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Recently I did a little reporting from Kenya and Tanzania before taking a 2)safari with my family. We stayed in seven camps. Some were relatively simple, without electricity or running water. Some were relatively luxurious, with regular showers and even pools.
The simple camps were friendly, warm and 3)familial. We got to know the other guests at big, 4)communal dinner tables. At one camp we got to play soccer with the staff on a vast field in the 5)Serengeti before an audience of 6)wildebeests. At another camp, we had 7)impromptu spear-throwing and 8)archery competitions with the kitchen staff. Two of the 9)Maasai guides led my youngest son and me on spontaneous 10)mock hunts—11)stalking our “prey” on foot through 12)ravines and across streams. I can tell you that this is the definition of heaven for a 12-year-old boy—and for someone with the 13)emotional maturity of one.
The more elegant camps felt colder. At one, each family had its own dinner table, so we didn’t get to know the other guests. The tents were spread farther apart. We also didn’t get to know the staff, who served us mostly as waiters, the way they would at a nice hotel.
I know only one word to describe what the simpler camps had and the more luxurious camps lacked: haimish. It’s a 14)Yiddish word that suggests warmth, 15)domesticity and 16)unpretentious 17)conviviality.
It occurred to me that when we moved from a simple camp to a more luxurious camp, we crossed an invisible Haimish Line. The simpler camps had it, the more comfortable ones did not.
This is a 18)generalized phenomenon, which applies to other aspects of life. Often, as we spend more on something, what we gain in privacy and elegance we lose in spontaneous 19)sociability.
I once visited a university that had a large, 20)lavishly financed Hillel House to serve as a Jewish center on campus. But the students told me they preferred the Chabad House nearby, which was run by the 21)orthodox 22)Lubavitchers. At the Chabad house, the sofas were 23)tattered and the rooms 24)cramped, but, the students said, it was more haimish.
Restaurants and bars can exist on either side of the Haimish Line. At some diners and family restaurants, people are more comfortable leaning back, laughing loud, interrupting more and sweeping one another up in a collective 25)euphoria. They talk more to the servers, and even across tables. At nicer restaurants, the food is better, the atmosphere is more 26)refined, but there is a tighter code about what is 27)permissible.
Hotels can exist on either side of the Haimish Line. You’ll find multiple generations at a Comfort Inn breakfast area, and people are likely to exchange 28)pleasantries over the 29)waffle machine. At a four-star hotel’s breakfast dining room, people are quietly answering e-mail on their phones.
Whole neighborhoods can exist on either side of the Haimish Line. 30)Alan Ehrenhalt once wrote a great book called The Lost City, about the old densely 31)packed Chicago neighborhoods where kids ran from home to home, where people 32)hung out on their 33)stoops. When the people in those neighborhoods made more money, they moved out to more thinly spaced suburbs with bigger homes where they were much less likely to know their neighbors.
In the 1990s, millions of Americans moved outward so they could have bigger houses and bigger 34)lots, even if it meant long commutes. Research by Robert Frank of Cornell suggests this is usually a bad35)trade-off.
People are often bad at knowing how to spend their money—I’ve been at least as bad as everybody else in this regard. Lottery winners, for example, barely benefit from their new fortunes. When we get some extra income, we spend it on privacy, space and 36)refinement. This has some obvious benefits: let’s not forget the nights at the Comfort Inn when we were trying to fall asleep while 37)lacrosse teams 38)partied in the hallways and the rooms next door. But suddenly we look around and we’re on the wrong side of the Haimish Line.
We also live in a highly individualistic culture. When we’re shopping for a vacation we’re primarily thinking about Where. The travel companies offer 39)brochures showing private beaches and 40)phenomenal sights. But when you come back from vacation, you primarily treasure the memories of Who—the people you met from faraway places and the lives you came in contact with.
I can’t resist concluding this column with some 41)kernels of consumption advice: buy experiences instead of things; buy many small pleasures instead of a few big ones; pay now for things you can look forward to and enjoy later.
To which I’d only add: Sometimes it’s best to spend carefully so you can stay south of the Haimish Line.
