超级富豪The super rich

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English – the programme where we bring you an interesting topic and six items of vocabulary. I’m Neil.
大家好，欢迎收听六分钟英语。该节目会奉上有趣的话题，以及六个实用的单词。我是尼尔。
And I’m Catherine. Today we’re taking a look into the lives of the super rich– and we’re going to look at one of their favourite pastimes.
我是凯瑟琳。今天我们来看看超级富豪的生活。看看他们最爱的消遣方式之一。
The super rich are people with over $30 million US dollars of assets.
超级富豪是指拥有3000万美元以上资产的人。
Assets are things we can own and sell – like property, boats and private planes.
资产是指人们拥有并且可以买卖的东西，例如房产、船、私人飞机。
Expensive toys. First things first, let’s do our question, Catherine.In which country is the percentage of super rich expected to grow fastest over the next 10 years?Is it a) China b) Brazil c) Vietnam?
真是昂贵的玩具啊。先说重要的，我们来看看今天的问题。在未来十年中，哪个国家的超级富豪比例增长最快？a)中国， b)巴西， c) 越南？
I’m going to go for Vietnam.I think, that’s an up and coming country and I think there is going to be a lot of growth in wealth in the future.
我选越南。我觉得越南是一个后起之秀，未来财富的增长会很快。
Ok, well we’ll find out if you are right or wrong later.The number of super rich are expected to increase by 43% over the next decade.
好的，之后我们再看你回答得是否正确。未来十年超级富豪的数量预计会增加百分之四十三。
Now, this doesn’t mean income is rising at the same speed for everyone. You might remember a report last year which said the world’s richest 62 individuals owned as much as the poorest 50% of people in the whole world.
但这不意味着每个人的收入以相同速度增长。你也许还记得去年的一个报告说，世界上最富有的62个人拥有的财产相当于全世界百分之五十的穷人的财产之和。
So, my question is – what on earth do people with so much money spend it on?
所以我的问题是，人们有这么多钱都怎么花？
One academic in the UK has been researching just that.And her answer is …, Neil?
英国的一个学者最近就研究了这个问题。那她的研究结果是？
Yachts! A yacht – a luxury boat used for pleasure.The ultimate status symbol – that is, an item which allows you to show off your wealth and position in society.
游艇！游艇是指用于娱乐的奢华船只。终极地位的象征是指能在社会中彰显你财富和地位的东西。
Let’s listen to Emma Spence from Cardiff University in the UK. What’s so unusual about yachts?
我们听听英国卡迪夫大学的艾玛·斯彭思的解释。为什么游艇如此与众不同？
If you have an exclusive wine collection or art collection or even the purchase of a business jet– these are investable assets – something that you can retain value on or accrue value on.A business jet, a private jet, can cut costs – and make businesses more convenient by running faster, more comfortably than commercial airlines. So these purchases, they make good, sound business sense. Whereas a superyacht is essentially a black hole.
如果你有独家的藏酒或艺术品收藏，甚至是购买了一架公务机，这也都是可供投资的资产，这些可以保值或增值。公务机、私家飞机可以精简开支，比商业机更快更舒适，做生意会更加方便。所以购买这些东西是具有不错的商业意识的。然而超级游艇实际上是个黑洞。
Before we get to the yacht, Emma talked about certain assets like planes and wine that made business sense.
在我们谈游艇前，艾玛提到了飞机、酒，一些有商业意识的资产。
Now, to make sense – is a phrase you’ll be familiar with.So, if we say something makes business sense, it means it’s good for business.But yachts are different.
make sense这个短语你会很熟悉。如果我们讲到一些东西很有商业意识，那就是说对生意有好处。但游艇不同。
Yachts, and especially what she calls superyachts, actually lose money.So much so, she calls a superyacht a black hole of wealth.
游艇，尤其是她所提到的超级游艇，实际上会损失很多钱。花费的钱非常多，所以艾玛称之为财富黑洞。
A black hole, in scientific terms, is a place where gravity is so strong that nothing can escape – not even light. So, in business terms, a black hole eats all your money!
黑洞在科学术语中是指重力非常强的地方，没有东西可以逃脱，哪怕是光亮。在商业用语中，黑洞是指吞噬你的金钱。
It’s also used conversationally to mean a place where things go missing.
