什么是“酷”？：英语精读讲义

Hey, Vsauce.

嘿，Vsauce。

Michael here.

我是 Michael。

And a couple of weeks ago, Vice's new channel Noisey blindfolded me,

几周前，VICE 的新频道 Noisey 给我、

the Gregory Brothers,

Gregory Brothers、

about 200 other people,

以及另外大约 200 个人蒙上了眼睛，

and then bused us to a hidden Skrillex show. 用詞

然后用大巴把我们送到一场秘密的 Skrillex 演出。

It was cool,

那真的很酷，

but what is cool?

但究竟什么是“酷”？

I mean, what does it mean to be cool? 語法

我是说，“酷”到底意味着什么？

Cool is a judgment of taste. 用詞

“酷”是一种品味上的判断。

People who are cool are with it. 習語

酷的人都跟得上潮流。

They exhibit a style that people want to emulate.

他们展现出一种让人想模仿的风格。

They're fashionable.

他们很时髦。

But being cool isn't just about confidence or being above the situation. 語法

但“酷”并不只在于自信，也不只是摆出一副超然于事态之外的样子。

In fact,

事实上，

what is considered cool changes all the time. 語法

人们眼中的“酷”一直在变化。

Here's a fantastic illustration charting by time and location what was generally considered cool.

这张精彩的图表按时间和地点展示了人们通常认为什么是酷。

To truly get to the origin of what we today mean by cool, 短語搭配

要真正追溯我们今天所说的“酷”的源头，

we're going to have to go back to West Africa in the 15th century.

就得回到 15 世纪的西非。

The Yoruba language has a great word,

约鲁巴语里有一个很棒的词，

itutu. 文化背景

itutu。

It means physical beauty,

它的意思是形体之美，

but also being calm and detached from your circumstances, 用詞

也指不受自身处境影响，保持冷静与超然，

almost unnaturally so, 語法

甚至冷静得近乎反常，

in a superhuman kind of way.

仿佛超越了凡人。

And a similar but more specific term comes from the Italian concept of sprezzatura. 文化背景

另一个类似但含义更具体的词，来自意大利的 sprezzatura 概念。

This was a way of behaving favored by the wealthy upper class in 15th century Italy.

这是 15 世纪意大利富裕上层阶级所推崇的一种行为方式。

And to exhibit this behavior,

要表现出这种做派，

you wanted to act nonchalant,

你就得显得若无其事，

even if doing so would take a lot of work. 語法

哪怕这背后要下很大功夫。

You would hide your desires and emotions behind ironic detachment. 習語

你会把自己的欲望和情绪藏在一种反讽式的超然姿态之后。

But where can you see sprezzatura?

但在哪里能看到 sprezzatura 呢？

Well,

嗯，

how about here?

看这里怎么样？

The Mona Lisa.

《蒙娜丽莎》。

She doesn't laugh.

她没有大笑。

She's exercising restraint. 短語搭配

她在克制自己。

It almost feels like she's looking down on you, 短語動詞

你甚至会觉得她正居高临下地看着你，

smugly.

一脸得意。

Now, to make this more clear,

为了把这点说得更清楚，

let's take a look at a recent discovery, 表達脈絡

我们来看看最近的一项发现：

a painting that used to be thought of as a copy of the Mona Lisa made years and years later. 講解

一幅过去被认为是许多年后才画成的《蒙娜丽莎》仿作。

Except, recent restoration has shown that the very same mistakes and corrections that Da Vinci made on the original 表達脈絡

然而，最近的修复工作发现，达·芬奇在原作中犯下的那些错误和做过的修改

were also done on this painting,

也同样出现在这幅画上，

leading restorers to believe that this painting was made side by side with the actual Mona Lisa. 講解

因此，修复人员认为这幅画是和真正的《蒙娜丽莎》并排同时绘制的。

Look at her expression.

看看她的表情。

It's even more clear that she's looking at you like, 用詞

这下更明显了，她看着你，仿佛在说：

"Huh, really?

“哈，真的吗？

You think you're cool?

你觉得自己很酷？

Okay."

行吧。”

Related is the Italian concept of omertà. 文化背景

与此相关的还有意大利的 omertà 概念。

This is keeping your cool and not telling the authorities anything about anybody. 講解

它指的是保持冷静，绝不向当局透露任何人的任何事情。

It's the type of attitude you see in movies like Goodfellas or The Godfather.

