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？

Picking up points

要点摘录

Part of the problem is that happiness isn't a quality like height, weight orincome that can be easily measured and given a number (whatever psychologiststry and pretend).

一部分的问题是快乐并不是]像高度，重量还是收入那般容易衡量，并提供一个数字（无论心理学家如何尝试及自以为）。

Happiness is a complex, nebulous state that is fed by transient simplepleasures, as well as the more sustained rewards of activities that only makesense from a perspective of years or decades.

快乐是复杂朦胧的状态，由短暂简单的快事以及经年累月有意义的活动带来更持久的回报所组成。

So, perhaps it isn't surprising that we sometimes have trouble acting in away that will bring us the most happiness.

因此，也许毫不惊讶地，我们有时不能够做让我们得到最大快乐的事。

Imperfect memories and imaginations mean that our moment-to-moment choicesdon't always reflect our long-term interests.

不完美的记忆和想象力意味着我们即时的选择不常反映出长期的利益。

It even seems like the very act of trying to measuring it can distract usfrom what might make us most happy.

甚至企图衡量这些利益看起来搅乱我们追求快乐。

An important studyby Christopher Hsee of the Chicago School of Business and colleagues showed howthis could happen.

芝加哥大学商学院的奚恺元和他的同事做了一个重要的实验展示这是怎么回事。

Hsee’s study was based around a simple choice: participants were offered theoption of working at a 6-minute task for a gallon of vanilla ice cream reward,or a 7-minute task for a gallon of pistachio ice cream.

奚恺元的实验围绕着一个简单的选择：参与者可选择做6分钟的工作换取一加仑的香草冰淇淋为报酬，或是做7分钟的工作换取一加仑的开心果冰淇淋。

Under normal conditions, less than 30% of people chose the 7-minute task,mainly because they liked pistachio ice cream more than vanilla.

正常的情况下，少过30%的人只因为喜欢开心果冰淇淋甚于香草而选择7分钟的工作。

For happiness scholars, this isn't hard to interpret –those who preferredpistachio ice cream had enough motivation to choose the longer task.

对研究快乐的学者而言，这并不难解读——那些更喜欢开心果冰淇淋的人有足够的动力选择了更长的工作。

But the experiment had a vital extra comparison.

可是这项实验有一个很重要的额外比较。

Another group of participants were offered the same choice, but with anintervening points system: the choice was between working for 6 minutes to earn60 points, or 7 minutes to earn 100 points.

另一组参与者也被给予同样的选择，但隔了一个分数制度：选择工作6分钟得60分，或工作7分钟得100分。

With 50-99 points, participants were told they could receive a gallon ofvanilla ice cream.

参与者被告知50至99分能够得到一加仑的香草冰淇淋。

For 100 points they could receive a gallon of pistachio ice cream.

100分可以得到一加仑的开心果冰淇淋。

Although the actions and the effects are the same, introducing the pointssystem dramatically affected the choices people made.

虽然行为和结果相同，分数系统的引入显著影响人们做的选择。

Now, the majority chose the longer task and earn the 100 points, which theycould spend on the pistachio reward – even though the same proportion (about70%) still said they preferred vanilla.

现在，大部分的人选择更长的工作以得到100分，换得开心果冰淇淋奖赏——即使相同比例的人（约70%）仍直言他们比较喜欢香草。

Based on this, and otherexperiments [5], Hsee concluded that participants are maximising theirpoints at the expense of maximising their happiness.

根据这个结果及其它实验[5]，奚恺元得出的结论是参与者牺牲了快乐以追求最高分数。

The points are just a medium – something that allows us to get the thingthat will create enjoyment.

分数只是个媒介——一种让我们得到使我们快乐的事情的东西。

But because the points are so easy to measure and compare – 100 is obviouslymuch more than 60 – this overshadows our knowledge of what kind of ice cream weenjoy most.

可是因为分数十分容易衡量及比较——100明显地多过60——遮盖了我们最喜欢的冰淇淋种类的认知。

So next time you are buying a lottery ticket because of the amount it ispaying out, or choosing wine by looking at the price, or comparing jobs bylooking at the salaries, you might do well to remember to think hard about howmuch the bet, wine, or job will really promote your happiness, rather thansimply relying on the numbers to do the comparison.

所以下次当你因为可能赢得的金额而买彩票，根据价格挑选酒，或是根据薪金比较工作，与其仅仅依靠数字作比较，不如想想赌注、酒或工作能带给你多少快乐。

Money doesn't buy you happiness, and part of the reason for that might bethat money itself distracts us from what we really enjoy.

金钱买不到快乐，而且一部分的原因可能是金钱本身搅乱了我们做真正喜欢的事情。