新世纪大学英语4课文翻译2.TechnologyandHappiness.pdf

Technology and Happiness James Surowiecki The text is taken from Technology Review , January 2005. In the 20th century, Americans, Europeans, and East Asians enjoyed 1 material and technological advances that were unimaginable in previous eras. In the United States, for instance, gross domestic product per capita tripled from 1950 to 2000. Life expectancy soared . The boom in productivity after World War II made goods better and cheaper at the same time . Things that were once luxuries, such as jet travel and long-distance phone calls, became necessities. And even though Americans seemed to work extraordinarily hard, their pursuit of entertainment turned media and leisure into multibillion-dollar industries. 技术与幸福 詹姆斯 ·萨洛维奇 20 世纪的美国人、 欧洲人和东亚人都享受到了过去历代人都无法想象的物质和技术进步带来的乐趣。 譬如， 在美国，从 1950 年到 2000 年国民生产总值翻了 3 倍。人们的寿命大幅度提高。二战后生产力的迅速发 展使商品变得价廉物美。诸如乘飞机旅游和打长途电话等曾经是奢侈的事情成了生活不可或缺的一部分。 2 By most standards, then, you would have to say that Americans are better off now than they were in the middle of the last century. Oddly, though, if you ask Americans how happy they are, you find that they are no happier than they were in 1946 (which is when formal surveys of happiness started). In fact, the percentage of people who say they are very happy has fallen slightly since the early 1970s — even though the income of people born in 1940 has, on average , increased by 116 percent over the course of their working lives. You can find similar data for most developed countries. 那么，根据大多数标准衡量，你会说，现在的美国人比上个世纪中叶富裕多了。不过，奇怪的是，如果你 问美国人有多幸福，你会发现，