财富与幸福

毫无疑问，尤其是在现代社会里，财富带来幸福。各种现代化的家用电器、时装和娱乐层出不穹、日新月异。这一切使我们的生活更为舒适、丰富多彩。因此，没有金钱，我们就无法把羡慕变成现实。

但是当财富脱离了幸福，就会产生各种例外。财富可以促使意志薄弱者养成恶习，如吸毒或赌博，并导致他们自身的毁灭。此外，如果一个人一心追求财富并沉溺于奢侈的生活，他就会失去理智、误入岐途。例如，甚至还有一些政府官员利用他们的职位向求助者索贿。所有这些都会产生财富的负面效应，如果我们不能正确对待财富的话。

依我看，无论如何我们也不能把财富和幸福等同起来。我还认为人们永远也不应该只依仗财富去获得幸福。

Wealth has always been what some people long for. It is true that most of them try to acquire wealth by means of honest labour. Their efforts contribute to the welfare of the society and at the same time to the accumulation of their wealth， and hence to their happiness.

There is no doubt that wealth brings happiness， especially in the modern society. Various kinds of up-to-date ho

usehold appliances， latest fashions and recreations make their appearance with each passing day. All this makes our life more comfortable and colourful. Therefore， without money we cannot turn admiration into reality.

But there are exceptions when wealth does not go hand in hand with happiness. Wealth may tempt weak-willed persons to be addicted to harmful habits， such as drug-taking and gambling， and result in their own ruin. Besides， a person may lose his even some government officials who take advantage of their positions to take bribes from the people turning to them for help. All these will bring about the negative effect of wealth if we don't take a proper attitude to it.

In my opinion， on no account can we identify wealth with happiness. I also believe that one should never reckon only on wealth to achieve happiness.

Living standards have soared during the twentieth century, and economists expect them to continue rising in the decades

ahead. Does that mean that we humans can look forward to increasing Happiness?

人们的生活水平在20世纪飞速提高，经济学家预计在未来的几十年里，人们的生活水平还会进一步提高。这是否意味着我们人类的日子有望越过越幸福呢？

Not necessarily, warns Richard A. Easterlin, an economist at the University of Southern California, in his new book, Growth Triumphant: The Twenty-first Century in Historical

Perspective. Easterlin concedes that richer people are more likely to report themselves as being happy than poorer people are. But steady improvements in the American economy have not been accompanied by steady increases in people's

self-assessments of their own Happiness. \"There has been not improvement in average Happiness in the United States over almost a half century----a period in which real GDP per capita more than doubled,\" Easterlin reports.

未必如此，南加州大学一位经济学家理查德?A?伊斯特林在其新书《增长的胜利：从历史的视角展望21世纪》中如是告诫世人。他承认，一般来说，富人比穷人更有可能称自己是幸福的。然而，美国人对幸福感的自我评价并未伴随着美国经济稳步发展而有所提高。伊斯特林指出：“过去近半个世纪中，美国的实际人均国内生产总值增加了2倍多，而人们并未感到比以往更幸福。”

The explanation for this paradox may be that people become less satisfied over time with a given level of income. In Easterlin's word: \"As incomes rise, the aspiration level does too, and the effect of this increase in aspirations is to vitiate the expected growth in Happiness due to higher income.\" 对于这种自相矛盾的现象也许可作如下解释，随着时间的推移，人们对一定的收入会越来越不满。用伊斯特林的话来说：“收入增加了，人们的期望值也相应提高了，期望值的提高会抵消收入提高所带来的预期有所增加的幸福感。 Money can buy Happiness, Easterlin seems to be saying, but only if one's amounts get bigger and other people aren't getting more. His analysis helps to explain sociologist Lee Rainwater's finding that Americans' perception of the income \"necessary to get along\" rose between 1950 and 1986 in the same proportion as actual per capita income. We feel rich if we have more than our neighbors, poor if we have less, and feeling relatively well off is equated with being happy.

