60秒科学:购物者,你可能低估了账单

So, they’re scanning your items at the grocery store, and when the last tomato gets bagged you’re stunned¹ at the cost. How did you spend so much? Maybe those cherries were 12 bucks² a pound. Or maybe you should have paid more attention to what you put in the wagon³. Then again, maybe not. Because a new study in the Journal of Marketing  shows that the harder shoppers try to keep track of what they’re spending, the worse they actually do.

With the economy still in the dumps, sticking to a budget is key. And food’s a major expense. So a lot of shoppers try to keep a mental tally⁴ of what they toss into the cart as they go along. Scientists [Koert van Ittersum, Joost M. E. Pennings and Brian Wansink] interviewed 300 shoppers, and found that more than half of them try to crunch⁵ the numbers without a calculator or even a pen and paper. The trouble is doing that math in your head is hard. As a result, they underestimate their total cost, and end up overspending.

One trick, the scientists say, is to count what’s in your cart and multiply by a guesstimate of the average cost of the items. So nine things at $2 a pop should give you change of a twenty. It’s not perfect, but it’ll also tell you whether you can get in the 12 items or less lane.

—Karen Hopkin

瞧，商店的收银员正扫描你的东西呢，当最后一个西红柿装进你的袋子时，有没有被总价格吓到啊？怎么花了这么多钱啊？没准是因为这些樱桃要12美元一磅。或者你应该注意一下都往推车里扔了些什么。又或者，什么原因都不是。因为《市场学期刊》的一项最新研究表明，购物时越是想要约束自己的花销，事实上会花的越多。

由于经济仍处于低谷期，坚持做预算是关键。食物是最大的花销，所以很多购物者们在逛街的时候尽量使心里的小算盘与扔进手推车里的东西一致。科学家们采访了300名购物者，发现其中超过一半的购物者们心里想着缩紧花销，却连计算器都不带，更别说一支笔和一张纸了。问题在于做心算是件比较困难的事情。结果是，他们总低估了他们的总花销，以超支华丽丽的收尾。

科学家们说，有一个窍门，数数你的推车里的东西，然后乘上你估算每件物品的平均价格就可以啦。举个例子，买了9件东西每件2美元，你给20美元还会找回些零钱。虽然并不完全准确，但是它肯定能告诉你是不是可以排在购买12件物品甚至更少件数的收银通道里（注解：有的超市会为购买件数较少的顾客开辟专门的收银通道以提高效率）。
 

1 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

2 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 wagon   

n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车

参考例句：

• We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
• The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。

4 tally   

n.计数器，记分，一致，测量；vt.计算，记录，使一致；vi.计算，记分，一致

参考例句：

• Don't forget to keep a careful tally of what you spend.别忘了仔细记下你的开支账目。
• The facts mentioned in the report tally to every detail.报告中所提到的事实都丝毫不差。

5 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。