书城外语英语PARTY——时尚速递
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第1章 Fashion Topics时尚话题(1)

A Bourgeois Bohemian

It,s hard to miss them: the epitomeepitome n.摘要 of casual “geek chic”and organised within the warrantywarranty n.(正当)理由, (合理)根据, 授权, 担保, 保证, 根据 of their Palm Pilots, they sip labourintensive cafelattes, chat on sleek cellphones and ponder the road to enlightenment. In the US they worryabout the environment as they drive their gasguzzling sports utilityutility n.效用, 有用 vehiclesto emporiumsemporium n.商场, 商业中心, 大百货商店 of haute design to buy a 50 titanium spatula; they think about their tech stocks as they explore speciality shops for Tibetan artefact in Everestworthy hiking boots. They think nothing of laying out 5 for a wheatgrass muff, much less 500 for some alternative rejuvenationrejuvenation n.返老还童,恢复活力,回春,[生]复壮at the dayspa-but don,t talk about raising their taxes.

They are “Bourgeois Bohemians” -or “Bobos”-and they,re the new “enlightened elite” of the information age, their lucratively busy lives a seeming synthesis ofcomfort and conscience, corporate success and creative rebellion. Welleducatedthirtytoforty somethings, they have forged a new social ethos from a logic-defying fusion of 1960s counterculture and 1980s entrepreneurial materialism.

Combining the freespirited, artistic rebelliousnessrebelliousness n.造反, 难以控制 of the Bohemian beatnik or hippie with the worldly ambitions of their bourgeois corporate forefathers, the Bobo is a comfortable contortion of caring capitalismcapitalism n.资本主义. “It,s not about making money, it,sabout doing something you love. Life should be an extended hobby. It,s all about working for a company as cool as you are.” It is a world inhabited by dotcom millionaires, management consultantsconsultant n.顾问, 商议者, 咨询者, “culture Industry” entrepreneurs and all manner of media folk, most earning upwards of 100,000 a year - their money an incidental byproduct of their maverick mores, the kind of money they happen to earn while they are pursuing their creative vision.

Often sporting such unconventional job titles as “creative paradox”,“corporate jeste” or “learning person”, Bobos work with a monklike selfdiscipline because they view their jobs as intellectual, even spiritual. It is a reversethe Midas touch: everything a Bobo touches turns to spiritualityspirituality n.精, everything has to be about enlightenment. Even their jobs are a mission to improve the world.

It is now impossible to tell an espressoespresso n.(蒸汽加压煮出的)浓咖啡sipping artist from a cappuccinogulping banker, but it isn,t just a matter of style. If you investigate people,s attitudes towards sex, morality, leisure time and work, it is getting harder and harder to separate the antiestablishment renegade from the proestablishment company man. Most people seemed to have rebel attitudes and socialclimbing attitudes all scrambled together.

These Bobos are just normal middleclass people who are living out a protracted Adolescenceadolescence n.青春期(一般指成年以前由13至15的发育期). Their political interests are either intensely close and personal(abortion or gun control), or very remote (the rainforests, Tibet or Third World poverty). But they will most likely express their conscience in their consumerism, relieved to be helping someone somewhere by collecting the handcarved artifacts of distant cultures.

Motivated by spiritual participation, but cautious of moral crusadescrusade n.十字军东侵, 宗教战争, 改革运动 vi.加入十字军, 投身正义运动 and religio us enthusiasms, they tolerate a little lifestyle experimentation, so long as itis done safely and moderately. They are offended by concrete wrongs, such as cruelty and racial injustice, but are relatively unmoved by lies or transgressionsthat don,t seem to do anyone any obviousobvious adj.明显的, 显而易见的 harm.

It is an elite that has been raised to oppose elites. They are by instinct antiestablishmentarian, yet in some sense they have become a new establishment. Theyare prosperousprosperous adj.繁荣的 without seeming greedy; they have pleased their elders, withoutseeming conformists; they have risen toward the top without too obviously looking down on those below.

