國營事業◆英文題庫下載題庫

　　When it was published in 1973，E.F. Schumacher’s book, Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered, made a lot of people think about the ways we make money, and what we use it for. Here is a quote taken from the book: 

　　“A modem economist is used to measuring the ‘standard of living，by the amount of annual consumption, assuming all the time that a man who consumes more is ‘better off’ than a man who consumes less. A Buddhist economist would consider this approach excessively irrational: since consumption is merely a means to human well-being, the aim should be to obtain the maximum of well-being with the minimum of consumption. ... The less toil there is, the more time and strength is left for artistic creativity. Modem economics, on the other hand, considers consumption to be the sole end and purpose of all economic activity.” 

　　The quote makes sense to a lot of people who are tired of always working harder to buy things that don’t really make them feel a lot better. What do people really want, and what do they really need? Suppose someone decides that a bigger or better television would make life more enjoyable. Perhaps. But what does the person have to pay for that TV? It’s not just the money; it’s the lost hours spent earning that money. 

　　In any case, a family decides to buy a big television for the living room. But then the parents decide that they want a second television for their bedroom. What happens? They all can’t watch both televisions at the same time. Perhaps one person in the family watches the one in the bedroom, while someone else watches the one in the living room. But then they are missing out on the happiness of being together as a family. There are lots of things we do that don’t really improve our lives.