什麼是「酷」？：英語精讀講義

Hey, Vsauce.

嘿，Vsauce。

Michael here.

我是 Michael。

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

幾週前，VICE 的新頻道 Noisey 給我、

the Gregory Brothers,

Gregory Brothers、

about 200 other people,

以及另外大約 200 個人蒙上了眼睛，

and then bused us to a hidden Skrillex show. 用詞

然後用巴士把我們載到一場祕密的 Skrillex 演出。

It was cool,

那真的很酷，

but what is cool?

但究竟什麼是「酷」？

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

我是說，「酷」到底代表什麼？

Cool is a judgment of taste. 用詞

「酷」是一種品味上的判斷。

People who are cool are with it. 慣用語

酷的人都很懂潮流。

They exhibit a style that people want to emulate.

他們展現出一種讓人想模仿的風格。

They're fashionable.

他們很時髦。

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

但「酷」並不只在於自信，也不只是擺出一副超然於事態之外的樣子。

In fact,

事實上，

what is considered cool changes all the time. 文法

人們眼中的「酷」一直在改變。

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

這張精彩的圖表依照時間和地點，呈現了人們通常認為什麼是酷。

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

要真正追溯我們今天所說的「酷」的源頭，

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

就得回到 15 世紀的西非。

The Yoruba language has a great word,

約魯巴語裡有一個很棒的詞，

itutu. 文化背景

itutu。

It means physical beauty,

它的意思是形體之美，

but also being calm and detached from your circumstances, 用詞

也指不受自身處境影響，保持冷靜與超然，

almost unnaturally so, 文法

甚至冷靜得近乎反常，

in a superhuman kind of way.

彷彿超越了凡人。

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

另一個類似但含義更具體的詞，來自義大利的 sprezzatura 概念。

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

這是 15 世紀義大利富裕上層階級所推崇的一種行為方式。

And to exhibit this behavior,

而要展現這種作風，

you wanted to act nonchalant,

你得表現得若無其事，

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

即使這麼做其實得花很多工夫。

You would hide your desires and emotions behind ironic detachment. 慣用語

你會把自己的欲望和情緒，藏在一種反諷式的超然姿態之後。

But where can you see sprezzatura?

但在哪裡能看到 sprezzatura 呢？

Well,

嗯，

how about here?

看這裡如何？

The Mona Lisa.

《蒙娜麗莎》。

She doesn't laugh.

她沒有大笑。

She's exercising restraint. 片語搭配

她在克制自己。

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

你甚至會覺得她正居高臨下地看著你，

smugly.

一臉得意。

Now, to make this more clear,

為了把這點說得更清楚，

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

我們來看看最近的一項發現：

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

一幅過去被認為是許多年後才畫成的《蒙娜麗莎》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，最近的修復工作發現，達文西在原作中犯下的那些錯誤和做過的修改

were also done on this painting,

也同樣出現在這幅畫上，

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

因此，修復人員認為這幅畫是和真正的《蒙娜麗莎》並排同時繪製的。

Look at her expression.

看看她的表情。

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

這下更明顯了，她看著你，彷彿在說：

"Huh, really?

「蛤，真的嗎？

You think you're cool?

你覺得自己很酷？

Okay."

好喔。」

Related is the Italian concept of omertà. 文化背景

與此相關的還有義大利的 omertà 概念。

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

它指的是保持冷靜，絕不向當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.

這種態度常見於《四海好傢伙》或《教父》之類的電影中。

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

不過，我們今天對「酷」的定義，最直接的源頭或許是奴隸和囚犯。

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

身處這些境地的人，會直接受到權威力量的支配，

and any kind of rebellion against authority or fighting against it

而任何反抗權威或與之對抗的行為，

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

幾乎肯定只會招來懲罰，成功的機會則微乎其微。

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

因此，他們轉而採取一種反諷式的超然態度，

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

讓自己在心理上和那種權威拉開距離，

to be away from it, against it,

遠離它、反對它，

without actively confronting it and getting in trouble. 文法

卻不必正面對抗，以免惹上麻煩。

Now, later on in the 1940s,

到了後來，也就是 1940 年代，

the actual word cool began to stick to this attitude.

「cool」這個詞才開始真正和這種態度連結在一起。

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

它誕生於煙霧瀰漫的夜店，爵士樂、垮世代文化和波希米亞文化在那裡蓬勃發展。

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

要讓煙霧瀰漫的空氣清新一點，唯一的辦法就是打開窗戶，讓涼爽的夜風吹進來。

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

薩克斯風演奏家 Lester Young 被認為建立了這種連結，並推廣了「cool」一詞的用法。

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 還推廣了用「bread」表示「錢」的說法。

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

喔，瞧，太陽出來了。

That's cool.

真酷。

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

這也代表，現在正是聊聊大腦的好時機。

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

Laurence Steinberg 指出，大腦中有些系統會隨著年齡增長逐漸成熟。

The first is the socio-emotional network,

第一個是社會情緒網絡，

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

它負責處理社會和情緒訊息。

The second is the cognitive control network.

第二個是認知控制網絡。

This deals with regulating behavior and making ultimate decisions.

它負責調節行為並做出最終決定。

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

但這兩個網絡的成熟速度並不相同。

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

事實上，在青春期和青少年階段，會有一段尷尬時期：大腦中的社會情緒網絡更加活躍，

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

因此，你會在意別人是否覺得你很酷，而且在意得有些過頭。

So, in a way, 語氣意圖

所以，從某個角度來說，

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

你越不擔心自己夠不夠酷，

the more developed your brain is.

大腦就越成熟。

Instead, focus on vocabulary,

不如把注意力放在詞彙上。

the only thing that doesn't change,

唯一不會改變的，

the only coolness that doesn't fade is cool, 慣用語

唯一不會褪色的「酷」，就是 cool，

the word.

這個詞本身。

Over the years,

這些年來，

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

我們曾用過各種別的詞來表示「酷」，

but the one that has never changed, 表達脈絡

但唯一從未改變的，

the one that has always been cool to use,

唯一用起來一直都很酷的，

is cool.

就是 cool。

And that's cool.

這就很酷。

Go check out that Skrillex concert footage.

去看看那場 Skrillex 演出的現場影片吧。

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

Noisey 就是那個上傳了 M.I.A. 新影片的頻道，

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

也上傳了 M.I.A. 對 YouTube 留言的回應。

And according to this guy, 語氣意圖

而照這個人的說法，

fat people shouldn't be making music.

胖子就不該做音樂。

All I know is, 語氣意圖

我只知道，

as always,

一如往常，

thanks for watching.

謝謝收看。