简单生活——丢掉一些东西吧

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拥有得越多就越快乐吗？不是的。来学习一下简单生活之道吧。丢掉一些东西，看看感觉怎么样！
Tags:快乐 |生活 |简单 |物质

SHE had so much. 她拥有的太多了。
A two-bedroom apartment. Two cars. Enough wedding china to serve two dozen people. 有两间卧室的公寓。两辆车。足够两打人使用的婚礼装饰品。
Yet Tammy Strobel wasn’t happy. Working as a project manager with an investment management firm in Davis, Calif., and making about $40,000 a year, she was, as she put it, caught in the “work-spend treadmill.” 可Tammy Strobel不开心。她是加州大学一加投资公司的项目经理，一年有4万美元的收入。她觉得自己被单调的工作束缚了。
So one day she stepped off. 所以她决定做点儿什么。
Inspired by books and blog entries about living simply, Ms. Strobel and her husband, Logan Smith, both 31, began donating some of their belongings to charity. As the months passed, out went stacks of sweaters, shoes, books, pots and pans, even the television after a trial separation during which it was relegated to a closet. Eventually, they got rid of their cars, too. Emboldened by a Web site that challenges consumers to live with just 100 personal items, Ms. Strobel winnowed down her wardrobe and toiletries to precisely that number. 受到那些关于简单生活的书和博客的启发，Strobel太太和她老公Logan Smith（他们都是31岁）开始把自己的一些东西捐献给慈善机构。几个月过去了，他们送出了大包的毛衣、衣服、书、瓶瓶罐罐甚至一台收在柜子里的电视。最后，他们把车也处理了。受到一个鼓励人们只需要100件私人物品的网站的影响，Strobel 太太把衣柜和化妆品也抛弃了，就是为了达到这个数字。
Her mother called her crazy. 她母亲说她疯了。
Today, three years after Ms. Strobel and Mr. Smith began downsizing, they live in Portland, Ore., in a spare, 400-square-foot studio with a nice-sized kitchen. Mr. Smith is completing a doctorate in physiology; Ms. Strobel happily works from home as a Web designer and freelance writer. She owns four plates, three pairs of shoes and two pots. With Mr. Smith in his final weeks of school, Ms. Strobel’s income of about $24,000 a year covers their bills. They are still car-free but have bikes. One other thing they no longer have: $30,000 of debt.
Ms. Strobel’s mother is impressed. Now the couple have money to travel and to contribute to the education funds of nieces and nephews. And because their debt is paid off, Ms. Strobel works fewer hours, giving her time to be outdoors, and to volunteer, which she does about four hours a week for a nonprofit outreach program called Living Yoga.
“The idea that you need to go bigger to be happy is false,” she says. “I really believe that the acquisition of material goods doesn’t bring about happiness.” 今天，距离Smith夫妇开始精减生活用品已经三年了。他们现在住在俄勒冈州波特兰市一个400平方英尺有着漂亮厨房的备用房子里。Smith先生在做符合生理学的装修，Strobel 在家开心的做网页设计和自由撰稿人。她有四只盘子，三双鞋和两只壶。在Smith读书的最后一段日子里，Stroble每年赚大约24000美元供两人开销。他们用自行车代替汽车，并且，他们3万美元的债务也解决了。
Stroble的妈妈很感动。现在，他们夫妻有钱旅行了，也可以为外甥侄子的学费做点儿贡献。因为债务已经还清，现在Stroble可以不用工作那么久，她有更多的时间去户外，去做志愿者。她每周在一个叫做“瑜珈生活”的扩展项目中做4小时的无偿志愿者。
“那种认为变强才能幸福的想法是不对的，”她说。“我相信对物质的占有不会带来幸福。”
While Ms. Strobel and her husband overhauled their spending habits before the recession, legions of other consumers have since had to reconsider their own lifestyles, bringing a major shift in the nation’s consumption patterns. 当Smith夫妇在经济萧条之前反思自己的购物习惯时，更多的人也需要反思自己的生活方式，从而改变整个国家的消费习惯。
“We’re moving from a conspicuous consumption — which is ‘buy without regard’ — to a calculated consumption,” says Marshal Cohen, an analyst at the NPD Group, the retailing research and consulting firm. “我们正在从挥霍无度转向有计划的消费，”Marshal Cohen说。她是零售调查咨询公司NPD的分析师。
