Ralph Emerson once said that the purpose of life is not to be happy, but to be useful, to be loving, to make some difference in the world. While we appreciate such words of wisdom, we rarely try to follow them in our lives.
拉尔夫·爱默生曾说过，生活的目的不是为了快乐，而是为了有益，为了有爱，为了改变世界。虽然我们欣赏这些智慧的话语，但我们很少试图在生活中遵循它们。
Most people prefer to live a good life themselves, ignoring their responsibilities for the world. This narrow perception of a good life may provide short-term benefits, but is sure to lead to long-term harm and suffering. A good life based on comfort and luxuiy may eventually lead to more pain because we spoil our health and even our character, principles, ideals, and relationships.
大多数人关心自己过上好日子，忽视了自己对世界的责任。这种对美好生活的狭隘看法可能会带来短期的好处，但肯定会导致长期的伤害和痛苦。建立在舒适和奢华基础上的美好生活最终可能会导致更多的痛苦，因为我们会破坏我们的健康，甚至破坏我们的性格、原则、理想和关系。
What then, is the secret of a good life? A good life is a process, not a state of being; a direction, not a destination. We have to earn a good life by first serving others without any expectation in return because their happiness is the very source of our own happiness. More importantly, we must know ourselves inside out. Only when we examine ourselves deeply can we discover our abilities and recognize our limitations, and then work accordingly to create a better world.
那么，美好生活的秘诀是什么呢？美好的生活是一个过程，而不是一种存在的状态；一个方向，而不是目的地。我们必须在没有任何回报的情况下，通过首先为他人服务来赢得美好的生活，因为他们的幸福正是我们自己幸福的源泉。更重要的是，我们必须从内到外了解自己。只有当我们深入审视自己时，我们才能发现自己的能力，认识到自己的局限性，然后协调一致地创造一个更美好的世界。
The first requirement for a good life is having a loving heart. When we do certain right things merely as a duty, we find our job so tiresome that we’ll soon burn out. However, when we do that same job out of love, we not only enjoy what we do, but also do it with an effortless feeling.
美好生活的首要条件是拥有一颗充满爱的心。当我们做某些正确的事情仅仅是作为一种责任时，我们会发现我们的工作太累了，很快就会筋疲力尽。然而，当我们出于爱做同样的工作时，我们不仅喜欢自己所做的事情，而且做起来毫不费力。
However, love alone is insufficient to lead a good life. Love sometimes blinds us to the reality. Consequently, our good intentions may not lead to good results. To achieve desired outcome, those who want to do good to others also need to equip themselves with accurate world knowledge. False knowledge is more dangerous than ignorance. If love is the engine of a car, knowledge is the steering wheel. If the engine lacks power, the car can’t move; if the driver loses control of the steering, a road accident probably occurs. Only with love in heart and the right knowledge in mind can we lead a good life.
然而，仅靠爱是不足以过上美好生活的。爱有时会使我们对现实视而不见。因此，我们的善意可能不会带来好的结果。为了达到预期的结果，那些想为他人做好事的人还需要为自己配备准确的世界知识。虚假的知识比无知更危险。如果爱是汽车的发动机，那么知识就是方向盘。如果发动机缺乏动力，汽车就无法行驶；如果驾驶员失去对转向的控制，很可能会发生道路事故。只有心中有爱，心中有正确的知识，我们才能过上美好的生活。
With love and knowledge, we go all out to create a better world by doing good to others. When we see the impact of our good work on the world, we give meaning to our life and earn lasting joy and happiness.
有了爱和知识，我们会全力以赴，为他人做好事，创造一个更美好的世界。当我们看到我们出色的工作对世界的影响时，我们赋予了我们的生活意义，并赢得了持久的快乐和幸福。
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