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一直以来，人类历史的主旋律就是痛苦，这样说会不会太过分？要把过去想象成一首浪漫的田园诗，其实很容易－只要对不断降临的战争、瘟疫和饥荒视而不见就行了。折衷一下，你可能不想过于沉浸在恐惧、迷信或宗教迫害的阴影之中。经济学家约翰•梅纳德•凯恩斯(John
Maynard Keynes)曾写道：对生计的要求或斗争，是人类永恒的问题。对此，我们却无法回避。
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Is
it going too far to suggest that, until very recently, the leitmotif of
human history had been misery? It is easy to imagine the past as some kind
of bucolic idyll, but only by ignoring the perpetual visitations of war,
pestilence and famine. In between, you might have hoped to avoid living
too much in the shadow of fear, superstition or religious persecution but
there was no escaping what the economist John Maynard Keynes described as
the permanent problem of the human race: want, or the struggle for
subsistence.
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近代经济史上最令人震惊的成就之一就是：在发达的工业社会里，这个看似永恒的难题已迎刃而解。发达国家绝大多数的人过着过度富足、而不是贫困的生活。他们担心的不再是能否让孩子吃饱，是否居无定所，而是他们应该选择哪个有线频道的节目，应该去哪里度假，应该挑选哪位服装设计师的品牌？
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It
is one of the most startling achievements of recent economic history that,
in the advanced industrial world, this seemingly permanent problem has
been solved. For the most part, people in developed countries live in a
state of surfeit, not of want. They no longer worry whether they can
afford to put food in their children's bellies or keep a roof over their
heads, but which cable channel package they should subscribe to,swheresto
spend their holidays and which designer labels they should wear.
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但有些人永远不会知足。即使他们比以往更富有、更健康、更安全，即使他们享有更多的自由、拥有更多的机会，可他们仍满腹牢骚。他们抱怨抑郁症人数、自杀率和犯罪率节节攀升；他们感叹世风日下，肥胖的人越来越多；他们对愈演愈烈的“马路愤怒（Road
Rage）”和滥用毒品大发牢骚；他们对超竞争加剧，物质主义猖獗表示不满，还有最主要的是----垃圾邮件泛滥。
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But
some people are never satisfied. Even though they are richer, healthier
and safer than ever before, and even though they enjoy more freedoms and
opportunities, they continue to moan: about rising depression and suicide
rates, about crime, about the decline of civility, about obesity, road
rage and drug abuse, about hyper-competition and rampant materialism and,
above all, about spam.
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事实上，在西方国家，人们的幸福程度据报道不再与经济产量和消费的增长成正比。而且，随着两者差距的拉大，这几乎成为一种困扰。本周，我在同一天收到了两个智囊团所做的有关“追求幸福”的报告：一份来自伦敦的新经济基金会(New
Economics Foundation)，另一份则来
自堪培拉的澳大利亚研究会(Australia Institute)。上周，英
国最负盛名的科学院英国皇家学会召开了一次为期两天的会议，探讨幸福。上月，《新科学家》杂志也以此为题，刊登了总共两个部分的系列。诸如此类，不一而足。
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The
fact is that, in the west, increases in economic output and consumption
are no longer being matched by increases in people's reported levels of
happiness. And as the gap widens, it is close to becoming an obsession.
This week, I received reports on the pursuit of happiness from two
think-tanks on the same day: one from the London-based New Economics
Foundation and another from the Canberra-based Australia Institute. Last
week, the Royal Society, Britain's top scientific academy, held a two-day
conference on the science of well-being. Last month, New Scientist
magazine devoted a two-part series to the subject. And so on.
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几句话就可以概括出幸福研究的主要调查结果。虽然在你贫穷时，更多的金钱可以带来更多的幸福，可一旦你的基本需求都已满足，多一元钱就变得不那么重要。这时，更为重要的是那些非物质的东西，比如幸福的婚姻以及与挚爱亲朋共度美好时光。
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You
can sum up the main findings of happiness research in a few sentences.
Although more money delivers big increases in happiness when you are poor,
each extra dollar makes less difference once your basic needs have been
met. Much more important are non-material things such as a good marriage
and spending time with loved ones and friends.
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然而，在一个方面，金钱和物质的确显得十分重要：人往往喜欢追求地位，因此会以他人成功可见的标志来评价自己。不幸的是，正如新经济基金会研究报告所说，这是一场没有止境的竞争，因为要求不断增高。曾几何时，拥有一套房子是一种地位的象征，但如今，要有两套才行。
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However,
money and material goods do make a difference in one respect: people tend
to seek status, and therefore judge themselves against the visible signs
of others' success. Unfortunately, as the New Economics Foundation report
remarks, this is a never-ending competition because the bar simply gets
raised all the time. One house used to be a sign of status; now only two
will do.
