2023年经济学人 头衔通胀（2）

　　There are bigger costs than comedy and confusion.

　　不只是引人发笑和令人困惑，头衔通胀还会带来更大的代价。

　　Handing a heftier title to one person can easily cause resentment¹ among others on a team.

　　给一个人更高的头衔很容易引起团队中其他人的不满。

　　And inflated² titles can have adverse³ effects on hiring processes.

　　夸大的头衔也可能会对招聘过程产生不利影响。

　　An analysis of tech recruitment in America by Datapeople, a software firm, found that the proportion of women in applicant⁴ pools drops as jobs become more senior.

　　软件公司Datapeople对美国科技企业招聘的一项分析发现，头衔越高级，应聘者中的女性比例就越低。

　　Puffed-up titles may put good candidates off.

　　夸大的头衔可能会让优秀的应聘者望而却步。

　　Title inflation is most associated with specific jobs.

　　头衔通胀大多发生在特定工作身上。

　　But there exists a less-remarked type of naming inflation, which seeks to rebrand entire categories of people.

　　但还有一种不太引人注意的命名通胀，这种通胀试图重新命名整个类别的人。

　　There is, for example, a perfectly⁵ good term for buyers of things: “customers”.

　　例如，形容购买物品的人时，有一个非常好的术语：“顾客”。

　　But lots of companies are not satisfied with taking people’s cash.

　　但很多公司并不满足于只赚取人们的现金。

　　They want to have a meaningful relationship.

　　他们还想要和人们建立有意义的关系。

　　Keen to avoid sounding too transactional, some businesses use the inflated title of “guests” instead.

　　为了避免听起来太像在做交易，一些企业会用夸张的“客人”头衔来代替。

　　But language that might make sense at a Disney resort sounds very odd if you are in a queue for the checkout⁶ at Target; people are trying to leave as efficiently⁷ as possible, not settling in for the time of their lives.

　　但是，有些话在迪士尼度假区可能说得通，在塔吉特排队付钱时说就会非常奇怪；毕竟人们是想尽快结完账走人，而不是在这里过日子。

　　“Member” is another bogus word.

　　“会员”是另一个伪词。

　　No one is wondering whether their application to pay Amazon an annual fee for free shipping⁸ is going to be turned down.

　　没有人会担心他们向亚马逊支付年费来抵免运费的申请是否会被拒绝。

　　The worst offences in this category are the labels that employers give to their staff.

　　这种头衔通胀中最令人反感的是雇主给员工贴上的标签。

　　Calling people “colleagues” or “team members” instead of “staff” or “employees” is a common tactic⁹.

　　用“同事”或“团队成员”来替代“员工”或“雇员”是一种常见的策略。

　　People who work in Walmart stores are known as “associates”.

　　在沃尔玛门店工作的人被称为“合伙人”。

　　Baristas at Starbucks are called “partners” because, the firm’s website explains, “We are all partners in shared success.”

　　星巴克的咖啡师被称为“合伙伙伴”，因为该公司的网站解释说，“我们都是共享成功的合伙伙伴”。

　　Tech firms are wedded¹⁰ to cutesy names for their employees.

　　科技公司喜欢给员工取矫揉造作的名字。

　　When Facebook rebranded itself as Meta, it announced that its workers would henceforth be known as “Metamates”.

　　脸书将自己更名为Meta后，宣布从今以后它的员工将被称为“Meta朋友”。

　　The intent behind this kind of language is again clear: to create a sense of shared endeavour and to disguise the cold reality of corporate¹¹ hierarchies¹².

　　这种头衔背后的意图再次显而易见：创造一种共同努力的感觉，掩盖企业等级制度的冰冷现实。

　　But this facade¹³ is much easier to maintain when things are going well.

　　但只有当一切进展顺利时，这种虚假的表象才更容易维护。

　　Meta is now firing more than 11,000 of its mates, which seems a tad unfriendly.

　　Meta现在解雇了1.1万多名“朋友”，这似乎有点不友好。

　　Starbucks doesn’t want its partners to form a union with anyone but itself.

　　星巴克不希望其合作伙伴与除自己以外的任何人结成联盟。

　　A bit of title inflation is excusable.

　　一点头衔通胀是情有可原的。

　　But just like the real thing, it can easily get out of control.

　　但就像真品一样，它很容易失控。

1 resentment   

n.怨愤，忿恨

参考例句：

• All her feelings of resentment just came pouring out.她一股脑儿倾吐出所有的怨恨。
• She cherished a deep resentment under the rose towards her employer.她暗中对她的雇主怀恨在心。

2 inflated   

adj.（价格）飞涨的；（通货）膨胀的；言过其实的；充了气的v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨

参考例句：

• He has an inflated sense of his own importance. 他自视过高。
• They all seem to take an inflated view of their collective identity. 他们对自己的集体身份似乎都持有一种夸大的看法。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 adverse   

adj.不利的；有害的；敌对的，不友好的

参考例句：

• He is adverse to going abroad.他反对出国。
• The improper use of medicine could lead to severe adverse reactions.用药不当会产生严重的不良反应。

4 applicant   

n.申请人，求职者，请求者

参考例句：

• He was the hundredth applicant for the job. 他是第100个申请这项工作的人。
• In my estimation, the applicant is well qualified for this job. 据我看, 这位应征者完全具备这项工作的条件。

5 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

6 checkout   

n.（超市等）收银台，付款处

参考例句：

• Could you pay at the checkout.你能在结帐处付款吗。
• A man was wheeling his shopping trolley to the checkout.一个男人正推着购物车向付款台走去。

7 efficiently   

adv.高效率地，有能力地

参考例句：

• The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
• Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。

8 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

9 tactic   

n.战略，策略；adj.战术的，有策略的

参考例句：

• Reducing prices is a common sales tactic.降价是常用的销售策略。
• She had often used the tactic of threatening to resign.她惯用以辞职相威胁的手法。

10 wedded   

adj.正式结婚的；渴望…的，执著于…的v.嫁，娶，（与…）结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She's wedded to her job. 她专心致志于工作。
• I was invited over by the newly wedded couple for a meal. 我被那对新婚夫妇请去吃饭。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

12 hierarchies   

等级制度( hierarchy的名词复数 )； 统治集团； 领导层； 层次体系

参考例句：

• That's a trip of two hierarchies. 那是两个领导层之间的互访。
• Hierarchies of authority, spans of control, long-range plans, and budgets. 等级森严的权力机构，控制范围，长期计划，预算。 来自英汉文学 - 廊桥遗梦

13 facade   

n.(建筑物的)正面，临街正面；外表

参考例句：

• The entrance facade consists of a large full height glass door.入口正面有一大型全高度玻璃门。
• If you look carefully,you can see through Bob's facade.如果你仔细观察，你就能看穿鲍勃的外表。