TED演讲:经验与记忆之谜(13)

 　　Thank you. I've got a question for you. Thank you so much. 谢谢您的演讲。我有个问题想请教您。非常感谢您的演说。

　　Now, when we were on the phone a few weeks ago,  几星期前，我们有过一次电话通讯，

　　you mentioned to me that there was quite an interesting result came out of that Gallup survey. 当时您提到您从盖洛普的调查中发现了一个有趣的现象。

　　Is that something you can share since you do have a few moments left now? 请问您可以跟我们分享一下吗？我们还有几分钟的时间。

　　Sure. I think the most interesting result that we found in the Gallup survey is a number, 没问题。我从盖洛普调查中发现了一个极有趣的数字，

　　which we absolutely did not expect to find.  能发现它实属意外。

　　We found that with respect to the happiness of the experiencing self. 我们发现一个关于经验自我的快乐的现象。

　　When we looked at how feelings, vary¹ with income. 那就是人的感觉会随收入的多少而变化。

　　And it turns out that, below an income of 60,000 dollars a year, for Americans 结果表明，对于年收入低于六万美元的美国人而言，

　　and that's a very large sample of Americans, like 600,000, so it's a large representative² sample 这占了样本中的很大一部分，将近有六十万人，这些人是相当具有指标性的，

　　below an income of 600,000 dollars a year... 60,000. 60,000. 这些年收入低于六十万美元...是六万美元。六万美元。

　　60,000 dollars a year, people are unhappy,  年收入六万美元的人是不快乐的，

　　and they get progressively³ unhappier the poorer they get.  而且收入越低，他们则逾不快乐。

　　Above that, we get an absolutely flat line.  而当收入逾六万时，我们则得到一条标准水平线。

　　I mean I've rarely⁴ seen lines so flat.  难得看到这么平坦的线。

　　Clearly, what is happening is money does not buy you experiential happiness, 显然金钱是无法买到经验自我的快乐，

　　but lack of money certainly buys you misery⁵, and we can measure that misery very, very clearly. 但没钱却的确能给你带来悲郁的境况，而且我们清楚地测到痛苦的程度，非常清楚。

　　In terms of the other self, the remembering self, you get a different story. 对于另一个自我，记忆自我而言。你则有了一个大相迳庭的故事。

　　The more money you earn, the more satisfied⁶ you are. That does not hold for emotions. 你赚的越多，你就越满意。这跟情感没有任何关联。

1 vary   

vi.变化，有不同；vt.改变，使不同

参考例句：

• Cherries vary in colour from almost black to yellow.樱桃的颜色由近乎黑到黄各不相同。
• Old people don't like to vary their habits.老年人不喜欢改变他们的习惯。

2 representative   

n.代表，众议员，典型；adj.描写的，表现的，代理的，代表性的，代议制的，典型的

参考例句：

• He is a representative for a large steel company.他是一家大型钢铁公司的代理人。
• We have a representative sample.我们有一个代表性的样品。

3 progressively   

adv.前进地，日益增加地；逐步

参考例句：

• The situation was becoming progressively more difficult. 局势变得愈发困难起来。
• The problem became progressively worse. 问题变得越来越严重。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 rarely   

adv.很少，难得；非常地，非凡地

参考例句：

• Such fish is rarely met with in the north country.这种鱼在北方难得看到。
• He rarely comes here anymore.现在他难得来这儿了。

5 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

6 satisfied   

adj.满意的，满足的；清偿过的；确信的，毫无疑问的v.使满意( satisfy的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• She's never satisfied with what she's got. 她对自己的所得从不感到满足。
• He had a self-satisfied smirk on his face. 他脸上挂着得意扬扬的笑容。