Question

Whether work should be placed among the causes of happiness or among the causes of

unhappiness may perhaps be regarded as a doubtful question. There is certainly much work

which is exceedingly irksome and an excess of work is always very painful. However, work is not

to most people less painful than idleness. There are in work all grades, from mere relief to

tedium up to the profoundest, delights, according to the nature of the work and the abilities of

the worker. Most of the work that most people have to do is not in itself interesting, but even

such work has certain great advantages.

To begin with, it feels a good many hours of the day without the need of deciding what one

shall do. Most people, when they are left free to fill their own time according to their own

choice are at a loss to think of anything sufficiently pleasant to be worth doing. And whatever

they decide on, they are troubled by the feeling that something else would have been

pleasanter. To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last Product of civilisation and at present

very few people have reached this level. Moreover, the exercise of choice is in itself tiresome.

Except to people with unusual initiative it is positively agreeable to be told what to do at each

hour of the day, provided the orders are not too unpleasant. Most of the idle rich suffer

unspeakable boredom as the price of their freedom from drudgery. At the times they may find

relief by hunting big game In Africa or by flying round the world, but the number of such

sensation is limited, especially after youth is past. Accordingly, the more intelligent rich men

work nearly as hard as if they were poor.

Work therefore is desirable, first and foremost as a prevention of boredom, for boredom that a

man feels when he is doing something out of compulsion ‘, thought UN interesting work is as

boring as having nothing to do.

With this Advantage, of work another is associated, namely that it makes holiday much more

delicious when they come. Provided a man does not have to work so hard as hard to imperil his

vigour, he is likely to find far more zest in the free item that an idle man could possibly find.

The second Advantage of most paid work and some of unpaid work is that gives chances of

success and opportunities for ambition. In most work, success is measured by income and,

while our capitalistic society continue, this is inevitable. However, dull work may be, it becomes

bearable, if it is a means of building up a reputation. Continuity of purpose is one of the most

essential of happiness and that comes chiefly through their work.

2.1) On the basis of your reading of the passage, make notes on it using headings and sub

headings. Also use recognisable abbreviations wherever necessary (​

Answer 1

Answer:

Whether work should be placed among the causes of happiness or among the causes of unhappiness may perhaps be regarded as a doubtful question. There is certainly much work which is exceedingly irksome, and an excess of work is always very painful. However, work is not, to most people, more painful than idleness.