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美国国家公共电台 NPR Never Go To Vegas, And Other Unspoken Rules Of Being An A-Lister

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SHANKAR VEDANTAM, HOST:

This is HIDDEN BRAIN. I'm Shankar Vedantam. Being a celebrity1 can be boiled down to a simple formula. Follow these rules, and you can be an A-lister, too.

(SOUNDBITE OF DING)

VEDANTAM: Rule No. 1 - go to the right parties.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: It's the year's most electrifying2 red carpet with exclusive...

(SOUNDBITE OF DING)

VEDANTAM: Rule No. 2 - hang out with the right people.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Two of the most successful singers in the biz - Selena Gomez and Taylor Swift. I mean, the two have been BFFs for, like, ever.

(SOUNDBITE OF DING)

VEDANTAM: Rule No. 3 - be seen, but in small doses.

ELIZABETH CURRID-HALKETT: Overexposure, as we know, actually does make people lose interest.

(SOUNDBITE OF DING)

VEDANTAM: Rule No. 4 - never go to Vegas.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SWINGERS")

JON FAVREAU: (As Mike) What are you talking about, Vegas?

VINCE VAUGHN: (As Trent) Vegas, baby, Vegas.

CURRID-HALKETT: If you go to Las Vegas, it actually pulls your star power down.

VEDANTAM: Now, maybe you are thinking, this episode isn't for me. I'm not an A-lister. I have no desire to be one. I don't read Us Weekly or keep up with the Kardashians. But Elizabeth Currid-Halkett's research into elite3 social groups might just apply to you, too. Elizabeth is a professor of urban planning at the University of Southern California. But if you look at the book she's written, she's actually fascinated by social networks from Hollywood to the highly-educated people who spend their time and money on things like...

CURRID-HALKETT: Yoga, breastfeeding, buying organic food, attending farmers markets, listening to NPR, reading the books on The New York Times best-seller list - these are all physical manifestations4 of your cultural capital.

VEDANTAM: This week on HIDDEN BRAIN - elite groups and how our choices are shaped by the people around us.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

VEDANTAM: When you look at which stars shine the brightest in Hollywood, do you ever wonder why certain people are famous and not others? Talent certainly has something to do with it. Wealth and beauty don't hurt. But in her book "Starstruck," Elizabeth says there's something else at work.

CURRID-HALKETT: One thing that happens with, you know, interests, fads5, and fashions and fixations on particular celebrities6 is that there is a collective interest. But that collective interest is recursive.

VEDANTAM: Meaning, if lots of people are paying attention to something or someone, that begets7 more attention.

CURRID-HALKETT: There are complicated reasons for why this is. And one of the things that I think really propels this kind of network effect is that in cultural markets and in taste - which, in many ways, celebrities are a part of a taste-driven market - we look to each other for signals for what to pay attention to. And in many ways, this explains the success of lots of taste-driven things. So whether we're talking about films or music or artwork, are the objects or people who rise to the top really that much better or that much more interesting than everyone else? Probably not that much more.

The disproportionate win is the function of what economists8 call a winner-take-all market, which is that because we're looking for clues, we look at the person next to us and what they're paying attention to. And so that then we pay attention to it, too, and then someone looks to us. And then it's really hard to say if that thing - whether it's a Mark Rothko painting or my friend on Facebook - is the thing to pay attention to. But by that point, we already are.

VEDANTAM: When Elizabeth Currid-Halkett talks about celebrities, she isn't talking about all famous people. She makes a distinction between people who are well-known and people who fascinate us.

CURRID-HALKETT: Fame is simply people knowing who you are. And the sheer number of people who knows who someone is is very different from a public being fixated upon someone. Oh, that Bill Gates, isn't he in technology? - is very different from, what did Bill Gates eat for breakfast today? - and many, many people wanting to know.

VEDANTAM: It can be bewildering the way we care desperately9 about the details of some people's lives, but not others. Barack Obama is a popular politician, but not every president becomes a celebrity in the way that he did. I remember reading an article in The New York Times about the number of almonds Obama ate every night after dinner. We know exactly which kind of socks Jennifer Aniston likes to wear and the type of diet Beyonce followed after the birth of her first child.

CURRID-HALKETT: I think that what has really changed, if we think about the evolution of celebrity, is that we have access to that material now. So celebrities have existed in some shape or form since probably the beginning of human civilization. We've always been more interested in certain people for things that transcend10 their talent, and we've been more interested in the personal details of certain people.

But in, you know, the Hollywood studio system, that was so much more controlled, and today, it's not by virtue11 of many different things. And so that focus on the number of almonds that President Obama used to eat - I want to say the number is seven. I'm not sure, but I remember that article and being very interested in this - that that is also a product of the fact that we can get that information.

VEDANTAM: Our ability to get that kind of personal information, coupled with the fact that we are drawn12 to what other people are drawn to - this is a formula for celebrity. We hear that Obama eats seven almonds and that other people care that Obama eats seven almonds. And suddenly, this detail seems fascinating. It reminded me of a study that the researcher Stanley Milgram once conducted in the late 1960s. He had someone walk along a sidewalk in New York City. The person walked down the street and then suddenly stopped and looked up. The experiment was documented in an educational video.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "CONFORMITY13 AND INDEPENDENCE")

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: We are all individuals, but we live in a world with other people, and we must often accommodate to them. To what extent can we remain individuals in the social world? What kinds of pressures do others exert on us to conform, and how do we deal with such pressures? How can social psychology14 study the issues of independence and conformity?

VEDANTAM: Most pedestrians15 ignored the man and kept walking. But a few passers-by, about 4 percent, stopped and they looked up too. Then the experimenters had a larger group suddenly stop and look up. When it wasn't just one person but a group, many more pedestrians stopped to look up as well, nearly 20 percent, almost five times more than before.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: As they increased the size of the initial crowd, they found that the proportion of passers-by who imitated the looking up response also increased.

VEDANTAM: We take our signals about what to pay attention to from one another. If one person's looking up, who cares? But if 10 people are looking up, well, there must be something to see.

CURRID-HALKETT: That's exactly right. And there've been a number of different studies since Milgram where social scientists have looked at this as well. Anita Elberse did this really interesting study where she argued that big companies like Amazon actually create a collective, cohesive16 fan base for things because they allow us to coalesce17 around big hits. There's another really interesting study done by Duncan Watts18 and Matthew Salganik where they did this fascinating study between two different groups of people listening to music.

VEDANTAM: Let's think about a popular song from a few years ago.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CALL ME MAYBE")

CARLY RAE JEPSEN: (Singing) I threw a wish in the well. Don't ask me, I'll never tell. I looked at you as it fell, and now you're in my way. I'll trade my soul for a wish.

VEDANTAM: Now, the year that "Call Me Maybe" was released, 2012, there were a number of other pop songs that could have topped the charts, like why not this one?

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SOME NIGHTS")

FUN: (Singing) Anymore. Oh, oh, oh.

VEDANTAM: Or this one.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "STRONGER (WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU)")

KELLY CLARKSON: (Singing) What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stand a little taller. Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone. What doesn't kill you makes a fighter.

VEDANTAM: You could argue that "Call Me Maybe" was a catchier19 song. But did you feel that way the first time you heard it or was it only after everyone else held up the song as the song of the summer that it started to get stuck in your head? When a song becomes popular, we get signals from lots of people that we should pay attention to it. We hear it over...

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CALL ME MAYBE")

JEPSEN: (Singing) So call me maybe.

VEDANTAM: ...And over...

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CALL ME MAYBE")

JEPSEN: (Singing) So call me maybe.

