為什麼我們討厭便宜貨：英語精讀講義

We don't think we hate cheap things,

我們不認為自己討厭便宜的東西，

but we frequently behave as if we rather do. 文法

但我們的行為卻常常表現出我們確實討厭。

Consider the pineapple. 表達脈絡

拿鳳梨來說。

Columbus was the first European to be delighted by its physical grandeur and vibrant sweetness.

哥倫布是第一個被其外表的壯麗和充滿活力的甜味所折服的歐洲人。

He brought some back to Europe, 片語動詞

他帶了一些回歐洲，

but pineapples proved extremely difficult to transport and very costly to cultivate. 文法

但事實證明鳳梨極難運輸，且種植成本非常高。

For a long time,

很長一段時間，

only royalty could afford to eat them. 片語搭配

只有皇室才吃得起。

Russia's Catherine the Great was a huge fan,

俄羅斯的凱薩琳大帝就是它的超級粉絲，

as was Charles II of England. 文法

英國的查理二世也是。

A single fruit in the 17th century sold for today's equivalent of £5,000. 片語搭配

在17世紀，一個鳳梨的售價相當於今天的5000英鎊。

The pineapple was so exciting and so loved that in 1761, 文法

鳳梨如此令人興奮，如此受人喜愛，以至於在1761年，

the 4th Earl of Dunmore built a temple on his Scottish estate in its honor.

第四代鄧莫爾伯爵在他的蘇格蘭莊園裡建了一座神廟來紀念它。

And Christopher Wren had no hesitation in topping the south tower of St. Paul's in London 片語搭配

此外，克里斯多佛·雷恩毫不猶豫地將倫敦聖保羅大教堂南塔的頂部

with this evidently divine fruit.

裝飾上了這種顯然是神聖的水果。

Then,

然後，

at the very end of the 19th century,

到了19世紀末期，

two things changed.

兩件事情發生了改變。

Large commercial plantations of pineapples were established in Hawaii,

夏威夷建立了大型商業鳳梨種植園，

and there were huge advances in steamship technology.

蒸汽船技術也取得了巨大進步。

Transport costs plummeted and unwittingly transformed the psychology of pineapple eating. 片語搭配

運輸成本驟降，並無意中改變了人們吃鳳梨的心理。

Today,

如今，

you can get a pineapple for around £1.50 片語搭配

你花大約1.50英鎊就能買到一個鳳梨。

It still tastes exactly the same,

它的味道依然完全一樣，

but now the pineapple is one of the world's least glamorous fruits.

但現在鳳梨已成為世界上最不迷人的水果之一。

It's never served at smart dinner parties, 用詞

它從未出現在高級晚宴上，

and it would never be carved on top of a major civic building.

也絕不會被雕刻在主要市政建築的頂部。

The pineapple itself hasn't changed,

鳳梨本身並沒有改變，

only our attitude to it has. 文法

改變的只是我們對它的態度。

Contemplation of history of the pineapple suggests a curious overlap between love and economics. 片語搭配

思考鳳梨的歷史可以發現，熱愛和經濟之間有一種奇妙的重疊。

When we have to pay a lot for something nice,

當我們需要為好東西付出高昂代價時，

we appreciate it to the full. 片語搭配

我們會充分欣賞它。

Yet,

然而，

as its price in the market falls,

隨著它在市場上的價格下跌，

passion has a habit of fading away. 講解

熱情往往就會漸漸消退。

Naturally,

自然，

if an object has no merit to begin with, 片語搭配

如果一個物品原本就毫無價值，

a high price won't be able to do anything for it.

高昂的價格也無濟於事。

But if it has real virtue and yet a low price,

但如果它確實有美德，只是價格低廉，

then it's in severe danger of falling into neglect. 片語搭配

那它就有嚴重被冷落的危險。

It's a pattern that we see recurring in a range of areas. 表達脈絡

這是我們在眾多領域反覆看到的一種模式。

For example,

舉個例子，

with a sight of clouds from above.

從高空俯瞰雲層的景象。

In 1927,

在1927年，

a hitherto unknown airmail pilot called Charles Lindbergh 用詞

一位當時鮮為人知的航空郵件飛行員查爾斯·林白

became the first man to complete a solo crossing of the Atlantic 片語搭配

成為第一個完成單人駕駛飛機飛越大西洋的人，

in his plane the Spirit of St. Louis.

他駕駛的是他的飛機「聖路易精神號」。

He was awestruck and felt he was becoming for a time almost godlike.

他心生敬畏，覺得自己一時間幾乎像神一樣。

For most of the 20th century,

在20世紀的大部分時間裡，

his experience remained rare and extremely costly.

