中国年轻人热爱买金，《经济学人》怎么看？
文摘
教育
2024-04-28 21:25
广东
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China’s young people are rushing to buy gold
China’s gold market, which accounts for about a fifth of global sales, used to attract an older crowd. Many buyers were middle-aged women looking to add to their nest-eggs or buy chunky bracelets. But these days Chinese gold shops regularly serve customers in their 20s. Xiaohongshu, a social-media site favoured by “Generation Z”, is buzzing with talk of the precious metal.Young people don’t have much spare cash. Many companies are cutting salaries. So youngsters are hoping to make the most of what little savings they have. But traditional investments aren’t doing well. The stockmarket is slumping and house prices have fallen for ten months in a row.The international price of gold, though, is soaring. It stood at $2,320 per ounce on April 24th, up 12% since the start of the year. Customers elsewhere are buying because of inflation fears and geopolitical concerns.Most young people cannot afford to buy gold by the bar. So they are buying it by the bean instead. Weighing about a gram, the beans can be picked up for about 600 yuan ($80) from banks and jewellers. In videos on social media gold bugs shake glass piggy banks containing their collections. “The clitter-clatter fills me with a sense of accomplishment,” says one. “I can save beans until I retire.”China’s young people are rushing to buy goldChina’s gold market, which accounts for about a fifth of global sales, used to attract an older crowd. Many buyers were middle-aged women looking to add to their nest-eggs or buy chunky bracelets. But these days Chinese gold shops regularly serve customers in their 20s. Xiaohongshu, a social-media site favoured by “Generation Z”, is buzzing with talk of the precious metal.中国黄金市场占全球销售额约五分之一，过去吸引的是年纪更大的群体。以前，许多买家都是那些希望充实自己「老本」或购买粗厚手镯的中年妇女。但如今，不少中国金店顾客都只有20多岁。在深受「Z世代」喜爱的社交媒体小红书上，有大量关于这种贵金属的讨论。
早在14世纪，西方农场主就有个小伎俩——他们会故意把鸡蛋（可真可假）放到nest「（母鸡）窝」里，以此来刺激母鸡生蛋，这些蛋就被称为nest-egg「引窝蛋」。![]()
虽然nest-egg衍生出「储备金」的确切原因不得而知，但大致有两种可信的说法：其中之一是这些引窝蛋能生出其它鸡蛋，这就好似备用金存银行能生出利息；又或者，这些引窝蛋在母鸡生完蛋后还可以拿走，这与储备金可以应对未来的不时之需相仿。不过无论如何，nest-egg在当代最常见的含义已经变成了「储备金」，本文中的用法也是如此，一般以nest egg的写法更为常见。They have a little nest egg tucked away somewhere for a rainy day.-y是个常见的形容词后缀，经常与名词结合，表示某物拥有与该名词相似的品质或特点。比如dirt是「污物」，所以dirty就是「肮脏的」；snow是「雪」，所以snowy就是「多雪的」。chunky也用到了这一构词法。chunk是「一大块（东西）」（比如a chunk of meat「一大块肉」），所以chunky就是「一大块的」，引申义就是「厚重的，壮实的」，既能形容饰品「沉甸甸」（比如文中的chunky bracelet「沉甸甸的手镯」），也能形容人「壮实」：The soprano was a chunky girl from California.-let这个后缀经常在各个珠宝玉器的名词中出现，除了bracelet「手镯」，类似的词还包括anklet「脚镯」（即戴在ankle「脚踝」处的镯子）、wristlet「手镯」（戴在wrist「手腕」处的镯子）、circlet「圆箍饰物」等等。favour的含义和用法都可以参考prefer，两者都是表示在诸多选择中「更偏好」某个选择，用法上也都可以用作favour/prefer A over B「比起B，更喜欢A」：Florida voters favored Bush over Gore by a very small margin.buzz的名词本义是蜜蜂的「嗡嗡声」（因此buzzer是「蜂鸣器」）。由于「嗡嗡声」经常被引申为躁动、兴奋的声音，所以变成动词就有了「发出嗡嗡声」乃至「充满着（闹哄哄的活动）」这样的含义，后面的义项也就演变成了「充满着（谈话、活动声）」。作这个用法时，buzz通常与介词with连用，用作buzz with sth.，比如本文的buzz with talk of the precious metal「充满着有关该贵金属的讨论」（the precious metal「该贵金属」显然代指gold，因为英文忌讳重复用词）。The rehearsal studio is buzzing with lunchtime activity.
