I needed to buy a digital camera, one that was simply good at taking good snaps, maybe occasionally for magazines. Being the cautious type, I fancied a reliable brand. So I went on the net, spent 15 minutes reading product reviews on good websites, wrote down the names of three top recommendations and headed for my nearest big friendly camera store. There in the cupboard was one of the cameras on my list. And it was on special offer. Oh joy. I pointed at it and asked an assistant, “Can I have one of those?” He looked perturbed. “Do you want to try it first?" he said. It didn't quite sound like a question. "Do I need to?" I replied. "There's nothing wrong with it?" This made him look a bit insulted and I started to feel bad. "No, no. But you should try it," he said encouragingly." Compare it with the others. "
我需要买一台数码相机，只要擅长拍快照，也许偶尔会给杂志拍照。作为一个谨慎的人，我喜欢可靠的品牌。所以我上网，花了15分钟阅读重要网站上的产品评论，写下三个最受推荐的相机名称，然后前往离我最近的大型相机店。柜台里有我清单上的一台相机。这是特价相机。哦，太高兴了。我指着它问一位助理：“我能买一台吗？”他看起来很不安。“你想先试试吗？”他说。这听起来不像是一个问题。“我需要吗？”我回答，“它有什么问题吗？”这让他看起来有点受侮辱，我开始感到难为情。“没有问题。但你应该试试，”他鼓励地说，“把它和其他的比较一下。”
I looked across at the others: shelves of similar cameras placed along the wall, offering a wide range of slightly different prices and discounts, with each company selling a range of models based around the same basic box. With so many models to choose from, it seemed that I would have to spend hours weighing X against Y, always trying to take Z and possibly H into account at the same time. But when I had finished, I would still have only the same two certainties that I had entered the store with: first, soon after I carried my new camera out of the shop, it would be worth half what I paid for it; and second, my wonderful camera would very quickly be replaced by a new model.
我看了看其他的：墙上摆放着类似的相机，提供各种略有不同的价格和折扣，每家公司都在同一个基本盒子上销售一系列型号。有很多型号可供选择，我似乎要花几个小时权衡X和Y，总是试图同时考虑Z和可能的H。但当我比较完后，我仍然只有两个与我进入商店时相同的确定性：首先，在我把新相机带出商店后不久，它的价值将是我购买它的一半；其次，我出色的相机很快就会被一个新型号所取代。
But something in the human soul whispers that you can beat these traps by making the right choice, the clever choice, the wise choice. In the end, I agreed to try the model I had chosen. The assistant seemed a sincere man. So I let him take out my chosen camera from the cupboard, show how it took excellent pictures of my fellow shoppers... and when he started to introduce the special features, I interrupted to ask whether I needed to buy a carry-case and a memory card as well.
但人类灵魂中有某种东西在窃窃私语，你可以通过做出正确的选择，聪明的选择，明智的选择来战胜这些陷阱。最后，我同意尝试我选择的型号。助理看起来是一个真诚的人。所以我让他从柜台里拿出我选择的相机，展示它是如何拍下我的购物者同伴的精彩照片的......当他开始介绍这些特殊功能时，我打断了他的话，问他我是否需要买一个手提箱和一张存储卡。
Why do we think that new options still offer us anything new? Perhaps it is because they offer an opportunity to avoid facing the fact that our real choices in this culture are far more limited than we would like to imagine.
为什么我们认为新的选择还为我们提供什么新东西吗？也许是因为它们提供了一个避免面对这样一个事实的机会，即我们在这种文化中的真正选择远比我们想象的要有限。
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