Consumerism 消费主义 | Learn Chinese with Yoyo Mo

Learn Chinese with Yoyo Mo

今天我想说说消费主义

Jīn tiān wǒ xiǎng shuō shuo xiāo fèi zhǔ yì

Today I want to talk about consumerism

随着人类的发展

Suí zhe rén lèi de fā zhǎn

With the development of humanity

我们现在增加了好多的节日

Wǒ men xiàn zài zēng jiā le hǎo duō de jié rì

We have added a lot of festivals now

似乎快把一年365天占满了

Sì hū kuài bǎ yī nián sān bǎi liù shí wǔ tiān zhàn mǎn le

It seems like they are almost filling up all 365 days of the year

这些节日又被商家们利用起来

Zhè xiē jié rì yòu bèi shāng jiā men lì yòng qǐ lái

These festivals are then used by merchants

在每一个节日都催促我们消费

Zài měi yī gè jié rì dōu cuī cù wǒ men xiāo fèi

Urging us to consume during every festival

每个电商都做了节日海报

Měi gè diàn shāng dōu zuò le jié rì hǎi bào

Every e-commerce platform has made festival posters

每个商场都做了节日装饰

Měi gè shāng chǎng dōu zuò le jié rì zhuāng shì

Every shopping mall has put up festival decorations

它们传递的氛围是那么的开心、兴奋

Tā men chuán dì de fēn wéi shì nà me de kāi xīn 、xīng fèn

The atmosphere they convey is so joyful and exciting

买吧买吧

Mǎi ba mǎi ba

Buy, buy

其实我现在消费欲望比较低

Qí shí wǒ xiàn zài xiāo fèi yù wàng bǐ jiào dī

In fact, my desire to consume is relatively low now

也也许是因为赚钱不易吧

Yě yě xǔ shì yīn wèi zhuàn qián bù yì ba

Maybe it's because making money is not easy

越来越多的人也意识到了消费主义陷阱

Yuè lái yuè duō de rén yě yì shí dào le xiāo fèi zhǔ yì xiàn jǐng

More and more people have also realized the trap of consumerism

前几年经济好的时候

Qián jǐ nián jīng jì hǎo de shí hou

A few years ago when the economy was good

网上常常鼓吹消费升级

Wǎng shàng cháng cháng gǔ chuī xiāo fèi shēng jí

It’s often advocated [ ˈadvəkeɪt] online that people should upgrade their consumption

也就是说你的生活品质要升级

Yě jiù shì shuō nǐ de shēng huó pǐn zhì yào shēng jí

That is to say, your quality of life needs to be upgraded

要买更好的东西

Yào mǎi gèng hǎo de dōng xī

You need to buy better things

这些年经济很差

Zhè xiē nián jīng jì hěn chà

In recent years, the economy has been very poor

就没见到说消费升级了

Jiù méi jiàn dào shuō xiāo fèi shēng jí le

We no longer hear talk about consumption upgrading

我身边有一些人和家庭

Wǒ shēn biān yǒu yī xiē rén hé jiā tíng

There are some people and families around me

属于消费主义

Shǔ yú xiāo fèi zhǔ yì

Who are part of consumerism

他们随意花钱，从不考虑储蓄

Tā men suí yì huā qián ，cóng bù kǎo lǜ chǔ xù

They spend money casually and never consider saving

遇到急需用钱的时候

Yù dào jí xū yòng qián de shí hou

When they encounter a situation where they urgently need money

就找别人借

Jiù zhǎo bié rén jiè

They borrow from others

反正自己当下花钱很愉快

Fǎn zhèng zì jǐ dāng xià huā qián hěn yú kuài

Anyway, they feel happy spending money at the moment

我和我的先生都是花钱比较谨慎的人

Wǒ hé wǒ de xiān sheng dōu shì huā qián bǐ jiào jǐn shèn de rén

My husband and I are both people who spend money cautiously

因为我们懂得开源节流的重要性

Yīn wèi wǒ men dǒng de kāi yuán jié liú de zhòng yào xìng

Because we understand the importance of increasing income and reducing expenses

正是这样，我们才能从二手破自行车

Zhèng shì zhè yàng ，wǒ men cái néng cóng èr shǒu pò zì xíng chē

It is precisely [prɪˈsaɪsli] because of this that we were able to go from a second-hand broken bicycle

换到二手汽车

Huàn dào èr shǒu qì chē

To a second-hand car

再换到标致新车

Zài huàn dào Biāo zhì xīn chē

Then to a new Peugeot

再换到奔驰新车

Zài huàn dào Bēn chí xīn chē

Then to a new Mercedes-Benz /məˈseɪdiːz bɛnts/

从合租房，到整租房

Cóng hé zū fáng ，dào zhěng zū fáng

From a shared rental house to an entire rental house

再到买小房子

Zài dào mǎi xiǎo fáng zi

Then to buying a small house

再到买大房子

Zài dào mǎi dà fáng zi

Then to buying a big house

再到买投资型房产

Zài dào mǎi tóu zī xíng fáng chǎn

Then to buying investment properties

再到买学区大房子

Zài dào mǎi xué qū dà fáng zi

Then to buying a big house in a school district

我觉得储蓄和消费是一个平衡问题

Wǒ jué de chǔ xù hé xiāo fèi shì yī gè píng héng wèn tí

I think saving and consumption is a matter of balance