金钱可以买到幸福

I'm Dan and joining me today is Catherine. Hi Catherine. Hi Dan. So what's our story? Today's story, Dan, is about two of everyone's most valuable resources资源 that is money and time. I certainly do not have enough of either. OK, let's go to this Radio 4 book. What bulletin公告 to hear more? The old adage that money can't buy you happiness has been put to the test by scientists in Canada. They discovered that when you use money to free使自由 up time by paying someone to do your chores杂务, for example, you're more likely可能的 to feel happy than if you spend it on material重要的 goods好处.

So Canadian scientists there have discovered that when we use money to buy time to get things done so we have more time, that makes us happier than using money to buy things. So Dan, next time you're thinking of buying a new pair of shoes, spend your money not on the shoes, buy someone in to do some cleaning for you and you'll be much happier. That actually实际上 sounds like a really, really good idea. Thank you. I'll do that.

So you've been looking around at the news for three words and expressions that we can use to understand and talk about this story. What have you found? Yep. I have found chores杂务, underrated and outsourcing. Chores杂务, underrated and outsourcing. OK. Can we have our first headline大字标题, please? We can. Let's go to the 'i' and the headline大字标题 is revealed显示. Paying others to do your chores杂务 is the secret to happiness. Chores杂务 – boring but necessary tasks. OK. What can you tell us?

OK. So, chores杂务 are things that you do at home. It's work, jobs that you do around the house. Most people don't like doing them but you have to do them to keep your house running smoothly. So, things like doing the washing up, putting the rubbish out, vacuuming or cleaning. Homework? It's normally to do... Can be a chore杂务 in a different sense but it's generally一般地 sort of domestic国内的 tasks. OK. And is this a British English word? Well, it comes originally最初 from American English and American culture where kids in particular have to do jobs around the house and they call them 'chores杂务'.

But we know and use the word in British English as well. OK. Also, any chores杂务 you don't like doing at home? I can't stand ironing. Really? It's kind of boring. Yeah, I don't do it. No. How about you? Well, I actually实际上 have a chore杂务 that I really like and that is washing clothes. There's something really satisfying about emptying your laundry basket. So, while it's a chore杂务 for some people, it's actually实际上 a pleasure for me. OK. And is there a second meaning to this word?

There is actually实际上 and I've just sort of touched触摸 on it there. If something is a chore杂务, it's something that you have to do, maybe not at home, but you don't like it, it's boring, it's repetitive重复的 but necessary. So, for example, admin that you have to do at work, maybe you've got to fill in forms a lot and it's boring and you don't like it, you don't look forward to it, but you have to do it. It's a chore杂务.

It's a bit like saying something's boring. OK. Like when I'm standing in the queue in the cafeteria waiting to get breakfast. Yeah, you don't want to wait? No. Standing in a queue when you're hungry is a real chore杂务. Good example. Do we have any synonyms同义词? We do. You can have an errand差使 if you've got to go and do something and bring something or just a job. A chore杂务, a household chore杂务 is a household job. OK. So, before this programme becomes a chore杂务 for our listeners听者, let's move on to our second headline大字标题.

OK. So, let's go to Mike. The headline大字标题 is 'This is the best, most underrated way to make your money feel worth值…的 more according使一致 to science'. Underrated, not given the high level of approval批准 that it deserves应受. Exactly that. So, if something's really good, but people don't recognise认出 that it's really good, it's underrated. They underrate it. Like Vincent van, Gogh? Or Vincent van Gogh as I often call him. And he was an artist who never sold any work during his life.

Nobody bought his paintings, but now if you wanted van Gogh you have to pay millions for one. So, we can say that during his lifetime一生 Vincent van Gogh was underrated as an artist. OK. But paying millions and millions and millions for a painting, don't you think that's maybe too much? I think you're trying to say some people think he's overrated. So, overrated is the opposite. When people give, when we think that something's better than it actually实际上 is, we can say it's overrated.

Like the latest superfood fads时尚 maybe? Goji berries? So, yes. Well, I was expecting a lot. Maybe I was expecting too much. I had a bowl of goji berries. I was expecting to feel 10 years younger. I ate them and really nothing happened. Oh, that's a terrible shame遗憾的事. So, completely十分 overrated, goji berries. Goji berries don't even taste nice. They're overrated. OK. All right. Let's have a look at our third headline大字标题, please. OK. So, looking at now the Vancouver courier导游, outsourcing chores杂务 makes us happier.

So, why aren't we doing it? Outsourcing. Paying someone else to do your tasks for you. Yes. And it comes from the world of business and industry工业 in particular. When a business, for example, clothing sales companies, all the high street shops in the West, most of them sell clothes but they don't make them. They design them but they outsource. In other words, they get another factory to make the clothes that they can sell. So, it's where you get.

We can also use it in maybe in a big office where they have a canteen. The office doesn't actually实际上 run the canteen. Another company runs the office canteen. So, the office outsources the canteen. Like a hotel outsourcing the cleaning of its bedsheets to a smaller laundry company. Exactly that. Yeah. But is this something I can use on a personal level? Would I say like I outsource the cleaning of my house to somebody? You could say it and it would be understandable可以理解的 but slightly轻微地 over-formal正式的.

So, you'd be more likely可能的 to use it something, say like I had the cleaning done or I had my windows cleaned, something like that. Hang on a minute. To have something done. That's a grammar structure, isn't it? What's it called? It's called the causative, Dan. To have something done or to get something done is a way of saying you got somebody to do something for you. I see. Have plus the object plus the past participle分词. You're a grammar teacher.

Not just vocabulary but grammar too on this week's news review. Bargain day. Fantastic. All right. So, before we recap our vocabulary, let's go to our Facebook challenge挑战. Now, scientists have discovered that the old adage that money can't buy you happiness may be incorrect不正确的. But which of these is not a synonym同义词 for adage? Is it proverb, catchphrase or saying? How did they do, Catherine? Mixed response this week. Some people got caught out but for everybody who, including Abbas Raed, Roberto Ventimiglia and Derek Gutchman who said catchphrase is a phrase that's connected with a particular person, especially someone famous, such as a television entertainer演艺人员.