Amid weak job and housing markets, consumers are saving more and spending less than they have in decades, and industry professionals expect that trend to continue. Consumers saved 6.4 percent of their after-tax income in June, according to a new government report. Before the recession, the rate was 1 to 2 percent for many years. In June, consumer spending and personal incomes were essentially flat compared with May, suggesting that the American economy, as dependent as it is on shoppers opening their wallets and purses, isn’t likely to rebound anytime soon. 面对疲软的工作及住房环境，在过去的几十年里，消费都们节省得越来越多，消费得越来越少。而且工业专家们希望这个趋势能发展下去。根据政府最新报告，人们把税后收入的6.4%存了下来。在经济萧条之前，这个比率在很多年都是1%到2%。人们6月的收入支出与5月持平。说明依赖消费者掏钱包的美国经济不会很快反弹。
On the bright side, the practices that consumers have adopted in response to the economic crisis ultimately could — as a raft of new research suggests — make them happier. New studies of consumption and happiness show, for instance, that people are happier when they spend money on experiences instead of material objects, when they relish what they plan to buy long before they buy it, and when they stop trying to outdo the Joneses. 值得高兴的是，人们在面对经济危机所适应的这种做法（被新的调查称为是救命稻草）让他们更开心。新的关于消费和幸福的研究表明，人们把钱花在体验上比花在实物上更开心，比如说他们在买一个东西之前久久计划怎么买的时候，当他们不再一心想把邻居比下去的时候。
If consumers end up sticking with their newfound spending habits, some tactics that retailers and marketers began deploying during the recession could become lasting business strategies. Among those strategies are proffering merchandise that makes being at home more entertaining and trying to make consumers feel special by giving them access to exclusive events and more personal customer service. 如果消费者们始终坚持这种新的消费习惯，那商户们在经济危机期间采取的一些策略就可以一直沿用了。有些策略是提供一些让人们在家待着更舒服的商品，还有通过提供豪华享受和个性化服务给人们特别的享受。
While the current round of stinginess may simply be a response to the economic downturn, some analysts say consumers may also be permanently adjusting their spending based on what they’ve discovered about what truly makes them happy or fulfilled. 虽然现在这种“吝啬”风潮可能只是应对经济危机的暂时反应，还是有一些分析家说消费者们可以会坚持这种让他们觉得开心和满足的消费习惯。
“This actually is a topic that hasn’t been researched very much until recently,” says Elizabeth W. Dunn, an associate professor in the psychology department at the University of British Columbia, who is at the forefront of research on consumption and happiness. “There’s massive literature on income and happiness. It’s amazing how little there is on how to spend your money.” “在此之前这个问题实际上并没有被研究过，”Elizabeth W. Dunn说。“关于收入和幸福和文学作品数不胜数。但教人们怎么花钱的内容却少得让人吃惊。”Elizabeth W. Dunn是不列颠哥伦比亚大学的一位副教授，她走在消费与幸福研究的最前沿。
CONSPICUOUS consumption has been an object of fascination going back at least as far as 1899, when the economist Thorstein Veblen published “The Theory of the Leisure Class,” a book that analyzed, in part, how people spent their money in order to demonstrate their social status. 炫耀消费为人所不齿的厉害至少要追溯到1899年。当时经济学家Thorstein Veblen出版了《享受阶级的理论》一书，从某种程序上分析了人们怎样为了显示自己的社会地位而花钱。
And it’s been a truism for eons that extra cash always makes life a little easier. Studies over the last few decades have shown that money, up to a certain point, makes people happier because it lets them meet basic needs. The latest round of research is, for lack of a better term, all about emotional efficiency: how to reap the most happiness for your dollar. 钱能让生活变容易这是亘古不变的真理。过去数十年的研究表示一定数量的钱能让人们开心因为它能让人们的基本需求得到满足。而最近的这些研究，都是关于情感影响方面的（找不到更好的词）：怎样用自己的钱得到更多的快乐。
So just where does happiness reside for consumers? Scholars and researchers haven’t determined whether Armani will put a bigger smile on your face than Dolce & Gabbana. But they have found that our types of purchases, their size and frequency, and even the timing of the spending all affect long-term happiness. 那么消费者的快乐到底从何而来呢？研究者们不能判断Armani 是不是比Dolce & Gabbana更能让人开心。但是他们发现，我们消费的类型，规模，频率，甚至消费的时间都影响着我们的长久幸福。
