How important is shopping to you? How many hours of your life do you spend earning money to buy things? How much time do you spend shopping for these things? And how much time do you spend organizing these things in your home? In the future,how much time will you use up spending money- in movie theaters, at amusement parks, at drive-thrus, at shopping malls, at convenience stores, at the gas pump, or at your desk paying bills? When you add it all up, you will probably see that you spend a lot of your life consuming stuff.Consuming products is not necessarily bad.However,since we spend so much time doing it, we should look at it carefully.

購物對(duì)你來說到底有多重要？你一生中花費(fèi)了多少時(shí)間賺錢去買東西？你又花了多少時(shí)間買這些東西？你在家里花了多少時(shí)間擺放你買的這些東西？在未來，你又會(huì)花多少時(shí)間在電影院、游樂園、汽車餐廳、購物中心、便利店、加油站，還是在你的辦公桌上付賬？當(dāng)你把這些加起來，你可能會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)你一生中花了很多時(shí)間在買東西上。購物不一定就是壞的。然而，既然我們花了這么多時(shí)間做這件事，我們應(yīng)該把它想清楚點(diǎn)。

Imagine that you have a week off from school or work.You dont have to go to the office or go to class.However, in this week, you cannot spend any money-no shopping,no movies, no amusement park rides ,no eating out. How would you spend your time? What things would bring you happiness? Perhaps you would take a walk on the beach with your best friend. Maybe you would climb a tree. You might just sit outside and enjoy the sunshine. Maybe you would play with your dog. Maybe you would draw a picture or write a story. Perhaps you would read a book, have a conversation with a stranger,or help a child read.You might sleep under the stars,daydream, or spend time with your family.

想象一下，你有一個(gè)星期的假期。你不必去辦公室或上課。然而，在這一周，你不能花一分錢：不能購物、不許看電影、不能去游樂園、也不能出去吃飯。你會(huì)怎么打發(fā)時(shí)間？什么事情會(huì)給你帶來幸福？也許你會(huì)和你最好的朋友在海灘上散步。也許你會(huì)爬樹。你可以坐在外面享受陽光。也許你會(huì)和你的狗狗一起玩。也許你會(huì)畫一幅畫或?qū)懸粋€(gè)故事。也許你會(huì)讀一本書，和一個(gè)陌生人交談，或者幫助一個(gè)孩子閱讀。你可能睡在星空下，做白日夢，或者和家人在一起。

On our deathbeds, it is likely that nonconsuming experiences like these will be our most important memories.Why? Nonconsuming activities are active, not passive. They dont come in a package. You make the experience yourself. For example, each person who reads to a child will have a different experience. The experience changes with the reader, the child, and the book. However, if you watch a movie with a friend, you will each have a packaged experience. It requires no action and little interaction between the two of you. When you take a walk and have a conversation with a friend however, you are actively creating an experience.The conversation that you have with your friend cannot be experienced or recreated by anyone else.

在我們臨終之際，像這樣的非消費(fèi)性經(jīng)歷很可能是我們最重要的記憶。為什么？非消費(fèi)活動(dòng)是主動(dòng)的，而不是被動(dòng)的。他們不是被包裝好的。你自己創(chuàng)造自己的經(jīng)歷。例如，每個(gè)給孩子讀書的人都會(huì)有不同的經(jīng)歷。這種體驗(yàn)隨著讀者、孩子和書的不同而變化。然而，如果你和朋友一起去看電影，你們每個(gè)人都只會(huì)體驗(yàn)一樣的東西。它不需要你們兩人之間的任何動(dòng)作，你們也幾乎沒有互動(dòng)。然而，當(dāng)你與朋友散步和交談時(shí)，你會(huì)在積極的創(chuàng)造一種體驗(yàn)。你和你朋友之間的這次談話是不能夠被任何其他的人體驗(yàn)和復(fù)制的。

interaction：英 [??nt?r??k??n] 美 [??nt??r?k??n] 相互作用;相互影響（作用，制約，配合）

The consumerist environment we live in encourages us to have packaged experiences. We feel that we must consume because we believe that buying is doing. When we say to our friends,“Hey lets do something, we usually mean,“l(fā)ets spend money”However, we can start a personal revolution against consumerism. How? By consuming less. We can ask ourselves what experiences bring us the greatest satisfaction? Then we can organize our lives so that we have more of those kinds of experiences. The capitalist system can use us or we can use it. Its our choice.

我們所處的消費(fèi)主義環(huán)境鼓勵(lì)我們?nèi)ンw驗(yàn)定制化的內(nèi)容。我們感覺我們必須要消費(fèi)，因?yàn)槲覀兿嘈刨I東西也是一件能去做的事。當(dāng)我們對(duì)朋友說，“嘿，讓我們做點(diǎn)什么吧”，我們通常的意思是，“讓我們來花點(diǎn)錢吧”，但是，我們可以實(shí)施一場反對(duì)消費(fèi)主義的個(gè)人革命。那要怎樣做呢？通過減少開銷。我們可以捫心自問，什么經(jīng)歷給我們帶來了最大的滿足感？然后我們可以安排我們的生活，讓我們擁有更多這樣子的經(jīng)歷。資本主義制度可以利用我們，或者被我們利用，這是我們自己的選擇。

capitalist：英 [?k?p?t?l?st] 美 [?k?p?t?l?st] 資本主義者;資本家

翻譯：老戴

編輯：老張

B站&頭條唯一賬號(hào)：老戴講英語

感謝各位的關(guān)注，大家加油(??????)??