外國人最想和你聊的文化話題：奢侈品

     China is the third largest consumer of luxury goods in the world(after Japan and the US).
     中國是繼日美之后的全球第三大消費群。
     The luxury goods are a kind of consumer goods beyond people's existence and development scope, which is special, sparse and rare.
     奢侈品是一種超出人們生存與發(fā)展需要范圍的，具有獨特、稀缺、珍奇等特點的消費品，又稱為非生活必需品。
     Luxury in China isn't new.
     在中國，奢侈品并非新興事物。
     Since ancient times, precious materials and objects have been used to signify status.
     在古代，珍稀的原料和物品就被用來象征地位和身份。
     And Chinese will pay a premium for public consumption.
     中國人愿意為"露眼"的物品付出更多。
     The evolution of luxury as a concept is regulated by such factors as historical changes, cultural context, identification of the subjective agent, religious constrictions, and even aesthetic preferences, and a study of this concept indicates some paradoxical and even conflicting ethical problems.
     "奢侈"一直是歷史與政治進程中的伴生物，與統(tǒng)治集團的政治地位相匹配，并得到國家政治體制的合法保障。
     Wine is a luxury in England.
     在英國，葡萄酒是一種奢侈品。
     So we would have no Engel effects to discuss：if income per capita did not change, demand would not be induced shift toward luxuries or toward staples.
     因此，我們無需論及恩格爾效應，如果人均收入沒有變動，就不會導致需求奢侈品或向大宗商品轉(zhuǎn)移。
     And even for middle-class Chinese, Starbucks is a barely affordable luxury.
     即使對中國的中產(chǎn)階層而言，星巴克咖啡也是一種剛剛能消費得起的奢侈品。
     In general most less developed countries attempt to tax luxuries.
     總的說來，大多數(shù)欠發(fā)達國家都想征收奢侈品稅。
     "The old-money people, the long-term rich, built their asset column first. Then, the income generated from the asset column bought their luxuries. The poor and middle class buy luxuries with their own sweat, blood and children's inheritance."
     那些總有錢的人，那些能長期富裕的人，是先建立他們的資產(chǎn)，然后才用資產(chǎn)所產(chǎn)生的收入購買奢侈品，窮人和中產(chǎn)階級則用他們的血汗錢和將留給孩子們的遺產(chǎn)購買奢侈品。
     Sweden, for example, with a fairly high average income, is a"middle-class" nation with very few rich or poor and may offer almost no potential for true luxury products.
     例如，瑞典平均收入相當高，但它是一個富人和窮人都很少的"中產(chǎn)階級"國家，對真正的奢侈品幾乎不存在任何市場潛力。
     Something that is desirable but not a necessity is a luxury.
     奢侈品是某些值得艷羨卻并不必需的東西。
     When all of products enter and seize the Chinese mainland, ambitious luxuries brand manufacturers are taking advantage of accessing to the Chinese mainland market in the early stage as foreshadowing and taking the emerging middle class of Chinese mainland as significant target.
     如今中國大陸的經(jīng)濟迅速崛起，成為世界市場十分具有潛力的重要部分，在各個產(chǎn)品的紛紛進軍和搶灘中國大陸的同時，雄心勃勃的奢侈品品牌廠商正以利用前期進入中國大陸市場作鋪墊，將新興的中國大陸中產(chǎn)階層作為他們的重要目標對象。
     As the development of globalization, the exchanging of commodities becomes more frequently, among which luxuries come to be very particular because of the extraordinary symbolic value-added.
     隨著國際分工和全球經(jīng)濟一體化的發(fā)展，國際間的商品流通日益頻繁，目前所有流通的商品基本涵蓋了所有類別，而其中，奢侈品由于其顯著的"高符號象征價值"而形成了一個非常特殊的類別，同時也因為通常代表一個國家與民族的某種精神或文化而承載了更多的文化意義。
     Purveyors of posh have a new mandate：Go East!
     奢侈品廠商有了新的目標：向東方出發(fā)！
     An updated forecast from Bain ＆ Co. out this morning shows a stronger-than-expected rise in luxury sales for Asia-especially China.
     咨詢機構貝恩顧問公司(Bain ＆ Co.)周二上午更新預測，顯示出以中國為首的亞洲奢侈品銷售增長高于預期。
     Meanwhile, the Chinese are discovering their inner conspicuous consumer. Sales of everything from private jets to watches and jadeinlaid Ferraris are soaring.
     與此同時，中國人卻發(fā)現(xiàn)自己國內(nèi)實力雄厚的主顧。從私人飛機、名牌手表到嵌玉石的法拉利等奢侈品銷量飆升。
     As a result, when it comes to brands, the Chinese are some of the most visually tuned-in consumers in the world.
     因此，當提到品牌的時候，中國人是世界上視覺最敏感的消費者。
     So why are watches so attractive to China's luxury buyers? One added appeal they have is that they're considered suitable gifts by most Chinese. And it appears to be a guy thing.
     為什么手表對中國的奢侈品買家如此有吸引力呢？手表有一個格外的吸引人之處，即絕大多數(shù)中國人都認為手表是適于送人的禮物，而且似乎是男人應該擁有的一個物品。