While bemoaning the Bobo,s “boring politics”,, the Bobos are an elite superior totheir intolerant and warring predecessors -they,ve certainly made shopping more fun, and they have a good morality for building a decent society.

波波族

你很难不去注意他们:身着“酷毙了”的休闲装,日程在掌上电脑的“打理下”

安排得井然有序,啜饮着精工细磨的牛奶咖啡,对着豪华手机侃侃而谈,同时思考着如何开展文化启蒙运动。在美国,当他们为买一个50美元的钛制刮刀而驾驶着耗油量大的多功能厢式跑车奔赴高级购物中心时,他们为环境忧虑着;当他们脚踏适于登珠穆朗玛峰的登山靴在特色店淘弄西藏的手工艺品时,心里却还惦记着自己的科技股票。他们觉得花5美元买一副草编手套不算什么,而花500美元去享受一次日间时尚水疗这样的另类休闲就更不在话下了——但千万别跟他们说增税的事儿。

这些人就是“布尔乔亚·波西米亚族”——或者说“波波族”——他们是信息时代新兴的“知识型精英”,他们富足而又繁忙的生活似乎是舒适享受与道德良知、事业成功与创新叛逆的结合体。 这些三四十岁、受过良好教育的人将20世纪60年代的反文化和80年代的实利主义这两种逻辑上相互抵触的东西融合成一种新的社会精神特质。

“波波”们将波西米亚式或嬉皮式的精神自由和艺术家式的叛逆与其小资白领前辈们的世俗追求相结合,是爱心资本主义的惬意的另类版。“这不是为了赚钱,而是做自己喜欢的事情;生活本应是兴趣的延伸,是为一个和你一样“酷”的公司工作。”

这是一个由网络富翁、管理咨询人士、“文化产业”企业家以及各式媒体人士组成的群体,他们中的大多数年收入超过10万美元——但金钱只不过是他们独特道德观的偶然的副产品而已,是他们在追求创造性时于不经意间获得的。

“波波”们经常给自己冠以另类的头衔,如“创新怪人”,“企业谏言家”或“修行者”等,他们视工作为智力性的,甚至是精神性的,因而如僧侣般严格自律。与“点石成金”正好相反:“波波”们“点”到的每件事都上升到精神境界,每件事都要和智慧有关。甚至他们工作的使命就是改良世界。

现在人们很难区分一位浅啜蒸馏咖啡的艺术家和一位吞饮卡布奇诺的银行家——但这不仅仅是风格问题。如果你去调查人们对于性、道德、休闲和工作的态度,会发现现在越来越难区分反传统的叛逆者和维护传统的企业人士。大多数人似乎将反叛和追求社会地位提高这两种态度糅合在一起了。

这些“波波”们只不过是一群延长着青春期生活的普通中产阶级。他们感兴趣的,或者“与己息息相关”(比如堕胎或枪支管制问题),或者远得不沾边(如雨林,西藏或第三世界贫穷的问题)。但是他们很可能会通过消费来表明自己的良知,欣慰地认为收集异域风格的手工艺品就是在帮助某些地方的某些人。

受“精神参与”的鼓舞,却又唯恐自己变成道德的圣斗士和狂热的宗教信徒,他们会尝试一些新的生活方式,只要这些做法安全且适度。他们会为具体的违法行为而动怒,如虐待行为和种族歧视,但是对于似乎不对任何人造成明显伤害的谎言和小过失却无动于衷。

他们是在反对精英的过程中成长起来的另一群精英。他们天生就是现行秩序的反对者,然而在某种意义上,他们本身又成了新的社会秩序的代表。他们富而不贪;他们会取悦长辈,但不盲从;他们的社会地位逐步上升,却没有太明显表现出对下层社会的藐视与不屑。

在人们为“波波”们的“乏味政治”感到悲哀的同时,他们却胜过那些缺乏容忍且好战的先辈精英们——他们起码会把购物变得更为有趣,并且对于建设美好社会有一套很好的道德标准。

Street Art

Graffiti is going mainstream as more and more “street artists” get recognitionrecognition n.赞誉, 承认, 重视, 公认, 赏识,识别 for their talents.