辛泊平-《现代人的流行病》

把信息当做知识，把知识当做智慧。许多人日夜在网上泡着，四处收集新闻热点，说起来滔滔不绝，仿佛天下大事尽在心中，联合国秘书长就是给他打工的小马仔。可是如果你仔细听听，认真想想，却发现他嘴里没有一句是他的话。他根本没有兴趣咀嚼和消化那些信息。他只是一个信息的贩卖者，是一个廉价的传声筒。

把品牌当做品位，把冷漠当做修养。一身高档的行头，却在大街上随地吐痰、满口脏话；捧着时尚杂志，却不肯为老人让一下座。
身体早熟，能力超低；物质丰富，营养过剩。有的孩子上了大学竟然还不会叠被子、洗衣服，甚至不会系鞋带。


疯狂跳槽，一事无成。总想着“天生我材必有用”，总想着“此处不留爷，自有留爷处”，不是踏踏实实做人，扎扎实实做事，而是在哪里呆着都觉得委屈了自己，看什么都不顺眼，做什么都不顺心，这山望着那山高。跳槽成了习惯，甚至成了生活方式。


不怕丢丑，出名至上。人人都想在电视上露一回脸，抢不到这机会的就在网络上晒自己，多难看的相貌、多丢人的事，也敢发布出去。只要能出名，什么都在所不惜。“做秀”一说，也走向了自我的反面，摇身一变，不再羞羞答答，而是风光无限。


买房装修给人看，身背包袱日子难。见面说不了三句话，就扯到房子上。没有房的要买房，有了房的想换大的，有的大的还想买第二套。明明自己掏腰包已瘪，可看见新楼盘开张，就浑身热血沸腾，野心横生。装修也相互攀比，你装修成皇宫模样，我就装修成总统套房。但收入就那么多，无奈只好节衣缩食，背负着巨大的精神压力一日挨一日。


买车争先恐后，哪管寸步难行。为了面子买车，人有我无，总怕遭人小瞧；女孩子更是把车当作了婚姻的要素。开自己的车不如打车省钱，但人们还是争先恐后地去买。结果车越来越多，城市道路越来越拥挤，开车常常不如步行快。


购物变弱智，消费落陷阱。眼睛不能看到“打折”两个字，只要发现有商品打折，不管需要不需要，也要挤进去买。这已成了一种嗜好，导致许多没有用处的东西堆积如山，弄得家里恰似垃圾场。有时自己也知道，打折的大多没好货，也经常发誓不再上当，但每次看到打折的招牌，还是身不由己。



Modern people tend to equate information with knowledge, and knowledge with wisdom. That’s why many of them are mouse potatoes, searching for hot news day and night. They would rattle on and on once such people strike a conversation with you, as if they knew everything about all major events in the world and the secretary-general of UN were always at his beck and call! However, if you listen attentively and think carefully you will find they are but parrots that only repeat what others have said without a single word of their own. They never bother to chew and digest the information rounded up. They are no more than mongers of information or cheap megaphones.

They tend to take brand for taste and indifference for cultivation. They never open their mouths without dirty filthy language. They were well dressed but spit at will on the street. They always carry some vogue magazine in hand but would not even offer their seats to senior citizens on buses.

They are precocious physically but deficient mentally. As material affluence tend to cause over-nutrition, nowadays physically premature children are very common and many of them catch up with their parents in height in their teens. But many of them do not know how to make their bed, wash clothes, or even tie their shoestrings after they become college students!

Many of them become frequent job-hoppers upon graduation from college and will hardly make any achievement. They always hold that they were bestowed with genius and would sooner or later find some place to bring their genius into full play. As a result, they would not take a down-to-earth attitude in doing anything but feel wronged no matter what jobs they get. To them, nothing is right or satisfactory, just like the saying goes: “Distant mountains are always greener and taller.” Thus, job-hopping becomes

In modern peoples’ eyes, disgrace is nothing, whereas, fame is everything. Thus, everyone is overeager to show his face on the TV. He who can’t grasp such an opportunity rushes to “strip” himself online, no matter how ugly he might look, how disgraceful the thing might be, as long as he can fish for fame in return. “Show” swiftly goes to the reverse: no shyness, all showiness.

They buy houses only for the purpose of showing off, even if they are heavily burdened by mortgage. Housing is the inevitable topic of conversation no matter what you may talk about with them. Those who haven’t bought a flat want to buy one, those who already bought one want to buy a bigger one, and those who already have big ones want to buy a second one. Flat as their wallets are, their blood boils with sudden urges to buy whenever some new building opens for sale. When it comes to interior decoration, they will also strive to score off their neighbors. You make a palace of your flat? Well, I shall make a presidential suite of mine. However, as their salaries are limited, they cannot but save every penny in order to make ends meet. Thus, they drag out a miserable existence under heavy spiritual burden from day to day.

When it comes to the purchase of private cars, they also keep vying with each other, ignoring the already serious traffic jam. Many of them buy cares only to save their faces: they are afraid to be looked down upon if they don’t own cars when others do. Some girls even demand private cars as a must for marriage. Though driving one’s own car costs more than hiring a taxi, they still rush to buy. As a result, there are more and more cars to cram the already crowded streets, and very often walking proves to be quicker than driving.

Very often shopping reduces their wisdom and they fall into traps set up by businessmen. The mere sight of “discount” of any commodity will urge them to squeeze into the crowded store to buy it no matter whether they really need it or not, and this practice has become an obsession. As a result, heaps of unwanted things reduce their homes into dumping grounds. As a matter of fact, sometimes they know very well that no discounted goods is of high quality and they even swear not to be taken in any more. However, they cannot help themselves as soon they see signs of “discount” or “promotion”.


（陈德彰 译）