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Or look at any of the women's magazines. There, as Bernard De Voto once pointed out, advertising begins as poetry in the front pages and ends as pharmacopoeia and therapy in the back pages. The poetry of the front matter is the dream of perfect beauty. This is the baby skin that must be hers. These, the flawless teeth. This, the perfumed breath she must exhale. This, the sixteen-year-old figure she must display at forty, at fifty, at sixty, and forever.
或者看看任何一本女性杂志。正如伯纳德•德沃托曾经指出的那样，杂志前几页上的广告诗情画意，而在后面几页却如药典和治疗方法一样结束。前几页的诗情画意是完美美女的 梦想:这该是她拥有的婴儿般的肌肤;这些该是她完美无瑕的牙齿;这该是她呼出的芬芳气息； 这该是她保持到40岁、50岁、60岁甚至到永远的16岁少女般的身材。
Once past the vaguely uplifting fiction and feature articles, the reader finds the other face of the dream in the back matter. This is the harness into which Mother must strap herself in order to display that perfect figure. These, the chin straps she must sleep in. This is the salve that restores all, this is her laxative, these are the tablets that melt away fat, these are the hormones of perpetual youth, these are the stockings that hide varicose veins.
一旦读完这些隐约让人振奋的小说和专题文章，读者在杂志最后几页就会发现梦想的另外一面：这是妈妈们必须要束上的塑身带，以展示完美的身材；这些是她们睡觉时必须戴着的下巴托；这是可以修复一切的药膏；这是通便剂；这些是可以溶解脂肪的药片；这些是可以使人永葆青春的激素；这些是可以遮掩静脉曲张的长袜。
Obviously no half-sane person can be completely persuaded either by such poetry or by such pharmacopoeia and orthopedics. Yet someone is obviously trying to buy the dream as offered and spending billions every year in the attempt. Clearly the happiness-market is not running out of customers, but what is it trying to buy?
显而易见，即使心智不健全的人也不会完全相信这些诗境或是这些药典和矫形术。然而有人显然正在竭力购买这些广告所兜售的美梦，并为此每年花费数十亿美元。显然，这种幸福的市场上从不会缺乏顾客，但他们在竭力购买的是什么呢？