One major finding is that spending money for an experience — concert tickets, French lessons, sushi-rolling classes, a hotel room in Monaco — produces longer-lasting satisfaction than spending money on plain old stuff. 一个主要的发现就是，相比把钱花在普通的老货物上，花钱在新的体验上更能让人得到长久的满足。比如音乐会门票、法语课、寿司课和摩纳哥的酒店房间等。
“  ‘It’s better to go on a vacation than buy a new couch’ is basically the idea,” says Professor Dunn, summing up research by two fellow psychologists, Leaf Van Boven and Thomas Gilovich. Her own take on the subject is in a paper she wrote with colleagues at Harvard and the University of Virginia: “If Money Doesn’t Make You Happy Then You Probably Aren’t Spending It Right.” (The Journal of Consumer Psychology plans to publish it in a coming issue.) Dunn在总结了两个同事Leaf Van Boven 和 Thomas Gilovich的研究之后说：“基本就是，花钱去旅行比花钱买个新沙发更值。”她与哈佛及弗吉尼亚大学的同事共同发表了一个论文《如果钱没带给你快乐，很可能是因为你没花对地方》（“消费者心理学”杂志将在下期发表）。
Thomas DeLeire, an associate professor of public affairs, population, health and economics at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, recently published research examining nine major categories of consumption. He and Ariel Kalil of the University of Chicago discovered that the only category to be positively related to happiness was leisure: vacations, entertainment, sports and equipment like golf clubs and fishing poles. 麦迪逊市威斯康星大学一位研究公共事务、人口、健康和经济等问题的副教授Thomas DeLeire最近发表了一项关于人们主要的9种消费类型的研究。他和芝加哥大学的Ariel Kalil发现只有对快乐起到积极作用的消费类型才能让人感到舒服：度假、娱乐、运动以及鱼竿、高尔夫球竿等设备（的消费）。
Using data from a study by the National Institute on Aging, Professor DeLeire compared the happiness derived from different levels of spending to the happiness people get from being married. (Studies have shown that marriage increases happiness.) 利用国家老龄化研究协会的一项研究的数据， DeLeire教授将人们从不同层次物质消费中得到的快乐与人们从婚姻中得到的快乐做了一个比较。（研究显示婚姻能增加幸福感。）
“A $20,000 increase in spending on leisure was roughly equivalent to the happiness boost one gets from marriage,” he said, adding that spending on leisure activities appeared to make people less lonely and increased their interactions with others. “花两万美元所得到的快乐跟结婚所得到的快乐旗鼓相当，”他说。他还补充说花钱享受似乎可以让人们感觉不那么孤单，增强他们与别人的联系。
According to retailers and analysts, consumers have gravitated more toward experiences than possessions over the last couple of years, opting to use their extra cash for nights at home with family, watching movies and playing games — or for “staycations” in the backyard. Many retailing professionals think this is not a fad, but rather “the new normal.” 据零售商和分析家们说，消费者们近年来更愿意花钱去体验新的东西，而不是花钱去买个死的东西。他们更愿意把多余的钱花在晚上与家人在家一起看电影玩游戏，或者自己宅在家。很多零售人认为这并不是一时的现象，它更像是一种“新的正常状态”。
“I think many of these changes are permanent changes,” says Jennifer Black, president of the retailing research company Jennifer Black & Associates and a member of the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors in Oregon. “I think people are realizing they don’t need what they had. They’re more interested in creating memories.” 零售研究公司Jennifer Black & Associates 的董事长兼俄勒冈州长经济顾问委员会成员的Jennifer Black说：“我认为这些转变里的很多都会是永久性的。我想人们正在认识到他们并不需要那些他们已经拥有的东西。他们对制造回忆更有兴趣。”
She largely attributes this to baby boomers’ continuing concerns about the job market and their ability to send their children to college. While they will still spend, they will spend less, she said, having reset their priorities.
While it is unlikely that most consumers will downsize as much as Ms. Strobel did, many have been, well, happily surprised by the pleasures of living a little more simply. The Boston Consulting Group said in a June report that recession anxiety had prompted a “back-to-basics movement,” with things like home and family increasing in importance over the last two years, while things like luxury and status have declined.