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只要人们不再为地位所困扰，他们的幸福之路将变得一目了然：人们应该放慢脚步，牺牲一点工资来换取与家人、朋友共聚的时间。你可能会说，这是永远不可能的，但克莱夫•汉密尔顿(Clive
Hamilton)所做的调查显示，在30岁 到59岁的英国人中，在过去的10年里，有25％的人就是这么做的。为了改善生活质量，他们宁愿少赚一点。克莱夫•汉密尔顿是澳大利亚研究会幸福研究报告的作者，也是剑桥大学的访问学者。
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If
people could only overcome their worries about status, their route to
happiness would be clear: they should downshift, trading less pay for more
time with their families and friends. It will never happen, you may say.
But according to Clive Hamilton, author of the Australia Institute report
and a visiting scholar at Cambridge University, an astonishing 25 per cent
of Britons aged 30-59 have done just that in the past 10 years,
voluntarily taking a cut in earnings to improve the quality of their
lives.
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如果我从事广告业，我想我会对这样的调查结果开始有点担心。我们整个经济体制建立在满足人们日益膨胀的物质欲望这个概念之上，并以每年实现国内生产总值（GDP）增长为目标。广告的存在就是要帮助产生那种欲望。但如果人们都相信，贪得无厌并不会增加他们的幸福，反而会成为幸福的绊脚石，那么广告业将何去何从？
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If
I were in advertising, I think I would be starting to worry a bit about
findings like these. Our whole economic system, with its targeted annual
increases in gross domestic product, is founded upon the concept of
satisfying the desire for more; and advertising exists only to help
generate that desire. But what if people became convinced that
acquisitiveness, rather than adding to their happiness, was standing in
its way?
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人们对广告总是将信将疑，害怕广告会欺骗他们，让他们买些根本不需要的东西。也许，这就解释了为什么当社会变得更加自由时，人们对待广告的态度却背道而驰这个矛盾的现象。广告也不能象从前那样，只要法律许可，就可以任意推销。人们要求，广告不能超出社会目标，甚至道德目标的范围。在烟草广告禁令出台后，现在，大众又强烈要求限制其它“不受欢迎”产品（例如酒和快餐）的广告。此外，严禁向儿童进行推销的呼声也越来越高，这主要是担心儿童自出生起就受到消费主义思想的灌输。
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People
have always been equivocal about advertising, worrying that it hoodwinks
themsintosbuying things they do not need. Perhaps that explains the
paradox that, as society has grown more liberal, attitudes towards
advertising have gone in the opposite direction. It is no longer the case
that you can market any goods that can be legally sold. People are
demanding that advertising should operate within the parameters of social,
even moral, objectives. Bans on tobacco advertising are now being followed
by calls for restrictions on the advertising of other
"undesirable" products such as alcohol and fast food. And there
is a rising clamour for bans on marketing to children, much of it driven
by fears that they are being brainwashedsintosconsumerism from birth.
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如果是这样的话，我们也可以说，广告让成年人变得不快乐，所以应当被禁止。当然，这种事永远不会发生。即使人们不再那么重视物质，但他们对物质始终会有要求（其实是欲望），所以广告将担纲一个必不可少的角色。但试想，会不会有这么一天，每一个广告都必须标有政府的健康警语，例如“危险：物质主义可能会破坏你的幸福感”？
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From
there, it is quite a short step to argue that advertising to adults should
be banned on the grounds that it makes them unhappy. It will never happen,
of course; people will always require - indeed, desire - material goods,
even if they give them a lower priority, so advertising will fulfil a
necessary role. But is it possible to imagine a day when every
advertisement will have to be accompanied by a government health warning
such as: "Danger: materialism may damage your sense of
well-being"?
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毕竟，贪得无厌与吸烟有许多相似之处：有害健康，容易上瘾，与其他人一起戒烟就会容易得多。因此，如果社会政策排斥那些追求社会地位的人，把他们变成遭社会遗弃的可怜虫，那么其他人就能放慢脚步，备感安慰地认为，我们不仅占大多数，而且所做的一切也很正确。这样，大多数人将获得更多的幸福。
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Acquisitiveness,
after all, is a lot like smoking: harmful, addictive and much easier to
quit if everyone else does so at the same time. So the greater happiness
of the many would best be served if social policy were directed towards
marginalising status-seekers and turning themsintospitiful pariahs,
leaving the rest of us to downshift in the comfortable knowledge that we
were not only in the majority but also doing the right thing.
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相信吗？我相信。告诉你吧，如果你答应不再做一个只满足自我的贪婪的人，我也能够做到，那么我们的生活都将快乐许多。准备好了吗？1,2,3……嗨！你干嘛？别碰我的信用卡。
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Convinced?
I am. Tell you what, I'll agree to stop being a greedy self-maximiser if
you will, then we'll both be much happier as a result. Ready? One, two,
thr . . . Hey! What do you think you're doing? Get your hands off my
credit card RIGHT NOW.
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译者/夏璇
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