VEDANTAM: ...And over again.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CALL ME MAYBE")

JEPSEN: (Singing) So call me maybe.

VEDANTAM: Then the hook's in our heads and before we know it, we somehow know all the words.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CALL ME MAYBE")

JEPSEN: (Singing) Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy. But here's my number, so call me maybe. It's hard to look right.

CURRID-HALKETT: The takeaway was essentially20 that if you didn't know what other people were listening to, there was much more chaos21 in the list of the most popular music. It was much more ambiguous, you know, what everyone thought was the best. But if listeners knew what others thought was good, that would actually compound upon itself. And then you got a much clearer list of the most popular songs.

VEDANTAM: At the heart of your book is an argument about how celebrities become celebrities. And you say it has a lot to do with being part of a very elite, invite-only network. What do you mean by that?

CURRID-HALKETT: So when I started looking at celebrities, I was trying to figure out if there were particular personal attributes, even talent attributes that drove, you know, the rise of a celebrity. And it was really hard to come up with them. Simultaneously22, I was really trying to understand the social dynamics23 of people who worked in creative industries. My first book, "The Warhol Economy," was about how creative industries worked in New York City. And it was a very qualitative24 book.

And I found when I spoke25 to artists and musicians and designers that despite the fact that they didn't have a lot of money and that a lot of them needed space to do their work, they felt compelled to live in New York City even if, you know, getting a big warehouse26 space in Ohio would have served them well in a practical sense, that they needed their social lives in New York. And so when I finished that book, I really wanted to get a sense of the social networks and the social milieu27 in which creative people, you know, lived and worked in and how important it was.

So I teamed up with my colleague Gilad Ravid, and he and I looked at photographic data of celebrities. And we used Getty Images, and we looked at all of the caption28 information of photographs in their entertainment catalog over the course of one year. And what we tried to do was make sense of not just who is in photographs together but who went to the same parties, the same events, and where those parties were and if there was a pattern in who showed up at parties together. So was there a randomness29 to the photographs? Was there something that drove why people showed up?

So what we tried to look at was a way to cut things off. You know, so how could we organize all of these people in the database? So we looked at "Forbes' Star Currency," which ranked stars, you know, based on their star power. And we divided them into - the top 60 into three different groups, A list, B list, C list. And we then looked at these stars in the photographs. So we corresponded these two different measures. And what we found was that the only group that had a non-random, very closed connected network, a click, essentially, were the A list and that they really reinforce their position by spending time with each other at the same parties over and over again and not spending time with anyone else.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: It was like a slumber30 party, you know? It was amazing to be around so many wonderful women.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: That's one A-list slumber party.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: It was an A-list slumber party.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #4: I am here with Naomi Watts for "The Impossible," best actress Oscar nominee31; Amy Adams, best supporting actress nominee; SAG32 best ensemble33 nominated, Oscar nominated, everything nominated - "Silver Linings34 Playbook."

JENNIFER LAWRENCE: I can't believe this is happening twice.

CURRID-HALKETT: What was also interesting was that the B-list and the C-list - they did not have those same connections, even with each other. So they had a much more disparate network amongst each other. And in fact, their categories were almost arbitrary. It was really if you were in this top-20 group, that you were extraordinarily35 exclusive and actually perpetuated36 that exclusivity by spending time just with each other.

VEDANTAM: So if this is the case, then a question arises, which is, how does anyone ever crack the A-list club? If it's essentially a closed club, and the people in the club take great pains to keep others out and the only way to become an A-list celebrity is to be invited to the club, it creates something of a - you know, a conundrum37, which is, how do you actually break into the club?

CURRID-HALKETT: I argue in the book that it's - you take this kind of quantum leap. So it's not a intuitive thing. Like, if I just keep toiling38 away as a B-list celebrity, at some point I'm going to be A-list. That's not how it happens. So something big either happens in your career or big happens in your social life, like you get married to an A-lister or you suddenly are, you know, best friends with an A-lister. And in some way, they allow you to permeate39 the A-list. But you can also do it because of your career.

When I was looking over "Starstruck" in preparation for this interview, I noticed that in this far corner is Zoe Kravitz. So she wasn't an A-lister or a B-lister. I think at the time of organizing this, she was a C-lister in this database. But, of course, she's now one of the key stars of "Big Little Lies," which is an extraordinarily - television show on HBO. People are obsessed40 with it. She's amazing in it.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "BIG LITTLE LIES")

ZOE KRAVITZ: (As Bonnie Carlson) OK, it's shocking and a bit disturbing, but I think it is important that we separate the nobility of the cause from the misguided means of pursuing it. You know, we champion the former and dissuade41 her from the latter, right?

CURRID-HALKETT: And so where would she be now? I'd imagine she's probably moving to A-list, and that's a function of something that happened to her career. And those are the ways in which you permeate it if you're not, you know, a young star is born, and you can immediately become A-lister because you've starred in this great film and you're, you know, this actress or actor who was just discovered. But the other way is, if you're already in the Hollywood machine, that you jump in as if you've either connected with someone or you've done something with your career that enables you to leap.

VEDANTAM: You found that it makes a difference where you get photographed and that there are, in fact, only three places in the world where it's actually important to get photographed if you want to crack one of these super-exclusive clubs.

CURRID-HALKETT: So yes, this is an amazing finding. When we looked at all of the photographic data in our database - and we had something like 600,000 photographic events or photographs, rather - we found that 80 percent of them were taken in Los Angeles, New York or London. And that really did mean that in the eyes of the media, which then becomes the eyes of the public, you really had to be geographically42 bound to these places for people to know who you are and to become a celebrity.

Now, of course, some people don't want that. I mean, if you think about someone like Daniel Day Lewis, who's an incredibly revered43 actor - I think he actually just retired44. But he lives out, I think, in the Midwest. He has no interest in this. So people know him because he is talented, but he's not a celebrity in the way that the stars who are photographed over and over again are. And we are then able to build an interest and a fixation on them.

VEDANTAM: And so if you're heading to Vegas to get photographed at a big social event, this might actually be something of a strategic mistake.

CURRID-HALKETT: So this was very interesting, that there were certain places that really upped star power. And one of those places is - you know, if you go somewhere, you know, international, like Tokyo, and if you're in London for a certain number of days. If you go to Las Vegas, it actually pulls your star power down. And I thought a lot about this. And I think one of the things is that it's not a hub for talent-driven star events, and it really is about just partying. And so there is a sense that going to Las Vegas really drives, you know, you're-famous-for-being-famous element. But if you're a - you know, a bona fide A-lister, you're going to the Vanity Fair Oscar party, but you're not making your way to some nightclub in Las Vegas.

VEDANTAM: So there's something very sad here because if you're a B-lister or a C-lister and you want to crack the A-list club, you know, and you're attending the events that you can get into, which might be in Las Vegas, for example, that might actually be hurting your chances to eventually make it into the A-list club, which leads us to the dispiriting idea that once a B-lister, always a B-lister.

CURRID-HALKETT: Well, I think that's a pretty good observation. It really depends on what your goal is. I mean, if one's goal is to just be, you know, on everyone's radar45, to be in the tabloids46 and to possibly do something with that recognition, then go to Las Vegas. If your goal is to be revered as one of Hollywood's elite, it's a better idea to stay home.

VEDANTAM: Even if becoming an A-lister isn't your goal, Elizabeth's research might apply to you. After the break, we're going to talk about social forces that are more relevant to your life. That's going to be especially true if your life includes farmers markets, yoga classes and instantly recognizing this voice.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE47: And at the Supreme48 Court, if the legal questions were dry, the argument was not.

