is no use starting late in life to say: \strain of mental effort. A man may acquire great knowledge of topics unconnected with his daily work, and yet
hardly get any benefit or relief. It is no use doing what you like; you have got to like what you do. Broadly speaking, human beings maybe divided into three classes: those who are toiled to death, those who are worried to death, and those who are bored to death. It is no use offering the manual laborer, tired out with a hard week's sweat and effort, the chance of playing a game of football or baseball on Saturday afternoon. It is no use inviting the politician or the professional or businessman, who has been working or worrying about serious things for six days, to work or worry about trifling things at the weekend.
As for the unfortunate people who can command everything they want, who can gratify every caprice and lay their hands on almost every object of desire — for them a new pleasure, a new excitement is only an additional satiation. In vain they rush frantically round from place to place, trying to escape from avenging boredom by mere clatter and motion. For them discipline in one form or another is the most hopeful path.
It may be said that rational, industrious, useful human beings are divided into two classes: first, those whose work is work and whose pleasure is pleasure; and secondly, those whose work and pleasure are one. Of these the former are the majority. They have their compensations. The long hours in the office or the factory bring with them as their reward, not only the means of sustenance, but a keen appetite for pleasure even in its simplest and most modest forms. But Fortune's favored children belong to the second class. Their life is a natural harmony. For them the working hours are never long enough. Each day is a holiday, and ordinary holidays when they come are grudged as enforced interruptions in an absorbing vocation. Yet to both classes the need of an alternative outlook, of a change of atmosphere, of a diversion of effort, is essential. Indeed, it may well be that those whose work is their pleasure are those who most need the means of banishing it at intervals from their minds.
绘画消遣（节选）
一位天才美国心理学家说过：“烦恼是感情的发作；此时大脑缠住了某种东西不肯放手。”在这种情况下，和头脑争论（让它放手）是无用的。愿望越强烈，与之争论就越是徒劳。你只能温和地将另一种东西慢慢灌输到痉挛状态的头脑中。如果（这一东西）选得恰当，而且它真的从另一领域的情趣中受到启迪的话，那么逐渐地，往往也是迅速地，原先不适当的“不肯放手”就会慢慢放松，恢复和补救的过程就会开始。
因此，对于公众人物而言，培养业余爱好和新的兴趣才是上策。但这并非一日之功，也不是单凭意志力就能做到的事情。精神情趣的培养是一个长期的过程。要想在需要的时候可随手摘取充满生机的果实，种子就必须精挑细选，必须播种在肥沃的土壤里，还必须辛勤地护理。
要想真正快乐，真正安全，一个人至少应有两三种业余爱好，而且必须是实际可行的。到了晚年才开始说：“我会培养对这或对那的兴趣”，这是没有用的。这种愿望只能加剧精神紧张。一个人可能会获得大量与其日常工作无关的知识，却不能从中得到任何益处或宽慰。做你喜欢做的事是没有用的，你要喜欢你做的事。泛而言之，人可以分为三类：极其劳累的人，极其操心的人，极其无聊的人。对于卖了一周力气、流了一周汗水的体力劳动者来说，让他们在星期六下午踢足球或打垒球是不合适的。同样，对于工作了六天、一直为公务操心的政界人士、专业人员或商人来说，在周末再让他们为鸡毛蒜皮的琐事而操心劳累也是无益的。
那些能够支配一切、能够肆意妄为、能够染指一切追求目标的人是“不幸的”。对于他们而言，不多一种新的乐趣、多一种新的刺激只是增加一分厌腻而已。他们到处奔乱跑，企图靠喧闹和骚动来摆脱无聊对他们的报复，但这么做是徒劳的。对他们来说，某种形式的纪律约束是最有希望让他们走出｛困境、走上正道的。
可以这样说，理智的，勤劳的、有用的人可以分为两类：第一类人认为工作是工作，娱乐于是娱乐；第二类人认为工作和娱乐是一回事。这两类人当中，第一类人占大多数。他们是能够得到补偿的。在办公室或工厂里长时间工作给他们带来了报酬，这不仅是谋生的手段，也使他们对寻找快乐充满了渴望，哪怕是最简单、最质朴的快乐。但是，幸运之神偏爱的是第二类人。他们的生活是一种自然的和谐。对他们来说，工作时间永远不会太长（永远都不够长），每一天都是假日，而当普通节日来到时，他们会感到厌恶，因为这强行打断了他们埋头从事的工作。然而对这两种人来说，换换脑子，改变一下气氛，转移一下注意力都是不可缺少的。其实，把工作当作乐趣的人，很可能是最需要每隔一段时间就把工作放下，让头脑放松的人。
Unit 9 Are You the Right Person for the Job?
In the old days it was easy. They were going to be the best three years of your life, and you knew it. You spent your time chatting late into the night with new-found friends in coffee bars and pubs, playing your heart out in the squash courts and on the cricket field, or strutting across the stage as a leading light of the university dramatic
society. Whatever your interest, university life catered for it. And, let's not forget, you would usually manage to keep up with the work too, by doing the required reading and dashing off the week’s essay at the last minute. The only thing you didn't find time for was thinking about what came afterwards, at the end of those three exciting years. But you didn’t need to, because whatever your chosen career, the companies were all lining up to offer you a job.
That was what it was like in the old days as a student in the UK. But things have changed. A recent study of Britain's major multinational companies reveals that even with a good degree graduates can no longer walk into the top jobs. Today there are twice as many universities as there were just 30 years ago, and 40 percent of young people now go on to higher education. So with no shortage of graduates, a good degree has become vital in the search for a job. Competition is tough, and today's students are spending more time than ever preparing for those dreaded final exams, or doing low-paid part-time jobs to pay off debts.
