BBC随身英语:Artificial scarcity 人为的物品缺乏

Another feature of consumer society is that we aim for social distinction through what we own. But if everyone has lots of stuff, how can we impress anyone with our purchases? All of this takes the fun out of shopping and means there's a limit to how much consumerism can grow.

This is deeply worrying to companies, and some of them have started to fight it, by creating artificial scarcity. For example, in Singapore, a small cafe called Liberty Coffee only opens on random days. It sometimes stays closed for over a week at a time. Swedish rapper Adam Tensta has limited access to his latest track. Only one person at a time can access it, and fans must take their place in a digital queue.

This trend means we can again own something rare. But the risk for these companies is that in a world of so much stuff, if they make their products too hard to get, we'll just buy from someone else instead.

Quiz 测验 1. According to the article, what happens when we can have lovely things every day?

They stop being a treat.

2. Does industrial mass production make goods more or less scarce?

It makes them less scarce.

3. Which examples of artificial scarcity does the article give?

Swedish rapper Adam Tensta's music and Liberty Coffee in Singapore.

4. Why do fans of Adam Tensta have to queue to hear his music?

Because only one person can access the track at a time.

5. Which days does Liberty Coffee open?

It opens on random days.

Glossary 词汇表 products 产品 available 有货，可买到的 rationing定量供应 scarce稀少的 hard to get难以获得的 industrial mass production工业化的大批量生产 pumping out批量推出 save up for存钱以便（购买某物） treat款待 consumer society消费者社会 social distinction优等社会地位 stuff（泛指任何）物品，东西 impress给人深刻印象 purchases购买 takes the fun out of失去了乐趣（意义） artificial scarcity人为的物品缺乏 random 任意的 limited access to限制收听权 queue队伍 trend潮流 rare稀罕的