VEDANTAM: Stay with us.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

VEDANTAM: This week we're talking about elite groups, from A-list celebrities to a new social elite that Elizabeth Currid-Halkett has dubbed49 the aspirational50 class. This elite group is highly educated. Its members breast-feed their children. They spend money on things like organic produce and expensive Pilates classes. We sent producer Maggie Penman to a hotbed of the aspirational class, a Whole Foods in Washington, D.C. She asked shoppers a series of seemingly unrelated questions about their habits and choices, and we're going to hear some of their answers throughout this conversation.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: I think small farmers is really ideally where I would get most of my produce. I try to shop at farmer's markets as much as I can.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #5: Yeah. Organic food definitely because I'm a father of three kids, and I think it's important to give them healthy food.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #4: For my son, I only buy organic food.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #5: I always buy organic food, if I'm not getting it out of my own garden. I don't want the chemicals. I don't want the pesticides51. I don't want things that don't grow naturally from the earth.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #6: I do try to make choices that are local, sustainable, good for my body.

VEDANTAM: Now, these are all thoughtful people. When you ask them why they do yoga, they might say something like...

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #7: It's good for my health. It's good for stretching. And I like the part that it's got a little bit of a meditative52 aspect reminding me to just kind of take a break from the day.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #8: Why do I do yoga? Because it makes me feel fabulous53.

VEDANTAM: What if I told you that all of these well-meaning people making individual choices that are good for them and good for their families, that these people are creating a new social elite?

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "RICH GIRL")

GWEN STEFANI: (Singing) If I was a rich girl, na-na-na-na na-na-na na-na-na na-na na-na na...

VEDANTAM: Its signifiers might not be fancy cars or flashy watches, but Elizabeth Currid-Halkett says this club is every bit as exclusive as the A-list.

CURRID-HALKETT: I started thinking about this book really through being inspired by Thorstein Veblen's book, "The Theory Of The Leisure Class," which I read many, many years ago as a graduate student and continue to refer to in my later work. And I was fascinated with his ability to characterize day-to-day behavior that revealed social position and economic position. But I also knew that things had changed a lot, and these, you know, ways in which we showed social position were not material anymore, or not entirely54 material. And another thing that seemed to be happening was that these kind of flashy signs of wealth were not celebrated55 anymore. I mean, you had the sort of flash in the 1980s, and you had, you know, some of that in 2002 with the tech bubble. And that really stopped being mainstream56 appropriate.

And so of course we still have plutocrats and private jets and oligarchs and their yachts, but that that became more complicated for most elites57, that that type of outlandish material consumption and revealing of wealth was less interesting. And part of that is because the material goods that might show wealth in a day to day basis had become so commonplace. You know, lots of people have nice cars and flat-screen TVs.

VEDANTAM: It used to be that when we thought about people who were in an elite social class, we often noticed who they were because of conspicuous58 consumption. You make the argument that I think a lot of people would find difficult to follow, which is that the new social class, or the new marker of social class is what you call inconspicuous consumption. What do you mean by that?

CURRID-HALKETT: So this all started because I wanted to look at who bought silver spoons in America today because Thorstein Veblen's, you know, famous example was that, you know, the wealthy bought silver spoons and, even though they weren't more useful, in fact people purchased them because they were a sign of status. So I just - you know, to be honest with you - initially59 thought it would be kind of fun to see who's buying silver spoons these days. And so I looked with my doctoral student, Hyojung Lee, I looked at the Consumer Expenditure60 Survey, and we looked at flatware, and we noticed that it was not this top 1 percent that was spending all of this money on flatware. And so it got me thinking about, well, what do the rich spend money on now? And here we have this big data set of all these consumer items. Let's find out.

And what became really clear was that they were spending on things that weren't inherently material and obvious. And so the stats actually made me think more qualitatively61 about how the wealthy spend. And so you have tons and tons of stats showing that, really - I mean, inconspicuous consumption. So consumption we can't necessarily see drives a lot of wealthy spending today, whereas the middle class - and I mean this in the true sense, those in the 40th to 60th percentiles - are spending on material goods. What did that qualitatively look like? And so I looked around, and what you see is this use of cultural capital to show social position, and ways in which people talked wasn't about, you know, their fancy new car. It might be justified62 by it being diesel63, or it's electric, and Pilates classes.

And then you look closely, and you're like, well, those are, like, you know, 20 bucks64 a pop. Like, how - like, if people are going to those three days a week, that's real money. And people buying all this organic food, which, if you look in the grocery store, it's, you know, sometimes at least 50 percent more expensive than the conventional fruit. And yet these became the practices that were inherently more expensive, and yet they weren't screaming wealth in the way that previous elite spending patterns might.

VEDANTAM: I asked Elizabeth for examples of things that people purchase that would be conspicuous forms of consumption...

CURRID-HALKETT: Luxury cars, fancy electronics, fancy handbags, really, you know, expensive watches.

VEDANTAM: ...And inconspicuous consumption.

CURRID-HALKETT: So education, nannies, gardeners, housekeepers65, pensions, retirement66, health care. These are things that people can't see, and yet they're actually a lot more expensive than having a nice watch or a nice bag.

VEDANTAM: Elizabeth has noticed in her research a shift in spending patterns among the wealthiest Americans, away from the flashy and toward the invisible. Like, for example, breast-feeding.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #9: So we understand that it, like, helps, like, build their immunity67 when they're really small?

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #10: My first child didn't get his first cold until a month after I stopped nursing, and that was 16 months.

VEDANTAM: Elizabeth argues that breastfeeding is an important marker of entry into this new social elite.

CURRID-HALKETT: When I became a mom, you know, I immediately breast-fed my kid, and I signed up for Mommy and Me classes. And, you know, my husband and I said, we should definitely get an education fund started so that, you know, he can go to whatever college he wants to. And breast-feeding, by the way, you know, just like saving in a college fund, were just the things that my friends did too. So everyone was just doing this, and we didn't even question it. I mean, everyone went to Mommy and Me classes and read to their kids from, you know, day one of life. And it pushed me to think about, well, does everyone do this? And when you look at the data, you realize what a bubble you're in, right? You're in a bubble if you can save money at all. You're in a bubble if you can save for your kid's education. And you're in a bubble if you are breast-feeding your kids for six months to a year.

And that made me realize that these were all signifiers of being a part of, you know, an educated class with good maternity68 leave and a decent salary, and that those were, again, markers of my social position and they were for lots of people in my group. And if I actually never left my group or thought about it, I would just think that's how people behaved. And you realize that, wow, that's not everyone. And yet, in my world, it was everyone.

VEDANTAM: So when you think about breast-feeding, it's interesting that you're thinking about it in terms of inconspicuous consumption because people would say, what's being consumed here? You're deciding to breast-feed your child. How is that consumption of any kind?

CURRID-HALKETT: Well, you're actually spending an awful lot of money to breast-feed your child because time is money today. In a knowledge-driven economy where you know, frankly69, the flexibility70 of work life is a product often of education and well-paid jobs and good maternity leave and good health benefits, that's expensive. And so that was the thing that really was interesting to me when I thought about how elite spend money today, is that they spend it to get time back - spending on gardeners and child care and housekeeping. That's that's what that is. That's, I don't want to have to do this with my free time, and I have the money to not have to do it.

And breast-feeding is something that is incredibly time intensive, and it takes a long time to get the hang of it for a lot, a lot of moms. And I'll add something else. And this is something from one of the sociologists I interviewed. You also have to be in a social world where you feel comfortable if you're going to do that in public. And so actually all of that is built into, you know, being in an environment where you feel that you're safe and that there's other people doing that, and then the fact that the time that you devote towards breast-feeding is expensive.

