范文一：经济危机 美情人节消费将下降17%
Is it really the thought that counts? Americans will find out this Valentine's Day.
US shoppers will spend 17 percent less, on average, on their sweethearts during the Feb 14 lover's holiday this year, according to a survey by BIGresearch for the National Retail Federation. That comes to about $103 per gift-giver down from $123 last year.
"Valentine's Day this year will be more about small tokens of affection rather than extravagant purchases," Phil Rist, executive vice president at BIGresearch, said.
Some people will do away with gifts altogether and arrange "quality time" with their heart's desire at home instead, while others will set strict budgets for what they are willing to buy, he said.
But the most popular traditions won't die too fast. Nearly half of those surveyed said they would go to a restaurant on Valentine's Day and more than one-third said they plan to buy flowers. About 58 percent said they would send greeting cards, up from 56.8 percent last year.
According to the survey results, the majority of those surveyed (90.8 percent) will spend the most on their spouse ($67.22), with other family members getting about one-fifth of their budget ($20.95). Smaller amounts will be spent on children, teachers, co-workers and pets.
Total U.S. spending is expected to reach $14.7 billion for the holiday. The survey polled 8,850 consumers in early January about their Valentine's Day spending plans. www.LiuxuePaper.com
是否真的是心意到了就行了？今年情人节，美国人便能看个究竟。
美国全国零售业协会委托BIGresearch开展的一项调查显示，今年情人节美国人的平均消费将下降17%，人均开支将从去年的123美元下降至今年的约103美元。
BIGresearch执行副总裁菲尔?里斯特说：“今年情人节更受欢迎的将是那些表达爱意的小礼物，而非昂贵的奢侈品。”
据他介绍，有些人干脆省去礼物，而打算与心上人在家共度“温馨时光”，而其他人则表示将严格控制预算。
但最流行的情人节传统不会轻易消失。近一半的受访者称今年情人节他们将和恋人出去吃饭，超过三分之一的人称他们打算买花送给对方。约58%的受访者表示将寄贺卡，较之去年的56.8%有所上升。
调查结果显示，多数受访者（90.8%）要花钱对象是伴侣（平均为67.22美元），约五分之一的预算（20.95美元）将用于家庭其他成员。用于孩子、老师、同事和宠物的预算更少。
今年情人节美国人的总消费预计将达147亿美元。这项情人节消费意向民调于今年1月初开展，共有8850名消费者参加。
范文二：
经济危机背景下，CPI一定是会下跌的。大家都把钱存到了银行里，以备不时之需。
美国哈佛大学的研究人员进行了调查，就大学生在大学毕业后是否后悔当时没有用功学习。但是大部分学生表示第一年假期之后，他们后悔没有认真学习，但是之后，更多人表示他们因为没有去玩而感到遗憾。
同样地，在经济危机的时候，人们都不花钱，但是会因为没有及时行乐感到遗憾和后悔。所以，我们还是“吃光用光，身体健康”吧！不要过多考虑以后的事情。
LiuxuePaper.com
We interrupt this recession to bring you news of another crisis, which is much more pleasant to deal with. Now that shoppers have sworn off credit cards, we're risking an epidemic of a hitherto neglected affliction: saver's remorse.
The victims won't evoke much sympathy, but their condition is real enough to merit a new label. Consumer psychologists call it hyperopia, the medical term for farsightedness, because it's the result of people looking too far ahead. They're so obsessed with preparing for the future that they can't enjoy the present, and they end up looking back sadly on all their lost opportunities for fun.
It's hard to imagine this excessive foresight being much of a burden for, say, Bernard L. Madoff. Nor for the optimists who took out balloon mortgages. But hyperopia does seem to affect a wide range of people in some circumstances.
Balloon Mortgage：（增值抵押）一种不足以偿还票据的定期付款抵押，因此最后需要一大笔支付金额。
Splurging on a vacation or a pair of shoes or a plasma television can produce an immediate case of buyer's remorse, but that feeling isn't permanent, according to Ran Kivetz of Columbia University and Anat Keinan of Harvard. In one study, these consumer psychologists asked college students how they felt about the balance of work and play on their winter breaks.
Immediately after the break, the students' chief regrets were over not doing enough studying, working and saving money. But when they contemplated their break a year later, they were more likely to regret not having enough fun, not traveling and not spending money. And when alumni returned for their 40th reunion, they had even stronger regrets about too much work and not enough play on their collegiate breaks.
"People feel guilty about hedonism right afterwards, but as time passes the guilt dissipates," said Dr. Kivetz, a professor of marketing at the Columbia Business School. "At some point there's a reversal, and what builds up is this wistful feeling of missing out on life's pleasures."[page]分页标题[/page]
He and Keinan managed to change consumers' behavior simply by asking a few questions to bus riders going to outlet stores and to other shoppers.
The people who were asked to imagine how they would feel the following week about their purchases proceeded to shop thriftily for basic necessities, like underwear and socks. But people who were asked to imagine how they'd feel about their purchases in the distant future responded by spending more money and concentrating on indulgences like jewelry and designer jeans
"When I look back at my life," one of these high rollers explained, "I like remembering myself happy. So if it makes me happy, it's worth it."
Aesop told a fable of two types of people: the virtuous Ant who saves for the winter and the improvident Grasshopper who is punished with starvation. But even the most conscientious Ants sometimes recognize the need to lighten up — and, with typical Ant discipline, will find ways to "precommit to indulgence," as Dr. Kivetz discovered in a lottery experiment he conducted with Itamar Simonson of Stanford University.
The experimental participants, who were all women, were given a ticket for a lottery drawing to be held three months later, and asked to choose in advance which prize they'd prefer if they won: $85 in cash, or a voucher for an $80 massage or facial at a spa. They were reminded that they could simply use the $85 in cash to buy the spa treatment (and have $5 left over), but even so, more than a third of the women chose the voucher for the spa.
Similar results turned up when the researchers asked men and women to pick other kind of prizes or to redeem points earned in frequent-buyer programs. When choosing between cash and "hedonic luxuries" like bottles of wine, dinners or vacations, a substantial minority chose the luxuries even though the cash was a better deal.
"If I took the cash," one person explained, "it would end up going into the rent."
Other experiments showed that people will work harder for luxuries than for more practical prizes — and the more effort that's required, the more they feel entitled to a self-indulgent reward. That is a motivation strategy for managers and marketers to keep in mind, Dr. Kivetz said.
