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中彩票能快乐多久

　　Many of us do, including a US shopkeeper who just scooped $338 millionin the Powerball lottery – the fourth largest prize in the game's history。

　　我们大多数人都这么认为，包括刚在“威力球”彩票赢了3.38亿美元——该彩票史上的第四大奖的一名美国店主。

　　Before the last Powerball jackpot in the United States, tickets were beingsnapped up at a rate of around 130,000 a minute。

　　在美国威力球最新的头奖开奖前，彩票以一分钟13万张的速度被抢购一空。

　　But before you place all your hopes and dreams on another ticket, here’ssomething you should know。

　　但是，在你把全部希望和梦想放在另一张彩票前，有些事是你必须知道的。

　　All the evidence suggests a big payout won’t make that much of a differencein the end。

　　所有证据表明赚了大钱到最后并不会带来太大的差别。

　　Winning the lottery isn't a ticket to true happiness, however enticing itmight be to imagine never working again and being able to afford anything youwant。

　　中彩票并不能让你真正感到快乐，尽管想象着无须再工作且可以负担得起你想要的一切是多么地诱人。

　　One study famously foundthat people who had big wins on the lottery ended up no happier than those whohad bought tickets but didn't win。

　　一项研究惊奇地发现赢了巨额彩票的人到最后比那些买彩票却没赢的人还要不快乐。

　　It seems that as long as you can afford to avoid the basic miseries of life,having loads of spare cash doesn't make you very much happier than having verylittle。

　　看来只要你生活基本不贫困，有很多的余款并不会让你比只有很少余款的人更快乐。

　　One way of accounting for this is to assume that lottery winners get used totheir new level of wealth, and simply adjust back to a baseline level ofhappiness – something called the “hedonic treadmill”。

　　其中一个解释是大奖得主习惯了新的财富水平，然后重新调整回到快乐的基线水平——这就是所谓的“快乐水车”。

　　Another explanation is that our happiness depends on how we feel relative toour peers。

　　另一个解释是我们的快乐建筑在和同辈人的比较上。

　　If you win the lottery you may feel richer than your neighbours, and thinkthat moving to a mansion in a new neighbourhood would make you happy, but thenyou look out of the window and realise that all your new friends live in biggermansions。

　　如果赢了彩票让你觉得比邻居还富有，想着搬进新的邻里的大厦也许能让你开心，但是当你往窗外一看，发现新朋友们都住在更大的大厦里。

　　Both of these phenomena undoubtedly play a role, but the deeper mystery iswhy we're so bad at knowing what will give us true satisfaction in the firstplace。

　　两种现象无疑地起了作用，但是更深入的谜是首先为什么我们一点都不明白什么才能带来真正的满足感。

　　You might think we should be able to predict this, even if it isn'tstraightforward。

　　你可能心想我们应该可以预知的，即使它并不是那么简单。

　　Lottery winners could take account of hedonic treadmill and socialcomparison effects when they spend their money。

　　大奖得主可以在花钱的时候顾虑到“快乐水车”和社会比较的影响。

　　So, why don't they, in short, spend their winnings in ways that buyhappiness?

　　所以，总而言之，为什么他们不把钱花在让他们快乐的地方上？