他的經歷仍然十分罕見且極其昂貴。

There was therefore never any danger

因此，永遠沒有任何危險

that the human value of crossing an ocean by air would be overlooked.

會讓人忽視乘飛機穿越大洋的人類價值。

But this lasted only until the arrival of the Boeing 747

但這一切僅僅持續到了波音747的出現

and the cheap plane ticket in the summer of 1970.

以及1970年夏天廉價機票的誕生。

Now,

如今，

almost no one looks out of the plane window anymore.

幾乎再也沒有人會看向飛機窗外了。

Why then do we associate cheap prices with a lack of value? 表達脈絡

那麼，為什麼我們會將便宜的價格與缺乏價值聯繫起來呢？

Our response seems a hangover from our long pre-industrial past. 慣用語

我們的反應似乎是漫長前工業化時代遺留的產物。

For most of human history,

在人類歷史的大部分時間裡，

there truly was a strong correlation between cost and value. 片語搭配

成本與價值之間確實存在著很強的相關性。

The higher the price, 文法

價格越高，

the better things tended to be,

東西往往就越好，

because there was simply no way both for prices to be low and quality high.

因為根本不可能做到價格低廉且品質上乘。

Everything had to be made by hand,

每樣東西都必須靠手工製作，

by expensively trained artisans

由接受過昂貴培訓的工匠

with raw materials that were immensely difficult to transport.

使用極難運輸的原材料製造。

The expensive sword, jacket, window, or wheelbarrow were simply always the better ones.

昂貴的劍、夾克、窗戶或手推車，肯定總是更好的。

This relationship between price and value held true in an uninterrupted way 片語搭配

這種價格與價值之間的關係一直不間斷地存在著，

until the end of the 18th century,

直到18世紀末，

when,

當時，

thanks to the Industrial Revolution,

感謝工業革命，

something extremely unusual happened.

發生了一件極其不尋常的事情。

Human beings worked out how to make high-quality goods at cheap prices 片語動詞

人類想出了如何以低廉的價格製造高品質的商品，

because of technology and new methods of organizing the labor force.

這得益於技術和組織勞動力的全新方式。

However,

然而，

despite the greatness of these efforts, 表達脈絡

儘管這些努力很偉大，

instead of making wonderful experiences universally available,

工業化並沒有讓美妙的體驗得到普及，

industrialization has inadvertently produced a different effect.

反而在無意中產生了另一種效果。

It seemed to rob certain experiences of their loveliness, 片語搭配

它似乎剝奪了某些體驗的可愛之處、

interest, and worth.

趣味和價值。

It's not, 表達脈絡

這並不是說，

of course,

當然，

that we refuse to buy inexpensive or cheap things.

我們拒絕購買不貴或便宜的東西。

It's just that getting excited over cheap things has come to seem a little bizarre.

只是說，為便宜的東西感到興奮似乎變得有些奇怪。

One is allowed to get very worked up over the eggs of the sturgeon, 慣用語

一個人可以為鱘魚卵感到無比激動，

£100 for a small pot,

一小罐100英鎊，

but we have to be very circumscribed about one's enthusiasm for the eggs of a chicken, 用詞

但我們卻必須非常克制對雞蛋的熱情，

12 for £2.

12個才2英鎊。

There is an intimidating hierarchy operating in the background, 慣用語

在背景中，存在著一個令人敬畏的等級制度，

shaping what we're allowed to be grateful for 語氣意圖

塑造著我們被允許感激什麼，

and feel that we lack and must have.

並讓我們覺得缺乏且必須擁有什麼。

The price tells us something very special is going on here.

價格告訴我們，這裡有非常特別的事情。

But it may be going on in the cheaper thing too.

但它可能同樣存在於更便宜的物品中。

How do we reverse this? 表達脈絡

我們如何扭轉這種局面？

The answer lies in a slightly unexpected area,

答案在一個有點出人意料的領域，

the mind of a 4-year-old.

即一個4歲孩子的思想。

Here he is with a puddle.

這裡有個小孩和一個水坑。

It started raining an hour ago.

一個小時前開始下雨。

Now the street is full of puddles,

現在街上滿是水坑，

and there could be nothing better in the world. 文法

在世界上沒有比這更好的事情了。

The riches of the Indies would be nothing 講解

即使是印度的財富，也會變得微不足道，

next to the pleasures of being able to see the rippling of the water

相比於能夠看到穿著靴子跳進水中激起漣漪

created by a jump in one's boots.

所帶來的純粹快樂。

Eddies and whirlpools,

漩渦與迴旋，

the minute waves, 用詞

微小的波浪，

the oceans beneath one.

