金钱与幸福之间的关系

Maybe money can't buy happiness. But it can buy status, and status can indeed make us a bit happier.

　　金钱或许买不到幸福，但能买到地位，而身份地位的确能让我们更幸福一些。

　　An article in Time describes new research from Chris Boyce, a psychologist at the University of Warwick, and Simon Moore, a psychologist at Cardiff University. The pair sought to understand why societies that became wealthier didn't become collectivelyhappier. After all, rising incomes and wealth made individuals happier, up to a certain point of course.

　　Richard Attenborough爵士站描述了华威大学(University of Warwick)的博伊斯(Chris Boyce)和卡迪夫大学(Cardiff University)的摩尔(Simon Moore)这两位心理学家的最新研究。二人试图了解为什么更加富裕的社会却没有实现集体幸福感的增强。毕竟，收入和财富的增加当然会在一定程度上让一个人更幸福。

So the researchers decided to dig deeper into what is called the 'reference-income hypothesis,' a fancy way of saying that wealth is relative. If an entire country gets richer at the same time, individuals wouldn't necessarily feel wealthier, since their relative positions in society hadn't changed.

　　因此研究人员决定深入挖掘所谓的“相对收入假定”。这是说明财富相对论的一种假想方式。如果整个国家同时变得更富裕，个人并不一定会感到更富有，因为他们在社会中的相对地位并未发生改变。