本文摘选自英国作家奥尔德斯·赫胥黎的Selected Snobberies，讨论世上种种势利现象。作者最为世人所知的代表作是《美丽新世界》。

第一段: 英语精读1｜疾病也有鄙视链？有些疾病会让人自觉高人一等？

第二段:英语精读2｜文化势利感和酒文化鄙视链

Modernity-snobbery, though not exclusive to our age , has come to assume an unprecedented importance.

1. exclusive  adj. 独有的；排外的；专一的

    反义词：inclusive

    例句：This was an exclusive report by CNN. 这是CNN的独家报道。

2. unprecedented  adj. 空前的；无前例的

    precede  vt. 领先，在…之前；优于，高于  vi. 领先，在前面

    precedent  n. 先例；前例 adj. 在前的；在先的

    例句：It teaches the importance of precedent but cautions that it will not always suffice for a new era. 它告诉我们遵循先例的重要性，同时告诫我们先例不会永远满足新的时代。

  precedented  adj. 有先例(可援)的

3. 翻译：新潮势利感虽然不是我们的时代所特有的，却具有了空前的重要性。

图片来自网络

The reasons for this are simple and of a strictly economic character. Thanks to modern machinery, production is outrunning consumption. Organized waste among consumers is the first condition of our industrial rosperity(繁荣). The sooner a consumer throws away the object he has bought and buys another, the better for the producer. At the same time, of course, the producer must do his bit by producing nothing but the most perishable articles.

4. outrun  vt. 跑得比…快;超出,超过

    out- 表示超出，超过，如outlive vt. 比…活得长; outweigh  vt. 比…重（在重量上）;outsell  vt. 卖得比…多

5. do one's bit：尽自己的一份力量，尽力，尽量

    例句：In re-using this old paper I'm doing my bit for conservation of the rain forests.我再利用这些旧纸是为保护雨林尽自己一份力量。

    例句：I believe in what we're fighting for and I want to do my bit.国家兴亡 匹夫有责。《唐顿庄园 第2季》

6. perishable adj. 易腐烂的,易腐败的

    perish  vt. 使麻木；毁坏 vi. 死亡；毁灭；腐烂；枯萎

    例句: Hundreds of people perished in the earthquake. 那次地震死了好几百人。

    例句：But I'm not worried. I've taken nothing perishable.可我不担心，没买容易坏的货。《唐顿庄园视频版（第二季）》

7. 翻译：理由很简单，而且完全是经济上的。多亏有了现代化的机器，使生产超过了消费。 消费者有组织的浪费是我们工业繁荣的首要条件，消费者越快扔掉买来的东西再买新的，对生产者就越有利。当然，与此同时，生产者必须尽一己之力，只生产最易损坏的东西。

图片来自网络

"The man who builds a skyscraper to last more than forty years is, a traitor (n. 卖国贼;叛徒) to the building trade." The words are those of a great American contractor. Substitute motor-car, boot, suit of clothes, etc., for skyscraper, and one year, three months, six months, and so on for forty years, and you have the gospel(信条) of any leader of any modern industry.

8. substitute  vt. & vi. 代替, 替换, 代用 

    substitute A for B:用A代替B

    例句:In this cake mixture, you can substitute oil for butter.在这种做蛋糕的配料中, 你可以用食用油代替黄油。

    例句：Home-made parts are being substituted for imported ones.国产零件取代进口零件。

    substitution n. 代替；[数] 置换；代替物

    substitutive adj. 代用的；代替的；代理的

    substitutable adj. 可替换的

形近词: subsidy (n. 津贴；补助金；补贴); subsidize (vt. 给…津贴或补贴; 资助或补助); subsidiary (adj. 附带的, 附属的, 次要的)

9.  翻译:“把一座摩天大楼建造得可以耐用40年以上的人是建筑行业的叛徒。”这是美国一个大承包商说的话。如果用汽车、靴子、一套衣服等等来代替摩天大楼，用1年、3个月、6个月等等来代替40年，你得出的就是任何现代工业所有的领导信条。

图片来自网络

The modernity-snob, it is obvious, is this industrialist's best friend. For modernity-snobs naturally tend to throw away their old possessions and buy new ones at a greater rate than those who are notmodernity-snobs. Therefore it is in the producer's interest to encourage modernity-snobbery. Which in fact he does do on an enormous scale and to the tune of millions and millions a year by means of advertising.

10. to the tune of 达到……数量

11. by means of 用, 凭借

12. 翻译：很明显，新潮势利感是这位实业家最好的朋友，因为新潮势利者自然会比无此势利感的人更快地抛弃他们所拥有的旧东西并购买新东西。因此鼓励新潮势利感是对生产者有利的，而实际上他也是这样做的，以一年成百上千万的金钱大规模进行广告宣传。

The newspapers do their best to help those who help them; and to the flood of advertisement is added a flood of less directly paid-for propaganda（n. 宣传） in favour of modernity-snobbery. The public is taught that up-to-dateness (保持時尚)is one of the first duties of man.  Docile, it accepts the reiterated suggestion. We are all modernity-snobs now.

13. docile  adj. 温顺的，驯服的；容易教的

14. reiterate  vt. 重申；反复地做

15. Docile, it accepts the reiterated suggestion. 这里的it指代the public; the reiterated suggestion指代up-to-dateness is one of the first duties of man.

16. 翻译:报纸也尽一切力量帮助那些帮助它们的人们，在洪水般的广告之外再加上洪水般的不那么直接花钱去做的有利于新潮势利感的宣传。公众被教育说保持时尚是人类首要的职责之一，驯服的公众接受了这个一再被重申的启事。现在我们全都成了新潮势利者了。