英国新闻听力 以商标取人

Brand Snobbery¹

THE HOST: Now here's a man who typifies the problem for marketing² people. Style journalist and music presenter³ Neil Balman doesn't want any branded possessions. So much so that he is preparing a big fire to burn them all. And he's writing a book about it and there will even be a TV show.

Neil, that's quite a big bold statement to burn all your possessions. Is it a controlled form of anger that you have?

NEIL: I am very angry about the way I feel I have been manipulated throughout all of my adult life to be quite honest. You know I am basically the product of a generation that has been marketed to, from the cradle and probably to the grave. This is the result of it now. I am part of that first generation that has been marketed to so much and obviously I am an extreme case. But personally I have come to the conclusion that I have become addicted⁴ to brands, I have become so dependent on them to bolster⁵ my self-esteem, to identify myself to other people and obviously to myself. Literally⁶, I can't walk out of the flat of a morning without having these thing upon me to make me feel good about myself and to project my personal identity to other people. Without them I feel completely naked.

THE HOST: When you became aware that you were becoming a person that you didn't want to become because of brand obsession⁷, what specifically was it, I mean was it the fact that had to have clothes always with logos all over it, a certain kind of the product, was it the food you were eating, was it the bike you were riding around on? What was the stuff? Or was it everything?

NEIL: Put it this way when I came here today, obviously my brand burning is about to happen in a couple of days time so I still have my branded stuff on me, when I was dressing⁸ to come here, I was thinking what's going to make me feel the most comfortable, what's going to impress the person that's interviewing me the most? I put those things on accordingly. I put on a pair of nice Helmut Lang shoes, I put on a crisp pair of Lee jeans, I put on my Christian⁹ Dior storm coat. And these things made me feel, make me feel, they transport me to this other place, to this other kind of person. Sitting in these things today I feel more confident, I feel more business-like, I feel more capable of dealing¹⁰ with the matters in hand. And that kind of attitude permeates¹¹ my life from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep. And it's not just myself, it's the snap judgements that I make on other people that's the huge problem. As soon as I see people walk past me in the street I clock what they are wearing on their breast, what they have got on their shoes, what mobile they have, what computer they are using, and I make snap judgements on those people. Now I dare say that a certain type of person drives a BMW, a certain type of person drives a Volvo. That might be true. But I have just recently come to think how many meaningful friendships and relationships have I passed up on the basis of this crazy brand snobbery? And I think it is probably quite a few.

以商标取人

主持人：有位男士讲出了销售人员通常会深陷其中的麻烦。时尚记者和音乐节目主持人内尔·鲍曼不想再要任何名牌产品了。他甚至正要一把火烧掉他所有的名牌，还要就此事专门写一本书，制作一期电视栏目。

内尔，你说要烧掉你所有的家当，这听起来真是鲁莽。是不是一时气昏了头才有这种说法？

内尔：坦白讲，我的确很愤怒，因为我感觉自己在成年以后一直处于被操纵状态。我是一个时代的产物，我这一代人始终生活在营销当中，从出生起，也许一直到死亡，都是这样。所以我现在才会这么做。在我们这第一代生活被营销严重左右的人中，显然我是个极端的例子。但我自己得出了这个结论：我对商标着了迷，我得靠它才能建立起自信心，才能将自己区别于其他人，也区别于其它时候的自己。说实话，没有这些名牌我早上都没法走出公寓，是它们让我自我感觉良好，让我与众不同。少了它们，我觉得自己就像光着身子一样。

主持人：当你意识到，因为被商标所困，你变成了你不喜欢的样子，你具体指的是什么呢？我是说，你所厌恶的，究竟是你浑身名牌的事实，还是某一类特殊的产品，比如你的食物、你的自行车，又或者是这所有的一切？

内尔：这么说吧，我烧毁名牌的计划定在两天后，所以今天我来这里的时候还是把名牌穿在了身上。换衣服时我考虑的是，我怎么穿才能更舒服，才能让采访我的人印象深刻？于是我换上了这身行头，一双赫尔穆特?朗的高级皮鞋，一条起皱的Lee牌牛仔裤，一件迪奥的风衣。我感觉是这些东西把我带到了另一个地方，让我成为了另一个自己。穿着它们坐在这里，我觉得更有信心，更利落，更能胜任手头的工作。每天，从早上睁开眼到晚上睡觉前，这种态度充斥着我的生活。而这还不是最糟糕的，最大的麻烦是，我会对他人做出草率的判断。在街上，当人们从我身边走过，我马上就会注意到他们上衣前胸的商标，他们鞋子的牌子，手机和电脑的牌子，然后立刻给这些人下结论。现在，我敢说出，哪一种人会开宝马，哪一种人会开沃尔沃。我的判断也许是正确的。但是最近我开始想，基于这种疯狂的"以商标取人"的标准，我错过了多少有意义的友谊或是别的关系?我觉得肯定不少。

1 snobbery   

n. 充绅士气派, 俗不可耐的性格

参考例句：

• Jocelyn accused Dexter of snobbery. 乔斯琳指责德克斯特势力。
• Snobbery is not so common in English today as it was said fifty years ago. 如今＂Snobbery＂在英语中已不象50年前那么普遍使用。

2 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

3 presenter   

n.（电视、广播的）主持人，赠与者

参考例句：

• Most people think being a television presenter is exciting.很多人认为当电视节目主持人是一件刺激的事情。
• The programme dispensed with its most popular presenter.这个节目最受欢迎的主持人被换掉了。

4 addicted   

adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的

参考例句：

• He was addicted to heroin at the age of 17.他17岁的时候对海洛因上了瘾。
• She's become addicted to love stories.她迷上了爱情小说。

5 bolster   

n.枕垫；v.支持，鼓励

参考例句：

• The high interest rates helped to bolster up the economy.高利率使经济更稳健。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

6 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

7 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

8 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

9 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

10 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

11 permeates   

弥漫( permeate的第三人称单数 )； 遍布； 渗入； 渗透

参考例句：

• Studies show that water vapor quickly permeates plastic packaging material. 研究证明水蒸汽能迅速渗入塑料封装材料。
• Democracy permeates the whole country. 民主主义（的思想）普及全国。