最近，我在肯尼亚和坦桑尼亚做了些新闻报道，之后顺便与家人去了趟野外旅行。我们在七个营地待过。有一些相对简陋，没有电力或自来水；有一些则比较豪华，有常规的淋浴设施，甚至游泳池。
简陋的营地显得亲切、温暖、充满家的感觉。在大大的公用餐桌上，我们认识了其他旅客。在其中一个营地，我们与营地员工在塞伦盖蒂平原的一片广阔土地上踢足球，面前还有一群牛羚“观众”。在另外一个营地，我们即兴与厨房员工玩起了掷矛及射箭竞赛。两名马赛族的导游带着我和我最小的儿子随性模拟狩猎——在山涧小溪间步行跟踪我们的“猎物”。我可以告诉你，对于一个12岁的男孩以及一个情商成熟度相当于一岁小孩的人来说，这简直就是天堂。
那些更高档的营地则令人感觉要冷漠些。在其中一个营地，每个家庭都有自己的餐桌，所以我们没有机会去认识其他旅客。帐篷之间隔得很开。我们也没有机会去认识营地的员工，他们大部分都像那些高级酒店的侍者一样，为我们服务。
我只能想到一个词用来形容这些简陋营地所拥有、而豪华营地却缺少的东西：haimish（像家一样的舒适）。这是意第绪语的一个词汇，意味着温暖、家庭生活以及真挚不做作的快乐。
这让我想起，当我们从一个简陋营地搬到一个豪华营地时，我们越过了那无形的舒适线。这种舒适感，简陋的营地有，而舒适的营地却没有。
这是一个普遍现象，适用于生活的其他方面。通常，当我们在某些东西上投入更多花费时，我们得到了隐私和优雅，与此同时却无法随性地与人打成一片。
我曾经访问过一所大学，那所大学有一栋大型的希利大楼，用作校园的犹太人中心。但是学生们告诉我，他们更喜欢附近由正统犹太教仪式派信徒经营的哈巴德大楼。在哈巴德大楼里，沙发破破烂烂的，房间也很拥挤，但是，学生们说，那里更有家的感觉。
餐馆和酒吧在舒适线的任何一边都存在。在一些小餐厅和家庭旅馆，沉浸在一种集体的精神愉悦感中，人们会靠在椅背上，放声大笑，更频繁地打断别人的谈话，互相对望，感觉更加舒服。他们更多地与侍应们交谈，甚至与邻桌攀谈。在高级餐馆里，食物更好，气氛更优雅，但是大家的言行举止得遵循一套更严格的准则。
酒店在舒适线的任何一边都存在。你会发现在“舒适旅馆”的早餐区几代人聚在一块，人们可能会在松饼机旁互相开玩笑。而在一家四星级酒店的早餐餐厅里，人们则是静静地在用手机回复邮件。
社区关系在舒适线的任何一边都存在。艾伦•埃伦霍特曾经写过一本很棒的书，叫《失落的城市》，说的是过去人口密集的芝加哥社区里各家的孩子到处串门，邻居间会在门廊处探身打招呼。而当这些社区的人们赚到更多的钱，搬去房子更大、更宽阔的郊区时，他们变得不太认识自己的邻居了。
在20世纪90年代，纵使要面对更长的通勤时间，但为了拥有更大的房子，住到更宽阔的地段，数百万美国人仍往外搬迁。康奈尔大学罗伯特•法兰克的研究指出，这通常是一种不好的交替。
人们通常不知道如何花钱——在这一方面，我至少与其他人一样糟糕。例如，彩票中奖者，很少能够从他们的新财富中得益。当获得一些额外收入时，我们会将它花在个人隐私、空间及精致度上。这有着一些显而易见的益处：我们不要忘了在“舒适旅馆”的那些夜晚，正当我们努力使自己入睡，长曲棍球队队员们却在走廊或隔壁房间举行派对。但突然地，我们环视四周，发现自己站在舒适线的错误一边。
同时，我们生活在一个崇尚高度个人主义的文化中。想去度假时，我们首先想到“去哪里”。旅行社提供的小册子上推荐私人沙滩和震撼景色。但是结束假期时，你首先会珍视那些“有关谁”的回忆——你在遥远他方认识的人们，那些你接触到的他人生活。
我禁不住以消费建议的一些箴言来结束本专栏：购买经历而非物品，购买许多小幸福而非大享受；花现在的钱去买你一直期待的东西，之后慢慢享受。
在这基础上，我只是想补充一点：有时候需要谨慎消费，这样你便可确保自己不会越过舒适线外。
The simple camps were friendly, warm and 3)familial. We got to know the other guests at big, 4)communal dinner tables. At one camp we got to play soccer with the staff on a vast field in the 5)Serengeti before an audience of 6)wildebeests. At another camp, we had 7)impromptu spear-throwing and 8)archery competitions with the kitchen staff. Two of the 9)Maasai guides led my youngest son and me on spontaneous 10)mock hunts—11)stalking our “prey” on foot through 12)ravines and across streams. I can tell you that this is the definition of heaven for a 12-year-old boy—and for someone with the 13)emotional maturity of one.