她认为这很大程度上要归咎于婴儿潮中出生的人们对于就业市场和送自己孩子送大学的能力的担忧。但消费还是要继续，于是他们只能节省一些。她说，他们对自己的资产进行了重新配置。
“There’s been an emotional rebirth connected to acquiring things that’s really come out of this recession,” says Wendy Liebmann, chief executive of WSL Strategic Retail, a marketing consulting firm that works with manufacturers and retailers. “We hear people talking about the desire not to lose that — that connection, the moment, the family, the experience.” “经济萧条的产物带来了一种情感的回归，”WSL战略零售公司董事长Wendy Liebmann说。“我们听到人们在说他们不想失去——那种情感、某个瞬间、家庭、某种体验。” WSL战略零售公司是为制造商和零售商做市场咨询的。
Current research suggests that, unlike consumption of material goods, spending on leisure and services typically strengthens social bonds, which in turn helps amplify happiness. (Academics are already in broad agreement that there is a strong correlation between the quality of people’s relationships and their happiness; hence, anything that promotes stronger social bonds has a good chance of making us feel all warm and fuzzy.) 近期的研究显示，与有形物质的消费不同，服务和享受很典型的增强了人的社会联系，而这种社会联系反过来会增加幸福感。（学术界普遍认同人际关系的质量与幸福感之前有紧密的联系。因此，任何能加强人们社会联系的事物都很可能让人感觉温馨舒适。）
And the creation of complex, sophisticated relationships is a rare thing in the world. As Professor Dunn and her colleagues Daniel T. Gilbert and Timothy D. Wilson point out in their forthcoming paper, only termites, naked mole rats and certain insects like ants and bees construct social networks as complex as those of human beings. In that elite little club, humans are the only ones who shop. 复杂的关系在地球上的生物中是很少见的。就像教授和她的同事Daniel T. Gilbert 和 Timothy D. Wilson在他们即将发表的论文中说到的：只有白蚁、裸滨鼠和少数昆虫如蚂蚁和蜜蜂等会建立像人类一样复杂的社会关系。而在这些有复杂社会关系的生物里，只有人类会消费购物。
AT the height of the recession in 2008, Wal-Mart Stores realized that consumers were “cocooning” — vacationing in their yards, eating more dinners at home, organizing family game nights. So it responded by grouping items in its stores that would turn any         den into an at-home movie theater or transform a backyard into a slice of the Catskills. Wal-Mart wasn’t just selling barbecues and board games. It was selling experiences. 在2008年经济萧条最严重的时候，沃尔玛发现消费者们在过“茧式生活”——在自家院子里度假，多在家吃饭，组织家庭游戏之夜。所以它采取的应对方法是在自己的门店集合任何可以把一个小房间变成家庭影院或者能把普通后院变成度假区的东西。沃尔玛出售的不只是烤肉架和桌上游戏，它出售的是“体验”。
“We spend a lot of time listening to our customers,” says Amy Lester, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart, “and know that they have a set amount to spend and need to juggle to meet that amount.” 沃尔玛的一位女发言人 Amy Lester说：“我们花很多时间聆听我们的顾客，知道他们打算要花多少钱，并且尽力让他们能把钱花出去。”
One reason that paying for experiences gives us longer-lasting happiness is that we can reminisce about them, researchers say. That’s true for even the most middling of experiences. That trip to Rome during which you waited in endless lines, broke your camera and argued with your spouse will typically be airbrushed with “rosy recollection,” says Sonja Lyubomirsky, a psychology professor at the University of California, Riverside. 研究者说，花钱去体验能够带给我们更长久的快乐的一个原因在于我们可以回忆它们。即使是最烂的经历也是这样。在罗马排看不到头的长队、弄坏相机、和自己另一半儿争吵，这些都会被粉饰成“美好的回忆”，河滨加大的心理学教授Sonja Lyubomirsky说道。
Professor Lyubomirsky has a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to conduct research on the possibility of permanently increasing happiness. “Trips aren’t all perfect,” she notes, “but we remember them as perfect.” Lyubomirsky得到了国际心理健康研究所的授权进行关于持续增长的快乐的可能性研究。她补充说：“旅行并不都完美，但我们会把它记成是完美的。”