腳下的海洋。

It's all fascinating.

這一切都很迷人。

Children have great advantages.

孩子們有著巨大的優勢。

They don't know what they're supposed to like, 文法

他們不知道自己應該喜歡什麼，

and they don't understand money.

他們也不懂金錢。

So price is never a guide of value for them.

因此，價格對他們來說從來不是價值的指南。

They'll spend an hour with one button.

他們可以花一個小時玩一顆鈕扣。

One buys them the £49 wooden toy made by Swedish artisans

有人給他們買瑞典工匠製作的49英鎊的木製玩具，

and finds that they prefer the cardboard box that it came in.

卻發現他們更喜歡裝玩具的那個硬紙盒。

They prefer the nail and screw section of a DIY shop to the fanciest toy department. 文法

相比於最豪華的玩具專櫃，他們更喜歡五金行的釘子和螺絲區。

A child might be deeply surprised,

一個孩子可能會深感驚訝，

even shocked,

甚至震驚，

to learn that a USB stick can be had for just over £1. 用詞

得知一個隨身碟只要1英鎊多一點就能買到。

Children would be right 文法

孩子們是對的，

if prices were determined by human worth and value,

如果價格是由人類的意義和價值決定的，

but they're not.

但事實並非如此。

They just reflect what things cost to make.

它們只反映了物品的製造成本。

The pity is therefore that we do treat them as a guide to what matters, 片語搭配

因此遺憾的是，我們確實將價格視作衡量重要事物的指南，

when this isn't what a financial price should ever be used for. 文法

而這根本不應該是財務價格的用途。

We can't directly go back to childhood,

我們無法直接回到童年，

but we have got people who can help us in this area,

但我們在這個領域有可以提供幫助的人，

artists.

藝術家。

They are the experts at recording and communicating their enthusiasms, 片語搭配

他們是記錄和交流自身熱情的專家，

which, like children,

這些熱情，就像孩子們一樣，

can take them in slightly unexpected directions. 慣用語

可以將他們引向有點出乎意料的方向。

The French artist Paul Cézanne spent a good deal of the late 19th century 文法

法國藝術家保羅·塞尚在19世紀末的大部分時間裡，

painting groups of apples in his studio in Provence.

都在他普羅旺斯的工作室裡畫一組組的蘋果。

He was thrilled by their texture, shapes, and colors.

他被它們的質地、形狀和顏色所震撼。

He loved the transitions between the yellowy golds

他喜歡蘋果表皮上黃色和金色

and the deep reds across their skins.

向深紅色過渡的色彩變化。

Cézanne had all the awe, love, and excitement before the apple

塞尚在蘋果面前擁有所有的敬畏、熱愛與興奮，

that aristocrats once had for the pineapple.

就像貴族們曾經對鳳梨那般。

Cézanne in his studio was generating his own revolution,

塞尚在他的工作室裡掀起了他自己的革命，

not an industrial revolution 文法

不是一場工業革命，

that would make once costly objects available to everyone,

去讓曾經昂貴的物品普及給每個人，

but a revolution in appreciation,

而是一場關於欣賞的革命，

a far deeper process

一個更為深刻的過程，

that could get us to notice what we already have to hand. 講解

能夠讓我們注意到我們手邊已有的東西。

Instead of reducing prices, 表達脈絡

他不是在降低價格，

he was raising levels of appreciation,

而是在提升欣賞水平，

which is a move that's perhaps more precious to us economically

在經濟上，這或許對我們來說是一個更為寶貴的舉動，

because it means that we can suddenly get a lot more great things 片語搭配

因為這意味著我們能突然以極少的錢

for very little money.

獲得更多美好的事物。

We need to rethink our relationship to prices. 片語搭配

我們需要重新思考我們與價格的關係。

We've been looking at prices in the wrong way. 慣用語

我們看待價格的方式一直有誤。

We fetishized them as tokens of intrinsic value. 用詞

我們把它們當作內在價值的象徵來盲目崇拜。

We've allowed them to set how much excitement 慣用語

我們允許價格來決定在特定領域

we're allowed to have in given areas.

我們能獲得多少興奮感。

But prices were never meant to be like this.

但價格本不該如此。

We're breathing too much life into them 慣用語

我們賦予了它們太多的生命力，

and therefore dulling too many of our responses to the inexpensive world.

從而遲鈍了我們對低價世界的太多反應。

We are astonishingly already a good deal richer 文法

令人驚訝的是，我們實際上已經比我們被引導去認為的

than we're encouraged to think we are.

要富有得多。