【正确答案】
   The saying "Misfortune rather than prosperity helps people to gain a greater understanding of themselves and the world around them." indicates that people can benefit from hardship and misfortune. In my opinion, the saying holds true in many circumstances.
   For one thing, adversity helps us get a better understanding of ourselves. Without hardship and misfortune, we may never discover what we are truly capable of; without pains and traumas, we may never make adjustments to our values. For another, adversity helps us gain a better understanding of the world around us. I remember clearly a Chinese movie entitled A World Without Thieves, in which a naive migrant worker carries sixty thousand of cash with him traveling in a train because he simply doesn't believe there are thieves around him. In today's world, if we are never exposed to the harsh reality that evils lurk in every corner, our childish fantasy about the world will one day ruin us.
   Thus, adversity will help us discover who we are and what the world is like.