西部落：超级富翁的奢华生活

The Luxe Life of a...

America's super-rich on living large, and the path leading to extreme wealth

Hello, I’m Bob Brown, welcome to 20-20 in touch. You may be living paycheck to paycheck, but the number of billionaires in America keeps going up. So on Friday, 20-20 is all about winning. Who are the winners? How did they get into that elite¹ club? And what’s it like to have the best that money can buy? Here is Chris Connelly.

To get there, you could go over the river on a yacht, through the wood on a polo pony², or just hop³ on your private jet and soar to the swankiest neighborhoods where a different kind of wildly well-to-do. Nine million of them are living in a new world.

Never before in American history have so many Americans become so wealthy, so quickly. Robert Frank is the Columbus of this new world. He calls it Richistan. Old money it’s not. Most are workaholic winners who savor⁴ their spoils.

This 700-year-old French chateau⁵, 45 minutes outside of Paris, now belongs to this man, 57-year-old American billionaire Tim Blixseth. He made more than a billion dollars in timber and real estate, but flinches⁶ when anyone calls him rich.

Don’t call me those names, so that’s what I would say.

Don’t call you , why not, why?

Rich is a, it's a connotation to me like snooty, arrogant⁷, nose in the air. Oh, they are rich.

When they grew up, rich people were the jerks; rich people were the folks you made fun of.

I don’t like rude rich people that doesn’t treat the working class, that you know, the busboys, waitresses, the parking attendants with respect.

How many residences do you have now?

I think maybe, I don’t know, 7 to 10, some like.

Something like that private island in the Caribbean, that ski and golf spot in Montana, that place in the sun in Mexico and so much more.

What dose it feel like to be a winner?

It feels good. It feels really good.

We just announced that we are formally engaged.

Romance of Richistan carries its own set of rules and ways to seal the deal.

Ex-nurse Tiffany Spadafora of Palm Beach, Florida says she was unaware⁸ of George Cludy's 70 million dollar net worth until he asked her out.

We went to a restaurant and he mentioned something about his jet, and I was just like oh no.

What did you think when you heard the words my jet?

Trouble? Because I feared there were a stream of jet groupies following somewhere.

We hope you watch 20-20 on the air every Friday night at 10/9 central time and check in online for our daily webcasts and upcoming stories at abcnews.com. I’m Bob Brown, for all of us at 20-20, we are in touch, so you’ll be in touch.

1 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

2 pony   

adj.小型的；n.小马

参考例句：

• His father gave him a pony as a Christmas present.他父亲给了他一匹小马驹作为圣诞礼物。
• They made him pony up the money he owed.他们逼他还债。

3 hop   

n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过

参考例句：

• The children had a competition to see who could hop the fastest.孩子们举行比赛，看谁单足跳跃最快。
• How long can you hop on your right foot?你用右脚能跳多远？

4 savor   

vt.品尝，欣赏；n.味道，风味；情趣，趣味

参考例句：

• The soup has a savor of onion.这汤有洋葱味。
• His humorous remarks added a savor to our conversation.他幽默的话语给谈话增添了风趣。

5 chateau   

n.城堡，别墅

参考例句：

• The house was modelled on a French chateau.这房子是模仿一座法国大别墅建造的。
• The chateau was left to itself to flame and burn.那府第便径自腾起大火燃烧下去。

6 flinches   

v.（因危险和痛苦）退缩，畏惧( flinch的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The brave man never flinches from danger. 勇敢者在危险面前从不退缩。 来自互联网
• Aureate scent-bottle can give person sex appeal mature sense, general and young girl flinches. 金色的香水瓶会给人性感成熟的感觉，一般年轻的女孩望而却步。 来自互联网

7 arrogant   

adj.傲慢的，自大的

参考例句：

• You've got to get rid of your arrogant ways.你这骄傲劲儿得好好改改。
• People are waking up that he is arrogant.人们开始认识到他很傲慢。

8 unaware   

a.不知道的，未意识到的

参考例句：

• They were unaware that war was near. 他们不知道战争即将爆发。
• I was unaware of the man's presence. 我没有察觉到那人在场。