First Listening
Please listen to a short passage carefully and prepare to answer some questions.
What is happiness? Different people may offer different answers. Some people believe happiness lies in achieving superiority over others, while others assume it is a kind of lifestyle, living in a mansion made of marble, having a wardrobe with hundreds of dresses; still others regard happiness as a kind of spiritual joy, sitting completely still all day, contemplating the nature of reality, free even of his own body.
As a proverb has it, “no difficulty, no fun.” It is easier to win at chess if you are free to change the rules, but the fun is in winning within the rules. So is with the case of happiness. If we could mint our own money, even building a fortune would become boring. Don't you think so?
Happiness is never more than partial. Whatever else happiness may be, it is neither in having nor in being, but in becoming. A nation is not measured by what it possesses or wants to possess, but by what it wants to become.
Second Listening
Listen to the tape again. Then answer the following questions.
1. Would you point out the two types of outlook on defining happiness in the listening passage?
2. What does the proverb quoted in the listening passage mean?
3. Considering that happiness is never more than partial, what is at its core?
