双语：“物以稀为贵”是万能噱头

本文选自《北外网院》的博客，点击查看博客原文

　　In a recent study, shoppers were asked to taste a chocolate-chip cookie. When given a cookie from a full jar, they said it tasted all right; but when they were offered one from a nearly empty jar, they said it tasted better. This shows an interesting aspect of human nature. The scarcer something is, the more highly people tend to value it.

　　在最近的一项研究中，购物者被要求品尝一块巧克力曲奇饼干。当从一个满满的罐子里拿曲奇饼干给他们吃时，他们说这饼干味道不错；当从一个块空了的罐子里拿曲奇饼干给他们吃时，他们说这饼干味道更棒。这项研究说明了人类天性中极为有趣的一面：人们往往认为越稀罕的东西价值就越高。

　　D.H.Lawrence's novel Lady Chatterley's lover brought the author the most fame not when it was first published, but when it was banned--and when many thousands of black-market copies of the book were sold before it was finally made legal.

　　D.H.劳伦斯的小说《查特莱夫人的情人》令他声名大震，但这可不是在小说刚出版的时候，而是在它被禁的时候：在小说终于成为合法出版物前，黑市上的盗版书卖出了好几千册呢。

　　People rush to see a controversial film, and music that is banned from the radio immediately becomes popular. In 1977, the BBC banned "God Save the Queen", a song by the punk rock band The Sex Pistols. Within weeks, the song was nearly at the top of the British pop charts. "God Save the Queen" was brought on the market by the A&M recordings are now some of the most valuable records in Britain, with resale values going as high as £13,000 a copy.

　　人们对有争议的电影趋之若鹜；被电台禁播的音乐总是立马一炮而红。1977年，英国广播公司封杀了《天佑吾后》，这是一首由朋克摇滚乐队“性手枪”演绎的歌曲。几周之内，这首歌几乎一路飙升到了英国流行音乐排行榜的首位。《天佑吾后》由A&M发行的稀有唱片现在在英国可是最有价值的唱片，转手价格高达每张13,000英镑。

　　According to social psychologists like Robert Cialdini, our instinctive interest in acquiring things that are rare reflects our evolutionary history. In the past, when food or raw materials were scarce, real value increased, because possession gave the owner an advantage for suivival.

　　根据像罗伯特·恰尔蒂尼这样的社会心理学家的说法，我们对稀罕货的本能占有欲直接反映了人类的进化史。在过去，当食物和原料都紧缺的时候，它们的真正价值就提升了，因为这些东西赋予了拥有者生存下去的有利条件。