2016年12月英语四级阅读：横空出世的装穷族

2016年12月英语四级阅读：横空出世的装穷族

　　The Rise of the Poorgeoise

　　Brooks dubbed them "BoBos," the "bourgeois bohemians" who created a new antiestablishment establishment. They were the specialty-cheese-eating, sport-utility vehicle-driving environmentalists who railed against the elite even as they became one of themselves.

　　They were, in a sense, the antirich rich.

　　Now, they are calling them the "Poorgeoise," affluent entrepreneurs and executives who prefer to look like starving artists. An article in the Guardian says the financial crisis has made the Poorgeoise more common than ever.

　　"They're rich and they love to spend, but they like to pretend they're having as hard a time as the rest of us," the article says.

　　It's the latest must-have term, fresh in from Brooklyn and Portland where the streets are paved anew with poorgeoise hipsters.The poorgeoisie are the countercultural rich who have adopted a form of consumerism look as though they haven't spent. It's a new way for rich people who don't want to seem rich to buy their way out of the guilt and shame of having money at a time of mass economic woe.

　　According to the article, they drive hybrids, have creative jobs and grow their own vegetables.

　　I wonder, though, whether the Poorgeoise are all that new, or all that real. Even before the crisis, many of the wealthy liked to drape themselves in the camouflage of the proletariat-boarding tbe G5 jet in jeans, T-shirts and sneakers. They preferred to be around "thought leaders" and creative artists rather than other rich people.

　　They were the Google guys or the art-buying hedge-fund managers in Greenwich, Conn.

　　Bobos and Poorgeoise and those who pretend to be less wealthy have been with us for years. What has changed is that many of them no longer have to pretend.

　　横空出世的装穷族

　　布鲁克斯称他们为“披波族(又译布波族)”，即“中产阶级波希米亚人”，他们创建了新的反正统的正统体制。他们吃着特制的奶醋、开着SUV，还标榜自己是环保主义者，他们苛责精英阶层，即便自己就是其中之一。

　　在某种意义上，他们是仇富的富人。

　　现在，他们称自己为“装穷族”，本是富有的企业家和公司高管，却喜欢装的像是忍饥挨饿的艺术家。《卫报》的一篇文章说，金融危机令装穷族比以往任何时候都常见。

　　文章中说，他们很有钱，也喜欢花钱，但他们却乐于假装自己跟其他人一样也在艰难度日。

　　文章中说，这是最新的必备术语，刚刚在布鲁克林和波特兰流行开来，那里的街道如同换了副新气象，满是想赶装穷族这个时髦的人。装穷族是反文化的富人，表面上反对消费主义，实际上他们自己的所做所为仍然是消费主义的一种形式，他们花钱把自己弄成好像没钱花的样子。在许多人都陷入经济困境的情况下，富人因为自己有钱而产生罪恶感和愧疚感，不想露富的富人通过这种方式，花钱让自己摆脱这种感觉。

　　文章中说，富人转而开混合动力车，从事创造性的工作，还自己种菜。

　　不过我很怀疑装穷族是不是最近才出现，或者有没有那么真实。即便在危机之前，许多富人也喜欢把自己打扮成下层阶级的样子——穿着牛仔裤、T恤和运动鞋登上G5私人飞机。他们喜欢跟“精神领袖”和有创见的艺术家在一起，而不是跟其他的富人一块儿。

　　谷歌那帮高管以及在康涅狄格州格林威治购买艺术晶的那帮对~基金经理，这些人都属于这个行列。

　　波波族，装穷族，还有假装自己没那么有钱的那些人，全都已经存在了很多年。真正发生改变的地方在于：他们中的很多人现在确实没钱了，不必再装了。

　　句型讲解：

　　1. They were the specialty-cheese-eating, sport-utility vehicle-driving environmentalists who railed against the elite even as they became one of themselves.

　　本句是一个复合句，主句是They were...environmentalists。其中the specialty-cheese-eating和 sport-utility vehicle-driving两个现在分词短语作前置定语修饰environmentalists o who引导限制性定语从句，修饰environmentalists。even as引导时间状语从句。

　　语法重点：分词短语作定语，定语从句，时间状语从句

　　2. The poorgeoisie are the countercultural rich who have adopted a form of consumerism against consumerism, a way of spending to make themselves look as though they haven't spent.

　　本句是一个复合句，主句是The poorgeoisie are the countercultural rich o who引导限制性定语从句，修饰the countercultural rich。其中 a way of...spent是a form of consumerism的同位语。其中as though引导方式状语从句。

　　语法重点：定语从句，同位语，方式状语从句