你也许认为:我给自己的人生树立了一个不可挑战的目标.
Not so. The meaning of life is pretty straightforward to state. Your life has whatever meaning you give to it. So the question becomes: what do people say gives their lives meaning? That's easy enough to measure and psychologists have done exactly that.
事实并非如此.其实生命的意义是一种非常直白的表述.你的人生意义在于你付予了它什么.那么现在问题来了:什么是人们口中常说的生命的意思呢?心理学家已经准确的将一些权衡标准制定了出来.
Baumeister and Vohs (2002) have synthesised four factors. When people are asked, the more they report each of these four factors being fulfilled, the more meaningful their lives feel:
Baumeister and Vohs (2002) 已经罗列出4个因素.在被调查者中,下面四个因素被认真执行得越多,他们的人生就越有意义.
Purpose - this could be living happily ever after, going to heaven or even (whisper it) found at work. Whatever it is, meaning in life comes from reaching goals and feeling fulfilled. Even though fulfilment is hard to achieve because the state fades, people need purpose.
目标--无论是在生活中,抑或是在通往成功的路上,目标，让人比以往更加快乐的活着.不管你的目标是什么,只要有了它,你就会不断的朝着你的目标努力并且过得相当充实.尽管时光会流逝，满足感并非易于得到，人仍然需要目标
Values - people need a moral structure to work out what is right and what is wrong. There are plenty to choose from: some come from religion, others from philosophy and still others from your friends and family.
价值观：人们需要制定出一个道德准则来评定对与错。而这些准则可以来源于宗教，哲学，抑或是家庭和朋友
Efficacy - people want to make a difference and have some control over their environment. Without that, the meaning of life is reduced.
3效率：人们都希望与众不同，并有能力掌控环境，如果没有这些，那么生命的意义便会被削弱
Self-worth - we all want to feel we're good and worthwhile people. We can do this individually or by hitching ourselves to a worthy cause. Either way we need to be able to view ourselves in a positive light.
自我价值：我们都希望自己很好并做个有价值的人。无论何种方式，我们都要有能力从正面的角度看待自己。
So, there you have it: the meaning of life in under 300 words.
因此,这里有一个差不多300字的对生命意义的概括.
Two words of warning. Firstly, it can be difficult to get all these things in the same place, although not impossible. We use family, work, hobbies and other things to fulfil our need for meaning. Secondly, a meaningful life is probably necessary to be happy, but it isn't sufficient.
有两点是提醒。首先，尽管同时做到以上这些准则是有可能的，但却是很难的。我们可以通过家庭，工作，爱好等来履行并实现生活的意义。其次，快乐对于有意义的生活来说是必须的，但仅快乐又是不够的。
What meaning do you give to your life?
那么,请问你给你的生命付予了什么意义呢?