Another reason that scholars contend that experiences provide a bigger pop than things is that they can’t be absorbed in one gulp — it takes more time to adapt to them and engage with them than it does to put on a new leather jacket or turn on that shiny flat-screen TV. 学者们认为“体验”比实体物质更能带来快乐的原因是它们没法被一口吞下——与穿上一件新皮夹克和打开闪光的平板电视相比，它们需要更多的时间去适应，去体验。
“We buy a new house, we get accustomed to it,” says Professor Lyubomirsky, who studies what psychologists call “hedonic adaptation,” a phenomenon in which people quickly become used to changes, great or terrible, in order to maintain a stable level of happiness. Lyubomirsky教授说：“我们买新房子，我们慢慢习惯它。”她在研究一种被心理学家称为“快乐适应”的现象。指的是人们在面对或好或坏的变化时，为了得到稳定的幸福而迅速适应变化的现象。
Over time, that means the buzz from a new purchase is pushed toward the emotional norm. 随着时间的流逝，这意味着买新东西也被赋予了情感意义。
“We stop getting pleasure from it,” she says. “它不再给我们带来快乐了，”她说。
And then, of course, we buy new things. 于是，很自然的，我们又继续买新的东西。
When Ed Diener, a psychology professor at the University of Illinois and a former president of the International Positive Psychology Association — which promotes the study of what lets people lead fulfilling lives — was house-hunting with his wife, they saw several homes with features they liked. 伊利诺伊大学心理学教授，也是国际积极心理协会（这个协会主持了关于“什么让人们生活得充实”的研究）前主席的Ed Diener在和妻子一起找房子时看到了几个满足他们要求的房子。
But unlike couples who choose a house because of its open floor plan, fancy kitchens, great light, or spacious bedrooms, Professor Diener arrived at his decision after considering hedonic-adaptation research. 不像别的夫妻为了开放楼层、漂亮厨房、宽敞卧室而选择一个房子，Diener教授在看了“快乐适应”研究后才做出了决定。
“One home was close to hiking trails, making going hiking very easy,” he said in an e-mail. “Thinking about the research, I argued that the hiking trails could be a factor contributing to our happiness, and we should worry less about things like how pretty the kitchen floor is or whether the sinks are fancy. We bought the home near the hiking trail and it has been great, and we haven’t tired of this feature because we take a walk four or five days a week.” “有间房子离登山路径很近，爬山很方便，”他在一封电子邮件里说。“考虑到‘快乐适应’的研究，我（对老婆）说明登山小路是关系到我们快乐的因素，我们不应该太在乎厨房地板有多漂亮或者下水道有多华丽。我们买了登山路旁边的房子。它很棒。我们也没有厌倦它，因为我们一周有四五天都出去散步。”
Scholars have discovered that one way consumers combat hedonic adaptation is to buy many small pleasures instead of one big one. Instead of a new Jaguar, Professor Lyubomirsky advises, buy a massage once a week, have lots of fresh flowers delivered and make phone calls to friends in Europe. Instead of a two-week long vacation, take a few three-day weekends. 学者们发现消费者有种表现是与“快乐适应”相悖的。花同样的钱，相比一次狂喜，他们更愿意获得很多次小小的快乐。Lyubomirsky举例说，相比买一辆新捷豹车，他们更愿意一周做一次按摩，买很送上门的鲜花，给欧洲的朋友打电话。相比一个两周的假期，他们更愿意拥有很多个三天的短假。
“We do adapt to the little things,” she says, “but because there’s so many, it will take longer.” 她说：“我们适应这些小东西，因为它们太多了，会花费更多的时间。”
BEFORE credit cards and cellphones enabled consumers to have almost anything they wanted at any time, the experience of shopping was richer, says Ms. Liebmann of WSL Strategic Retail. “You saved for it, you anticipated it,” she says. 在信用卡和电话让人们可以随时随地消费之前，购物是一种比较奢侈的体验。WSL战略零售公司的Liebmann小姐说：“你为了购物而节衣缩食，你对它充满期待。”
In other words, waiting for something and working hard to get it made it feel more valuable and more stimulating. 换句话说，对一样东西怀有期待并为了得到它而付出努力会让这个东西感觉更有价值，更刺激。
In fact, scholars have found that anticipation increases happiness. Considering buying an iPad? You might want to think about it as long as possible before taking one home. Likewise about a Caribbean escape: you’ll get more pleasure if you book a flight in advance than if you book it at the last minute. 事实上，专家们早就发现“期待”会增加幸福感。想买个iPad?在买之前你可能会想尽可能考虑得久一点。就像逃离加勒比一样：在最后一分钟订到机票比提前早早订好要刺激得多。
