经济学人：美国富裕阶层的消费习惯|双语精读

STATUS symbols are as old as humanity itself. It was only once ancient Rome became rich enough for plebeians to decorate their homes that elites sought to do one better by installing mosaics in their villas ; in Victorian England working-class women began to don worsted stockings to mimic the silk hosiery of the 1% . At the end of the 19th century Thorstein Veblen, an American sociologist, decried the “conspicuous leisure” of the robber barons of his age, who set themselves apart through their ability to avoid labour; he went on to bemoan the “conspicuous consumption” of the working classes seeking to imitate the wealthy’s access to luxury goods.

• 💡 作者开篇指出消费从古至今都是社会地位的象征，接下来便依次列举古罗马时期、维多利亚时期、19世纪末期平民对富裕阶层消费习惯的追逐和模仿。

• sth is as old as sth itself. … 和 … 本身一样古老。我们可用该句型来表达某物的历史很久远，比如 The wine is as old as the country itself. 这瓶葡萄酒和这个国家一样古老。

• It was only once ancient Rome became rich enough for plebeians to decorate their homes that elites sought to do one better by installing mosaics in their villas. 这是一个强调句，去掉结构词 It was… that 后仍是一个完整的句子： Only once ancient Rome became rich enough for plebeians to decorate their homes, elites sought to do one better by installing mosaics in their villas. 这是一个 once 引导的状语从句，相当于中文的“一 … 就 … ，一旦 … 就 …” ，用法类似于 when, as soon as ，再举一个简单的例子： ◇ Once I get him a job, he'll be fine. 一旦我帮他找到了工作，他就会好的。

• plebeian [pləˈbiː.ən] 指“古罗马的平民，庶民” (an ordinary person who had no special rank in ancient Rome) ，与之相反，古罗马的贵族叫做 patrician [pəˈtrɪʃən] ，或 elite 。

• seek to do sth 指力图做某事；想方设法做某事 (If you seek to do something, you try to do it) 注意动词变形是 seek-sought-sought [写作推荐]

• mosaic [məʊ ˈzeɪɪk] 指马赛克，镶嵌画

• villa 指古罗马时期的庄园，宅邸

• don [dɒn] 指“穿上，披上，戴上”，相当于 put on 。

• [ 经济学人 ] For even more insights, shoppers are sometimes asked to don special kit, typically in exchange for a discount or other reward. 为了发现更多讯息，购物者有时会被要求穿戴特殊的设备，作为交换，他们通常会获得折扣或其他奖励。

• worsted stockings 精纺长袜

• the silk hosiery 丝袜

• the 1% 指社会上最顶层的人，与99%普通大众相对。

• Thorstein Veblen 托斯丹 · 范伯伦，美国经济学家和社会学家，其代表作为 1899 年出版的《有闲阶级论》 (The Theory of the Leisure Class) 。

• decry 指公开谴责，强烈批评 (to strongly criticize sb / sth, especially publicly)

• conspicuous 指“显眼的，引人注目的” (easy to see or notice; likely to attract attention) ， conspicuous leisure 指炫耀性的有闲，后文 conspicuous consumption 托斯丹·凡勃伦 (Thorstein Veblen) 在《有闲阶级论》中提出的概念。

• robber baron 指强盗贵族，强盗资本家，常用于指 19 世纪末的美国商业巨鳄，比如约翰 •D• 洛克菲勒 (John D. Rockefeller) 、杰伊 • 古尔德 (Jay Gould) 和约翰 • 皮尔庞特 • 摩根 (J. P. Morgan) 。

• set sb / sth apart (from sb / sth) 指“使与众不同；使突出；使优于 … ” (to make sb / sth different from or better than others)

• [ 经济学人 ] What really sets China apart is that it has more internet users than any other country: about 730m. 真正令中国与众不同的一点是，它的互联网用户比任何国家都多：大约有 7.3 亿人。

• bemoan sth 类似于 lament sth , complain about sth , moan and groan about sth ，指“抱怨，叹息” (to complain or say that you are disappointed about something) 。

• imitate 与 mimic 互为同义替换。 [同义替换]

