Natural Born Consumers 百年大「计」?──企业赞助学校,自小培养消费者
- 详细资料
- 创建于 2004年10月29日
- 最后更新于 2024年5月25日
- 发布于 2011年7月29日
- 作者:Mike Lee
- 点击数:433
课文朗读
课文讲解
Coca-Cola Elementary School? Sound incongruous? The concept isn’t so far-fetched, as U.S. schools are finding themselves increasingly reliant on the corporate dollar for funding.
可口可乐小学?听起来不会不搭轧吗?这种概念其实并不离谱,因为现在美国的学校愈来愈仰赖企业捐助以取得经费。
One school in Colorado Springs, Colorado, signed an exclusive contract with a soft drink company to sell the company’s products in school’s vending machines. The contract stipulated a specific volume of sales, leading school administrators to allow students to consume the products throughout the day, including in-class, to meet the sales requirements.
有一所位在科罗拉多州科罗拉多泉市的学校,与某清凉饮料公司签下独家合约,让校园内的饮料贩卖机专卖该公司的产品。因为合约规定要达到特定销售量,致使校方行政当局为了达到销售规定,不得不让学生全天候都能消费那些产品,包括上课时。
The corporatization of schools extends beyond exclusive sales agreements. Advertising is popping up in cafeterias, textbooks, and on gymnasium scoreboards. Channel One, a popular news program for grade 6-12, remains “free” because each twelve-minute show includes two minutes of commercials.
学校企业化的程度还有比独家销售合约更变本加厉的,广告突然出现在自助餐厅内、教课书中、和体育馆的计分板上。一个针对国高中生观众群的热门新闻节目「一号频道」,现在仍能「免费」收看,因为每12分钟的节目就有2分钟是广告。
To many, the corporatization of schools seems like an underhanded way for companies to capture an easily impressionable market. Others argue that kids are bombarded by advertising in their daily lives anyway, so the six- and seven- figure sums these schemes bring to needy schools are worth it. Either way, cash-strapped American schools are sometimes left with little choice but to accept the strings of attached when offered much-needed corporate “gifts.”
对许多人而言,学校企业化似乎是暗地里让公司可以攻克一个很容易就可掌握的市场。有些人则认为,反正学生日常生活中就不断被广告疲劳轰炸,而这类合作方案为急需经费的学校带来六、七位数字的大笔金钱,一切都很值得。无论如何,经费拮据的美国各校面对企业提供的「好处」时,往往没有多少选择余地,只能接受附带条件。
Will this trend continue? Nobody knows. What’s certain is that such decisions must be made by communities, not corporations.
这种趋势会持续下去吗?没有人知道。不过可以确定的是这类事情得由小区而非企业来决定。
-by Joel Finnesta
Vocabulary
单词发音
incongruous [ɪnˋkɑŋgrʊəs] adj. 不协调的﹐不相称的
far-fetched [ˋfɑrˋfɛtʃt] adj. 牵强的; 不可信的; 靠不住的
be reliant [rɪˋlaɪənt] on 依靠
exclusive [ɪkˋsklusɪv] adj. 独占的,专用的
stipulate [ˋstɪpjə͵let] v. 规定;约定
corporatization [kɔrpərətaɪ'zeʃən] n. 公司化,企业化
gymnasium [dʒɪmˋnezɪəm] n. 体育馆;健身房
commercial [kəˋmɝʃəl] n.(电视、广播中的)商业广告
underhanded [ˋʌndɚˋhændɪd] adj. 秘密的;可耻的;狡诈的
impressionable [ɪmˋprɛʃənəb!] adj.〔尤因年轻而〕易受影响的
either way 两者都, 反正都, 总之 whatever happens?
cash-strapped [ˋkæʃstræpt] adj. 缺乏现金的 lacking sufficient money
Sentence of the Day
There are different schools of thought concerning corporate involvement in schools.
一般人对于企业和学校有所牵扯之事看法不一。