伊斯特林似乎在说，金钱可以买来幸福，但这只有在自己金钱不断增多，而别人收入不变的情况才会如此。他的分析有助于人们理解社会学家李?雷恩沃特的调查结果----从1950年到1986年，在美国持收入“必须维持基本生活”观念的人随着实际人均收入的增加而同比增长。如果收入比邻居多，我们就会感到自己富有；反之，则觉得自己贫穷。由此可见，人们把幸福感与相对富裕程度等同起来。

Easterlin's findings, challenge psychologist Abraham Maslow's \"hierarchy of wants\" as a reliable guide to future human motivation.Maslow suggested that as people's basic material wants are satisfied they seek to achieve nonmaterial or spiritual goals. But Easterlin's evidence points to the persistence of materialism.

伊斯特林的调查结果向心理理学家亚伯拉罕?马斯洛的“需要等级体系”理论提出了挑战，该理论为人类未来的动机提供了可靠指南。马斯洛认为：一旦人们的基本物质需求得到满足后，就会转而追求更高层次的精神需求。但伊斯特林的论证却指出人类的物欲永无止境。

\"Despite a general level of affluence never before realized in the history of the world.\" Easterlin observes, \"Material concerns in the wealthiest nations today are as pressing as ever and the pursuit of material need as intense.\" The evidence suggests there is no evolution toward higher order goals. Rather, each step upward on the ladder of economic

development merely stimulates new economic desires that lead the chase ever onward. Economists are accustomed to deflating the money value of national income by the average level of prices to obtain \"real\" income. The process here is

similar----real income is being deflated by rising material aspiration, in this case to yield essentially constant

subjective economic well-being. While it would be pleasant to envisage a world free from the pressure of material want, a more realistic projection, based on the evidence, is of a world in which generation after generation thinks it needs only another 10% to 20% more income to be perfectly happy.

伊斯特林还评述到：“尽管人类历史上从未实现过普遍水平的富裕，但今日最富有的那些国家对物质的关注还是那么迫切，对物质需要的追求还是那样的强烈。”这表明人类并未朝更高层次的精神目标进展。更确切地说，经济发展每上一个台阶只会刺激新的经济需求，进而促进经济持续向前发展。经济学家通常用国民收入的货币价值减去平均物价上涨额度来计算“实际”收入。同样，人们日益增长的物质欲望，在此主要是持续不断对经济富裕的主观要求，削减了实际收入。虽然设想一个没有物欲压力的世界是件惬意的事，但一个基于事实的更为现实的想法是设想在这样一个世界里，世世代代的人们都认为只要将收入再提高10%----20%，就可达到无比幸福的境界。

Needs are limited, but not greeds. science has developed no cure for envy, so our wealth boosts our Happiness only briefly while shrinking that of our neighbors. Thus the outlook for the future is gloomy in Easterlin's view.\"The future, then, to which the epoch of modern economic growth is leading is one of never ending economic growth, a world in which ever growing abundance is matched by ever rising aspirations, a world in which cultural difference is leveled in the constant race to

achieve the goods life of material plenty, it is a world founded on belief in science and the power of rational inquiry and in the ultimate capacity of humanity to shape its own destiny. The irony is that in this last respect the lesson of history appears to be otherwise: that there is no choice. In the end, the triumph of economic growth is not a triumph of humanity over material wants; rather, it is the triumph of material wants over humanity.\"

需求是有极限的，而贪欲却无止境。科学再进步也尚未研制出治疗嫉妒的良药，因此只有当我们的财富让邻居相形见绌的时候，我们才会感到片刻的幸福。所以在伊斯特林看来，未来的前景不容乐观：“当今经济发展的趋势告诉我们，未来经济会不断发展、永不停歇，未来世界会是一个财富不断增长而欲望节节上升的世界；一个为达到富裕不断角逐而导致文化差异尽失的世界；一个建立在信仰科学和智力并相信人类有最大的能力塑造自己命运的世界。具有讽刺意味的是，在最后一点上，历史的经验教训似乎告诉我们事物的发展并非如此：人类别无选择，并不能掌握自己的命运。最后，经济发展的结果不是人性战胜物欲，而是物欲战胜人性。”

财富和幸福 Wealth and Happiness作者:admin 来源:互联网 时间:2011-12-31

Everybody wants to get wealth. In today’s material world, making money or becoming wealthy symbolizes a person’s success and capability. Many people just make every effort, pay any price to attain greater wealth. With money, they can but nice, large apartments in nice neighborhood; with money, they can own stately luxury cars. Wealth seems with money, they can own stately luxury cars. Wealth seems to bring all happiness in life.