Once upon a time, with roots that go back to medieval marketplaces featuring stalls that functioned as stores, shopping offered a way to connect socially, as Ms. Liebmann and others have pointed out. But over the last decade, retailing came to be about one thing: unbridled acquisition, epitomized by big-box stores where the mantra was “stack ’em high and let ’em fly” and online transactions that required no social interaction at all — you didn’t even have to leave your home. 从前，追溯到只有由类似商店的摊位组成的集贸市场的中世纪，那时候购物提供了一种增强社会联系的渠道。就像Liebmann和其它专家指出的一样。但随着几十年过去，零售却只关乎一件事：无节制的获取。它是商品堆得比天高的大卖场和不需要社会互动的在线交易——你甚至不需要走出房子——的缩影。
The recession, however, may force retailers to become reacquainted with shopping’s historical roots. 不论如何，经济萧条可能要迫使零售商们重新研究消费者们的习惯了。
“I think there’s a real opportunity in retail to be able to romance the experience again,” says Ms. Liebmann. “Retailers are going to have to work very hard to create that emotional feeling again. And it can’t just be ‘Here’s another thing to buy.’ It has to have a real sense of experience to it.” Liebmann小姐说：“我认为零售业要重新虚构‘体验’还是有很大的机会的。零售商们必须非常努力的再创造那种情感。它不能只是‘又有个东西可以买了’，它必须包含一种真正的体验。”
Industry professionals say they have difficulty identifying any retailer that is managing to do this well today, with one notable exception: Apple, which offers an interactive retail experience, including classes. 行业专家说他们现在很难找到把这一点做得很好的零售商。除了一个著名的例外：苹果。它提供一种不分阶层的零售交互体验。
Marie Driscoll, head of the retailing group at Standard & Poor’s, says chains have to adapt to new consumer preferences by offering better service, special events and access to designers. Analysts at the Boston Consulting Group advise that companies offer more affordable indulgences, like video games that provide an at-home workout for far less than the cost of a gym membership. 标准普尔零售组长Marie Driscoll说销售链必须通过提供更好的服务、特殊活动和接近设计师的方法来适应消费者的新偏好。波士顿咨询组的分析家们建议公司们提供更容易接受的爱好，像能在家练习的视频游戏就比成为健身房会员要便宜得多。
Mr. Cohen of the NPD Group says some companies are doing this. Best Buy is promoting its Geek Squad, promising shoppers before they buy that complicated electronic thingamajig that its employees will hold their hands through the installation process and beyond. 新产品开发组的科恩先生说有些公司正在这样做。百思买正在提升它的极客组，在消费者们买这个复杂的电子装置前承诺在整个安装及后续过程中都会提供支持和帮助。
“Nowadays with the economic climate, customers definitely are going for a quality experience,” says Nick DeVita, a home entertainment adviser with the Geek Squad. “If they’re going to spend their money, they want to make sure it’s for the right thing, the right service.” 极客组中的家庭娱乐顾问Nick DeVita说：“在现在的经济形势下，消费者们显然都更注重质量。如果他们准备花钱，他们想确保这钱花在了正确的物品和服务上。”
With competition for consumer dollars fiercer than it’s been in decades, retailers have had to make the shopping experience more compelling. Mr. Cohen says automakers are offering 30-day test drives, while some clothing stores are promising free personal shoppers. Malls are providing day care while parents shop. Even on the Web, retailers are connecting on customers on Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare, hoping to win their loyalty by offering discounts and invitations to special events. 过去的几十年里随着对消费者们的美元的竞争越来越激烈，零售商们必须让消费体验更加吸引人。科恩先生说汽车制造商们提供30天试驾，同时有些时装店承诺免费购物。商场在父母们消费时提供（对孩子的）照看服务。甚至在网络上，零售商们通过Facebook、Twitter 和Foursquare与消费者联系，期望能通过提供折扣和特殊活动的邀请来赢得他们的忠诚。
