5.奶酪
People around the world have long mocked the bland palates of Americans, who happily consume things like Wonder Bread and spaghetti out of cans. Nowhere is this more obvious than their taste for cheese. One of the more popular variants in the US is "American" cheese, often sold in packets of individually wrapped slices. Very nearly a counterfeit in its own right, this product is so heavily diluted that it cannot even be legally sold as cheese, but as "cheese food," which is just about as appetizing as it sounds. However, in Europe, cheese is taken with deadly seriousness.
全世界的人都在嘲笑美国人口味单调,后者总是很乐意消费像惊奇面包,和罐装意式细面条这类食品。没有比这更能显示出他们对奶酪的口味会是怎样了。在美国更受欢迎的变体食品之一就是美式奶酪,常常单独地切片包装成一捆出售。这近乎是一种假冒伪劣产品了,其中包含的奶酪非常稀,它甚至不能作为奶酪合法出售,只能冠名为"奶酪食品",好让人听上去有食欲些。然而在欧洲,奶酪的使用是件极其严肃的事。
Switzerland is famed for their many variants of cheese, including Emmental and Gruyere. Like champagne, which can only call itself that if the grapes are grown within a very specific geographical area, the Swiss have exacting rules on how their cheeses can be produced. Unfortunately, fakes began to appear on the market, particularly in Italy, leading to a decline in sales. To protect this lucrative industry, the federal government has established a bank of 10,000 strains of milk bacteria DNA, a project that took scientists a decade to complete. The bacteria is kept frozen in a facility in the city of Bern. These samples are used to test against suspected forgeries, and spot checks are often conducted in markets.
瑞士以奶酪种类繁多而闻名,包括多孔干酪和格鲁耶尔干酪。但是就和香槟一样,只有原料即葡萄是产于特定的地区的时候,它才能被称作"香槟",瑞士人对于奶酪如何生产也有着严格规定。不幸的是,假奶酪开始在市场上出现,导致奶酪售量减少,这种情况在意大利尤其严重。为了保护这个高利润行业,联邦政府建立了一个储库,储存了一万个牛奶细菌DNA菌株,这个项目花费了科学家们十年时间。这些细菌冷藏在伯尔尼的设备中。这些样品用作测试疑似伪劣的产品,奶酪市场上经常会有抽查。
4.汽车
The global masters of fakery, the Chinese even peddle such sophisticated counterfeits as complete cars. Around 2000, a rash of Volkswagen lookalikes began to make the scene. Then, the storied Chery QQ (based on the Chevy Spark) was released. At one point, the Chery QQ was one of the cheapest cars in the world, available for under $5,000 brand new. Today, Daimler Chrysler's Mini is the du jour counterfeit, with at least three different Chinese firms pushing their own versions.
全球的造假大师,中国人,甚至兜售像一辆完整的汽车这样复杂的假货。大批大众汽车的仿品开始面世,约有2000辆。紧接着,著名的奇瑞QQ(以雪佛兰spark为原型)就出现了。奇瑞QQ曾经一度是世界上最便宜的汽车,一辆全新的只要不到5000美元就能买到。今天,戴姆勒-克莱斯勒公司的Mini小型两厢车才是如今风靡的假货,至少有三家不同的中国公司发售了他们自己的型号。
Legal actions against the Chinese firms pushing knockoffs have proven largely fruitless. The real mystery is how the Chinese can peddle these cars for less than half the price of those made by legitimate manufacturers. While they would certainly escape the costs of research and development by using hijacked blueprints, that they continue to make a profit despite the costs of construction and raw materials indicates that there might be something even darker at play.
诉讼反对中国公司制造并销售名牌仿制品已经被证实是毫无用处的。真正的谜团其实是,中国人是怎么把合法制造商制造的汽车以低于一半的价格售卖出去的。他们肯定有自己不可告人的办法来降低产品研究及开发的成本。尽管用在产品制造和原材料上的资金表明这其中确实还有更多不为人知的古怪,但这也并不妨碍造假的人继续从中获利。
3.斯特拉迪瓦里小提琴
Like expensive wine and Beats by Dre headphones, Stradivarius violins are probably overrated. Various tests have been conducted which prove that music experts cannot distinguish between their sound and that of other quality violins. Nevertheless, violins constructed by the family, particularly Antonio Stradivari, an Italian luthier who lived from 1644 to 1737, command outrageous prices. In 2014, Sotheby's put a viola made by Stradivari up for auction—for $45 million (buyers failed to meet the minimum asking price). In 2011, Tarisio auction house sold a 1721 Stradivarius violin called the Lady Blunt for an eye-popping $15.9 million. And anywhere such outrageous sums can be generated, counterfeiting is sure to follow.
