanceto hunt.

Translation: 它可能就像：授予了你打猎的许可证却不给你提供打猎的机会。

 

2. It is,of course, un-American to think in terms of fools and knaves. (Paragraph 2)

Explanation: As Swift was not American, his idea of happiness with regard to “foolsand knaves” is certainly different from its American interpretation. Thefollowing two sentences tell us what the author thinks is Americans’ idea ofhappiness.

Translation: 当然，要是你用斯威夫特的观点来考虑傻瓜和骗子，你就不像是美国人了。

 

3. Weshall all have made it to Heaven when we possess enough. (Paragraph 2)

Explanation: “Make it” is an informalexpression that means “succeed in moving to a certain place.”

Translation: 当我们拥有的财产足够多的时候，我们将到达天堂。

 

Paragraphs 3-5

Questions

1. How is the car dealers’ words on the banner “You Auto Buy Now” relatedwith patriotism in Paragraph 3? (Paragraph 3)

The word “auto” is homophonous to “ought to,” so the advertisementon the banner can be read as “You Ought to Buy Now,” implying that your act ofpurchasing a car is an act of patriotism.

2. Why does the author use the words “poetry” and “dream”to describe the advertisements in women’s magazines?

The author intends to tell the reader that these advertisementspresent a perfect yet illusionary image which would ultimately create people’s desires.Implicitly, the author suggests that what money can buy is purely a dream ofhappiness.

 

Words and Expressions

3. deliberately ad.with a definite intention, not by chance or by accident

e.g. He deliberately left his book in her dorm sothat he could have an excuse to come back and see her again.

The anti-government groupsdeliberately stirred up trouble, inducing their supporters to riot.

Derivation:

  deliberate a.

Synonym:

  intentionally, on purpose, purposely

Antonym:

  accidentally

 

4.patriotism n. strong feelings of love, respect,and duty towards your country

e.g. The Chinese peopledemonstrated great patriotism in combating the earthquake that struck Sichuan Province in May 2008.

Derivation:

  patriotic a.

  patriotically ad.

 

5. release vt.

1) to allow something to be shown inpublic or to be available for use

2) If a company releases a film or musical recording,it allows the film to be shown in cinemas, or makes the musical recordingavailable for the public to buy

e.g. We have torelease the news before 5 o’clock tomorrow morning.

Paul McCartney’snew album will be released at the end of the month.

Derivation:

release n.

e.g. Her latestrelease is a rock ‘n’ roll version of My Way.

Collocation:

  be on/in general release

   press release （政府机构、政党等发布的）新闻稿

 

6. therapy n. a form of treatment for an illness ormedical condition

e.g. The therapy involves getting the patients to tellthe doctor about their early childhood.

 Nowadays, occupational therapy is accepted bymore and more people.

Synonym:

  treatment

Collocation:

  undergo therapy

 

7. flawless a. without any mistakes, marks or bad feature

e.g. The baby was plump, his skin flawless and his eyes bright blue.

The flawless launch was watched bymillions of people on television.

Derivation:

  flawlesslyad.

flaw n.

Synonym:

  perfect

Antonym:

  imperfect

 

8.exhale vt. / vi.breatheair out through your mouth or nose

e.g. Hold your breath for five seconds and thenexhale slowly.

He exhaled smoke hurriedly tocontinue his urgent work.

Antonym:

  inhale

Derivation:

  exhalation n.

 

9. display vt.to give a clear demonstration of (a quality, emotion, or skill)

e.g. The new market displayed a great many goodsfor sale.

Derivation:

  display n.

Synonym:

  present, demonstrate

 

10. perpetual a.continuing all the time

e.g. Her husband’s perpetual jealousy made herfeel anxious.

He soon grew tired of her perpetual demandsfor money.

Derivation:

  perpetually ad.

e.g. Sheperpetually wore a worried look on her face.

