新世纪大学英语 4 课文 翻译2.Technology and Happiness.docxVIP

Technology and Happiness James Surowiecki The text is taken from The text is taken from Technology Review , January 2005. 1 In the 20th century, Americans, Europeans, and East Asians enjoyed 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， 2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 whefnormal 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 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，他们并不比 1946 年时幸福（1946 年正式开始对幸福状况进行调查）。事实上，那些说自己“非常幸福”的人所占的比例自 20 世纪 70 年代以来一直稳中有降 —— 尽管 20 世纪 40 年代出生的人的收入在他们的工作生涯中平均增长了 116％。你可以在大多数发达国家找到相似的 数据。 3 The relationship between happiness and technology has been an eternal subject for social critics and philosophers since the advent of the Industrial Revolution. But its been left largely unexamined by economists and social scientists. The truly gr