《痛苦也是财富》节选

There’s no rose without a thorn. This thought is absolutely necessary to prepare you to experience less pain and more joy in your journey of life.

人生固然有欢乐，但也一定不乏痛苦。有了这种认识和思想准备也是非常必要的，因为这样会使你的生活增加欢乐而减少痛苦。

With a bird’s-eye view, you may realize something meaningful. During your school years, while joyfully acquiring knowledge you are also under the pressure of homework, examinations, and ranking. You face crises and agony. Meanwhile, all sorts of intricate affairs may happen between you and your classmates. In your youth, puberty may fill you with unrealized desires and send you into deeper perplexity.

鸟瞰人生，可略有领悟。上学时，有获得知识的乐趣，便有做功课、考试、排名次的危机与痛苦。同样，也有同学间相处的融合与纠结。青年时，春心萌动，幻想联翩，难以实现，亦难免陷入困扰。

Entering marriage, you are actually in the center of all the contradictions—the matching of different personalities, enduring of family members, children’s schooling, financial management and so on, you may also fall into marriage crisis. As you age, your health may deteriorate and various troubles in your career and family may gradually emerge. Mid-life and old-age crisis will follow, leading you to your eternity.

结婚之后，实际进入了更多的矛盾之中；思想的落差、相处的困难、子女的教育、财务的争执等等，也会陷入婚姻危机。随后，年龄愈大，健康愈差，事业、家庭中的许多潜在矛盾会日益突出，因而又会有中年危机和老年危机，直至步入死亡。

We may therefore conclude that much of our life may not be spent in contentment. However, the things that discontent are, in fact, not useless since you may learn more from them than from the things that cheered you up.

所以说，人生在世，如意的事不足一二，不如意的则十有八九。但这“八九”不是负担，而是有用的，因为人在痛苦中所学到的，要比在欢乐中所学到的多得多。