金錢(qián)能夠買(mǎi)來(lái)幸福 (雙語(yǔ)、詞匯解釋及例句)

忘了你的父母、你的自助指南或者你所信仰的宗教可能告訴你的話吧：金錢(qián)能夠買(mǎi)來(lái)幸福。

That, at least, is the conclusion from the number crunchers at the UK’s Office for National Statistics,who have combined data from surveys on household wealth and personal wellbeing.

這至少是英國(guó)國(guó)家統(tǒng)計(jì)局(Office for National Statistics)統(tǒng)計(jì)人員得出的結(jié)論，他們把有關(guān)家庭財(cái)富與個(gè)人幸福感的調(diào)查數(shù)據(jù)結(jié)合起來(lái)分析。

Life satisfaction, sense of worth and happiness are higher, and anxiety less, as the level of household wealth increases,” the ONS said in a paper released on Friday.

英國(guó)國(guó)家統(tǒng)計(jì)局在上周五發(fā)布的一篇論文中表示：“隨著家庭財(cái)富水平上升，生活滿意度、價(jià)值感以及幸福感會(huì)提升，憂慮會(huì)減少。”

Indeed, one very specific type of money has the strongest relationship with wellbeing: net financial wealth, which could be stocks and shares, savings in the banks or money under the mattress.

實(shí)際上，有一類(lèi)財(cái)富與幸福感的關(guān)系最為密切：金融財(cái)富凈值，它們可能是股票證券、銀行存款或放在床墊下的錢(qián)。

However, Generation Rent — young people struggling to get on the housing ladder — need not despair entirely. The ONS found that increasing property or personal pension wealth did not result in a measurable increase in wellbeing. Levels of household income — rather than assets alreadyowned — were also far less strongly related.

然而，租房一代(年輕人很難購(gòu)房)不必感到絕望。英國(guó)國(guó)家統(tǒng)計(jì)局發(fā)現(xiàn)，房地產(chǎn)或個(gè)人養(yǎng)老金財(cái)富的增加不會(huì)帶來(lái)幸福感的顯著上升。家庭收入水平(而非已擁有資產(chǎn))與幸福感的關(guān)系也談不上密切。

Surprisingly, although physical assets such as antiques, yachts, swish cars or stamp collections might induce smugness, the ONS found they had no relation to levels of personal wellbeing, which may or may not disprove the theory that it is nicer to cry in a Ferrari than on a park bench.

令人意外的是，盡管古董、游艇、豪車(chē)或集郵等有形資產(chǎn)可能會(huì)讓人沾沾自喜，但英國(guó)國(guó)家統(tǒng)計(jì)局發(fā)現(xiàn)，這些與個(gè)人幸福感毫不相關(guān)，這或許可以——也或許不可以——證明這種理論是錯(cuò)誤的：在法拉利(Ferrari)車(chē)?yán)锟奁糜谠诠珗@長(zhǎng)椅上哭。

The ONS asked individuals to rate their own wellbeing on a scale of 0 to 10, on questions such ashow satisfied they were with life and were the things they did worthwhile? These responses were then crunched alongside household wealth and income, with the statistical model controlling for variables such as gender or ethnicity, to see what impact wealth or income had on an otherwise alike individual.

英國(guó)國(guó)家統(tǒng)計(jì)局邀請(qǐng)個(gè)人對(duì)自己的幸福感打分，分值從零分到10分，問(wèn)題包括他們對(duì)生活的滿意程度以及他們所做的事情是否有意義。接著將這些答案與家庭財(cái)富和收入結(jié)合起來(lái)。這一統(tǒng)計(jì)模型對(duì)性別或種族等變量進(jìn)行了控制，以了解財(cái)富或收入對(duì)其他條件都相同的個(gè)人的影響。

The ONS is confident the relationships it describes are statistically significant. For net financialwealth, for example, those in the bottom 20 per cent scored themselves on average 0.4 pointslower than those in the middle 20 per cent.

英國(guó)國(guó)家統(tǒng)計(jì)局確信，其所描述的關(guān)系具有重大統(tǒng)計(jì)意義。例如，就金融財(cái)富凈值而言，那些處于最低20%的人群給自己的打分比處于中間20%的人群平均低0.4點(diǎn)。

The report is the latest entry into the debate about whether it is absolute or relative income andwealth that matter when it comes to improving wellbeing.

這份報(bào)告是圍繞以下辯論的最新嘗試：在提升幸福感的問(wèn)題上，是絕對(duì)收入和財(cái)富重要，還是相對(duì)收入和財(cái)富重要。

For instance, in influential papers, the economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers tried to findevidence to support the idea that what matters for wellbeing is how you compare with thosearound you — in other words, keeping up with the Joneses. They failed.

例如，經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家貝齊史蒂文森(Betsey Stevenson)和賈斯廷茠爾弗斯(Justin Wolfers)在一些引起重大影響的論文中試圖找到證據(jù)，支持這種觀點(diǎn)：對(duì)于幸福感而言，重要的是你如何與周?chē)娜吮容^，換句話說(shuō)，跟社會(huì)地位相同的人比較。他們失敗了。

After looking at multiple countries and numerous definitions of wellbeing and basic needs, they concluded: “If there is a satiation point [at which income and wellbeing are no longer related], we are yet to reach it”.