VEDANTAM: So we've talked a little bit about inconspicuous consumption at the front end of life. I'd like to go to another example of inconspicuous consumption that you mention, at the other end of life, at the time we die. You'll find there are really interesting differences now between rich and poor in how we think about death and how we conduct funerals.

CURRID-HALKETT: Yeah. So one of the interesting statistics or findings in my analysis is that the poor spend over a quarter more on funerals than the rich. I was stumped71 by this finding, to be perfectly72 honest. So I asked my colleague, David Sloane, who's a historian at the University of Southern California, and he has written on funerals and cemeteries73. And I said, what to make of this? And so as he explained it to me, one of the things that happens is that, you know, poor families have much greater social capital, and so the funeral becomes a very, very important center of, you know, social gathering74. You know, even if it's of course solemn, and it's honoring the person who just died, that it does become a place for the entire community to come together. And, you know, think about sort of conventionally, you know, like the Irish wake, for example. And so it then has these performative aspects, right? So it's about, you know, showing the honor towards the person who's died, making a big deal. It's also that you have more people there. So it becomes a much bigger event than it does for wealthier families.

VEDANTAM: There are also class differences in burial practices.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #11: I would like to be cremated75. I think burial is a poor use of land space.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #12: I would want to be cremated, I think.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #13: Well, it has become my family's standard to be cremated, and I think it has a lot to do with a sense of an overcrowded planet.

VEDANTAM: Increasingly, cremating77 the dead has become a signifier of class.

CURRID-HALKETT: Yeah. So this is another interesting distinction between the rich and the poor. The rich cremate76 more and the poor bury more. And, again, I was stumped by this. But again, when I spoke with my colleague, David, he said, well, it's because they have very different attitudes towards death, and the wealthy tend to keep it very private. And this, of course, inherently lowers its expenses. You might extend this to this idea that, you know, the poor have greater amounts of social capital, and so again the concentration of people coming makes it more expensive. And that they actually, the richer and the more educated you are is the more likely you are to cremate. And I don't know what this is. I mean, is this, you know, correlated to religion? Is it correlated to, you know, belief in the afterlife? You know, I don't know, but it's clearly, there's a larger trend that wealthier people not only want something private but they also have a different philosophy about what to do when someone dies.

VEDANTAM: When we come back, how these choices add up to the creation of a new social elite and why some wealthy people feel guilty about being rich.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

VEDANTAM: This is HIDDEN BRAIN. I'm Shankar Vedantam. This week we're talking about elite groups. Elizabeth Currid-Halkett has been studying the spending patterns of the wealthiest Americans. She finds them moving away from things like fancy cars and giant TVs and instead spending their time and money on breast-feeding, organic food and education.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #14: My children are the recipients79 of the most expensive education in the history of the world.

VEDANTAM: Stepping back to look at the big picture of Elizabeth's research, you can see how privilege replicates80 itself. From the earliest days of someone's life, they're either breast-fed or formula-fed. Maybe that one thing doesn't make a big difference, but as they grow up, their parents are buying organic tomatoes or conventional tomatoes. They get signed up for piano classes, or they don't. Their parents are able to save for their college education, or they're not. Elizabeth argues that each of these small decisions adds up. It creates a new social elite.

CURRID-HALKETT: These behaviors and practices reinforce their privilege and reinforce the privilege of their children in a way that superficial material goods don't pass on from generation to generation. One of the people that is very interesting to consider when looking at this class is Pierre Bourdieu's concept of habitus. So he argued that - you know, he was the kind of great thinker on cultural capital, and he argued that there were these physical manifestations of cultural capital. And so yoga, breast-feeding, buying organic food, attending farmers markets, listening to NPR, you know, reading the books on The New York Times best-seller list, these are all physical manifestations of your cultural capital, right? They show your education, they show that you have time, and they implicitly81 show you have money.

The thing that I think is most cause for concern with the rise of what I call the aspirational class is that there is a kind of belief that all of these practices are actually for the good, for the good of society. You know, I'm putting money away for education for my child. I'm breast-feeding my child. That's what my doctor told - my son's pediatrician told me to do. I am, you know, practicing yoga, which makes me healthier, which is important. And then there becomes this, you know, ignorance to the fact that others can't do this.

So I find breast-feeding to be a particularly fascinating one because in my, you know, bubble of motherhood, you know, everyone breast-feeds. The thing that I have found with some of my friends who are mothers in this social group is they actually feel really bad when they have to stop. And they feel embarrassed if they have to introduce formula because they have to go back to work. And so suddenly, you know, writing this book, I was thinking, why would you feel bad about any of this? I mean, this doesn't make sense to feel bad about this. And so you realize that this is a signifier of a particular type of motherhood that they espouse82 to.

VEDANTAM: I want to talk about one specific aspect of inconspicuous consumption that is really striking and in some ways might actually be at the heart of many of the other things that you are mentioning, and that's education. You say that the top 10 percent of Americans have increased their share of educational expenditures83 by almost 300 percent between 1996 and 2014, while the poor are spending essentially the same amount as they've always spent on education, the same since 1996, despite higher tuition costs, higher education costs. Let's just talk about education for a second and stay with this idea. What are the effects, do you think, of this increasing disparity in how people are investing and value education?

CURRID-HALKETT: The thing about education is that it essentially sets a child up for future success in the workplace, right? So, you know, historically if we think about the middle class of the 20th century, you know, something like under 10 percent of men had college degrees. And now the overall population, it's something like 33 percent of people have a college degree. So college degrees have become essential for social mobility84, and these knowledge-driven jobs, whether you're working for NPR or you're working as a professor or you're working as a banker, they require college degrees, often graduate degrees. And so being able to send your child to college, essentially, it doesn't insure, but it certainly increases the likelihood greatly that you will pass on that social mobility, you will give them a chance. The part of this that is alarming is that it's so, so expensive.

So if you look at the increase in the cost of all sorts of goods over the last, I think it's 10 years, education has increased 80 percent in its cost. And that is so hard for people to write checks for. Even if you're in the upper-middle class it's hard. And so that is part of the problem with education as being a status good now, is that in fact it's not just the moment in time of status, it's the reproduction of the privilege. And I would add one more thing to that. You know, part of how you apply to universities these days is that you have this very wonderful culturally rich mosaic85 of a person, right? So they've traveled abroad, and maybe they've taken piano or violin lessons. They have fabulous SAT scores, they've gone to a pretty good high school. There's this whole package. And I think that that matters more and more. It matters a lot more than when I applied86 to university. I can say that. And those things cost a lot of money, and you can see it. So for example, the top 1 percent spend 20 times more on musical instruments than the middle class. In fact, they spend five times more than the rest of the top 10 percent. So if you think about the way in which we get this cultural capital that is so important in the college application process, that is also expensive.

And I'll add one other thing that is not my own data. This is Raj Chetty from Stanford. They looked at elite bachelor's degrees. So they used Ivy87 Leagues. And they found that if you were in the top 1 percent, you were 77 times more likely to attend an Ivy League than if your parents were in an income group outside of the top 1 percent.

VEDANTAM: So here's a paradox88, Elizabeth. And, in some ways, I think asking this question might betray my own class membership (laughter) in terms of you know, the aspirational class, but, isn't there some intrinsic value in breast-feeding and in learning the piano and in investing in education and investing in retirement and making environmentally conscious choices? I mean, the thing that I find tricky89 is that in some ways it seems like you're launching a critique of these practices when many of the practices arguably have something good to say for them. And, of course, at the top of the list, I'd say listening to NPR.