Synonym:

  permanent, eternal

 

Activity: Discussion

Nowadays, people are all busy pursuing their set goals such aswealth, honor, happiness, or excitement etc. What do you pursue in your life?Discuss with your partners and try to use the following words.

pursue    issue    deliberately   patriotism  release

 therapy   flawless   exhale      display     perpetual

 

Paragraphs 6-10

Questions

1. Why does the author need to say “because I am Western,” “tortureto almost any Western man”? (Paragraph 8)

Because Western people aresupposed to be quite rational and matter-of-fact. Thecatatonic happiness the holy man inIndiabelieves in is totally incredibleand unacceptable to a Westerner.

2. Howdoes the author differentiate the Founding Fathers’ notion of happiness fromthe misconception about it? (Paragraph 10)

The author explainsthat the inherent right the Founding Fathers declared for us is not happiness, butthe pursuit of happiness, and happiness is in the pursuit itself.

 

Words and Expressions

11. run out of not having any more of it

e.g. I hope we see a gas station soon — we’re running out offuel.

In the end she ran out of patienceand started hitting him.

We air-freighted the shipmentbecause our agent had runout of stock. 我们空运了这批货物，是因为我们的代理商已用完库存了。

 

 

12. materialistic a. believingthat having money and possessions is the most important thing in life

e.g. Members of this sect have rejected modernmaterialistic values.

Derivation:

materialism n.

Synonym:

  money-oriented, acquisitive

Antonym:

  spiritual

 

13.devout a. (usually before a noun) veryreligious

e.g. His father is a devout Buddhist.

Antonym:

  pious, dedicated

Derivation:

  devoutly ad.

  devoutness n.

 

14.discipline

n. the ability to control your own behavior

e.g. Their attention wandered and they lackeddiscipline to learn.

vt. train sb. / sth. to be obedient,self-controlled, skillful, etc.

e.g. The military schools usually disciplinestudents strictly.

Derivation:

  disciplinary a.

 

15. torture n. great pain that is deliberatelycaused to sb. esp. to punish them

e.g. Many of the prisoners died under torture.

It was torture to be ill in bedwhile everyone else was celebrating downstairs.

Derivation:

  torture v.

e.g. He tortured himself for years with the thoughtthat he could have stopped the boy from running into the road.

Synonym:

  agony, suffering

 

16. perception n.the ability to realize or notice things that are not obvious to other people

e.g. There is a perception that management onlywants to cut costs.

    She has extraordinary powers of perception for one soyoung.

Derivation:

  perceive v.

e.g.Although Jane thought her father seemed anxious and uneasy, Susan did notperceive any changes in his looks and ways.

  perceptive a.

e.g. Children can be amazingly perceptive about adults’moods.

 

17. disapprove of not approve ofsb. / sth.

e.g. I stronglydisapprove of anyone who goes out at night and leaves their children alone.

    I strongly disapprove of under-age drinking.

Derivation:

  disapproval n.

  disapproving a.

e.g. His sister gave him a disapproving glance and herealized he had said the wrong thing.

Antonym:

  approve of

e.g. I approve ofyour trying to earn some money, but please don’t neglect your studies.

 

18. put sth. in; put sth.into sth. / doing sth. to spend a lotof time or effort doing something

e.g.You’ve obviously put alot of work in your garden.

    If I put in some extra hours today, I can have some timeoff tomorrow.

We’ve put a lot of time and effort into making thehouse look nice.

我们花了很多时间和精力把房子装饰漂亮。

 

19. function vi. to work or operate in the correctway

e.g. Try out thepackage to see if the modern functions correctly.

When the camera is functioning properly, a greenlight comes on.

I’m so tired today, I can barely function.

我今天累极了，我不能工作了。

Derivation:

  function n.

  functional a.

e.g. At my school the classrooms were purelyfunctional, without any decoration at all.

 

20. partial a. not complete; biased

e.g. This onlyprovides a partial explanation of what happened.

The changes are due to the partial destruction ofthe molecule’s structure.

Collocation:

  partial towards sb. / sth. 偏心，偏袒

  partialto sb. / sth. 偏爱

Derivation:

  partiality n.

  partially ad.

Synonym:

  prejudiced, biased

Antonym:

  impartial

 

21. declare vt. announce officially that sth. istrue orhappening

e.g. The president’sbudget message declared that the new economic program was working well.

Collocation:

  declare war on / against sb.