在對(duì)多個(gè)國(guó)家的情況以及關(guān)于幸福感和基本需求的多種定義進(jìn)行考察后，他們總結(jié)稱：“如果說(shuō)存在一個(gè)收入和幸福感不再相關(guān)的飽和點(diǎn)(satiation point)的話，那么我們現(xiàn)在還沒(méi)有達(dá)到這個(gè)點(diǎn)。”

More importantly for policymakers, perhaps, they found that countries that enjoyed faster economic growth, on average also experienced greater growth in wellbeing.

或許，對(duì)于政策制定者而言更為重要的是，兩位經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)，經(jīng)濟(jì)增速較快國(guó)家的幸福感上升速度一般較快。

In 2006, David Cameron, then opposition leader, urged statisticians to focus more alternative measures of the national quality of life. “Wellbeing cannot be measured by money or traded in markets,” he said.

2006年，時(shí)任反對(duì)黨領(lǐng)袖的戴維慍蕓倫(David Cameron)曾敦促統(tǒng)計(jì)學(xué)家更多關(guān)注其他衡量國(guó)民生活質(zhì)量的指標(biāo)。他表示：“幸福不能由金錢(qián)衡量，也不能在市場(chǎng)交易。”

Yet the new statistics, which resulted from his policy drive, suggest perhaps you can have a good go.

然而源自于他的政策舉措的最新統(tǒng)計(jì)結(jié)果表明，或許人們可以試試這么做。

Diane Coyle, founder of Enlightenment Economics, is one economist who thinks statistics should be focused on more tangible outcomes.

Enlightenment Economics創(chuàng)始人、經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家戴安娜科伊爾(Diane Coyle)認(rèn)為，統(tǒng)計(jì)應(yīng)著眼于更切實(shí)的收入。

" I don’t think we should be measuring happiness at all. It is not a ‘policy useful’ measure. The government doesn’t have levers that easily affect happiness, and should concentrate on the things that government can do,” she said, pointing to employment or spending on mental health.

她表示：“我認(rèn)為，我們根本不應(yīng)該衡量幸福感。這不是一個(gè)‘對(duì)政策有用’的指標(biāo)。政府沒(méi)有辦法輕易影響幸福感，應(yīng)關(guān)注于政府能夠采取的措施。”她指的是就業(yè)或者心理健康支出。

In previous work by the ONS, good health, type of employment and personal relationships have proved to have the strongest links to high levels of self-reported wellbeing. At least the first two are something the government can do something about.

在英國(guó)國(guó)家統(tǒng)計(jì)局之前的研究成果中，良好的健康狀況、就業(yè)類(lèi)型以及人際關(guān)系被證明為與自我報(bào)告的幸福感水平關(guān)系最為密切。至少，前兩個(gè)是政府能夠?yàn)橹冻雠Φ摹?/span>

And if you don’t believe the ONS, you might agree with Ronald Reagan when he said: “Money can’t buy happiness, but it will certainly get you a better class of memories.”

如果你不相信英國(guó)國(guó)家統(tǒng)計(jì)局的數(shù)據(jù)，你或許會(huì)同意羅納德里根(Ronald Reagan)的話，他說(shuō)：“金錢(qián)買(mǎi)不來(lái)幸福，但肯定會(huì)提升你的回憶。”

本文中重難點(diǎn)詞匯短語(yǔ)解釋：

satisfaction：n. 滿意，滿足;賠償;樂(lè)事;贖罪

例句：Both sides expressed satisfaction with the progress so far.
雙方都對(duì)目前的進(jìn)展表示滿意。

mattress：n. 床墊;褥子;空氣墊

例句：She laid a spring mattress under the sheet.
她在床單下面鋪了一個(gè)彈簧床墊。

stamp：n. 郵票;印記;標(biāo)志;跺腳

例句：It is a good way to soak off the stamp from an envelope.
從信封上取下郵票的好方法就是把它浸掉下來(lái)

smugness：n. 矯矜;裝模做樣

例句：He had the smugness that many lawyers show.
他有著許多律師身上都有的那種自命不凡。

statistical ：adj. 統(tǒng)計(jì)的;統(tǒng)計(jì)學(xué)的

例句：The report contains a great deal of statistical information.
該報(bào)告包含大量統(tǒng)計(jì)資料。

numerous：adj. 許多的，很多的

例句：Sex crimes were just as numerous as they are today.
當(dāng)時(shí)的性犯罪與現(xiàn)在一樣多。

be focused on：集中于

例句：This lecture will be focused on the second question.
這次的講座將主要集中于第二個(gè)問(wèn)題。

concentrate on：集中精力于;全神貫注于

例句：In this tutorial we concentrate on the results of compounding rather than the mathematics behind it.
在這份指南里我們集中在結(jié)果上而不后面的數(shù)學(xué)計(jì)算。