Sometimes I wonder what I'm doing here, I admit it.

我承认，有时候我不了解自己在这里做什么。

While I have come to Italy in order to experience pleasure, during the first few weeks I washere, I felt a bit of panic as to how one should do that. Frankly, pure pleasure is not my cultural paradigm. I come from a long line of superconscientious people. My mother's family were Swedish immigrant farmers, who look in their photographs like, if they'd ever even seen something pleasurable, they might have stomped on it with their hobnailed boots. (My uncle calls the whole lot of them "oxen.") My father's side of the family were English Puritans, those great goofy lovers of fun. If I look on my dad's family tree all the way back to the seventeenth century, I can actually find Puritan relatives with names like Diligence and Meekness.

我来意大利是为了体验快乐，但我到这里的头几个星期却提心吊胆，不知该如何做。老实说，纯粹的快乐，并非我的文化概念。我来自一个世世代代超级勤勉的家系。我母亲的家族是务农的瑞典移民，相片里的他们看起来像是，他们若看见任何令人快乐的东西，就用脚上的钉靴一脚踩上去（我舅舅把他们统称为耕牛）。我的父方家族是英国清教徒，拙于吃喝玩乐。假使把我的父方族谱一路回 溯到17世纪，我确实能找到名叫勤勉和谦恭的清教徒亲戚。

My own parents have a small farm, and my sister and I grew up working. We were taught to be dependable, responsible, the top of our classes at school, the most organized and efficient babysitters in town, the very miniature models of our hardworking farmer/nurse of a mother, a pair of junior Swiss Army knives, born to multitask. We had a lot of enjoyment in my family, a lot of laughter, but the walls were papered with to-do lists and I never experienced or witnessed idleness, not once in my whole entire life.

我自己的父母有个小农场，我姐姐和我在工作中长大。我们学会可靠、负责，在班上名列前茅，是镇上最一丝不茍、最有效率的保姆，是我们那位刻苦耐劳的农人／护士母亲的缩影，一对年幼的瑞士刀，天生擅于多种任务。我们在家中拥有许多快乐与欢笑，但墙上贴满工作清单，因此我从未体验 或目睹游手好闲，这辈子从未有过。

Generally speaking, though, Americans have an inability to relax into sheer pleasure. Ours is an entertainment-seeking nation, but not necessarily a pleasure-seeking one. Americans spend billions to keep themselves amused with everything from porn to theme parks to wars, but that's not exactly the same thing as quiet enjoyment. Americans work harder and longer and more stressful hours than anyone in the world today. But as Luca Spaghetti pointed out, we seem to like it. Alarming statistics back this observation up, showing that many Americans feel more happy and fulfilled in their offices than they do in their own homes. Of course, we all inevitably work too hard, then we get burned out and have to spend the whole weekend in our pajamas, eating cereal straight out of the box and staring at the TV in a mild coma (which is the opposite of working, yes, but not exactly the same thing as pleasure). Americans don't really know how to do nothing. This is the cause of that great sad American stereotype—the overstressed executive who goes on vacation, but who cannot relax.

尽管一般说来，美国人无法放松享受全然的快乐。我们是寻求娱乐的国家，却不见得是寻求快乐的国家。美国人花费数亿元逗乐自己，从色情、主题乐园到战争，却和平静的享受不相干。美国人比世上任何人工作得更卖力、更久、更紧张。正如卢卡•斯帕盖蒂所说，我们似乎乐此不疲。令人担忧的统计数字支持此一观察，显示许多美国人在公司比在自己家里的时候感觉更快乐、更满足。没错，我们无疑都工作得太卖力，而后筋疲力竭，必须整个周末身穿睡衣、直接从盒子里拿粟米片出来吃，头脑呆滞地盯着电视看（没错，跟工作正好对立，但跟快乐可不算同一回事）。美国人不懂得如何无所事事。这是可悲的美国典型 ——压力过度的即便去度假，却无法放松的起因。

I once asked Luca Spaghetti if Italians on vacation have that same problem. He laughed so hard he almost drove his motorbike into a fountain.

我曾经问过卢卡，度假的意大利人是否有相同的问题。

"Oh, no!" he said. "We are the masters of bel far niente."

他捧腹大笑，几乎把摩托车撞上喷泉。喔，没有！他说我们是‘bel far niente’的能手。

This is a sweet expression. Bel far niente means "the beauty of doing nothing." Now listen—Italians have traditionally always been hard workers, especially those long-suffering laborers known as braccianti (so called because they had nothing but the brute strength of their arms—braccie—to help them survive in this world). But even against that backdrop of hard work, bel far niente has always been a cherished Italian ideal. The beauty of doing nothing is the goal of all your work, the final accomplishment for which you are most highly congratulated. The more exquisitely and delightfully you can do nothing, the higher your life's achievement. You don't necessarily need to be rich in order to experience this, either. There's another wonderful Italian expression: l'arte d'arrangiarsi—the art of making something out of nothing. The art of turning a few simple ingredients into a feast, or a few gathered friends into a festival. Anyone with a talent for happiness can do this, not only the rich.

这是个漂亮的措辞。bel far niente是无所事事之美的意思。听我道来——传统来说，意大利人自古以来一直存在着勤奋工作的人，尤其是那些长期受苦的劳动者，即所谓braccianti（因为他们除了手臂［braccie］的蛮力能帮助他们幸存于世之外，别无所有，故名）。但即使在艰苦劳动的背景下，无所事事始终是大家抱持的一个意大利梦想。无所事事的美好，是你全部工作的目标，是你备受祝贺的最后成果。你愈是闲暇舒适地无所事事，你的生活成就便愈高。你也不见得要有钱才能体验其中的奥妙。另有一个美妙的意大利措辞：l'arte d'rrangiarsi——无中生有的艺术。将几种简单配料变成一场盛宴，或是几个聚在一起的朋友变成一场喜庆的艺术。任何有快乐天赋的人都能上手，这并非有钱人的玩意儿。