I'm Terrified of Wanting to Be a Billionaire - Pardis Parker

2023/04/12閱讀時間約 21 分鐘

Hello. My name's Pardis Parker. I live in Los Angeles, but I'm from Canada.

If you guys want evidence that I'm Canadian, this is a true story. I once had someone ride over my foot with their bicycle, and I said, sorry, and then I said, thank you. It's a true story.

補充文章(加拿大人，為什麼那麼喜歡說「Sorry」？)

And then we both did shots of maple syrup and then we made out in the snow. It was lovely. I apologize for everything, man.

do shots of 通常是指飲用短小的烈酒 (龍舌蘭或威士忌等)
常常出現在一些非正式、口語的對話中，例如社交場合或派對
We did shots of tequila to celebrate the end of the semester.

maple syrup
由加拿大或美國東部地區的楓樹樹液製成的甜糖漿，通常用於製作早餐食品如煎餅、煎蛋和鬆餅。

made out
指兩個人熱吻或親熱地接吻，通常用於描述浪漫場景或熱情的時刻
made out也可以用於其他形式的關係或交流，如人際關係
We made out a great business deal.
在某些情況下，made out可以指一個人成功地做到了某件事情或達成了某個目標
He made out like a bandit in the stock market.

I do. I apologize. The first time a girl told me she loved me, I was just like, sorry.

Here's what's really funny. There's a Canadian city called Surrey. S-U-R-R-E-Y.

It's right next to us. Surrey is filled with Indian and South Asian people. So it has a bunch of Indian South Asian shops, stores, boutiques, the whole bit. This means at least once in history, the following scene has played out. Hey, where'd you get your sorry, surrey. Sorry if you don't like that joke, sorry.

the whole bit
用來表示包含某個事物的全部部分或所有細節。這個詞組通常用於強調說話者所描述的事物或場景的完整性和詳盡性，或者用於表達某人做某事時所做的所有事情。
She had a complete makeover - hair, makeup, and the whole bit.

And also, thank you. So I'm from Canada, but I live in Los Angeles. I think the biggest difference between Canada and LA is the extent to which people in LA fetishize wealth. Like, it's to the point where I'm shocked that there isn't a wealth category for adult videos.

the extent to which
表示程度或程度的範圍，意思是「在多大程度上」或「到什麼程度」，用來描述加拿大和洛杉磯之間的差異。
該句說明洛杉磯的人們迷戀財富的程度遠高於加拿大，這是一種程度的比較。

fetishize wealth
「迷戀財富」或「將財富視為神聖或極端重要的事物」。這種現象常常出現在社會或文化中，尤其是在一些富裕或高消費的環境中，人們將錢財視為成功、權力和快樂的象徵，甚至將其作為追求和崇拜的目標。
fetishize (v.)
過度迷戀某件事物，使之成為一種痴迷或無法自拔的狀態。

it's to the point where
意思是某種情況已經到了極端的地步，通常暗示了一種負面的情況或狀態。
It's to the point where his jokes are no longer funny.

But then I thought about it, and I realized that those wealth fetish videos do exist. It's just they're not where you think they'd be. They're not on adult websites.

No, they're on ArchitecturalDigest.com people just touring their massive estates while we sit at home watching on our laptops in the dark going, show me. Show me a closet that's way too big.

Show me a closet so big you could house refugees in it but don't, because then where would you keep your cufflinks?

house (v.) 收容；為....提供住處
refugee (n.) 難民
It will be difficult to house all the refugees.

cufflinks 繫紮衣袖的裝飾性飾品 (圖片)

I'm terrified, man. I'm terrified. That LA is changing me, that I'm becoming one of those people who chase money, who fetishizes wealth, who wants to be a billionaire? When I say that, people get angry. They get defensive. They're like, well, what's wrong with being rich? What's wrong with being a billionaire? What's wrong with being financially savvy? And it's just like, yo, man, if you own a billion of anything, that doesn't make you savvy. That makes you a hoarder.

get defensive
形容一個人因為感到受到攻擊而變得防禦或激動，通常用在討論人際關係、爭論或辯論等情況中。
Whenever I bring up the topic of politics with my dad, he always gets defensive and refuses to listen to my point of view.

financially savvy 指對金錢管理和財務事務有知識和技能
它形容一個人對個人財務、預算、投資等相關主題有良好的理解。
He's financially savvy and knows how to make smart investments for his future.
savvy (n.) pratical knowledge and ability

hoarder (n.)
形容一個人無法捨棄或丟棄舊物品，無節制地收集和保存東西的人。
在影片中，講者用 "hoarder" 來形容那些囤積財富或資源的人，暗示他們是病態的囤積狂，無法滿足於擁有適當的財富或資源，而總是追求更多的財富或資源。

There's no episode of Hoarders where they go into someone's house and see a billion pieces of unopened mail and are just like, man, this guy's savvy. What a shrewd collector of unopened mail he is.

shrewd (adj.) 非常精明、機智的
通常用於形容商業上的決策或策略，表示某人非常精明，可以看到問題的本質並做出判斷。
She's a shrewd businesswoman who knows how to make a profit.

I hope he writes a book. People get angry, man. They get defensive.
They're just like, there are valid reasons to be rich. There are valid reasons to be rich. I just want to be rich to build generational wealth.

That's it. I just want to build generational wealth. And it's just like, Yo, man, why would you do that to your kids? Like, no one's favorite kid at school was Bentley Worthington III 【註1】.

