国际交流英语视听说4 U5 听力原文及翻译

U 5 Listening 1

Dave Martin: Hello and welcome to Money Matters. I’m your host, Dave Martin. Tonight we’re very lucky to have Dr. Regina Simmons of the Simmons Institute here with us to talk about money and happiness. As usual, we’ll be taking calls from you, the listeners. If you have a question for Dr. Simmons, please call in. Good evening, Dr. Simmons.

Dr. Simmons: Good evening, Dave. It’s great to be here.

Dave Martin: The pleasure’s ours. Dr. Simmons, let me start by asking you this question: What’s the relationship between money and happiness?

Dr. Simmons: Well, Dave, a recent study by psychologist Elizabeth Dunn at the University of British Columbia seems to show that—for most of us—what makes us happy is giving money away, not spending it on ourselves. That’s what Dunn said in a recent interview with National Geographic.

Dave Martin: Really? How did she discover that?

Dr. Simmons: Well, it was when Dr. Dunn started making more money—uh, when she got a job as a professor. She started to get interested in whether money could buy happiness or not. She wanted to use the extra money she was making in ways that would bring her happiness.

Dr. Simmons: As a scientist, she looked for studies and research on the subject of money and its relationship to happiness. To her surprise, very little information on the subject existed. So Dr. Dunn decided to do some scientific research to see if people might get more happiness from using their money to help other people, rather than themselves.

Dave Martin: Uh-huh. And how did she research this topic?

Dr. Simmons: That’s a good question. Let me give you an example. In one of her first studies, Dr. Dunn and her fellow researchers gave a group of people a small amount of money in the morning. They asked some of the people to spend it on other people, and some to spend it on themselves. Dr. Simmons: At the end of the day, the researchers interviewed everyone. The researchers discovered that the people who spent the money on other people were happier than those who had spent it on themselves. Since then, Dr. Dunn has completed a lot of other research on money and happiness.

Dave Martin: Has she? Oh, excuse me, but I think we have our first caller. Hello, you’re on the air. Caller 1: Uh, hello, I wanted to know what are some of the mistakes people might make if they try to buy happiness with money.

Dave Martin: Thank you, caller. Dr. Simmons?

Dr. Simmons: Yes, well, one very common error is to make a major purchase such as a big house that you can’t really afford. Many people simply assume that owning an expensive item—a home or a car—will make them happy. But, you know, buying a home is a big financial commitment, and in fact people often go deep into debt to buy one. Actually, there are no statistics to prove that owning a home makes people happy.

Dave Martin: I see. Are there other studies relating money and happiness?

Dr. Simmons: Oh, sure. Another interesting study was recently done by researchers Leaf Van Boven and Tom Gilovich. They looked at the value of spending money on experiences. People can buy items such as cars, houses, clothes, and DVDs. But experiences are different from other items that people purchase. For example, vacations, concerts, or language lessons are experiences. So, anyway, these scientists used surveys to ask people how they felt about the items they bought