平时在对话中黑洞也可以表示东西经常丢的地方。
These superyachts are big.The world’s longest is 180m in length.And they require a professional crew. Which is how Emma began her study – she used to work on the yachts.
超级游艇非常大。世界上最长的游艇有180米长。游艇上还需要一批专业船员。这也是艾玛得以开始研究的原因，她曾经在游艇上工作。
She’s now spent six years studying the world of superyachts and the super rich.
她如今花费六年时间研究世界上的超级游艇以及超级富豪。
So, what else did she learn?
所以，她还了解什么呢？
She says that in the world of the super rich – the size of your yacht shows your place in the pecking order.
她说在超级富豪的世界中，游艇的大小展示了在上层社会中你的地位。
The pecking order means the social system from most powerful to least powerful.
pecking order（社会等级）是指最有权势到最没权势的社会体系。
If you’re higher up in the yachting pecking order, you get the best place in the harbour. Which is very important to yacht owners, apparently.
如果你的社会等级高，你就能在海湾中最好的位置放置游艇。这对游艇的拥有者还说显然非常重要。
Apparently, so. It’s all about seeing and being seen.You could actually say that yachts are the ultimate form of conspicuous consumption.Now that’s another great term – conspicuous means visible or noticeable and consumption means spending. So, the phrase conspicuous consumption refers to the kind of buying you do so that other people notice your money.
显然这就是想让人们看到。你可以说游艇是炫耀性消费的终极形式。这就是另一个属于了，conspicuous是指显而易见的，consumption是指消费。所以这个短语是指你买一样东西就是为了让其他人注意到你很有钱。
Before we sail off into the sunset Catherine, how about we answer today’s question.
在我们扬帆向夕阳进发前，我们公布今天问题的答案怎么样。
I said that Vietnam is the country in which the percentage of super rich is expected to grow fastest over the next 10 years.
我说未来十年中越南超级富豪的比例增长最快。
Well, I’m very pleased to say that you were right. It was in fact Vietnam– according to the same report by Knight Frank – the population of ultra wealthy is expected to grow by a staggering 170% in the next decade.
我很开心，你答对了。答案就是越南。根据莱坊的报告，超级富豪的人数在未来十年会增长百分之一百七。
Now, how about we have another look at the wealth of vocabulary in this programme?
我们再来看看今天节目中提到的单词吧？
Very good. We started with assets – here it means things we can buy or sell. What are your assets?
好的。我们最开始提到了资产，是指我们可以买卖的东西。你的资产有什么呢？
Oh, you know, my diamond rings, my bike, my laptop.I’m not like you though Neil, I don’t live in an expensive mansion – that would be a real status symbol!
你知道的，我的钻石耳环、自行车和笔记本电脑。我不像你，我没有住在昂贵的豪宅中，那可是地位的象征。
If only that were true, but it’s a good example. A status symbol is a possession that shows off our wealth and our place in society.
如果这是真的就好了，但这是个不错的例子。地位的象征是指展示你在社会中的财富和地位的东西。
Yes, and we had the phrase to make business sense – in other words to be good for business. We could also say that a particular policy makes economic sense.
我们还提到一个短语，make business sense，换句话说就是对生意有好处。我们也可以说一项特殊的政策有益于经济发展。
Or I could say investing wisely makes financial sense. Not like yachts which are expensive to buy and run.In fact, they’re a black hole for our money.
或者说这项英明的投资很有金融意识。不像游艇，购买和运营都很昂贵。事实上，这是财富黑洞。
Now, did you know our next phrase, pecking order, actually comes from chicken behaviour?
你知道我们的下一个短语，pecking order实际上来源于鸡的行为吗？
And finally, the phrase conspicuous consumption.For example, you could say that dining at the finest restaurants wearing expensive clothes is conspicuous consumption.
最后，我们还提到了炫耀性消费。例如你在最好的餐厅穿着昂贵的衣服用餐就是炫耀性消费。
And to clear up two similar phrases: a status symbol refers to the object itself, like a luxury car; whereas conspicuous consumption refers to the act of spending money on things like expensive cars but you’re spending money so that other people notice.
让我们弄清楚两个相似的短语：地位象征是指事物本身，例如一辆奢华的轿车，而炫耀性消费是指花钱的行为，例如购买昂贵的车，你花钱是为了让别人注意到。
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Bye!
再见！