The more elegant camps felt colder. At one, each family had its own dinner table, so we didn’t get to know the other guests. The tents were spread farther apart. We also didn’t get to know the staff, who served us mostly as waiters, the way they would at a nice hotel.
I know only one word to describe what the simpler camps had and the more luxurious camps lacked: haimish. It’s a 14)Yiddish word that suggests warmth, 15)domesticity and 16)unpretentious 17)conviviality.
It occurred to me that when we moved from a simple camp to a more luxurious camp, we crossed an invisible Haimish Line. The simpler camps had it, the more comfortable ones did not.
This is a 18)generalized phenomenon, which applies to other aspects of life. Often, as we spend more on something, what we gain in privacy and elegance we lose in spontaneous 19)sociability.
I once visited a university that had a large, 20)lavishly financed Hillel House to serve as a Jewish center on campus. But the students told me they preferred the Chabad House nearby, which was run by the 21)orthodox 22)Lubavitchers. At the Chabad house, the sofas were 23)tattered and the rooms 24)cramped, but, the students said, it was more haimish.
Restaurants and bars can exist on either side of the Haimish Line. At some diners and family restaurants, people are more comfortable leaning back, laughing loud, interrupting more and sweeping one another up in a collective 25)euphoria. They talk more to the servers, and even across tables. At nicer restaurants, the food is better, the atmosphere is more 26)refined, but there is a tighter code about what is 27)permissible.
Hotels can exist on either side of the Haimish Line. You’ll find multiple generations at a Comfort Inn breakfast area, and people are likely to exchange 28)pleasantries over the 29)waffle machine. At a four-star hotel’s breakfast dining room, people are quietly answering e-mail on their phones.
Whole neighborhoods can exist on either side of the Haimish Line. 30)Alan Ehrenhalt once wrote a great book called The Lost City, about the old densely 31)packed Chicago neighborhoods where kids ran from home to home, where people 32)hung out on their 33)stoops. When the people in those neighborhoods made more money, they moved out to more thinly spaced suburbs with bigger homes where they were much less likely to know their neighbors.
In the 1990s, millions of Americans moved outward so they could have bigger houses and bigger 34)lots, even if it meant long commutes. Research by Robert Frank of Cornell suggests this is usually a bad35)trade-off.
People are often bad at knowing how to spend their money—I’ve been at least as bad as everybody else in this regard. Lottery winners, for example, barely benefit from their new fortunes. When we get some extra income, we spend it on privacy, space and 36)refinement. This has some obvious benefits: let’s not forget the nights at the Comfort Inn when we were trying to fall asleep while 37)lacrosse teams 38)partied in the hallways and the rooms next door. But suddenly we look around and we’re on the wrong side of the Haimish Line.
We also live in a highly individualistic culture. When we’re shopping for a vacation we’re primarily thinking about Where. The travel companies offer 39)brochures showing private beaches and 40)phenomenal sights. But when you come back from vacation, you primarily treasure the memories of Who—the people you met from faraway places and the lives you came in contact with.
I can’t resist concluding this column with some 41)kernels of consumption advice: buy experiences instead of things; buy many small pleasures instead of a few big ones; pay now for things you can look forward to and enjoy later.
To which I’d only add: Sometimes it’s best to spend carefully so you can stay south of the Haimish Line.