CURRID-HALKETT: This is a great question. And, again, I will reveal my own class position. I do all of these things that I write about. You know, my child started piano at the age of 4. You know, we save for college. I breast-fed my child over a year, both of them. I practice Pilates. (Laughter). So I am as guilty as you in not just engaging these practices but also believing that they are the right uses of my time and money. But the thing that was important for me as I wrote this book was to think about how you get access to do these things and who does and who doesn't. Because it's really clear when you're dealing90 with a Rolex that unless you have $5,000 to $20,000, you can't wear a Rolex watch. OK? But it's just a watch, right? I mean, maybe you give it to your son, but it's just a watch. But when I looked at these practices, I thought, this isn't just a watch. These are things that are really good. They're really important. But part of the fact that they are so important is why they really set the stage for the next generation. And the luxury to do them, I think in many ways the people who participate in these practices, who are members of the aspirational class, aren't fully91 aware necessarily of how privileged we are to be able to do these things and how difficult it is to do these things if you don't have the education to know that X, Y and Z should should be done, or you don't have the income to write the check to do them. So one of the things that I think is kind of interesting about these practices is that, you know, there's a sort of obliviousness92. It's a very good-natured obliviousness, but it is. It's a, well, I'm just doing these things 'cause they're good for my family and they're good for the environment. But there is still this reproduction that adds to inequality. So if you're buying organic food and you're breast-feeding your kid and you're exercising, you probably think you're doing the right thing in society, you're doing nothing wrong. And you're listening to NPR so you know what's going on in the world, and you probably read The New York Times, and you feel updated and you feel that you are on the right side of things.

And if we actually think about, you know, for example, what happened with the election, and, you know, a lot of liberal elites were shocked. Oh, my goodness, how did this happen? And actually if you step outside of one of those liberal elite bubbles, you completely see how it happened. People don't think like this. They don't necessarily have the same practices, and they actually in some ways resent the exclusion93 that is just - even if it's accidental is very, very obvious for people who are not members of the aspirational class.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

VEDANTAM: Elizabeth Currid-Halkett is a professor at the University of Southern California. She's the author of "Starstruck" and "The Sum Of Small Things: A Theory Of The Aspirational Class."

If you're feeling a bit sheepish after hearing about this research and you're wondering whether your choices to go to yoga classes and buy organic produce are problematic, you're not alone. Erynn Beaton is an assistant professor at Ohio State University. She studies inequality. She offers us this commentary on the conflicting emotions people feel about their wealth.

ERYNN BEATON: My husband and I don't go to church, but we wanted to have some sort of Sunday routine. So I tracked down an emergency shelter and asked to volunteer. We go down there at 5:30 every Sunday, and for about 90 minutes, my husband and I stand side by side as people shuffle94 past holding out Styrofoam plates. He serves the vegetables. I serve the entree95 and some bread.

The food. What can I say about the food? Some days it's noodles and chicken with some corn. My husband and I look at one another as we serve the meals. We'd eat this food if we had to, but definitely not if we had a choice. The people we serve take plastic bottles of hot sauce back to their tables and slather their food with it.

I remember one woman in line. She must have been in her 40s. She looked very, very tired. My husband's an extroverted96 man, and he cheerfully greeted her with, how's it going? She stared at him. No, that's not right. She glared at him. Finally, he asked, was that an inappropriate question? She nodded. Yes.

After we're done at the shelter, we go out to dinner ourselves. Usually sushi. We sit at the bar and I order spicy97 tuna, rainbow rolls, dragon rolls. My husband likes anything with tempura. He orders craft beer. If it's hot outside, I have a glass of chardonnay. If it's cold, I like pino noir. We talk about the evening and the contrast between the meal we're having now and the one we just served. I feel guilt78. Worse, I feel shame.

I recognize this feeling. As an ethnographer, I've conducted research into the behavior of the very wealthy. In one study, my colleagues and I spoke with wealthy people who are interested in combating inequality. We usually think of the very wealthy as uncaring and selfish, but the people I studied sound a lot like my husband and I do at the sushi bar. They're stricken. Some of them are self-made entrepreneurs, but still they feel guilty. And it's worse for those who inherited their wealth. One rich woman confessed that it was much harder for her to admit to being wealthy than to come out as a lesbian.

All of us live in worlds of our own. We spend time with people who look like us, who go to the same schools. We do this not only because we get along easily with people like us, but because those people allow us to see ourselves the way we see ourselves. When I talk to someone who moves in the same circles I do, I recognize myself. When I look at myself through those eyes, that Erynn I'm familiar with. When I look at myself through the eyes of that exhausted98 woman at the shelter, I see an unfamiliar99 version of myself, the privileged Erynn.

Few of us are willing to break outside our social networks. It's not comfortable to look at the world and ourselves differently. One reason privilege endures is because those of us who have it are often unconscious of it. This is what makes the hard work of getting out of our comfort zones so important. If you want to create a more equitable100 world, the first thing you must do is to step outside.

VEDANTAM: Erynn Beaton is an assistant professor at Ohio State University.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

VEDANTAM: This episode of HIDDEN BRAIN was produced by Maggie Penman and Rhaina Cohen, and edited by Tara Boyle. Our team includes Renee Klahr, Jenny Schmidt and Parth Shah. Our unsung heroes this week are Jonathan Gang, Ann Noi Sannee (ph) and Maria Belinska at The Conversation. The Conversation is a news and commentary website that helps bring great ideas from academics to the general public. Jonathan, Ann and Maria helped produce Erynn Beaton's commentary in today's episode. You can sign up for The Conversation's newsletter at theconversation.com/newsletter. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and listen for my stories on Morning Edition on your local public radio station. I'm Shankar Vedantam. See you next week.

