Spotify can tell if you're sad. Here's why that should scare you
Want to figure out if someone is a psychopath? Ask them what their favourite song is. A New York University study last year found that people who loved Eminem’s Lose Yourself and Justin Bieber’s What Do You Mean? were more likely to score highly on the psychopathy scale than people who were into Dire Straits.
想知道某些人是否心理变态？问问他们最喜欢的歌是什么吧。纽约大学去年的一项研究发现，喜欢阿姆的 Lose Yourself 和贾斯汀·比伯的 What Do You Mean? 的人比喜欢 Dire Straits 的人更有可能在心理变态量表上得高分。
Over the past few years, Spotify has been ramping up its data analytic capabilities in a bid to help marketers target consumers with adverts tailored to the mood they’re in. They deduce this from the sort of music you’re listening to, coupled with where and when you’re listening to it, along with third-party data that might be available.
在过去的几年中，Spotify 一直在增强其数据分析能力，以帮助营销者根据消费者的心情定制广告来锁定目标受众。他们是从你所听的音乐、听歌的时间地点、以及可能获得的第三方数据来推断的。
Now, to be clear, there’s nothing particularly machiavellian about what Spotify is doing with your data. I certainly don’t think that they are working with shadowy consulting firms to serve you ads promoting a culture war while you’re listening to music that suggests you might be in a casually racist mood. Nevertheless, I find it depressing that our personal, private moments with music are increasingly being turned into data points and sold to advertisers.
现在很明显的是，Spotify 正在拿你的数据所做的事情并不是特别“马基雅弗利式的”。我当然不会认为他们是在和一些神秘的咨询公司合作，在你听的歌暗示你偶尔有种族主义情绪的时候，为你推荐文化战争的广告。不过，我觉得让人沮丧的是，我们在音乐上的私人时光越来越多地被转化成了数据点，卖给了广告商。
You can see where this could go, can’t you? As ad targeting gets ever more sophisticated, marketers will have the ability to target our emotions in potentially exploitative ways. According to one study, titled Misery Is Not Miserly, you are more likely to spend more on a product if you’re feeling sad. You can imagine some companies might take advantage of that. And on that note, I’m feeling a little down about all this. Heading off to treat myself to something expensive.
你知道这将走向何方不是吗？随着广告定位变得越来越精准，营销者将有能力用潜在剥削的方式瞄准我们的情绪。根据一项名为“悲惨不吝啬”的研究，如果你感到悲伤，你更有可能在产品上花更多的钱。可以想象一些公司可能会利用这个结论。写到这里我突然觉得有些悲伤，不写了，去买些昂贵的东西安慰下自己吧。
————— 文章来源 / 卫报
重点词汇
tell /tel/
v. 知道；辨别
psychopath/ˈsaɪkəpæθ/
n. 变态人格者（psycho n./adj.）
e.g.
You are psycho!
You are a psycho!
pathology
scale /skeɪl/
n. 刻度；等级
e.g.
How would you rate your English on a scale of 1 to 10?
ramp up
提高；增加
e.g.
ramp up the speed
ramp up the price
ramp up your knowledge
in a bid to
为了
e.g.
in an attempt to
target /ˈtɑːrɡɪt/
v. 以…为目标（或对象）
e.g.
Our programme is designed to target English-lovers.
tailored /ˈteɪlərd/
adj. 特供的；量身定做的
e.g.
a tailored suit
a computer system tailored to/toward the project.
deduce /dɪˈduːs/
v. 推断（induce v. 归纳）
e.g.
Sherlock has deduced that he must have left his apartment yesterday evening.
induction and deduction
third-party /ˌθɜːrd ˈpɑːrti/
adj. 第三方的
machiavellian /ˌmækiəˈveliən/
adj. 马基雅弗利式的；为了利益不择手段的
e.g.
Machiavelli
machiavellian leaders
shadowy /ˈʃædoʊi/
adj. 不详的；鲜为人知的
e.g.
The English king, Arthur, is a somewhat shadowy figure who may not have even existed.
consulting firm
咨询公司
data point
数据点
targeting /ˈtɑːrɡɪtiŋ/
n. 目标市场（受众）选择
sophisticated/səˈfɪstɪkeɪtɪd/
adj. 复杂的
e.g.
a sophisticated machine
a sophisticated man
exploitative /ɪkˈsplɔɪtətɪv/
adj. 利用的；剥削的
e.g.
exploit employees (v.)
misery /ˈmɪzəri/
n. 悲惨
e.g.
Her life is miserable. (adj.)
Her life is a misery.
miserly/ˈmaɪzərli/
adj. 吝啬的
take advantage of
利用；占便宜
e.g.
I think she takes advantage of his good nature.
on that note
关于这一点
head off
出发；离开
e.g.
head off to bed
head off to buy a car
treat sb. to sth.
以某物款待某人
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