最近，我在肯尼亚和坦桑尼亚做了些新闻报道，之后顺便与家人去了趟野外旅行。我们在七个营地待过。有一些相对简陋，没有电力或自来水；有一些则比较豪华，有常规的淋浴设施，甚至游泳池。
简陋的营地显得亲切、温暖、充满家的感觉。在大大的公用餐桌上，我们认识了其他旅客。在其中一个营地，我们与营地员工在塞伦盖蒂平原的一片广阔土地上踢足球，面前还有一群牛羚“观众”。在另外一个营地，我们即兴与厨房员工玩起了掷矛及射箭竞赛。两名马赛族的导游带着我和我最小的儿子随性模拟狩猎——在山涧小溪间步行跟踪我们的“猎物”。我可以告诉你，对于一个12岁的男孩以及一个情商成熟度相当于一岁小孩的人来说，这简直就是天堂。
那些更高档的营地则令人感觉要冷漠些。在其中一个营地，每个家庭都有自己的餐桌，所以我们没有机会去认识其他旅客。帐篷之间隔得很开。我们也没有机会去认识营地的员工，他们大部分都像那些高级酒店的侍者一样，为我们服务。
我只能想到一个词用来形容这些简陋营地所拥有、而豪华营地却缺少的东西：haimish（像家一样的舒适）。这是意第绪语的一个词汇，意味着温暖、家庭生活以及真挚不做作的快乐。
这让我想起，当我们从一个简陋营地搬到一个豪华营地时，我们越过了那无形的舒适线。这种舒适感，简陋的营地有，而舒适的营地却没有。
这是一个普遍现象，适用于生活的其他方面。通常，当我们在某些东西上投入更多花费时，我们得到了隐私和优雅，与此同时却无法随性地与人打成一片。
我曾经访问过一所大学，那所大学有一栋大型的希利大楼，用作校园的犹太人中心。但是学生们告诉我，他们更喜欢附近由正统犹太教仪式派信徒经营的哈巴德大楼。在哈巴德大楼里，沙发破破烂烂的，房间也很拥挤，但是，学生们说，那里更有家的感觉。
餐馆和酒吧在舒适线的任何一边都存在。在一些小餐厅和家庭旅馆，沉浸在一种集体的精神愉悦感中，人们会靠在椅背上，放声大笑，更频繁地打断别人的谈话，互相对望，感觉更加舒服。他们更多地与侍应们交谈，甚至与邻桌攀谈。在高级餐馆里，食物更好，气氛更优雅，但是大家的言行举止得遵循一套更严格的准则。
酒店在舒适线的任何一边都存在。你会发现在“舒适旅馆”的早餐区几代人聚在一块，人们可能会在松饼机旁互相开玩笑。而在一家四星级酒店的早餐餐厅里，人们则是静静地在用手机回复邮件。
社区关系在舒适线的任何一边都存在。艾伦•埃伦霍特曾经写过一本很棒的书，叫《失落的城市》，说的是过去人口密集的芝加哥社区里各家的孩子到处串门，邻居间会在门廊处探身打招呼。而当这些社区的人们赚到更多的钱，搬去房子更大、更宽阔的郊区时，他们变得不太认识自己的邻居了。
在20世纪90年代，纵使要面对更长的通勤时间，但为了拥有更大的房子，住到更宽阔的地段，数百万美国人仍往外搬迁。康奈尔大学罗伯特•法兰克的研究指出，这通常是一种不好的交替。
人们通常不知道如何花钱——在这一方面，我至少与其他人一样糟糕。例如，彩票中奖者，很少能够从他们的新财富中得益。当获得一些额外收入时，我们会将它花在个人隐私、空间及精致度上。这有着一些显而易见的益处：我们不要忘了在“舒适旅馆”的那些夜晚，正当我们努力使自己入睡，长曲棍球队队员们却在走廊或隔壁房间举行派对。但突然地，我们环视四周，发现自己站在舒适线的错误一边。
同时，我们生活在一个崇尚高度个人主义的文化中。想去度假时，我们首先想到“去哪里”。旅行社提供的小册子上推荐私人沙滩和震撼景色。但是结束假期时，你首先会珍视那些“有关谁”的回忆——你在遥远他方认识的人们，那些你接触到的他人生活。
我禁不住以消费建议的一些箴言来结束本专栏：购买经历而非物品，购买许多小幸福而非大享受；花现在的钱去买你一直期待的东西，之后慢慢享受。
在这基础上，我只是想补充一点：有时候需要谨慎消费，这样你便可确保自己不会越过舒适线外。