MAGGIE PENMAN, BYLINE: Hi. I'm Maggie Penman. I'm one of the producers of HIDDEN BRAIN. The stories you hear on this show aren't simple. They can be a complex web of historical context and science and law, money, politics, emotion. That's what we do here. We explain. We probe. We follow. We fact check. Conversations on NPR give you perspective, new ways to shed light on what goes on in the world. Support the thoughtful journalism101 you rely on. Visit donate.npr.org/hiddenbrain, and then then share how this show helped you understand the world this year with hashtag #whypublicradio.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 celebrity xcRyQ     
n.名人,名流;著名,名声,名望
参考例句:
  • Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
  • He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。
2 electrifying f2081dbc620a5b326b713cef8349d30e     
v.使电气化( electrify的现在分词 );使兴奋
参考例句:
  • The dancers gave an electrifying performance. 舞蹈演员们的表演激动人心。
  • The national orchestra gave an electrifying performance of classic music. 国家交响乐团举行了一次古典音乐的震撼性演出。 来自辞典例句
3 elite CqzxN     
n.精英阶层;实力集团;adj.杰出的,卓越的
参考例句:
  • The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
  • We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。
4 manifestations 630b7ac2a729f8638c572ec034f8688f     
n.表示,显示(manifestation的复数形式)
参考例句:
  • These were manifestations of the darker side of his character. 这些是他性格阴暗面的表现。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • To be wordly-wise and play safe is one of the manifestations of liberalism. 明哲保身是自由主义的表现之一。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
5 fads abecffaa52f529a2b83b6612a7964b02     
n.一时的流行,一时的风尚( fad的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • It was one of the many fads that sweep through mathematics regularly. 它是常见的贯穿在数学中的许多流行一时的风尚之一。 来自辞典例句
  • Lady Busshe is nothing without her flights, fads, and fancies. 除浮躁、时髦和幻想外,巴歇夫人一无所有。 来自辞典例句
6 celebrities d38f03cca59ea1056c17b4467ee0b769     
n.(尤指娱乐界的)名人( celebrity的名词复数 );名流;名声;名誉
参考例句:
  • He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
  • a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目
7 begets 900bbe1fb1fde33a940fa4c636f3859f     
v.为…之生父( beget的第三人称单数 );产生,引起
参考例句:
  • It begets at least seven standard type offspring from such matings. 这类交配中生下至少七个标准型后代。 来自辞典例句
  • Violence begets violence until the innocent perish with the guilty. 暴力招致暴力直到这因罪行而无缘无故的毁灭。 来自电影对白
8 economists 2ba0a36f92d9c37ef31cc751bca1a748     
n.经济学家,经济专家( economist的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
  • Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》
9 desperately cu7znp     
adv.极度渴望地,绝望地,孤注一掷地
参考例句:
  • He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
  • He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。
10 transcend qJbzC     
vt.超出,超越(理性等)的范围
参考例句:
  • We can't transcend the limitations of the ego.我们无法超越自我的局限性。
  • Everyone knows that the speed of airplanes transcend that of ships.人人都知道飞机的速度快于轮船的速度。
11 virtue BpqyH     
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力
参考例句:
  • He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
  • You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。
12 drawn MuXzIi     
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的
参考例句:
  • All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
  • Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。
13 conformity Hpuz9     
n.一致,遵从,顺从
参考例句:
  • Was his action in conformity with the law?他的行动是否合法?
  • The plan was made in conformity with his views.计划仍按他的意见制定。
14 psychology U0Wze     
n.心理,心理学,心理状态
参考例句:
  • She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
  • He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。
15 pedestrians c0776045ca3ae35c6910db3f53d111db     
n.步行者( pedestrian的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Several pedestrians had come to grief on the icy pavement. 几个行人在结冰的人行道上滑倒了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Pedestrians keep to the sidewalk [footpath]! 行人走便道。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
16 cohesive dWdy2     
adj.有粘着力的;有结合力的;凝聚性的
参考例句:
  • She sealed the parcel with cohesive tape.她用粘胶带把包裹封起来。
  • The author skillfully fuses these fragments into a cohesive whole.作者将这些片断巧妙地结合成一个连贯的整体。
17 coalesce oWhyj     
v.联合,结合,合并
参考例句:
  • And these rings of gas would then eventually coalesce and form the planets.这些气体环最后终于凝结形成行星。
  • They will probably collide again and again until they coalesce.他们可能会一次又一次地发生碰撞,直到他们合并。
18 watts c70bc928c4d08ffb18fc491f215d238a     
(电力计量单位)瓦,瓦特( watt的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • My lamp uses 60 watts; my toaster uses 600 watts. 我的灯用60瓦,我的烤面包器用600瓦。
  • My lamp uses 40 watts. 我的灯40瓦。
19 catchier 025c82555fe473f10c17002746f1b5d7     
(曲调、歌曲)容易记住的( catchy的比较级 )
参考例句:
20 essentially nntxw     
adv.本质上,实质上,基本上
参考例句:
  • Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
  • She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。
21 chaos 7bZyz     
n.混乱,无秩序
参考例句:
  • After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后,城市一片混乱。
  • The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。
22 simultaneously 4iBz1o     
adv.同时发生地,同时进行地
参考例句:
  • The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
  • The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。
23 dynamics NuSzQq     
n.力学,动力学,动力,原动力;动态
参考例句:
  • In order to succeed,you must master complicated knowledge of dynamics.要取得胜利,你必须掌握很复杂的动力学知识。
  • Dynamics is a discipline that cannot be mastered without extensive practice.动力学是一门不做大量习题就不能掌握的学科。
24 qualitative JC4yi     
adj.性质上的,质的,定性的
参考例句:
  • There are qualitative differences in the way children and adults think.孩子和成年人的思维方式有质的不同。
  • Arms races have a quantitative and a qualitative aspects.军备竞赛具有数量和质量两个方面。
25 spoke XryyC     
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
参考例句:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
26 warehouse 6h7wZ     
n.仓库;vt.存入仓库
参考例句:
  • We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
  • The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。
27 milieu x7yzN     
n.环境;出身背景;(个人所处的)社会环境
参考例句:
  • Foods usually provide a good milieu for the persistence of viruses.食品通常为病毒存续提供了一个良好的栖身所。
  • He was born in a social milieu where further education was a luxury.他生在一个受较高教育就被认为是奢侈的社会环境里。
28 caption FT2y3     
n.说明,字幕,标题;v.加上标题,加上说明
参考例句:
  • I didn't understand the drawing until I read the caption.直到我看到这幅画的说明才弄懂其意思。
  • There is a caption under the picture.图片下边附有说明。
29 randomness af1c2e393e31ba3c5a65a5ccc64d0789     
n.随意,无安排;随机性
参考例句:
  • The randomness is attributed to the porous medium. 随机性起因于多孔介质。 来自辞典例句
  • Einstein declared that randomness rather than lawfulness is the characteristic of natural events. 爱因斯坦宣称自然现象的特征为不可测性而不是规律化。 来自辞典例句
30 slumber 8E7zT     
n.睡眠,沉睡状态
参考例句:
  • All the people in the hotels were wrapped in deep slumber.住在各旅馆里的人都已进入梦乡。
  • Don't wake him from his slumber because he needs the rest.不要把他从睡眠中唤醒,因为他需要休息。
31 nominee FHLxv     
n.被提名者;被任命者;被推荐者
参考例句:
  • His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
  • Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。
32 sag YD4yA     
v.下垂,下跌,消沉;n.下垂,下跌,凹陷,[航海]随风漂流
参考例句:
  • The shelf was beginning to sag beneath the weight of the books upon it.书架在书的重压下渐渐下弯。
  • We need to do something about the sag.我们须把下沉的地方修整一下。
33 ensemble 28GyV     
n.合奏(唱)组;全套服装;整体,总效果
参考例句:
  • We should consider the buildings as an ensemble.我们应把那些建筑物视作一个整体。