Young people don’t have much spare cash. Many companies are cutting salaries. So youngsters are hoping to make the most of what little savings they have. But traditional investments aren’t doing well. The stockmarket is slumping and house prices have fallen for ten months in a row.年轻人没有多少闲钱，许多公司都在削减工资。因此，年轻人希望充分利用自己仅有的一点积蓄。但传统投资并不理想，股市低迷，房价已连续十个月下跌。
spare的所有形容词含义都和「多余」或「额外」有关。它可以是「备用的」，比如spare battery「备用电池」，也可以是「空闲的」，比如spare time/moment「空闲时间」；还可以是「闲置的」，比如文中的spare cash「闲钱」或spare room「闲置的房间」。因此，记住「多余」和「额外」这两个核心含义，再根据语境即可判断出spare在文中的具体含义。图表作文里屡试不爽的实用表达，既可以作名词，也可以作动词。我们在往期的阅读中曾遇到过slump的多个近义替换表达——plummet、collapse、nosedive、tumble、plunge都可以表示fall quickly and suddenly「快速、突然地下跌」这一含义。同义词替换只是丰富英文表达的诸多方式之一，词性转换同样可以起到类似作用。拿上面的几个词汇举个例子，nosedive/ tumble都有名词词性，且都可以用作take a ~来表达「大跌」，所以profits took a nosedive/ tumble就可以表达「利润大跌」。剩余的slump/ collapse/ plunge也有名词含义，虽然没有take a ~这个搭配，但也可以用其它百搭动词把它们用到相关句子中，举个例子：Property developer Country Garden recorded/ saw/ reported a 96% slump/ plunge in profits in the first half of 2022.
The international price of gold, though, is soaring. It stood at $2,320 per ounce on April 24th, up 12% since the start of the year. Customers elsewhere are buying because of inflation fears and geopolitical concerns.相反，国际黄金价格正在飙升。4月24日的金价为每盎司2320美元，自今年年初以来上涨了 12%。由于担心通货膨胀和地缘政治问题，其他地方的顾客也正在购买黄金。soar既可以是鸟儿的展翅「翱翔」（an eagle soaring above the tree「一只飞过这棵树的老鹰」），也可以是火箭「升空」（the rocket soars into the sky「火箭升空」），记住这两个义项，就可以联想记忆它的另一常用义项「（价格、数量）猛增，快速攀升」：The cost of living continued to soar.世界上有两大度量制——imperial system「英制」（得名于British Empire「大英帝国」）和metric system「公制」（得名于古希腊语metron「衡量」）。英制的代表单位包括mile「英里」、ounce「盎司」、Fahrenheit「华氏度」等；后者对应的单位就是meter「米」、kilogram「千克」和Celsius「摄氏度」。如今，英制单位在英国并不多见，反而是美国的常用单位，比如ounce「盎司」就依然是美国的主要重量单位（1盎司约28.35克），在美国的各种食品包装上相当常见。
Most young people cannot afford to buy gold by the bar. So they are buying it by the bean instead. Weighing about a gram, the beans can be picked up for about 600 yuan ($80) from banks and jewellers. In videos on social media gold bugs shake glass piggy banks containing their collections. “The clitter-clatter fills me with a sense of accomplishment,” says one. “I can save beans until I retire.”
大多数年轻人买不起金条，因此，他们转而购买金豆。每颗金豆重约一克，可以从银行和珠宝店以大约600元（80美元）的价格买到。在社交媒体上的视频中，「金虫」们摇晃着装有他们收藏品的玻璃储蓄罐。其中有个人说：「咔嗒咔嗒的声音让我充满成就感，我可以一直攒金豆攒到退休。」比如chocolate bar「巧克力条」、gold bar「金条」。![]()
属于前文提到的metric system「公制」单位。美式写法为jeweler，即jewel「珠宝」加上表「与……有关的人或物」的后缀-er。类似的构词法经常组成泛指各类公司的名词，比如brewer「啤酒公司」（brew「酿制（啤酒）」）、publisher「出版商」（publish「出版，发行」）、manufacturer「生产商」（manufacture「生产，制造」）等。准确来说，gold bug不光指「黄金投资者」，它代表的也是一种投资理念。黄金投资者们相信由于通胀、货币超发等原因，货币终会贬值，而黄金这类贵金属的价值终会上涨，所以相信投资黄金能保值乃至获得超额收益。在线上支付尚未兴起前，猪型存钱罐也曾在我国风靡一时。尽管piggy bank最早确实都做成猪的形状，但几经变迁，早已有了不同形态，所以piggy bank现在指的就是「存钱罐」，并没有刻意强调形状。此外，piggy bank也可以引申为「积蓄」，也是新闻中的常见用法：Many people would dip into their piggy bank to pay their higher tax bills.由两个拟声词组合而成的复合词。根据词典释义，clitter是thin vibratory rattling sound「细微的震颤作响的声音」，而clatter是a continuous rattling sound as of hard objects falling or striking each other「硬物下落或互相撞击的声音」。不过具体到本文中，我们根据上下文即可理解这里的clitter-clatter就是「金珠相互碰撞的咔嗒声」。![]()
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