British people are sure1y happier than people in poorer lands, because more of our needs are met. Indeed, advertisers help us to answer needs we never knew we had, by revealing that our lives are less satisfactory than we thought. When I was 18, male face creams came on the market. Until that point, we boys had no idea that our skin was ageing prematurely. Since then, men have been introduced to many of the improvements that women have enjoyed for so long. We have discovered that we are uglier, spottier, fatter and more inadequate than we could ever have imagined.

英国人肯定比贫穷国家的人更幸福，因为我们大部分的需要都得到了满足。实际上是广告商们通过提示我们的生活并不是想象的那样满意来帮我们满足从来不知道的需要。我18岁时，男性面霜开始上市，在此之前，男孩们并没意识自己的皮肤已提前老化了。从那以后，男士们便开始接触到女士们已享用了很久的许多保护措施。我们发现自己比想象的更丑，麻点更多，更胖，而且打扮更不得体。

    And, by moving more resources between holes in the ground, we can do something about it. The consumer society serves the poor better than anyone else, as it both exposes the unhappiness of their lives and kindly provides the means with which they can escape from it.

通过把地下资源从一个洞转移到另一个洞，我们可以做些事情。消费社会能更好地服务于穷人，它揭露了他们生活的不幸，同时又友善地提供给他们摆脱这些不幸的方法。

As the banks, manufacturers, shops and economists remind us, our quest for happiness is boundless. As always, and particularly at this time of year, someone tries to spoil the fun. Eco-systems are being poisoned and resources exhausted. The Earth is over-heating, because so much energy is required to move its components from one hole to another. But I would ask them this: isn't the death of the planet a price worth paying for the happiness we now enjoy?

正如银行、制造商、商店和经济学家所提醒的那样，我们对幸福的追求是无止境的。但是生态系统已被毒害，资源已枯竭，地球所含成份从一个洞转移到另一个洞里时需要大量能量，这就导致了地球温度过高。但我想问他们一个问题：我们正享受的幸福是否值得以地球的灭亡为代价？

相关词语Related Words and Expressions

dump                                  倾倒

creation of value                 创造价值

Worldwatch Institute           世界观察所

be afflicted by depression    患有忧郁症

incidence of depression       忧郁症病例

prematurely                         提前地；过早地

boundless                            无止境的

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