  • It is ensemble music for up to about ten players,with one player to a part.它是最多十人演奏的合奏音乐,每人担任一部分。
34 linings 08af65d71fb90cd42b87d2d9b97c874f     
n.衬里( lining的名词复数 );里子;衬料;组织
参考例句:
  • a pair of leather gloves with fur linings 一双毛皮衬里的皮手套
  • Many of the garments have the customers' name tags sewn into the linings. 这些衣服有很多内衬上缝有顾客的姓名签。 来自辞典例句
35 extraordinarily Vlwxw     
adv.格外地;极端地
参考例句:
  • She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
  • The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨,大海出奇地宁静。
36 perpetuated ca69e54073d3979488ad0a669192bc07     
vt.使永存(perpetuate的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • This system perpetuated itself for several centuries. 这一制度维持了几个世纪。
  • I never before saw smile caught like that, and perpetuated. 我从来没有看见过谁的笑容陷入这样的窘况,而且持续不变。 来自辞典例句
37 conundrum gpxzZ     
n.谜语;难题
参考例句:
  • Let me give you some history about a conundrum.让我给你们一些关于谜题的历史。
  • Scientists had focused on two explanations to solve this conundrum.科学家已锁定两种解释来解开这个难题。
38 toiling 9e6f5a89c05478ce0b1205d063d361e5     
长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 ); 艰难缓慢地移动,跋涉
参考例句:
  • The fiery orator contrasted the idle rich with the toiling working classes. 这位激昂的演说家把无所事事的富人同终日辛劳的工人阶级进行了对比。
  • She felt like a beetle toiling in the dust. She was filled with repulsion. 她觉得自己像只甲虫在地里挣扎,心中涌满愤恨。
39 permeate 0uWyg     
v.弥漫,遍布,散布;渗入,渗透
参考例句:
  • Water will easily permeate a cotton dress.水很容易渗透棉布衣服。
  • After a while it begins to permeate through your skin.过了一会,它会开始渗入你的皮肤。
40 obsessed 66a4be1417f7cf074208a6d81c8f3384     
adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的
参考例句:
  • He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
  • The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。
41 dissuade ksPxy     
v.劝阻,阻止
参考例句:
  • You'd better dissuade him from doing that.你最好劝阻他别那样干。
  • I tried to dissuade her from investing her money in stocks and shares.我曾设法劝她不要投资于股票交易。
42 geographically mg6xa     
adv.地理学上,在地理上,地理方面
参考例句:
  • Geographically, the UK is on the periphery of Europe. 从地理位置上讲,英国处于欧洲边缘。 来自辞典例句
  • All these events, however geographically remote, urgently affected Western financial centers. 所有这些事件,无论发生在地理上如何遥远的地方,都对西方金融中心产生紧迫的影响。 来自名作英译部分
43 revered 1d4a411490949024694bf40d95a0d35f     
v.崇敬,尊崇,敬畏( revere的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • A number of institutions revered and respected in earlier times have become Aunt Sally for the present generation. 一些早年受到尊崇的惯例,现在已经成了这代人嘲弄的对象了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The Chinese revered corn as a gift from heaven. 中国人将谷物奉为上天的恩赐。 来自辞典例句
44 retired Njhzyv     
adj.隐退的,退休的,退役的
参考例句:
  • The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
  • Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。
45 radar kTUxx     
n.雷达,无线电探测器
参考例句:
  • They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
  • Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。
46 tabloids 80172bf88a29df0651289943c6d7fa19     
n.小报,通俗小报(版面通常比大报小一半,文章短,图片多,经常报道名人佚事)( tabloid的名词复数 );药片
参考例句:
  • The story was on the front pages of all the tabloids. 所有小报都在头版报道了这件事。
  • The story made the front page in all the tabloids. 这件事成了所有小报的头版新闻。
47 byline sSXyQ     
n.署名;v.署名
参考例句:
  • His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
  • We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。
48 supreme PHqzc     
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的
参考例句:
  • It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
  • He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
49 dubbed dubbed     
v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 );把…称为;配音;复制
参考例句:
  • Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
  • Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的? 来自《简明英汉词典》
50 aspirational 886aa00f4b7fc5187145f28ed9448c76     
志同的,有抱负的
参考例句:
  • Most of the images that bombard us all are aspirational. 轰击的图像,我们都期望最大。
  • Analysts said self-help and aspirational reading could explain India's high figures. 分析师们指出,自助读书、热爱读书是印度人均读书时间超过别的国家的主要原因。
51 pesticides abb0488ed6905584ea91347395a890e8     
n.杀虫剂( pesticide的名词复数 );除害药物
参考例句:
  • vegetables grown without the use of pesticides 未用杀虫剂种植的蔬菜
  • There is a lot of concern over the amount of herbicides and pesticides used in farming. 人们对农业上灭草剂和杀虫剂的用量非常担忧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
52 meditative Djpyr     
adj.沉思的,冥想的
参考例句:
  • A stupid fellow is talkative;a wise man is meditative.蠢人饶舌,智者思虑。
  • Music can induce a meditative state in the listener.音乐能够引导倾听者沉思。
53 fabulous ch6zI     
adj.极好的;极为巨大的;寓言中的,传说中的
参考例句:
  • We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
  • This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。
54 entirely entirely     
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地
参考例句:
  • The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
  • His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。
55 celebrated iwLzpz     
adj.有名的,声誉卓著的
参考例句:
  • He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
  • The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。
56 mainstream AoCzh9     
n.(思想或行为的)主流;adj.主流的
参考例句:
  • Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
  • Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。
57 elites e3dbb5fd6596e7194920c56f4830b949     
精华( elite的名词复数 ); 精锐; 上层集团; (统称)掌权人物
参考例句:
  • The elites are by their nature a factor contributing to underdevelopment. 这些上层人物天生是助长欠发达的因素。
  • Elites always detest gifted and nimble outsiders. 社会名流对天赋聪明、多才多艺的局外人一向嫌恶。
58 conspicuous spszE     
adj.明眼的,惹人注目的;炫耀的,摆阔气的
参考例句:
  • It is conspicuous that smoking is harmful to health.很明显,抽烟对健康有害。
  • Its colouring makes it highly conspicuous.它的色彩使它非常惹人注目。
59 initially 273xZ     
adv.最初,开始
参考例句:
  • The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
  • Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。
60 expenditure XPbzM     
n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出;使用,消耗
参考例句:
  • The entry of all expenditure is necessary.有必要把一切开支入账。
  • The monthly expenditure of our family is four hundred dollars altogether.我们一家的开销每月共计四百元。
61 qualitatively 5ca9292f7a0c1ddbef340e3c76a7c17b     
质量上
参考例句:
  • In other words, you are to analyze them quantitatively and qualitatively. 换句话说,你们要对它们进行量和质的分析。
  • Electric charge may be detected qualitatively by sprinkling or blowing indicating powders. 静电荷可以用撒布指示粉剂的方法,予以探测。
62 justified 7pSzrk     
a.正当的,有理的
参考例句:
  • She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
  • The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。
63 diesel ql6zo     
n.柴油发动机,内燃机
参考例句:
  • We experimented with diesel engines to drive the pumps.我们试着用柴油机来带动水泵。
  • My tractor operates on diesel oil.我的那台拖拉机用柴油开动。
64 bucks a391832ce78ebbcfc3ed483cc6d17634     
n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 );钱;(英国十九世纪初的)花花公子;(用于某些表达方式)责任v.(马等)猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 );抵制;猛然震荡;马等尥起后蹄跳跃
参考例句:
  • They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
  • They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》
65 housekeepers 5a9e2352a6ee995ab07d759da5565f52     
n.(女)管家( housekeeper的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Can you send up one of your housekeepers to make bed? 请你派个女服务员来整理床铺好吗? 来自互联网
  • They work as gas station attendants, firemen, housekeepers,and security personnel. 本句翻译:机器人也能够作为煤气站的服务员,救火队员等保安作用。 来自互联网
66 retirement TWoxH     
n.退休,退职
参考例句:
  • She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