Derivation:

  declaration n.

 

22. inherent a. being a natural part of an activityor situation and can’t be separated from it

e.g. However, thistheory does not reflect the complexities inherent in real life.

Recruits soon learn to cope with the inherentdanger of police work.

Derivation:

  inherently ad.

Synonym:

  intrinsic

 

23.underline vt. emphasize sth. or state that it is important

e.g. In the manager’s speech he underlined severalpoints.

Synonym:

  highlight, emphasize, stress

Antonym:

  ignore

 

24. foresee vt. toknow that sth. is going to happen before it actually happens

e.g. No one had foreseen the Great Depression ofthe thirties.

Derivation:

  foreseeable a.

e.g. The increased demand for organic produce wasnot foreseeable ten years ago.

Synonym:

  anticipate, forecast, foretell, forebode

 

25. cardinal a.very important

e.g. The cardinal spirit in this book is toleranceand love.

Synonym:

  fundamental, elementary

Antonym:

  secondary

 

Activity: Debate

Materialism is a hot topic in our society. Do you approve of ordisapprove of the view that we should keep materialistic values? Have a debate and give out your own reasons. Whendebating, try to use the following words and phrases.

run out of  materialistic discipline  torture    perception    put sth. in   cardinal

function   partial      declare    inherent   underline    foresee    

 

Sentences

4.Obviously, no half-sane person can be completely persuaded … (Paragraph 6)

Explanation: It is clear that such nonsensecan hardly persuade a half-sane person, let alone people with clear thinking …

Translation: 显而易见，就算是个头脑不清楚的人也不会信服……

 

5. … thebest one can do is to try to set some extremes to the idea and then work intoward the middle. (Paragraph 7)

Explanation: With some extremes set, it isrelatively easy to survey the range of the idea of “happiness” and an adequatedefinition may lie somewhere around the middle, which is the best one can do.

Translation: 最行之有效的办法是设定此概念的两个极端，然后找出中间地段。

 

6. Tothink of happiness as acquisitive and competitive will do to set the materialisticextreme. (Paragraph 7)

Explanation: To think of happiness asacquisitive and competitive will suitably be considered the materialisticextreme of the idea “happiness.” Note here “materialistic extreme” is used inopposition to “spiritual extreme” in this paragraph.

Translation: 把幸福看成获取和竞争，可以算是实利主义的一个极端。

 

7. Hesits immobile, rapt in contemplation, free even of his own body. (Paragraph 7)

Translation: 他静坐修行，陷于冥冥沉思，超脱自己的肉体，或者说几乎如此。

 

8.Contemplation is his joy and he achieves it through a fantastically demandingdiscipline, the accomplishment of which is itself a joy within him. (Paragraph 7)

Translation: 冥思是他的快乐所在，他通过令人难以置信的苛刻戒律达到快乐，戒律的施行本身便是他内在的快乐。

 

9. Hisaim was to save on the low levels in order to spend on the high. (Paragraph 8)

Explanation: Here “low levels” refers to thelevels of enjoyment near the “materialistic extreme” whereas “high (levels)”refers to those near the “spiritual extreme.”

 

10. Theactive discipline of heightening one’s perception of what is enduring in naturewould have been his idea of the high. (Paragraph 9)

Explanation: Energetic efforts made toimprove his ability to find and understand the things that essentially offerlasting joy or happiness.

Translation: 他心目中的“高层次”，则是树立积极向上的人生律条，能认识到什么是世间恒久之物。

 

11.Happiness is never more than partial. (Paragraph 10)

Explanation: Happiness is never complete.

Translation: 从来就没有完美的幸福。

 

12. … itis neither in having nor in being, but in becoming. (Paragraph10)

Explanation: … happiness is neither in whatwe have, nor in what we are, but in what we are becoming. It is not a state,but a process.

Translation: 幸福不在于拥有，也不在于成为，而在于追求。

 

13. …happiness is in the pursuit itself, in the meaningful pursuit of what islife-engaging and life-revealing. (Paragraph 10)

Translation: 幸福在于追求本身，在于有意义地追求我们终生为之努力的事情，并从中获得启迪。