• 注意本段用了三种不同的方式来表达贫富的对比：plebians vs elites, working-class women vs the 1%, working classes vs the wealthy

Conspicuous consumption persists today. But just as the patricians of classical times changed their habits once the masses gained the ability to copy them, so too have modern American elites recoiled from accumulating mere goods now that globalisation has made them affordable to the middle class. Instead, argues Elizabeth Currid-Halkett, a professor at the University of Southern California, in “The Sum of Small Things”, they have begun consuming the fruits of “conspicuous production”: socially worthy things like fair-trade coffee . They also emphasise “inconspicuous consumption”, of services like education. Far from making the world more egalitarian , this shift, in particular, threatens to entrench modern elites’ privileged position more effectively than the habits of their predecessors ever did.

• 💡 作者由古至今，本段开始阐述当今社会的情况：炫耀性消费仍然存在，但随着中产阶级消费力的提升，富裕阶层开始转向隐性消费，并引出书评对象及其作者。
  

• sth persists today. 某事至今仍然存在。我们也可用 sth remains today. 来表示某事至今仍然存在，不过注意remain是中性词，persist略带负面的感情色彩。比如社会不平等至今仍然存在： Social inequality persists today. 性别歧视至今仍然存在： Sexism persists today.

• 与此相反，某事已成为过去式怎么说呢？外刊常用的一个表达方式是 sth is a thing of the past. 比如谈到移动支付，我们可以说： Cash is becoming a thing of the past.

• the patricians 指古罗马的贵族，统治阶层，类似于aristocrat，与后文 the masses 普通民众相对。 patrician [pəˈtrɪʃən] 还可作形容词，指“贵族的，有贵族气派的”，相当于aristocratic。

• the masses 指群众，往往用于指无权无势的平民。

• copy 与上一段的 imitate , mimic 互为同义替换。 [同义替换]

• recoil from sth recoil 本义是“退缩，后退”，比如 We are attracted by nice smells and recoil from nasty ones. 我们会被好闻的味道吸引，难闻的味道则会让我们退避三舍。 recoil from sth 引申为因为不喜欢、厌恶而回避、拒绝某事，比如

• just as… so too… 表示正如…, …也… 注意so too置于句首表示“也”时，句子要进行部分倒装。so too have modern American elites recoiled from accumulating mere goods now 还原为正常语序是Modern American elites have recoiled from accumulating mere goods now.

• now that 是连词，指“既然，由于” (because of something or as a result of something) 比如 ◇Now that the kids have left home we've got a lot of extra space. 孩子们都离开家了，我们住着就更宽绰了。

• make sth affordable to sb 让某人买得起某物 比如谈到在线教育，我们可以说 ◇Online learning platforms such as Udacity and Coursera make higher education affordable to more students.

• consume the fruits of sth 指享用某事的成果 the fruit(s) of sth 指某事物的成果 (the good results that you have from something, after you have worked very hard) ◇享受自己的劳动成果： consume / enjoy the fruits of my labour

• fair-trade coffee 指公平贸易咖啡。公平贸易咖啡具体指什么呢？众所周知，美国人很爱喝咖啡，但咖啡的主要生产国不是美国，而是巴西、哥伦比亚、墨西哥等发展中国家。星巴克一杯咖啡要3、4美元，咖农卖一磅咖啡豆才拿到40美分，中间商从中夺取了暴利，而咖农仅仅能勉强维持生计，甚至入不敷出，陷入贫困的恶性循环。因此，上个世纪90年代末，美国一些劳工NGO和消费者发起了一场咖啡公平贸易运动，“公平贸易咖啡”应运而生，美国也建立了公平交易证书制度。在这个制度下，加入这个体系的咖啡进口商必须以1.26美元一磅的价格，绕过中间商，直接从咖啡农合作社手中购买咖啡。与此同时，一个叫Trans Fair USA的独立公证机构，给该进口公司颁发公平交易证书。1.26美元一磅的价格，是以前收入的三倍左右，由此受益的咖啡农收入明显提高，摆脱了极端贫困。对于消费者来说。每购买一杯公平贸易咖啡可以直接支持发展中国家贫苦农民的生活，因此称之为 socially worthy things 。

• far from sth 指远非… 后面可以加名词、动词ing形式以及形容词，表示一种比较强烈的否定。比如表达“他的手很不干净”，除了说His hands are not clean之外，我们还可以说 His hands are far from clean. 用 far from 替换掉 not ，使语气更加强烈。再举几个例子，这场战役远没有结束： The battle is far from over. 莉莉远远不是他所喜欢的人： Lily was far from his favorite person. 人工智能远非破坏就业，而是能创造就业： Artificial intelligence, far from destroying jobs, can create employment.

