新編大學英語第四冊unit1 Text B: You Can't Buy Happiness
You Can't Buy Happiness
1 Everyone wants to be happy, but exactly what is happiness and how can one obtain it? Philosophers have been arguing about the matter for centuries and have not been able to reach an agreement; yet everyone knows happiness when they experience it or when it is denied to them. Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary defines happiness as a state of contentment, but we know that different people experience contentment in different ways. Many people have felt that if they were rich they could buy happiness for themselves; however, many stories from history tell us that this is probably not true, including the famous King Midas story.
2 According to Greek mythology, King Midas was a ruler who wished that everything he touched would turn to gold. When this wish was granted, to his dismay, he found that his beloved young daughter turned to gold at his touch and he had lost his source of greatest happiness in life. A golden statue could not give him the love that he had so enjoyed from his daughter.
3 Neither wealth nor status nor privilege nor family power nor prestige can guarantee happiness. A prime example of this is the true story of Queen Victoria's daughters. Victoria, Queen of England for 64 years during the 19th century, had five daughters. They grew up with the kinds of luxuries that other people only dream about, including jewels, silk gowns, and handsome princes for husbands. Each daughter grew up with a unique personality and with a very different future awaiting her. Yet, although each had a happy childhood, none lived a happy life as an adult.
4 The eldest daughter, Princess Victoria (called "Vicky" by her family), was the most intelligent of the children. By the time she was four years old, she spoke German and French fluently. Her virtues were a painful contrast to the many defects her parents saw in her brother, the Prince of Wales, who would become king after Queen Victoria's death. When Vicky became a young lady, her parents chose a husband for her, Prince Frederick, a tall and handsome soldier who would become King of Prussia, a part of Germany. Although she loved her husband deeply until he died, she was never happy in Prussia. Her liberal political beliefs were not liked by the Prussians and the Prussian chancellor managed to turn her eldest son, Wilhelm, against her. Two other sons died in childhood. Vicky was Queen of Prussia and Empress of Germany for only 99 days because by the time her husband became king he was dying. For the last thirteen years of her life she was a widow in a land where she was not liked, ruled by a son who hated her. She tried to find some happiness by spending her final years working for the advancement of German women.
5 The second daughter, Alice, was known as the lovable, peaceful sister. For a husband, her parents chose a German Duke. As a duchess, Alice was known for her good works. She was especially interested in the training of nurses. During the times of war, she worked in the hospitals that she had established. She helped poor women by arranging for their needlework to be sold. Her seven children included five daughters, one of whom became the last Czarina of Russia, who was killed along with her family. Alice did not live long enough to know of that horrible event because in 1878, her children became ill, one after another, with diphtheria, and Alice nursed them all. Shortly after her youngest child died of the disease, Alice fell ill with it too and died at the age of 35.
6 Helena, the middle daughter, was the least attractive daughter. She also was the one that the family paid the least attention to as she was growing up. Queen Victoria decided that she needed one daughter to live close to her as she grew older, so she chose a prince who no longer had a country to rule as Helena's husband. Helena and her husband lived in a house near the Queen and her house became a second home for Alice's motherless children. Helena spent her life taking care of her mother's needs, as well as of Alice's children and her own four children. She was never asked what she wanted from life but was always at the beck and call of others, whether she liked it or not.
7 Princess Louise, the fourth daughter, was the opposite of Helena. She was beautiful, talented, and willful. She insisted on studying art at London's art college and even chose her own husband, a nobleman from Scotland. Her family did not want her to marry him but finally allowed her to do so. In 1877 her husband became Governor General of Canada. At first her life there was happy. Louise gave parties and dances. She also traveled to western Canada. However, during a sleigh ride, she was thrown out of the sleigh and dragged along the ground by her long hair, losing an ear. She went home to England to get well but never returned to Canada. Her marriage was really over by then because she had discovered that her husband romantically preferred men rather than women. However, she couldn't divorce him because that was not allowed for a princess at that time. She stayed at the royal palace in London, an unhappy and bitter woman, until she died at the age of 91.
8 Queen Victoria decided that her youngest daughter, Beatrice, should never marry and should be her companion during her older years. Beatrice acted as her mother's secretary and went with her to royal events. They were hardly ever apart. When Beatrice was 28 years old, Victoria allowed her to go to Germany to attend the wedding of a niece. There she met a German Prince, Liko, who immediately fell in love with her. When they asked Victoria for permission to marry, Victoria agreed only if they would live in the palace with her. Even after her marriage, Beatrice was required to accompany her mother everywhere and had very little time to be with her husband and children. Prince Liko, who had once been a soldier and was bored with the kind of life he was leading. volunteered to help put down a revolt in an African nation in 1896. He soon fell ill with a fever and died. "The life has gone out of me," Beatrice said when she learned of his death. She was 39 years old at the time. Even after Queen Victoria died in 1901. Beatrice remained in her shadow. She spent the rest of her life copying and editing Victoria's journals.
9 Neither wealth, status, nor family prominence gave happiness to Victoria's daughters. Their lives were filled with disappointment and loss. Their stories support the concept that happiness results only when people are permitted to plan their own lives, to pursue their goals in the way they see most appropriate and to base them on something other than a desire for wealth, prominence or status.
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