  • I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。
67 immunity dygyQ     
n.优惠;免除;豁免,豁免权
参考例句:
  • The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
  • He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。
68 maternity kjbyx     
n.母性,母道,妇产科病房;adj.孕妇的,母性的
参考例句:
  • Women workers are entitled to maternity leave with full pay.女工产假期间工资照发。
  • Trainee nurses have to work for some weeks in maternity.受训的护士必须在产科病房工作数周。
69 frankly fsXzcf     
adv.坦白地,直率地;坦率地说
参考例句:
  • To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说,我一点也不赞成这个主意。
  • Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说,我不反对改革。
70 flexibility vjPxb     
n.柔韧性,弹性,(光的)折射性,灵活性
参考例句:
  • Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
  • The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。
71 stumped bf2a34ab92a06b6878a74288580b8031     
僵直地行走,跺步行走( stump的过去式和过去分词 ); 把(某人)难住; 使为难; (选举前)在某一地区作政治性巡回演说
参考例句:
  • Jack huffed himself up and stumped out of the room. 杰克气喘吁吁地干完活,然后很艰难地走出房间。
  • He was stumped by the questions and remained tongue-tied for a good while. 他被问得张口结舌,半天说不出话来。
72 perfectly 8Mzxb     
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地
参考例句:
  • The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
  • Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。
73 cemeteries 4418ae69fd74a98b3e6957ca2df1f686     
n.(非教堂的)墓地,公墓( cemetery的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • It's morbid to dwell on cemeteries and such like. 不厌其烦地谈论墓地以及诸如此类的事是一种病态。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • In other districts the proximity of cemeteries seemed to aggravate the disease. 在其它地区里,邻近墓地的地方,时疫大概都要严重些。 来自辞典例句
74 gathering ChmxZ     
n.集会,聚会,聚集
参考例句:
  • He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
  • He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。
75 cremated 6f0548dafbb2758e70c4b263a81aa7cf     
v.火葬,火化(尸体)( cremate的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He wants to is cremated, not buried. 他要火葬,不要土葬。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The bodies were cremated on the shore. 他们的尸体在海边火化了。 来自辞典例句
76 cremate tYwzF     
v.火葬,烧成灰
参考例句:
  • She wants Chris to be cremated.她想把克里斯的尸体火化。
  • Laowang explains: "Combustion is cremate, degenerating is inhumation. "老王解释道:“燃烧就是火葬,腐朽就是土葬。”
77 cremating 22451dc0a7564ea20bedd7251f61abc0     
v.火葬,火化(尸体)( cremate的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • On April 19 sorrowing Japanese were cremating Admiral Yamamoto. 4月19日,哀伤的日本人把山本海军大将送进火海中去。 来自辞典例句
78 guilt 9e6xr     
n.犯罪;内疚;过失,罪责
参考例句:
  • She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
  • Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。
79 recipients 972af69bf73f8ad23a446a346a6f0fff     
adj.接受的;受领的;容纳的;愿意接受的n.收件人;接受者;受领者;接受器
参考例句:
  • The recipients of the prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者的姓名登在报上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The recipients of prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者名单登在报上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
80 replicates 2cb25c60b573b908924058afde2ecd5a     
复制( replicate的第三人称单数 ); 重复; 再造; 再生
参考例句:
  • The bluetongue virus replicates in the insect. 蓝舌病病毒在这种昆虫体内繁殖。
  • The chameleon's skin replicates the pattern of its surroundings. 变色龙的皮肤可随环境的模式而改变颜色。
81 implicitly 7146d52069563dd0fc9ea894b05c6fef     
adv. 含蓄地, 暗中地, 毫不保留地
参考例句:
  • Many verbs and many words of other kinds are implicitly causal. 许多动词和许多其他类词都蕴涵着因果关系。
  • I can trust Mr. Somerville implicitly, I suppose? 我想,我可以毫无保留地信任萨莫维尔先生吧?
82 espouse jn1xx     
v.支持,赞成,嫁娶
参考例句:
  • Today,astronomers espouse the theory that comets spawn the swarms.如今,天文学家们支持彗星产生了流星团的说法。
  • Some teachers enthusiastically espouse the benefits to be gained from educational software.有些教师热烈赞同可以从教学软件中得到好处的观点。
83 expenditures 2af585403f5a51eeaa8f7b29110cc2ab     
n.花费( expenditure的名词复数 );使用;(尤指金钱的)支出额;(精力、时间、材料等的)耗费
参考例句:
  • We have overspent.We'll have to let up our expenditures next month. 我们已经超支了,下个月一定得节约开支。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The pension includes an allowance of fifty pounds for traffic expenditures. 年金中包括50镑交通费补贴。 来自《简明英汉词典》
84 mobility H6rzu     
n.可动性,变动性,情感不定
参考例句:
  • The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
  • Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。
85 mosaic CEExS     
n./adj.镶嵌细工的,镶嵌工艺品的,嵌花式的
参考例句:
  • The sky this morning is a mosaic of blue and white.今天早上的天空是幅蓝白相间的画面。
  • The image mosaic is a troublesome work.图象镶嵌是个麻烦的工作。
86 applied Tz2zXA     
adj.应用的;v.应用,适用
参考例句:
  • She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
  • This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。
87 ivy x31ys     
n.常青藤,常春藤
参考例句:
  • Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。
  • The wall is covered all over with ivy.墙上爬满了常春藤。
88 paradox pAxys     
n.似乎矛盾却正确的说法;自相矛盾的人(物)
参考例句:
  • The story contains many levels of paradox.这个故事存在多重悖论。
  • The paradox is that Japan does need serious education reform.矛盾的地方是日本确实需要教育改革。
89 tricky 9fCzyd     
adj.狡猾的,奸诈的;(工作等)棘手的,微妙的
参考例句:
  • I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手,你能帮我吗?
  • He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题,只做了个笼统的表述。
90 dealing NvjzWP     
n.经商方法,待人态度
参考例句:
  • This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
  • His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。
91 fully Gfuzd     
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地
参考例句:
  • The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气,然后全部呼出。
  • They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。
92 obliviousness 0c5c574254dc8efd7c2efa1af05d312f     
参考例句:
  • Her obliviousness of what was happening in Germany seems extraordinary. 真没想到她对德国正在发生的事情居然一无所知。 来自柯林斯例句
93 exclusion 1hCzz     
n.拒绝,排除,排斥,远足,远途旅行
参考例句:
  • Don't revise a few topics to the exclusion of all others.不要修改少数论题以致排除所有其他的。
  • He plays golf to the exclusion of all other sports.他专打高尔夫球,其他运动一概不参加。
94 shuffle xECzc     
n.拖著脚走,洗纸牌;v.拖曳,慢吞吞地走
参考例句:
  • I wish you'd remember to shuffle before you deal.我希望在你发牌前记得洗牌。
  • Don't shuffle your feet along.别拖着脚步走。
95 entree r8TyW     
n.入场权,进入权
参考例句:
  • She made a graceful entree into the ballroom.她进入舞厅时显示非常优雅。
  • Her wealth and reputation gave her entree into upper-class circles.她的财富和声望使她得以进入上层社会。
96 extroverted FtQzAK     
a.性格外向的
参考例句:
  • Do you think you are introverted or extroverted? 你认为你性格内向还是外向?
  • Are you introverted or extroverted? 你个性内向还是外向? 来自轻松英语会话---联想2000词(上)
97 spicy zhvzrC     
adj.加香料的;辛辣的,有风味的
参考例句:
  • The soup tasted mildly spicy.汤尝起来略有点辣。
  • Very spicy food doesn't suit her stomach.太辣的东西她吃了胃不舒服。
98 exhausted 7taz4r     
adj.极其疲惫的,精疲力尽的
参考例句:
  • It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长,到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
  • Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。
99 unfamiliar uk6w4     
adj.陌生的,不熟悉的
参考例句:
  • I am unfamiliar with the place and the people here.我在这儿人地生疏。
  • The man seemed unfamiliar to me.这人很面生。
100 equitable JobxJ     
adj.公平的;公正的
参考例句:
  • This is an equitable solution to the dispute. 这是对该项争议的公正解决。
  • Paying a person what he has earned is equitable. 酬其应得,乃公平之事。
101 journalism kpZzu8     
n.新闻工作,报业
参考例句:
  • He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师,可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
  • He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。
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TAG标签:   NPR  美国国家电台  英语听力
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