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Work therefore is desirable, first and foremost, as a preventive of boredom, for the boredomthat a man feels when he is doing necessary though uninteresting work is as nothing in comparison with the boredom that he feels when he has nothing to do with his days. With this advantage of work another is associated, namely that it makes holidays much more delicious when they come. Provided a man does not have to work so hard as to weaken his vigor, he is likely to find far more zest in his free time than an idle man could possibly find.
因此，工作可取之处首先就在于它能防止无聊，因为，一个人在从事虽然乏味但是必要的工作时所感到的厌倦，与他终日无所事事而感到的无聊相比，就算不得什么了。与工作的这一好处相联系的另一个好处是，工作使得节假日过起来更加滋味无穷。只要一个人不必工作得体竭力衰，他在空闲时间玩起来就会兴致勃勃，远非空闲的人可比。
The second advantage of most paid work and of some unpaid work is that it gives chances of success and opportunities for ambition. In most work success is measured by income,and while our capitalistic society continues, this is inevitable. It is only where the best work is concerned that this measure ceases to be the natural one to apply. The desire that men feel to increase their income is quite as much a desire for success as for the extra comforts that a higher income can obtain. However dull work may be，it becomes bearable if it isa means of building up reputation, whether in the world at large or only in one's own circle. Continuity of purpose is one of the most essential ingredients of happiness in the longrun, and for most men this comes chiefly through their work. In this respect those women whose lives are occupied with housework are much less fortunate than men, or than women who work outside the home. The domesticated wife does not receive wages, has no means of bettering herself, is taken for granted by her husband (who sees practically nothing of what she does), and is valued by him not for her housework but for quite other qualities. Of coursethis does not apply to those women who are sufficiently well-to-do to make beautiful houses and beautiful gardens and become the envy of their neighbors; but such women are comparatively few, and for the great majority housework cannot bring as much satisfaction as work of other kinds brings to men and to professional women.
大多数有报酬的工作以及某些没有报酬的工作的第二个好处是，工作带来成功和施展抱负的机会。大多数工作是以报酬来衡量成功的，只要我们的资本主义社会继续存在下去，这是不可避免的。只有在衡量最佳工作时，这一标准才不再是自然适用的。人们想增加收入的欲望同人们追求成功和高收入带来额外享受的欲望是一样的。无论所从事的工作多么单调乏味，只要它有助于自己在社会上，或仅仅在个人的小圈子里树立声誉，那也是可以忍受的。目标的连续性是最终获得幸福的最重要的因素之一，对大多数人来说，这主要来自他们的工作。就这点而言，那些整天忙于家务的妇女远不及男人或外出工作的妇女幸运。操持家务的太太领不到工资，无法自我提高，在丈夫看来，做妻子的就应该是这样(他对她所做的一切根本熟视无睹），他不是以她的家务工作，而是以别的素质来评估她。当然这不适用于那些家境相当富裕的妇女，她们将房子装点得漂漂亮亮，将花园点缀得美丽非凡，她们是左邻右舍羡慕的对象，但这样的妇女相比之下比较少。对大多数人而言，家务活不能像其他工作能给男人和职业妇女那样带来那么多的满足。