这种态度常见于《好家伙》或《教父》之类的电影中。

But our modern definition of cool may most directly come from slaves and prisoners.

不过，我们今天对“酷”的定义，最直接的源头或许是奴隶和囚犯。

People in those positions are subjected to authority in a very direct way, 用詞

身处这些境地的人，会直接受到权威力量的支配，

and any kind of rebellion against authority or fighting against it

而任何反抗权威或与之对抗的行为，

is most certainly going to be answered with nothing but punishment and very little chance of success. 講解

几乎肯定只会招来惩罚，成功的机会则微乎其微。

And so instead, an attitude of ironic detachment is taken on, 短語動詞

因此，他们转而采取一种反讽式的超然态度，

which allows you to distance yourself from that authority, 短語搭配

让自己在心理上与那种权威拉开距离，

to be away from it, against it,

远离它、反对它，

without actively confronting it and getting in trouble. 語法

却不用正面对抗，以免惹上麻烦。

Now, later on in the 1940s,

到了后来，也就是 20 世纪 40 年代，

the actual word cool began to stick to this attitude.

“cool”这个词才开始真正与这种态度联系在一起。

It came out of the smoke-filled nightclubs where jazz, beatnik, and bohemian culture thrived. 短語動詞

它诞生于烟雾缭绕的夜总会，爵士乐、垮掉派文化和波希米亚文化在那里蓬勃发展。

The only way to freshen up that smoke-filled air was to open windows and let the cool night air in. 講解

要让烟雾弥漫的空气清新一点，唯一的办法就是打开窗户，让凉爽的夜风吹进来。

Saxophonist Lester Young is credited with making this connection and popularizing the use of the word cool. 語法

萨克斯管演奏家 Lester Young 被认为建立了这种联系，并推广了“cool”一词的用法。

Even cooler is the fact that Lester also popularized the use of the word bread to mean money. 講解

更酷的是，Lester 还推广了用“bread”表示“钱”的说法。

Well, look at that, the sun has come out. 短語動詞

哦，瞧，太阳出来了。

That's cool.

真酷。

It also means it's a good time to talk about the brain. 表達脈絡

这也意味着，现在正是聊聊大脑的好时候。

Laurence Steinberg points out that there are systems in the brain that mature as we get older. 短語搭配

Laurence Steinberg 指出，大脑中有些系统会随着年龄增长逐渐成熟。

The first is the socio-emotional network,

第一个是社会情绪网络，

and this deals with social and emotional inputs. 短語動詞

它负责处理社会和情绪信息。

The second is the cognitive control network.

第二个是认知控制网络。

This deals with regulating behavior and making ultimate decisions.

它负责调节行为并做出最终决定。

But these two networks do not mature at the same rate. 短語搭配

但这两个网络的成熟速度并不相同。

In fact, there's an awkward period in puberty and adolescence where the social-emotional network in our brain is more active,

事实上，在青春期和青少年阶段，会有一段尴尬时期：大脑中的社会情绪网络更加活跃，

and so whether or not people think you are cool matters more to you than is reasonable. 語法

因此，你会在意别人是否觉得你很酷，而且在意得有些过头。

So, in a way, 語氣意圖

所以，从某种角度来说，

you could say that the less worried you are with being cool, 語法

你越不担心自己够不够酷，

the more developed your brain is.

大脑就越成熟。

Instead, focus on vocabulary,

不如把注意力放在词汇上。

the only thing that doesn't change,

唯一不会改变的，

the only coolness that doesn't fade is cool, 習語

唯一不会褪色的“酷”，就是 cool，

the word.

这个词本身。

Over the years,

这些年来，

we have used all kinds of other words to mean cool,

我们曾用过各种别的词来表示“酷”，

but the one that has never changed, 表達脈絡

但唯一从未改变的，

the one that has always been cool to use,

唯一用起来一直都很酷的，

is cool.

就是 cool。

And that's cool.

这就很酷。

Go check out that Skrillex concert footage.

去看看那场 Skrillex 演出的现场视频吧。

Noisey is the channel that uploaded that new M.I.A. video,

Noisey 就是那个上传了 M.I.A. 新视频的频道，

as well as M.I.A.'s responses to YouTube comments.

也上传了 M.I.A. 对 YouTube 评论的回应。

And according to this guy, 語氣意圖

而照这个人的说法，

fat people shouldn't be making music.

胖子就不该做音乐。

All I know is, 語氣意圖

我只知道，

as always,

和往常一样，

thanks for watching.

谢谢观看。