EZCNN 易英网

The “Ick” Factor 「恶心」会传染？

课文朗读

课文讲解 

繁體中文譯本

Marketing teachers Andrea Morales and Gavan Fitzsimons have been involved in some eye-opening research. They have found that certain everyday products, such as trash bags and diapers, are considered “icky” by many consumers. What’s more, if an icky item is displayed close to a non-icky item, consumers will perceive the latter as tainted. In other words, ickiness is contagious.

营销学教师莫瑞勒斯与费兹孟参与了一些令人大开眼界的研究。他们发现许多消费者将垃圾袋、尿布等日用品视为「恶心」商品。而且，当恶心商品与非恶心商品摆在一块时，消费者会觉得后者被污染了。换句话说，恶心会传染。

Morales and Fitzsimons labeled this phenomenon “product contagion.” They put icky and non-icky products together in a shopping basket and informed their subjects that the study was to see which products they preferred. Time and time again, people didn’t want anything to do with the supposedly tainted products. “We’d take cookies out of the basket and offer them to the subjects,” says Fitzsimons. Nobody wanted them.

莫瑞勒斯与费兹孟称这个现象为「商品感染」。他们将恶心商品和非恶心商品放在同一个购物篮中，并告诉受测者，这项研究是要找出他们偏好的产品。一而再，再而三，受测者总是不拿他们觉得被污染的商品。费兹孟说：「我们会从购物篮拿出饼干，提议要给他们。」没人要那些饼干。

However, no one wanted to admit their prejudice. “If we told someone, ‘you didn’t take the cookie because they touched the kitty litter,’ they would say, ‘Tha’s ridiculous,’’” says Fitzsimons. He and Morales point out that marketers need to be aware of this phenomenon; otherwise it could spell bad news for them. “More and more stores organize products by category,” says Morales, “so you have a baby aisle, for example, with diapers and wipes and baby food all together.” Supermarket managers ought to come up with a better idea than placing baby food next to diapers!

然而没人愿意承认自己有偏见。「假如我们告诉某人：『你不愿意拿这些饼干，是因为它们碰到了猫砂』，他们会说：『太荒谬了。』」他和莫瑞勒斯指出，商品营销者需要知这个现象，否则该现象可能为他们带来坏消息。莫瑞勒斯说：「越来越多商店将商品依类别摆放，所以像是在婴儿用品区，你会发现尿布、湿纸巾和婴儿食品全摆在一块。」超市经理应该想出更好的陈列方式，而不是将婴儿食品摆在尿布旁！

−by Amy Gittelson

Vocabulary

单词发音

perceive [pɚˋsiv] .. as 认为.. 是..

tainted [ˋtentɪd] adj. 污染的；感染的

supposedly [səˋpozdlɪ] adv. 根据推测；据称

prejudice [ˋprɛdʒədɪs] n. 偏见

category [ˋkætə͵gorɪ] n. 种类

More Information

单词发音

eye-opening ['aɪˌopənɪŋ] adj. 令人大开眼界的；很有启发的

diaper [ˋdaɪəpɚ] n.【美】尿布

icky [ˋɪkɪ] adj.【非正式】〔尤指在视觉﹑味觉﹑触觉上〕非常令人讨厌的

contagious [kənˋtedʒəs] adj. 感染性的；会蔓延的

contagion [kənˋtedʒən] n. 感染

kitty litter 猫砂

aware [əˋwɛr] adj. 知道的，察觉的

spell [spɛl] v. 意味着，招致(常常是不愉快的结果)

aisle [aɪl] n.（戏院，列车，教堂等座席间的）通道，走道

Reading Questions

1.   According to the article, if cookies are placed next to trash bags in a supermarket, people will most likely _____.

A.  not want to buy the cookies

B.  complain to the supermarket manager

C.  leave the store immediately

D.  buy more of the trash bags

2.   Even though people were made aware of their buying habits, which of the following was true?

A.  They completely disregarded what the researchers said.

B.  They wouldn’t admit the reasons behind their buying habits.

C.  They readily accepted the reasons behind those habits.

D.  They were offended at the suggestions made about their habits.

3.   What might supermarket managers want to consider doing after hearing of the research?

A.  Stocking their shelves with less icky items.

B.  Hiring people to carry icky items for their customers in the supermarket.

C.  Eliminating icky items from their shelves.

D.  Changing the way they arrange certain items on their shelves.

Answer