TEXT A The way people cling to
the belief that a full-filled, pain-free life equals happiness actually
diminishes their chances of ever attaining real happiness. If fun and pleasure
are equated with happiness, then pain must be equated with unhappiness. But, in
fact, the opposite is true: more times than not, things that lead to happiness
involve some pain. As a result, many people avoid the very
endeavors that are the source of true happiness. They fear the pain inevitably
brought by such things as marriage, raising children, professional achievement,
religious commitment, civic or charitable work, self-improvement.
Ask a bachelor why he resists marriage even though he finds dating to be
less and less satisfying. If he’s honest, he will tell you that he is afraid of
making a commitment. For commitment is in fact quite painful. The single life is
filled with fun, adventure, excitement. Marriage has such moments, but they are
not its most distinguishing features. Similarly, couples who
choose not to have children are deciding in favor of painless fun over painful
happiness. They can dine out whenever they feel like and sleep as late as they
wish. Couples with infant children are lucky to get a whole night’s sleep or a
three-day vacation. I don’t know any parent who would choose the word fun to
describe raising children. Understanding and accepting that true
happiness has nothing to do with fun is one of the most liberating realizations
we ever come to. It liberates time: now we can devote more hours to activities
that can genuinely increase our happiness. It liberates money: buy that new car
or those fancy clothes that will do nothing to increase our happiness now seems
pointless. And it liberates us from envy: we now understand that all those rich
and glamorous people we were so sure are happy because they are always having so
much fun actually may not be happy at all. The moment we understand that fun
does not bring happiness, we begin to live differently. The effect can be, quite
literally, life-transforming. If one knows the true sense of happiness, he will ______.
A．surely try his best to get the meaning of pain B．make the best use of his time increasing happiness C．probably spend much of his money on the public interest D．know how the rich families are getting on with their lives