But that's just the problem. In the opinion of managers from more than 200 British companies, students are spending too much time studying, or worrying about making ends meet, instead of joining clubs and acquiring
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basic skills such as teamwork and making presentations. The managers also said that they were prepared to leave jobs unfilled rather than appoint graduates who didn't have the necessary skills to get ahead in the global market.
But what can be done about the problem? The solution, the managers believe, is to include social skills in degree courses; and some universities are taking the advice. At the University of Southampton, for example,
history students have to do a 12-week project —frequently related to the local context — working in teams of six. This includes making a presentation, writing a group thesis, and carrying out a public service, which might involve teaching schoolchildren or making a radio program about the topic.
There can be no doubt that this sort of cooperative approach can help many students develop personal skills which will help improve their prospects in their search for a job. One of the most well-known personality tests used by employers when interviewing candidates, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), puts the extrovert / introvert dichotomy at the top of the list of personality traits it tries to analyze. There are no \but extroverts, it is assumed, are going to be more suited to jobs in which they have to work in teams or deal with other people.
Equally interesting in the Southampton project is the conviction that students should be aware of the wider community, and find ways to make contributions to it. In today's shrinking world, students are increasingly aware that a university is not an ivory tower of learning, cut off from the real problems of the world, but on the contrary, can itself be an agent for change for a better world. There are numerous ways in which students can be volunteers—before, during, or after their degree courses. With courses making heavy demands on students' time, as we have seen, a popular option is to take a gap year before or after university.
Typically, volunteering might mean helping the sick or elderly, entertaining underprivileged children on holiday camps, teaching in a Third World country or perhaps working on agricultural or environmental projects.
For students who choose to offer their talents in this way, one side effect is to gain a wealth of experience to be added to the CV, which will not go unnoticed by future employers. But a word of warning is in order: You should remember what your priorities are. As Shane Irwin, who worked for two years in Papua New Guinea, puts it: \through volunteering — the main reason you should get involved is because you want to help.\
你适合做这个工作吗？
过去，大学生活很轻松。那将是你一生中最美好的三年，你知道这一点。你是这样消磨时光的：在咖啡馆和酒吧里与新结交的朋友聊到深夜，在壁球场和板球场上尽情地挥舞球拍，或是作为大学戏剧社的大腕在舞台上昂首阔步。不管你有什么爱好，大学生活都能为你创造条件。而且，别忘了，你的学习还总能跟得上，能完成指定的阅读，并在最后一分钟匆忙草就那一周的文章。你唯一没有时间考虑的是过完这激动人心的三年后要做什么。不过这个问题并不需要考虑，因为无论选择什么职业，都有一大堆公司排着队来聘用你。
那是过去英国大学生校园生活的情形，现在情况已经改变了。最近一项对英国各大跨国公司的研究表明，即使拥有一个优良的学位，大学生再也不可能一毕业就得到最好的工作了。今天的大学数量比30年前翻了一番，40%的年轻人接受高等教育。由于并不缺少大学毕业生，拥有一个优良的学位对找工作就变得尤其重要了。竞争很激烈，结果是如今的大学生花了比任何时候都要多的时间来复习功课，为那些可怕的期末考试做准备，做报酬低的兼职以偿还债务。
然而，这恰恰是问题之所在。英国二百多家公司的经理认为，学生花在学习或挣钱维持生计上的时间太多了。他们本应该去参加各种俱乐部，学习一些基本的技能，如团队合作和现场演示。这些经理还说，他们宁可让职位空缺，也不愿意聘请那些缺乏必要技能，无法在国际市场上占领商机的毕业生。
该怎么做才能解决这个问题呢？经理们相信，解决的办法就是在学位课程里增加社交能力的训练。有的大学已经开始这样做了，例如南安普敦大学历史系学生必须做一个为期十二周、六人一组协同工作的项目—通常与当地的生活有关。项目内容包括：做一次演示、写一篇集体论文、做一项公众服务—可以是给中、小学生讲课，或做一期有关中、小学教学的广播节目。
毫无疑问，这种合作学习法能帮助许多学生培养有助于改善就业前景的个人技能。公司在面试应聘者时使用的最有名的人格测试之一是“迈尔斯一布里格斯性格分类法”（简称MBTI），这种分类法把外向／内向性格两分法置于它所分析的人格特征列表之首。测试中没有“正确答案”，但是它认为：性格外向者更适合做团队工作或与他人打交道的工作。
南安普敦大学项目中同样有趣的一个理念是：学生应该关注比校园更广阔的社区，并设法为之做出自己的贡献。在当今越来越小的世界里，学生们越来越清楚地意识到大学并不是与社会现实问题完全脱钩的学术象牙塔。正相反，大学本身可以促使世界变得更加美好。在学学位课程之前、期间、之后，学生们都可以通过多种渠道成为志愿者。正如我们所知，大学课程需要学生花费大量的时间，一般人会选择腾出上大学前或大学毕业后的一年时间作为实践年。
通常，志愿者工作指帮助病人或老年人、在假日营里招待贫困儿童、在第三世界国家教书，或者做农业或环境研究项目。
对那些选择在这些方面施展才能的学生而言，还有个意外的收获：可以把他们获取的丰富经验写进个人履历里，而未来的雇主是不会不注意到这些经验的。不过提醒一句：你应该记住自己的首要目的是什么。曾经在巴布亚新几内亚工作了两年的谢恩·欧文指出：“志愿者的工作能教给你宝贵的职业技能，但我认为你不应该只想着通过志愿者工作来给自己的履历表增添光彩—你做志愿工作的主要原因是因为你想帮助别人。”
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