Money can buy you happiness but only if you earn ￡50,000 a year-after that you really have to work for it, a study claims.

如果你的年收入有五万英镑，那么你的金钱的确能买来幸福。如果你挣得更多，幸福不幸福就要靠你自己争取了。

Earning less than that amount can make you miserable-but earning more does not greatly increase enjoyment of life, it was found.

研究称，如果挣不到5 万英镑人会感觉痛苦，但高于5 万英镑也不会大大增加幸福感。

Researchers found that life contentment only rose steadily¹ with annual income up to level-$75,000, or just below ￡50,000.

研究者发现，当年收入在7.5 万美元（刚不及5 万英镑）以内时，生活的满意度会随着收入的增加而增加。

Once earnings² soared above this the important things in life such as family and well-being³ made money much less significant.

一旦超出这一范围，家庭、幸福感等生活中的重要因素就会比金钱显得更加重要。

The quality of the randomly-selected participants ’everyday experiences did not improve significantly beyond a salary of ￡48,960.98.

调查显示，随机抽样的年收入高于48960.98 英镑的受访者表示，他们的幸福感并未随收入明显提高。

But as income dropped from that amount, respondents reported decreasing happiness and increasing sadness and stress, according to the findings published in Proceedings⁴ of the National Academy of Sciences.

但同时他们也表示，如果收入低于这一数额，幸福感就会降低，取而代之的将是失落感和压抑感。这项研究成果发表在《美国国家科学院院刊》上。

The psychologists Prof Daniel Kahneman and Prof Angus Deaton explained people’s life evaluations⁵ rise steadily with income but the quality of emotional daily experiences levels-off once earnings reach a certain amount.

心理学家丹尼尔·卡尼曼和安格斯·迪顿教授解释到，虽然人们对生活的评价会随着收入的增加而稳步提高，但是在收入达到一定数额后，人们的情感体验就会相对稳定下来。

The data also suggested the emotional pain of unfortunate events or circumstances including disease, divorce and being alone are exacerbated⁶ by poverty.

调查数据还表明在不幸（例如疾病、离异或是孤独）中所体会到的痛苦感会因为贫困而加深。

The researchers said the study does not imply people’s lives will not improve after a raise in annual income from $100,000 to $150,000.But above a certain income people’s emotional well-being is held back by other more important issues.

研究者称，这并不意味着年收入从10 万美元涨至15 万美元时，人们的生活不会改善。只是说在收入达到某个临界值后，影响幸福感的就不再是钱，而是其他更重要的因素。

Prof Kahneman and Prof Deaton, of Princeton University, New Jersey⁷, said: “The question of whether ‘money buys happiness’ comes up frequently in discussions of subjective⁸ well-being in both scholarly debates and casual conversation.”

新泽西州普林西顿大学的卡尼曼和迪顿教授说：“不论是平时闲聊，还是学术的争辩，都往往会涉及这样一个关于主题幸福感的话题，那就是金钱是否能够买到幸福。”

More money does not necessarily buy more happiness, but less money is associated with emotional pain.”

“钱多不一定能买到幸福，但是钱少肯定与感情痛苦有关。”