• 再补充一个《经济学人》中的例句：Far from gouging consumers, many of their services are free (users pay, in effect, by handing over yet more data). 它们没有向消费者乱开价，而是免费提供很多服务（实际上，用户以提交更多数据的方式来交换免费服务）。 [写作推荐]

• egalitarian [ɪˌgælɪˈteəriən] 指人人平等的，平等主义的 比如一个人人平等的社会 an egalitarian society ，再比如《纽约时报》去年一篇关于共享经济的报道提到： Who can blame China for hanging on to the term “sharing economy”? It fits with the image that Beijing wants to project: warm, generous, egalitarian. 谁能指责中国抱着“共享经济”这个词不放呢？这个词符合北京想投射的形象：温暖、慷慨、人人平等。

• entrench trench指“战壕”，加上前缀en-，即挖战壕，也就是“使...更加巩固，使…根深蒂固”的意思，一般跟某种观念、习俗、权力，含有贬义。文中this shift threatens to entrench modern elites’ privileged position more effectively than…意思是这种转变可能会更加有效地巩固现代精英阶层的特权地位。（注意threaten和entrench两个词的感情色彩都暗示了作者的态度）

• 形容词 entrenched 更为常见，可理解为中文中的“根深蒂固的”，比如性别歧视在我们这个社会根深蒂固： Sexism is deeply entrenched in our society .

As inequality has increased over the years, so have researchers’ attempts to grapple with its causes and consequences. Ms Currid-Halkett distinguishes herself by bridging the divide between qualitative and quantitative approaches. Her book has no shortage of anecdotes to illustrate cultural trends and it digs deep into the detail of the Consumer Expenditure Survey, administered by the Bureau of Labour Statistics. Using the survey’s data from thousands of respondents, she paints a remarkably fine-grained portrait of how the spending habits of Americans have evolved over the decades.

• 💡 本段作者正式介绍书籍《琐事之和》的主要内容和特点。
  

• grapple with 本义是“与…扭打，揪斗，搏斗” (to take a firm hold of sb / sth and struggle with them) ，与某个问题或困难搏斗，也就是“努力设法解决某困难或问题” ( to try hard to find a solution to a problem)， 比如“政府正在努力解决失业问题。” ◇The Government is grappling with unemployment. 类似的表达还有 wrestle with sth , cope with sth , deal with sth , come to grips with sth 。 [写作推荐]

• causes and consequences 原因和后果

• distinguish oneself by doing sth 指“因…而与众不同，因…出众”，与前文 set sb apart through doing sth 含义类似 。

• bridge the divide/gap between A and B 弥合了A与B之间的差距

• have no shortage of sth 不缺乏… 换句话说，我们可正话反说，用no shortage of sth来表示“大量的…”，比如 There is no shortage of restaurants in the city. [写作推荐]

• administer 指“执行，施行” (to make sure that sth is done fairly and in the correct way) ，比如 ◇The questionnaire was administered by trained interviewers. 问卷调查是由经过训练的采访人员负责执行的。再比如to administer justice / the law 司法；执法

• dig deep into sth 深入挖掘… 类似的表达还有 delve into sth , probe into sth

• fine-grained 来自于grain，grain指“纹理”，形容词grained指“有纹理的”，fine-grained 即纹理细密的，文中 paints a remarkably fine-grained portrait of st h 即非常细致地描述了一幅...的画面。

Defining “conspicuous consumption” as “ apparel , watches, jewellery, cars and other socially visible goods”, she finds that even though the poor must dedicate much of their income