Like, no one has fond memories of Cadbury Money Nuts Jr. 【註2】 the famous money nuts clan who made their fortune in shipping. No one needs it, man.

clan (n.)
指由一群有共同血統、來自同一地區或同一部落的人所組成的群體，通常有自己的文化、傳統和價值觀。在某些地區，如蘇格蘭，clan也可以指一個家族或氏族。

No one needs it. People get angry. They're like Cadbury Money Nuts Jr., there are personal reasons to want to be rich. Like, the only reason why I want to be rich is to cement my legacy. That's it. I just want to cement my legacy.

cement one's legacy
鞏固或確立自己的傳承，使自己的名聲或成就得以廣泛傳播和被人記住。它通常用於形容一個人或團體想要在某個領域或範疇中留下持久的印象和影響力。
I want to create a foundation that helps underprivileged children so that I can cement my legacy as someone who made a positive impact on society.

She's like, Yo, man, being rich isn't going to make history. Remember you? Do you know how I know? There are 2668 billionaires on the planet right now. Name them, you can't. And that's why they're still alive.

I mean, there are twelve billionaires in this room right now, and we don't know who they are. They're sitting next to us picking their nose, and we're just like, man, I hope things work out for this guy. Being rich, being a billionaire, that's not going to make people remember you, man.

huddled around a campfire and someone's going to go, you know whose life I really admired? That of Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal. Oh, sure, the world is ending and humanity is doomed. But you know who lived their life the right way? Taiwanese petrochemical zion Liao Long Shin. 【註3】

huddle around
指一群人圍在一起緊緊擠在一起，通常是為了取暖或聚在一起交流、討論等等。
也可以用來形容一群人在一起討論某個主題或議題，他們可能非常接近彼此，並且專注於討論的內容。
During the winter, my family likes to huddle around the fireplace to keep warm.

steel magnate
用來形容一個掌握鋼鐵行業的巨頭人物，也可以指擁有大量鋼鐵資產的富豪。
magnate是指擁有很大權力或財富的人，通常是企業或工業界的領袖人物。
business magnate / oil magnate / real estate magnate

petrochemical (adj.) 石油相關的
也可以當作名詞，指從石油或天然氣中提取的化學物質或產品，例如石油餾分、乙烯、丙烯、苯等。

Oh, who? Me? Oh, I'm just a farmer. Works the soil, and loves his family. I'll be forgotten.

work the soil
耕耘土地或準備土地種植作物，包括不同的活動，例如犁田、耕作、撒種和收穫。

Do you know who history will never forget? Italian air conditioning mogul just to be DeLonghi. Being a billionaire, man isn't going to make history remember you. It's not going to leave you a legacy.

mogul (n.) 指在某個領域或行業中擁有權力、影響力或財富的人。
Bill Gates is a mogul in the technology industry, having co-founded Microsoft and amassed a fortune worth billions of dollars.

If you want to leave a legacy, there's only one thing you need to do. You want to leave a legacy. You just need to be the one house on the street that gives out full-size chocolate bars for Halloween.

leave a legacy
指想要在自己離世後，讓人們能夠記得自己，或讓自己的影響力持續存在。這個詞通常與成功、創造力、影響力以及影響世界有關。
The environmentalist's goal is to leave a legacy of a healthier planet for future generations.

That's it. That's it. Legacy cemented.

It's been 30 years since I went trick or treating, and I and my brother still talk about 39 Grenadin Drive. We're like who? Sam and Lucy. Oh, those people were saints.

They were angels. Someone should build a statue in their honor to celebrate their legacy as they enriched people in the audience who were offended by those jokes. I only have one word for you sorry.

in one's honor to
以某人的名義，表達敬意或紀念。可以用在各種場合，例如紀念活動、捐款、奬學金等等。
We are donating this library in his honor to commemorate his contributions to the community.

enrich (v.) 增加或豐富某物的內容或品質，或者提高某個人或群體的知識、文化水平、生活品質等。
Reading can enrich your vocabulary and knowledge base.

"enrich"也可以用來指添加某些成分或物質來改善或增強某物的特性或功能。
This animal feed is enriched with nutrients, which can improve the animals' health.

It. And also thank you. Let's go make out in the snow.

My name is Pardis Parker. Thank you for coming to my second Ted Talk.

註1：Bentley Worthington III
在影片中提到Bentley Worthington III是因為這個名字代表了一個極端富有的人物，類似於英國貴族，這類人可能被認為是通過家族財富而成為富人，而不是通過自己的努力和才智。文章的作者通過這個例子來表達他對追求財富和建立財富傳承的看法，即追求財富和財富傳承可能導致虛榮和不必要的追求。

註2：Cadbury Money Nuts Jr.
一個虛構的名字，是用來描述一個非常富有且有錢人家族的後代，這個名字的選擇可能是用來強調財富帶來的奇怪和荒謬感。

註3：在文章中提到Lakshmi Mittal和Liao Long Shin是作者用幽默的方式強調富有並不能讓人們永遠記住你，即使是像Lakshmi Mittal這樣的全球知名的鋼鐵大亨，也有可能被人們遺忘。文章作者的觀點是，要留下真正的遺產，要做一些對他人有益的事情，例如提供慷慨的慈善捐款或為社區做出積極貢獻，而不是只追求個人財富和成就。

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