双语阅读｜The Needs and Desires 欲望如海 回头是岸

Once upon a time, there lived a King who, despite his luxurious lifestyle, was neither happy nor content. One day, the King came upon a servant who was singing happily while he worked. This fascinated the King, why was he, the Supreme Ruler of the Land, unhappy and gloomy, while a lowly servant had so much joy. The King asked the servant, “Why are you so happy?”

从前有位国王，尽管生活奢靡却不高兴也不满足。一天，国王遇到一个仆人，他边工作边快乐地唱着歌。这使国王着了迷，为啥身为一国之君，既不高兴又忧郁，而一个卑微的仆人却如此高兴。国王问仆人：“你为什么那么嗨皮？”

The man replied, “Your Majesty, I am nothing but a servant, but my family and I don’t need too much, just a roof over our heads and warm food to fill our tummies.” The king was not satisfied with that reply.

男子回答说：“ 陛下，我只是个仆人，但是我和我的家人并不需要太多，只需要一个遮风挡雨的地方，和热的食物果腹就行了。”国王对这个答案并不满意。

Later in the day, he sought the advice of his most trusted advisor. After hearing the King’s woes and the servant’s story, the advisor said, “Your Majesty, I believe that the servant has not been made part of the 99 Club.”

当天晚些时候，他寻求了他最值得信赖的顾问的建议。在听完国王的苦楚和仆人的故事后，顾问说：“ 陛下呀，我相信仆人并没有加入99俱乐部。”

“The 99 Club? And what exactly is that?” the King inquired. The advisor replied, “Your Majesty, to truly know what The 99 Club is, place 99 Gold coins in a bag and leave it at this servant’s doorstep.” So the King ordered to do it. When the servant saw the bag, he took it into his house. When he opened the bag, he let out a great shout of joy, So many gold coins!

“ 99俱乐部？那是什么鬼？”国王问。顾问说：“ 陛下，要想真正知道99俱乐部是什么，就将99个金币放在一个袋子里，然后放置在仆人家门口。”于是国王下令这样做了。当仆人看到袋子时，就把它带进了屋子里。当他打开袋子时，高兴地大声叫了出来，好多金币啊！

He began to count them. After several counts, he was at last convinced that there were 99 coins. He wondered, “What could’ve happened to that last gold coin? Surely, no one would leave 99 coins!”

他开始数起来。多次计算后，他确信有99个硬币。他想知道，“应该没有人会只留下99个硬币，剩下那最后一个是闹怎样？”

He looked everywhere he could, but that final coin was elusive. Finally, exhausted, he decided that he was going to have to work harder than ever to earn that gold coin and complete his collection. From that day, the servant’s life was changed. He was overworked, horribly grumpy, and castigated his family for not helping him make that 100th gold coin.

虽然到处都看了，但最后那枚硬币还是难以找到。最终找的他筋疲力尽，他决定比以往更加努力工作，为了赚取那枚金币，完成他的收藏。从那天起，仆人的生活发生了变化。他劳累过度，变得脾气暴躁，并因家人没能帮他得到第100枚金币而责怪他们。

He stopped singing while he worked. Witnessing this drastic transformation, the King was puzzled. When he sought his advisor’s help, the advisor said, “Your Majesty, the servant has now officially joined The 99 Club.”

他工作时不再唱歌。国王见证了这种急剧的转变，感到困惑。当他寻求顾问的帮助时，顾问说：“ 陛下，仆人现已正式加入99俱乐部了。”

He continued, “The 99 Club is a name given to those people who have enough to be happy but are never content, because they’re always yearning and striving for that extra 1 telling to themselves, “Let me get that one final thing and then I will be happy for life.”

他继续说道：“ 99俱乐部的名字是给那些有足够的快乐却从不满足的人取的名字，因为他们总是渴望并努力争取那额外的1个东西，并告诉自己，”让我得到最后一个东西，我将一生感到幸福。”

Moral: We can be happy, even with very little in our lives, but the minute we’re given something bigger and better, we want even more! We lose our sleep, our happiness, we hurt the people around us, all these as a price for our growing needs and desires. We must learn to maintain a balance of our needs and desires to enjoy a happy life with what we already have.

道理：即使生活中得到的很少，我们也可以幸福，但是当我们得到更大更好的东西时，我们想要的就更多！我们会失眠，失去幸福，伤害周围的人，所有这些都是我们不断增长的需求和欲望的代价。我们必须学会平衡我们的需求和欲望，以享受我们已经拥有的幸福生活。