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第15章 A Bourgeois Bohemian波波族(2)

Often sporting such unconventional job titles as “creative paradox”,“corporate jeste” or “learning person”, Bobos work with a monklike selfdiscipline because they view their jobs as intellectual, even spiritual. It is a reverse the Midas touch: everything a Bobo touches turns to spiritualityspirituality n.精 , everything has to be about enlightenment. Even their jobs are a mission to improve the world.

It is now impossible to tell an espressosipping artist from a cappuccinocappuccino n.热牛奶咖啡 gulping banker, but it isn t just a matter of style. If you investigateinvestigate v.调查, 研究 people s attitudes towards sex, morality, leisure time and work, it is getting harder and harder to separate the antiestablishment renegade from the proestablishmentestablishment n.确立, 制定, 设施, 公司, 军事组织 company man. Most people seemed to have rebel attitudes and socialclimbing attitudes all scrambled together.

“波波”们经常给自己冠以另类的头衔,如“创新怪人”,“企业谏言家”或“修行者”等,他们视工作为智力性的,甚至是精神性的,因而如僧侣般严格自律。与“点石成金”正好相反:“波波”们“点”到的每件事都上升到精神境界,每件事都要和智慧有关。甚至他们工作的使命就是改良世界。

现在人们很难区分一位浅啜蒸馏咖啡的艺术家和一位吞饮卡布奇诺的银行家——但这不仅仅是风格问题。如果你去调查人们对于性、道德、休闲和工作的态度,会发现现在越来越难区分反传统的叛逆者和维护传统的企业人士。大多数人似乎将反叛和追求社会地位提高这两种态度糅合在一起了。

These Bobos are just normal middleclass people who are living out a protracted Adolescenceadolescence n.青春期 . Their political interests are either intensely close and personal(abortion or gun control), or very remote (the rainforests, Tibet or Third World poverty). But they will most likely express their conscience in their consumerism, relieved to be helping someone somewhere by collecting the handcarved artifactsartifacts n.史前古器物 of distant cultures.

Motivated by spiritual participation, but cautious of moral crusades and religious enthusiasmsenthusiasm n.狂热, 热心, 积极性, 激发热情的事物 , they tolerate a little lifestyle experimentation, so long as it is done safely and moderately. They are offended by concrete wrongs, such as cruelty and racial injustice, but are relatively unmoved by lies or transgressions that don t seem to do anyone any obviousobvious adj.明显的, 显而易见的 harm.

这些“波波”们只不过是一群延长着青春期生活的普通中产阶级。他们感兴趣的,或者“与己息息相关”(比如堕胎或枪支管制问题),或者远得不沾边(如雨林,西藏或第三世界贫穷的问题)。但是他们很可能会通过消费来表明自己的良知,欣慰地认为收集异域风格的手工艺品就是在帮助某些地方的某些人。

受“精神参与”的鼓舞,却又唯恐自己变成道德的圣斗士和狂热的宗教信徒,他们会尝试一些新的生活方式,只要这些做法安全且适度。他们会为具体的违法行为而动怒,如虐待行为和种族歧视,但是对于似乎不对任何人造成明显伤害的谎言和小过失却无动于衷。

It is an elite that has been raised to oppose elites. They are by instinctinstinct n.本能 antiestablishmentarian, yet in some sense they have become a new establishment . They are prosperousprosperous adj.繁荣的 without seeming greedy; they have pleased their elders, without seeming conformists; they have risen toward the top without too obviously looking down on those below.

While bemoaningbemoan vt.哀叹 the Bobo s “boring politics”, the Bobos are an eliteelite n.精华, 精锐, 中坚分子 superior to their intolerantintolerant adj.不宽容的, 偏狭的 and warring predecessors—they ve certainly made shopping more fun, and they have a good morality for building a decent society.

他们是在反对精英的过程中成长起来的另一群精英。他们天生就是现行秩序的反对者,然而在某种意义上,他们本身又成了新的社会秩序的代表。他们富而不贪;他们会取悦长辈,但不盲从;他们的社会地位逐步上升,却没有太明显表现出对下层社会的藐视与不屑。

在人们为“波波”们的“乏味政治”感到悲哀的同时,他们却胜过那些缺乏容忍且好战的先辈精英们——他们起码会把购物变得更为有趣,并且对于建设美好社会有一套很好的道德标准。

波波族是21世纪的新精英族群,是嬉皮与雅皮的结合体。他们追求浪漫与实际,兼顾精神和物质。有人认为他们具有双重个性。一方面是社会精英、成功人士,享受物质富裕;一方面又没事吃饱了撑的,渴望心灵的自由和不羁的流浪。随着我国飞速发展,在我国沿海大城市“波波族”将成为一个时尚的概念。本文旨在介绍“波波族”的概念和特点。