time spent agonizing over money.docx

时间总是折腾在钱上1 Within hours of a recent major stock market drop, I telephoned my Ford dealer and ordered the station wagon that I test-drove the day before. 1在数小时内最近主要股票市场下跌,我打电话给我的福特汽车的经销商,并预定了我前一天试驾过得旅行车。As my friends not so subtly pointed out, the Dow Jones Industrial Average didnt have much to do with my financial situation and shouldnt affect my purchase. 正如我的朋友不是很敏锐地指出,道琼斯工业平均指数没有多少和我的财务状况有关，不应该影响我的购买。Besides, my old car had caused me headaches for months.此外,我的旧汽车让我头痛数月。2 Still, I spent the evening asking myself: Could I afford a new car? 2仍然,我花了整个晚上问自己:我能买得起一辆新车吗?Should I be saving instead of spending? 我应该增加储蓄,而不是支出吗?Would we need to cut back on vacations?我们需要削减度假开支吗?3 On the list of items people worry about, money is almost always at the top.3在人们担心的项目列表上,钱是几乎总是在顶部。4 A study in The Wall Street Journal found that 70 percent of the public lives from paycheck to paycheck. 4一个在华尔街日报上的研究发现,70%的公众生活从薪水支票到薪水支票。Mortgage debt has increased 300 percent since 1975, and consumer bankruptcies are at an all-time high. 抵押贷款债务自1975年以来增长了300%,消费者破产的数量达到了空前的高度。Most marriages that fail list financial problems as a contributing factor.大多数失败的婚姻将金融问题列为一个重要的影响因素。5 When the Dow fell 554 points last October, millions of people lost billions of dollars, on paper anyway. 5去年十月,当道琼斯指数下跌554点时，数百万人失去了数十亿美元,无论如何理论上而言。There was expert anxiety on Wall Street and old-fashioned worry on Main Street. 在华尔街和繁华的商业街充斥着专家的焦虑和老式的担忧。Our reaction confirmed what we already knew: We are a people consumed by financial stress.我们的反应证实了我们已经知道的事情:我们是被金融压力毁坏的人。A Raw Material一种“原料”6 As the Bible tells us, worrying about money or anything else for that matter wont do us any good. 6正如圣经告诉我们的,担心金钱或其他物质不会为我们带来任何好处。Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?“谁能靠忧虑,给他的生命添加一个小时吗? Jesus asked.“耶稣问。And why do you worry about clothes? “何必为衣裳忧虑呢?See how the lilies of the field grow? 看看地上的百合花生如何长?They do not labor or spin.他们无需劳苦,也无需纺线。7 In my heart, I aspire to be like those lilies. 7在我心中,我渴望成为像这些百合花。But in my head, I feel a need to hoard.但在我的脑里,我觉得有积聚的需要。8 It is an unusual person who can live free from financial stress, or who can spend money on others as easily as he spends it on himself.8可以免于金融压力的束缚,或谁能把钱花在别人身上，就和他花在自己一样容易的人，这是一个不寻常的人。9 Thomas Edison was one of that rare breed. 9托马斯爱迪生就是这稀有种类的人之一。Had the great inventor stored his money, he would have died a wealthy man. 如果伟大的发明家存储了他的钱,他就死了也是一个有钱的人。His first successful invention netted him $40,000, a huge sum in 1869. 他的第一个成功的发明让他赚得40000美元,在1869年来说应是一笔巨款。During his lifetime, he patented 1,093 inventions, yet he departed the world penniless.在他的一生中,他有1093项专利发明,然而他离开世界的时候却身无分文。10 Years later, his son Charles recalled his fathers approach to money: He considered it a raw material, like metal, to be used rather than amassed, and so he kept plowing his funds back into new objects. 10年后,他的儿子查尔斯回忆他父亲对钱的看法:“他认为这是原材料,如金属、是使用的而不是积累的,所以他把自己的基金投入回新的对象。Several times he was all but bankrupt. 有好几次他当时濒临破产。But he refused to let dollar signs govern his actions.但他拒绝让美元束缚他的行为。”11 John Wesley was the same. 11约翰卫斯理也是如此。The founder of Methodism had the highest earned income in 18th century England, but he gave it all away. 在18世纪的英格兰 ，卫理公会派的创始人有着最高收入,但他把它们全部赠送。His philosophy about money was simple: Earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can.他关于金钱的哲学很简单:“获得所有你可以获得的,保存所有你可以保存的,赠送所有可以赠送的。”Root of Evil?邪恶的根源?12 Money may not be the root of all evil, but if it keeps us up at night, it has become ways too important in our lives.12钱可能不是万恶之源,但如果它使我们在晚上继续工作 ,它已经成为我们生活中过于重要的一部分。13 That was the lesson of Leo Tolstoys tale Elias, which told of a rich farm couple who lost all their money and were forced to take jobs as servants.13这是托尔斯泰的教训的故事,伊莱亚斯”,这对一个丰富的农场的夫妇已经失去了他们所有的钱, 将被迫像仆人一样工作。14 A guest one day asked the wife if she was miserable being poor, especially in light of the great wealth she had once enjoyed. 14客人有一天问妻子如果她很不幸地变得贫穷,特别是在与她曾经享受的财富相对照之下。The womans answer that she was happier than ever before surprised the visitor.女人说她会比以前更快乐她的回答使游客感到惊讶。15 When we were rich, my husband and I had so many cares that we had no time to talk to one another, or to think of our souls, or to pray to God, the wife explained. 15“当我们有钱,我丈夫和我有那么多的忧虑,以致于我们没有时间来相互交流,或冥想我们的灵魂,或向上帝祈祷,”妻子解释说。We lay awake at night worrying, lest the ewes should lie on their lambs, and we got up again and again to see that all was well. “晚上我们躺在床上，彻夜难眠地担心，唯恐母羊压在小羊的身上，然后我们一次又一次起来去确认,一切都很好Now, when my husband and I wake in the morning, we always greet each other in love and harmony. 现在,当我和丈夫在早晨醒来,我们总是在爱与和谐之中互相问候。We live peacefully, having nothing to worry about.我们过着平静的生活,没有什么需要担心。”16 For most of us, financial security is an elusive goal. 16对于我们大多数人来说,金融安全是一个难以实现的目标。No matter how much we have, its not enough. 无论我们拥有多少,总是会觉得不够。Kahlil Gibran put it this way: The fear of need, when the pantry is full, is the thirst that can not be satisfied.而卡里纪伯伦也曾这样说:“需要的可怕在于,当食品储藏室已经满了的时候 ,不能满足的是人的渴望。”17