每日英語 #140: Boycotts Versus Carrotmobs 抵制與獎勵行動

2024/10/04 更新2024/10/04 發佈閱讀 8 分鐘

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Boycotts Versus Carrotmobs 抵制與獎勵行動

When a company does something wrong or something that customers don’t like, people may boycott that company. “To boycott” is to refuse to buy from and to use products from that company as a way to punish or “protest” (show disapproval for) what the company is doing.

當一家公司做了錯誤的事情或顧客不喜歡的事情時，人們可能會抵制這家公司。「抵制」指的是拒絕購買或使用該公司的產品，以此來懲罰或「抗議」（表達不滿）該公司的行為。

For instance, when gas prices went up quickly and to an “unprecedented” (never before seen) level, people wanted to boycott buying gasoline. This was not a very effective use of boycotting, unfortunately, but other boycotting efforts have worked to show the public’s disapproval or “outrage” (strong anger).

例如，當油價快速上升到「前所未有的」（前所未見的）水準時，人們想要抵制購買汽油。不幸的是，這樣的抵制並不太有效，但其他抵制行動則成功地顯示了公眾的不滿或「憤怒」（強烈的憤怒）。

“Activists” (people who work to make social or political change) are always trying to find new ways to change business behaviors. With one recent “strategy” (plan), instead of punishing companies that are doing things they don’t like, these activists are rewarding those for good behavior. Instead of boycotts, they create carrotmobs.

「社運人士」（致力於社會或政治變革的人）總是嘗試找到新的方法來改變企業行為。最近的一個「策略」（計劃）是，這些活動人士並不懲罰他們不喜歡的公司，而是獎勵那些行為良好的公司。與其進行抵制，他們創造了獎勵行動（carrotmob）。

The idea of a “carrotmob” is based on the well-known phrase, “the carrot and the stick.” The idea is to give people both rewards and punishment “to bring about” (cause) good behavior. This is based on the idea that a horse, or another animal, will work harder or move faster if there is a carrot waiting as a reward; at the same time, there is also a stick ready to “strike” (hit) the animal as punishment if it doesn’t do what you ask.

「獎勵行動」的概念來自一個眾所周知的短語「胡蘿蔔和大棒」。其想法是通過獎勵和懲罰來「促進」（導致）良好的行為。這是基於這樣一個概念：如果有一根胡蘿蔔作為獎勵等著，馬或其他動物就會更加努力工作或移動得更快；同時，也有一根大棒準備在動物不聽話時「擊打」（打擊）它作為懲罰。

The carrot is the “inducement,” the reward, that will result in good behavior. A mob is a large crowd or group of people.

胡蘿蔔是「誘因」（獎勵），能促使良好行為。而mob是指一大群人或群體。

Creating a carrotmob, then, is to get a lot of people to buy from a business or company that a group approves of. One of the first carrotmobs took place in San Francisco, California. An activist contacted 23 “convenience stores” (small stores that sell soft drinks, candy, lottery tickets, newspapers, etc.) to see which one would spend the most money putting in “energy-efficient” (energy saving) lights in their store.

創建獎勵行動的目的是讓許多人從一個群體認可的公司購物。第一個獎勵行動之一發生在加州舊金山。一名活動人士聯繫了23家「便利店」（小商店，出售軟飲料、糖果、彩票、報紙等），看看哪家店願意花最多錢安裝「節能」（節省能源）的燈具。

The activists “got the word out” (informed a lot of people) about “the winner” and urged people to visit the store on a “given” (specific) day. That store got hundreds of customers in that one day, and in turn, the store spent 23% of those “profits” (earnings) on putting in energy-efficient lights.

這些活動人士把「勝者」的消息「傳播出去」（告知很多人），並鼓勵大家在「特定」（特定的）日子光顧該店。那家店在一天內吸引了數百名顧客，並相應地將當天「利潤」（收益）的23%用於安裝節能燈。