27. Should people sometimes do things that they do not enjoy doing?

We live in a world in which every one wants to be successful. Nothing is wrong about the desire to be No. 1, and there is no doubt that being successful is enjoyable. Nevertheless, it is somewhat childish to think we can be finally successful by only doing what we enjoy doing. People often are amazed by the glorious appearance of a skyscraper, however they at the same time forget the fact that the skyscraper had taken a long time to construct, maybe much longer time to design, and possibly even cost people's lives during the constructing process!

We may categorize things into two groups, the enjoyable and the unenjoyable; at the same time, another category can be made: the necessary and the unnecessary. The point is, things that are necessary are not always enjoyable and things that are enjoyable sometimes may be unnecessary. Doing things that are necessary rather than those that are merely enjoyable is not only helpful, but might also be indispensable for individual success. We all admire even envy those who now have attained great achievements, such those famous stars as Jacky Chen, Jet Li. We should, however, be aware of the exorbitant prices they have paid for their present glories. Jacky Chen once told that when he was still a teenager, he and his partners were required to practice more than 12 hours a day; and it was said that Jet Li was sent to be an apprentice when he was hardly four years old! Apparently, those seemingly cruel hardships have turned out to be the best gifts later. But for yesterday's struggle, today's glories could not exist.

Things that are both enjoyable and necessary or both unenjoyable and unnecessary virtually seldom exist. We may dislike some curriculums in university, such as mathematics or history, but they are necessary; we may prefer leisure times to work days, but the latter are indispensable. Pursuing a successful life is nothing more than making wise decisions, and by"wise"we mean the choice of doing the necessary first.

译文

27. 人们有时应该做自己不喜欢的事吗？

我们生活在一个人人都想获得成功的世界里。想成为第一名的愿望并没什么错，但是如果认为只做自己喜欢做的事就能在最后获得成功，那就未免有点幼稚了。人们经常对摩天大楼那辉煌的外表感到惊诧，但是同时他们忘了摩天大楼是花了很长时间才建起来的，或许设计时间花得更长。而且在建造过程中甚至可能有人会献出生命。

我们可以把事情分为两类：令人愉快的和不令人愉快的；同时还有另外一种分法：必要的和不必要的。问题在于，必要的东西并不总是令人愉快的，而令人愉快的东西有时却是不必要的。做必要的事而不是仅仅令人愉快的事不仅会有所帮助，而且也对个人的成功是不可或缺的。我们都羡慕甚至嫉妒那些现在取得重大成就的人，如成龙、李连杰那些明星。然而我们必须认识到，他们为现在的辉煌所付出的过度代价。成龙说当他们还是十几岁的孩子的时候，他和他的伙伴要每天训练超过12小时；据说李连杰在不到4岁的时候就被送去当学徒了。显然，那些看似残酷的艰苦努力多年之后转变成了最好的才能。要不是昨天的奋斗，今天的辉煌就不会存在。

实际上既令人愉快又必要的事和既不令人愉快又不必要的事几乎都不存在。我们会不喜欢大学里的一些课程，比如数学或历史，但它们是必要的；我们可能更喜欢休闲的时光而不是工作日，但后者是不可或缺的。实现成功的生活不外乎作出明智的选择，“明智”是指首先选择做那些必要的事。

Word List

• glorious ［ˈglɔ:riəs］ adj. 光荣的，显赫的
• skyscraper ［ˈskaiˌskreipə］ n. 摩天楼
• construct ［kənˈstrʌkt］ vt. 建造
• categorize ［ˈkætigəˌraiz］ v. 分类
• indispensable ［ˌindiˈspensəbl］adj. 不可缺少的，绝对必要的
• exorbitant ［igˈzɔ:bitənt］adj. 过度的，过高的，昂贵的
• apprentice ［əˈprentis］ n. 学徒
• apparently ［əˈpærəntli］ adv. 显然地
• virtually ［ˈvə:tuəli］ adv. 事实上，实质上