In my opinion, people cannot do anything without money, but money is not everything. What money will bring you depends on your personal belief and goal in life. If you are kind enough to help others, especially the poor, money is a good thing to you. With it, you can do much more for the benefit of people and your country, and it will and to your own happiness.

If you want money just for your own needs, you’ll never be satisfied or happy. In a word, you should have money spent for

more people, only then can money be the source of your happiness.

幸福是否可以用金钱购买？作者:admin 来源:互联网 时间:2011-11-23 幸福是否可以用金钱购买？不可能！但是不是钱多一点我们就会更开心一点呢？对此，大多数人一定微笑赞同。我们相信，收入的富足与舒适的生活感受之间有着某种联系。几乎所有人都会说，是的，我希望变得富有。而目前有四分之三的美国大学生都认为，过上“十分富裕”的生活是“非常重要”和“必不可少”的。钱的作用的确不小。

Does money buy happiness? No! Ah, but would a little more money make us a little happier? Many of us smirk and nod. There is, we believe, some connection between fiscal fitness and feeling fantastic. Most of us would say that, yes, we would like to be rich. Three in four American collegians now consider it “very important” or “essential” that they become “very well off financially”. Money matters.

但 是，富人就一定更快乐吗？研究人员发现，在一些贫穷的国家，相对而言比较富裕确实会使人过得更幸福一些。我们需要食物、住所、休息和社会关系。然

而，人们 惊讶地发现，在那些几乎所有人都衣食无忧的国家里，财富的增加所产生的效果微乎其微。收入与幸福之间的关联“惊人得微弱”。一旦生活舒适，钱所带来的收益 便呈现递减趋势。得到的第二笔十万美元就像吃到的第二只派，尝起来永远都不如第一只那么美味。即使那些彩票得主和福布斯排名前一百的富人们也并没有比一般 的美国人更开心多少。飞黄腾达只能带来暂时的喜悦。从长远来说，财富就像健康一样，失去它的人定会感到不幸，而拥有它的人却未必一定幸福。

Well, are rich people happier? Researchers have found that in poor countries, being relatively well off does make for greater well-being. We need food, rest, shelter and social contact. But a surprising fact of life is that in countries where nearly everyone can afford life’s necessities, increasing affluence matters surprisingly little. The correlation between income and happiness is “surprisingly weak”. Once comfortable, more money provides diminishing returns. The second piece of pie, or the second $100,000, never tastes as good as the first. Even lottery winners and the Forbes’ 100 wealthiest Americans have expressed only slightly greater happiness than the average American. Making it big brings temporary joy. But in the long run, wealth is like health: its utter absence can breed misery, but having it doesn’t guarantee happiness.

第4单元财富和幸福 Wealth has always been what some people long for. It is true that most of them try to acquire wealth by means of honest labour. Their efforts contribute to the welfare of the society and at the same time to the accumulation of their wealth, and hence to their happiness.

There is no doubt that wealth brings happiness, especially in the modern society. Various kinds of up-to-date household appliances, latest fashions and recreations make their

appearance with each passing day. All this makes our life more comfortable and colourful. Therefore, without money we cannot turn admiration into reality.

But there are exceptions when wealth does not go hand in hand with happiness. Wealth may tempt weak-willed persons to be addicted to harmful habits, such as drug-taking and gambling, and result in their own ruin. Besides, a person may lose his even some government officials who take advantage of their positions to take bribes from the people turning to them for help. All these will bring about the negative effect of wealth if we don’t take a proper attitude to it. In my opinion, on no account can we identify wealth with happiness. I also believe that one should never reckon only on wealth to achieve

happiness.Many people think that wealth is the most important thing in the world because they can buy whatever they like when they have money. As far as i am concerned, happiness is more important than money. We can buy the things we like, but we can't buy love and friendship. Happiness can make us live better and longer.