FOR the last four years, Roko Belic, a Los Angeles filmmaker, has been traveling the world making a documentary called “Happy.” Since beginning work on the film, he has moved to a beach in Malibu from his house in the San Francisco suburbs. 过去的4年里，洛杉矶的一位电影制作人Roko Belic环游世界制作了一部名为《快乐》的记录片。自从开始制作这部片子，他就从旧金山郊外的家搬到了马里布的海滩边。
San Francisco was nice, but he couldn’t surf there. 旧金山很好，但在那他不能冲浪呀。
“I moved to a trailer park,” says Mr. Belic, “which is the first real community that I’ve lived in in my life.” Now he surfs three or four times a week. “It definitely has made me happier,” he says. “The things we are trained to think make us happy, like having a new car every couple of years and buying the latest fashions, don’t make us happy.” “我搬到了一个活动房屋里，”Belic说，“我人生中生活过的第一个真正意义上的社区。”现在他一周冲浪三到四次。他说：“它真的让我更开心，我们被训练思考的东西让我们快乐，就像隔几年就买新车和买最新的时尚品并不会让我们开心。”
Mr. Belic says his documentary shows that “the one single trait that’s common among every single person who is happy is strong relationships.” Belic说他的记录片显示了“每个开心的人身上最常见的一个特点就是紧密的人际关系。”
Buying luxury goods, conversely, tends to be an endless cycle of one-upmanship, in which the neighbors have a fancy new car and — bingo! — now you want one, too, scholars say. A study published in June in Psychological Science by Ms. Dunn and others found that wealth interfered with people’s ability to savor positive emotions and experiences, because having an embarrassment of riches reduced the ability to reap enjoyment from life’s smaller everyday pleasures, like eating a chocolate bar. 专家们说，买奢侈品，相反的，倾向于变成一个无限的攀比循环，就像邻居买了辆漂亮的新车——好！——现在你也想要一辆了。六月份的《心理学》杂志上发表了一个Dunn才其它人一起做的研究，发现财富会干扰人们体验积极的情感和体验的能力。
Alternatively, spending money on an event, like camping or a wine tasting with friends, leaves people less likely to compare their experiences with those of others — and, therefore, happier. 或者说，把钱花在活动上，比如露营或者和朋友品酒，这样人们就不太会与别人比较这种体验——所以，也就更快乐。
Of course, some fashion lovers beg to differ. For many people, clothes will never be more than utilitarian. But for a certain segment of the population, clothes are an art form, a means of self-expression, a way for families to pass down memories through generations. For them, studies concluding that people eventually stop deriving pleasure from material things don’t ring true. 当然，有些时尚达人并不同意。对很多人来说，永远都不会买不需要的衣服。但对一部分人来说，衣服是一种时尚，一种自我表达的方式，对家庭来说是一种一代代传递记忆的方法。对他们来说，那些以物质会让人们获得的快乐减少为结论的研究并不可靠。
“No way,” says Hayley Corwick, who writes the popular fashion blog Madison Avenue Spy. “I could pull out things from my closet that I bought when I was 17 that I still love.” “不可能，”写着超受欢迎的时尚博客“麦迪逊大道探秘”的Hayley Corwick说，“我可以从我的柜子里找出我17岁时买来但现在仍然很喜欢的东西。”
She rejects the idea that happiness has to be an either-or proposition. Some days, you want a trip, she says; other days, you want a Tom Ford handbag. 她拒绝那种快乐只能二选一的思想。有时候，你想要旅行，她说；另一些时候，你想要一只Tom Ford 牌手袋。
MS. STROBEL — our heroine who moved into the 400-square foot apartment — is now an advocate of simple living, writing in her spare time about her own life choices at Rowdykittens.com. Strobel——我们搬进400尺公寓的女英雄——现在是简单生活的提倡者。在空余时间在Rowdykittens.com上记录她新选择的生活。
“My lifestyle now would not be possible if I still had a huge two-bedroom apartment filled to the gills with stuff, two cars, and 30 grand in debt,” she says. 她说：“如果我还拥有装满东西带两间卧室的大房子，两辆车和3万美元的债务，那我绝对过不上现在的这种生活。”
“Give away some of your stuff,” she advises. “See how it feels.”“丢掉一些东西吧，”她建议。“看看感觉怎么样。”