没有人会拒绝变富有，但富有并不等同于快乐。正如该文末尾引用的心理分析学者曼弗雷德·凯茨·德·弗里斯的观点那样，“It’s not what you have but what you do that makes you ultimately happy.” ——Lavender
          不是每个穷人都不快乐，就像不是每个富人都快乐一样。富人有富人的烦恼。英籍知名作家彼得·梅尔在其著作《有关品位》里就曾写道：“几年前的一个晚上，我在一对迷人的夫妇家中作客。这对夫妇太有钱了，有钱得使生活都有些反常了。那天，他们的一位客人，或许就是我，现在我终于想起来了，就在起居室的一幅黑乎乎的油画边，我无意间轻轻碰了一下那个沉甸甸的镀金画框。结果警铃大作，害得主人不得不打电话给保安，百般保证家中并无异常……”
　　 
 
    For some people, flying first class represents the height of luxury. But not Prince 1)Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia, who has become the first person to buy an 2)Airbus A380 3)superjumbo to use as a private jet. Another billionaire spent ￡83 million on a flat in the 4)Richard Rogers Partnership’s new Hyde Park development.
　　对于一些人来说，乘飞机时坐头等舱就是很奢侈的事情了。但沙特阿拉伯的王子阿尔瓦利德·本·塔拉尔可不这么看，他是第一个买下一架超大型空中客机A380作为私人飞机使用的人。另一个亿万富翁花了8300万英镑（约11.82亿元）买下理查德·罗杰斯建筑合伙公司新建的海德公园开发区内的一套房子。
　　Such excessive spending might not be a sign of 5)conspicuousconsumption but of addiction. For the super-rich, houses, yachts, cars and planes are like new toys that they play with for five minutes and then lose interest in. The super-rich are increasingly 6)succumbing to what has been labelled Wealth Fatigue Syndrome (WFS). When money is available in near-limitless quantities, the victim sinks into a kind of 7)inertia.
　　这类过度消费也许并不意味着挥霍，而是一种沉溺。对于超级富有的人来说，房子、游艇、汽车和飞机就像他们的新玩具一样，他们玩了5分钟就丧失了兴趣。这类人逐渐陷入所谓的“财富疲劳综合症”。当他们拥有着近乎无限量的金钱以后，就会沉迷于消费的惯性中。
　　Feeling any sort of excitement means taking more and more risks, financially and physically. Luxury holidays are replaced by 8)abseiling in Australia and swimming with sharks. The first-class ticket of old becomes a private jet such as Prince Alwaleed’s.
　　如今，要感觉到任何刺激，就意味着进行越来越多金钱和身体上的冒险。奢侈的假期被在澳大利亚玩崖降，以及和鲨鱼同泳这些冒险活动所取代。过去人们坐头等舱都觉得奢侈，如今连飞机都变成了私有财产，就像阿尔瓦利德王子那台超大型空中客机A380那样。

　　“The rich are never happy, no matter what they have,” said Frank James, a researcher. “There was this man who owned a 100ft yacht. I said: ‘This is a terrific boat.’ He said: ‘Look down the harbour.’ We looked down the marina, and there were boats two and three times as large. He said: ‘My 100ft yacht today is like a dinghy compared to these other boats.’ When else in history has someone been able to call a 100ft yacht a dinghy?”
　　“富人从不快乐，不管他们拥有什么。”研究员弗兰克·詹姆斯说道。“有个男人拥有一艘100 英尺（约30.48米）长的游艇。我说：‘这艘船棒极了！’他说：‘你低头看看海港。’我们俯视码头，那里有比他那游艇大两倍，甚至三倍的船只。他说： ‘和那些船比起来，我这艘不过100英尺长的游艇就像一叶小舟。’历史上有谁曾经把一艘100英尺长的游艇称作小舟呢？”
　　“A lot of my clients made money in commodities, and consequently everything—including houses and boats—is treated like shares,” says Peter Graham, a project mana-ger for the rich and famous. “When the houses have outlived their purpose, they are sold.”
　　“我的很多客户通过商品赚钱，他们最终发展到把包括房屋和游艇在内的一切东西视作股份的地步。”一位替富豪和名人工作的项目经理彼得·格雷厄姆说道，“当富人们厌倦了他们的房子，就会把它们卖掉。”
　　Gardens arrive on the back of trucks; art collections fill entire 9)wings overnight, though the owners often can’t recall the artists’ actual names. I have seen 20-year-old 10)cypress trees craned into gardens—and out again when the owner got bored with that year’s fashionable look.
　　整片草地被卡车运载而来。艺术收藏品一夜之间摆满了私宅的艺廊，尽管主人通常无法叫得出那些艺术家的名字。我看见过有20年树龄的柏树成批被起重机运进园子，当主人厌倦了园子当年那种时尚的面貌时，又把柏树统统拔起运走了。