It used to be said that English people take their pleasures sadly. No doubt this would still be true if they had any pleasures t

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问题 It used to be said that English people take their pleasures sadly. No doubt this would still be true if they had any pleasures to take, but the price of alcohol and tobacco in my country has provided sufficient external causes for melancholy. I have sometimes thought that the habit of taking pleasures sadly has crossed the Atlantic. And I have wondered what it is that makes so many English-speaking people somber in their outlook in spite of good health and a good income.
In the course of my travels in America I have been impressed by a kind of fundamental malaise which seems to me extremely common and which poses difficult problems for the social reformer. Most social reformers have held the opinion that, if poverty were abolished and there were no more economic insecurity, the millennium would have arrived. But when I look at the faces of people in opulent cars, whether in your country or in mine, I do not see that look of radiant happiness which the aforesaid social reformers had led me to expect. In nine cases out of ten, I see instead a look of boredom and discontent and an almost frantic longing for something that might tickle the jaded palate.
But it is not only the very rich who suffer in this way. Professional men very frequently feel hopelessly thwarted. There is something that they long to do or some public object that they long to work for. But if they were to indulge their wishes in these respects, they fear that they would lose their livelihood. Their wives are equally unsatisfied, for their neighbor, Mrs. So-and-So, has gone ahead more quickly, has a better car, a larger apartment and grander friends.
Life for almost everybody is a long competitive struggle where very few can win the race, and those who do not win are unhappy. On social occasions when it is de rigueur to seem cheerful, the necessary demeanor is stimulated by alcohol. But the gaiety does not ring true and anybody who had drunk too much is apt to lapse into lachrymose melancholy.

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答案人们常说英语国家的人非常悲观地对待快乐。这无疑是有道理的，如果他们还能享受欢愉的话。在我的国家，价格便宜的烟酒是引发抑郁症的罪魁。有时我在想，悲观地对待欢乐这种情况已经跨越了大西洋。我很好奇到底是什么使如此多身体健康、收入丰厚的英语国家人对未来没有信心呢。在美国游历时，我感受到一种普遍的不安情绪，这种情绪也给社会改革者们带来了不少麻烦。许多改革者们认为如果消除了贫穷，对经济的不安感消失，这就是太平盛世。但不管是在哪个国家，我在那些经济无虞的人们脸上看不到改革者们所希望出现的那种欢乐。相反，绝大多数人们所表现出的是一种厌倦，不满和对有趣事物的强烈渴望。并非只有富人们才有这种感觉。上班族们也经常感到一种无望的挫败感。他们十分渴望去做某些东西或是参与一些公益事业。但一旦他们全心投入的话，又担心丢掉饭碗。他们的妻子也同样的不满，因为某某邻居有了新车，大房子和体面的朋友。生活对每个人来说都是漫长的痛苦挣扎，只有极少数人在这场长跑中胜出，那些没有获胜者则非常不快。在社交场合当我们按礼节应该显得高兴时，有些情绪只有在酒精的刺激下才表现得出来。但这种高兴并不真实，任何人喝多了都容易失态，泪流满面。

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It used to be said that English people take their pleasures sadly. No doubt this would still be true if they had any pleasures t

翻译硕士（英语翻译基础）

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