Accumulating money up to a certain amount provides a safeguard against lean times, but today it has become an end in itself, a way of measuring one’s status or success, and a goal to fall back on when we can think of no other reason for doing anything, but would be bored doing nothing. Making money gives us something to do that feels worthwhile, as long as we do not reflect too much on why we are doing it.
积累金钱到一定数目可以确保人们安然度过困难期，但是今天它自身已经变成了目的，一种衡量人们地位和成功的方式，以及当我们想不出其他理由要去做什么事情，但是不做事情又会觉得无聊时给我们提供的一个现成的目标。挣钱会促使我们去做一些我们感觉很值得的事情，只要我们不去更多地思考为什么我们要去做这件事。