You encounter it within minutes at a party, 你在派对中不用一分钟就能体会到，

　　when you get asked that famous iconic question of the early 21st century, "What do you do?" 当你被问到这个21世纪初最有代表性的问题：你是做什么的？

　　And according to how you answer that question, people are either incredibly delighted to see you, 你的答案将会决定对方接下来的反应，对方可能对你在场感到荣幸，

　　or look at their watch and make their excuses. 或是开始看表然后想个借口离开。

　　Now, the opposite of a snob is your mother. 势利鬼的相反，是你的母亲。

　　Not necessarily your mother, or indeed mine, but, as it were, the ideal mother, somebody who doesn't care about your achievements.  不一定是你我的母亲，而是一个理想母亲的想象，一个永远义无反顾的爱你，不在乎你是否功成名就的人。

　　But unfortunately, most people are not our mothers. 不幸地，大部分世人都不怀有这种母爱。

　　Most people make a strict correlation between how much time, and if you like, love 大部分世人决定要花费多少时间给于多少爱，

　　not romantic love, though that may be something 不一定是浪漫的那种爱，虽然那也包括在内，

　　but love in general, respect they are willing to accord us, 世人所愿意给我们的关爱、尊重，

　　that will be strictly defined by our position in the social hierarchy. 取决于我们的社会地位。

　　And that's a lot of the reason why we care so much about our careers and indeed start caring so much about material goods. 这就是为什么我们如此在乎事业和成就以及看重金钱和物质的原因。

　　You know, we're often told that we live in very materialistic times, that we're all greedy people. 我们时常被告知我们处在一个物质挂帅的时代，我们都是贪婪的人。

　　I don't think we are particularly materialistic. 我并不认为我们特别看重物质。

　　I think we live in a society which has simply pegged certain emotional rewards to the acquisition of material goods. 而是我认为我们活在一个物质能带来大量情感反馈的时代。

　　It's not the material goods we want; it's the rewards we want. 我们想要的不是物质，而是背后的情感反馈。

　　It's a new way of looking at luxury goods. 这赋予奢侈品一个崭新的意义。

　　The next time you see somebody driving a Ferrari, don't think, "This is somebody who's greedy." 下次你看到那些开着法拉利跑车的人，你不要想“这个人很贪婪”，

　　Think, "This is somebody who is incredibly vulnerable and in need of love." 而是“这是一个无比脆弱、急需爱的人”。

　　In other words...feel sympathy, rather than contempt. 同情他们，不要鄙视他们。