2014年考研英语二阅读 Text 1 原文翻译及答案解析

What would you do with $590m? This is now a question for Gloria MacKenzie, an 84-year-old widow who recently emerged from her small, tin-roofed house in Florida to collect the biggest undivided lottery jackpot in history. If she hopes her new-found fortune will yield lasting feelings of fulfilment, she could do worse than read Happy Money by Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton.

你会如何处理5.9亿美元？这现在是Gloria MacKenzie面临的问题，她是一位84岁的寡妇，最近从她佛罗里达州的小锡顶房屋出来，领取了历史上最大的未分割彩票头奖。如果她希望新获得的财富能带来持久的满足感，她不妨读一读Elizabeth Dunn和Michael Norton的《快乐金钱》。

These two academics use an array of behavioral research to show that the most rewarding ways to spend money can be counterintuitive. Fantasies of great wealth often involve visions of fancy cars and extravagant homes. Yet satisfaction with these material purchases wears off fairly quickly. What was once exciting and new becomes old-hat; regret creeps in. It is far better to spend money on experiences, say Ms Dunn and Mr Norton, like interesting trips, unique meals or even going to the cinema. These purchases often become more valuable with time - as stories or memories - particularly if they involve feeling more connected to others.

这两位学者利用一系列行为研究表明，最有益的花钱方式可能违背直觉。对巨大财富的幻想常常涉及豪车和豪宅的愿景。然而，对这些物质购买的满足感消退得相当快。曾经令人兴奋和新颖的事物变得过时；遗憾悄然滋生。Dunn女士和Norton先生说，花钱在体验上要好得多，比如有趣的旅行、独特的餐食，甚至去看电影。这些购买随着时间的推移往往变得更有价值——作为故事或记忆——尤其是如果它们涉及感觉与他人更紧密的联系。

This slim volume is packed with tips to help wage slaves as well as lottery winners get the most "happiness bang for your buck." It seems most people would be better off if they could shorten their commutes to work, spend more time with friends and family and less of it watching television (something the average American spends a whopping two months a year doing, and is hardly jollier for it). Buying gifts or giving to charity is often more pleasurable than purchasing things for oneself, and luxuries are most enjoyable when they are consumed sparingly. This is apparently the reason McDonald's restricts the availability of its popular McRib — a marketing trick that has turned the pork sandwich into an object of obsession.

这本薄薄的书充满了帮助工薪阶层和彩票赢家获得最大“幸福回报”的技巧。似乎如果大多数人能缩短通勤时间，花更多时间与朋友和家人相处，减少看电视的时间（普通美国人平均每年花两个月时间看电视，却几乎不会因此更快乐），他们会过得更好。购买礼物或捐赠给慈善机构通常比为自己购买东西更愉快，奢侈品在节制消费时最令人享受。这显然是麦当劳限制其受欢迎的麦当劳肋排供应的原因——一种营销技巧，将猪肉三明治变成了痴迷的对象。

Readers of Happy Money are clearly a privileged lot, anxious about fulfilment, not hunger. Money may not quite buy happ iness, but people in wealthier countries are generally happier than those in poor ones. Yet the link between feeling good and spending money on others can be seen among rich and poor people around the world, and scarcity e呻ances the pleasure of most things for most people. Not everyone will agree with the authors' policy ideas, which range from mandating more holiday time to reducing tax incentives for American homebuyers. But most p eop le will come away from this book believing it was money well sp ent.

《快乐金钱》的读者显然是特权阶层，关心的是满足感而非饥饿。金钱或许不能完全买到幸福，但富裕国家的人们通常比贫穷国家的更幸福。然而，在全球范围内，富人和穷人中都能看到感觉良好与为他人花钱之间的联系，而且稀缺性对大多数人来说增强了大多数事物的愉悦感。并非所有人都会同意作者的政策理念，这些理念从强制增加假期时间到减少美国购房者的税收激励。但大多数人会从这本书中得出结论，认为钱花得值。

-3-

-3-