【News takeaway】拯救錢包大作戰：告別報復性消費

疫情間有些人覺得生命短暫限制自己的開銷，專注夢想去追尋終身目標，但段非常時期，也創造了「報復性消費」的現象。疫情給消費者一個藉口，讓他們花更多錢來彌補失去的時間。「報復性消費」的心態還有什麼解釋？什麼又是「支付痛苦」？那些花費過度的人現在正試圖扭轉這種消費趨勢。

來源：The New York Times

難度：4.5

閱讀時間：5

I Spent Two Years Revenge Spending. It Was Hard to Stop.
我的報復性消費持續了兩年，根本停不下來。

By Lauren Larson

At first, I spent little during the pandemic's early days. My good habits dissolved in the fall of 2020. I began nesting, buying candles and tchotchkes as antidotes to the stale vibes of my home. The money I had saved began trickling away, candle by candle, cocktail by cocktail.
疫情一開始的一段時間，我的開銷很⼩。⽽這個好習慣在2020年秋天就消失了。我開始像⼩鳥築巢⼀樣囤積東西，買了很多蠟燭和小擺飾，這些都是打破家裡沉悶氛圍的妙藥。我的積蓄也就這樣隨著⼀根根蠟燭、⼀杯杯雞尾酒流⾛了。

Ola Majekodunmi, the founder of All Things Money, explained revenge spending as expenditures meant to make up for "lost time" after an event like the pandemic. But I noticed that some of the habits I had developed during the pandemic seemed to go beyond making up for lost time. And they have proved hard to break.
⾦融服務網站All Things Money創始⼈ Ola Majekodunmi解釋，「報復性消費」就是在經歷類似新冠疫情這樣的事件後，⼈們⽤來彌補「失去的時間」 的花銷。但是我發現⾃⼰在疫情期間養成的習慣不只是「彌補失去的時間」這麼簡單，⽽且這些習慣很難戒掉。

Drazen Prelec, a professor of management science and economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, explained that the instrument we used to spend mattered greatly: merely holding a credit card in your hand creates an expectation that you will spend, just because you have used it to spend before.
麻省理⼯學院管理科學與經濟學教授Drazen Prelec解釋， ⼈們消費的⽅式在其中⾄關重要：光是把信⽤卡拿在手裡就會產⽣⼀種消費期望，⽽這只是因為你之前就⽤它買東⻄。

Dr. Prelec also introduced me to the term "pain of payment," which refers to the mental accounting of a consumer's finances that undermines the thrill of consumption — "the awareness that an asset is dissolving as you use it," he said.
Prele博⼠還向我介紹了「⽀付痛苦」的概念，就是指消費者在心裡對⾃⼰的 財務狀況做出評估，會削弱消費帶來的快感；他說，這種痛苦也就是「意識到隨著消費，你的存款也在消失」 。

Ultimately, as was the case in the darkest days of the pandemic, the most useful tool in taming my spending has been my anxiety, only now its source is not a deadly virus but the specter of a recession.
最終，就像疫情最無望的那段⽇⼦⼀樣，焦慮是壓抑我消費衝動最有效的⼯ 具。只不過現在，我焦慮的來源不再是致命的病毒，⽽是對經濟衰退的擔憂。

1. revenge spending 報復性消費
revenge bedtime procrastination 報復性熬夜
revenge travel 報復性旅遊

2. dissolve （本文）消失，消散（to disappear）；（固體）溶解（在液體中）
The music ended abruptly and the crowd dispersed into the night. 音樂突然結束，人群消散在夜色中。

3. nest （本⽂） v. 布置（⼩家）；築巢，做窩； n. 鳥窩，鳥巢

4. tchotchke n. 小玩意兒，不值錢的裝飾品

5. antidote to something ......的解藥，對抗......的妙藥
Laughter is often viewed as an antidote to sadness.
笑聲通常被視為對抗悲傷良藥。

6. vibe （本文）（某人或某物傳達出來的⼀種）氛圍，情緒；氣場
I'm getting good vibes from her; she seems like a trustworthy person.
我對她有好感，她看起來是一個值得信任的人。

7. trickle away 流⾛

8. something by something 事情發⽣的進程（the rate at which sth happens）
Little by little 逐漸地
day by day ⼀天天

9. explain something as something 把某事解釋成......

10. make up for something 補償，彌補
I'm going to work overtime this weekend to make up for the time I missed when I was sick.
我這個週末要加班，補回我生病時缺席的時間。

11. go beyond something 超出某事（to be more than something）
Go beyond expectations 超出期望
Go beyond limits 超越極限
Go beyond the surface 深入了解
Go beyond words 無法言喻

12. matter greatly 事關重要，有重⼤影響

13. finances 財務狀況，財⼒（單數finance）

14. as is the case (with somebody/something) 和......的情況⼀樣（in the same way that it happens）
As is the case with most politicians, promises made during the campaign are not always fulfilled once in office.
就像大多數政治家一樣，競選期間作出的承諾並不總是在就職後得以實現。

15. tame （本文）控制，駕馭；馴化，馴服
The fox asks the little prince to tame him.
狐貍讓⼩王⼦馴化它。

Tame a wild animal: 馴養一隻野生動物
Tame one’s hair: 把頭髮弄整齊
Tame one’s temper: 收住脾氣

16. specter 恐慌，憂慮（anxiety）
the specter of something 對某事的恐懼
raise the specter of something 引發對某事的恐懼

The specter of a global economic recession is causing investors to be cautious with their financial decisions.
全球經濟衰退的陰影使投資者在財務決策上變得謹慎。

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