就像昂贵的红酒和Beats耳机一样,人们对斯特拉迪瓦里小提琴或许有些过誉了。各种测试表明音乐专家也不能辨别斯特拉迪瓦里小提琴的音色与其他小提琴有什么区别。不过小提琴制作一般都是家族产业,特别是安东尼奥·斯特拉迪瓦里(1644-1737),他是一位意大利拨弦乐器制作匠,他制作的小提琴价位也不是一般的高。2014年,苏富比拍卖行拍卖了一把由斯特拉瓦迪里制作的小提琴,价格达到了4500万美元(买家需要支付的最低要价)。早在2011年的时候,塔里西奥拍卖公司就以惊人的1590万美元的价格卖出了一把1721年制作的斯特拉迪瓦里小提琴,它的名字是"布朗特夫人"。任何地方都能出现这样的高价,因此,斯特拉迪瓦里小提琴仿制品无疑会随之产生。
Unlike many other knockoffs, counterfeit violins are often extremely sophisticated. Experts have to be extremely skilled to detect the subtle differences. Besides blaring inconsistencies, the first line of defense against fakes is to determine if the instrument is old enough to have been made by Stradivari. This is accomplished through a process called dendrochronology—studying the tree rings to put an age on the wood used to build the instrument. The varnish on the violin can also be analyzed to test for chemicals that Stradivari would not have used. As you might imagine, neither of these processes is exactly clear-cut. The best defense against counterfeit violins is technology—networks of people who can archive their expertise and collect photographs. Of course, all this knowledge is also available to the counterfeiters, who only refine their technique more.
跟许多其他的名牌仿制品不一样的是,即使是仿造的小提琴,通常也是相当精致。只有经验丰富专家们才能查出仿品与真品之间的细微差别。除了音色不同,测定小提琴的年代和斯特拉迪瓦里本人生活的年代是否一致是检测其真伪的第一步。这需要使用树木年代学的方法——通过研究用来制作小提琴的树木年轮特性来判定其生产年代。另外,检测乐器表面的清漆的化学成分,看是不是斯特拉迪瓦里用过的种类,这样也能辨出真伪。也许正如你所想,这两种方法的过程都不是很清楚。最好的辨别假货的方式就是利用网络技术,将真品的专业鉴别信息及照片存档。当然,这些知识都是对造假者也是有用的——知道了这些对他们提高造假技术可是很有帮助的。
2.番茄酱
Ketchup isn't a big-ticket item. In the United States, nearly every restaurant offers it for free. But as we've seen, there is no limit, no scant profit, that counterfeiters will not strive toward. In October 2012, a bizarre story emerged from a private warehouse in Dover, New Jersey. People leasing space in the building reported exploding containers of ketchup, which in return attracted hordes of flies. The ketchup in question was "Simply Heinz," a premium version which uses sugar in its recipe instead of high fructose corn syrup.
番茄酱是日常用品。在美国,几乎每家餐馆都会免费提供番茄酱。如我们所知,对于没有使用限制和足够利润的商品,造假者们是不会趋之若鹜的。但是,在2012年10月,美国新泽西州多佛市的一个私人仓库中传出一则离奇新闻。大楼的租住户反应,装着番茄酱的容器突然爆炸,并引来了成群的苍蝇蚊子。这些番茄酱的问题出在有人假借"亨氏"之名,用普通糖代替了高果糖玉米糖浆。
It is believed that regular ketchup was added to the Simply Heinz bottles with fake labels. Exposed to the air and possible adulterants, fermentation began, and the sugar in the ketchup reacted with the acidic tomatoes and vinegar to release gases that caused the bottles to detonate. An investigation was conducted by Heinz, whose spokeswoman claimed that the company "has not discovered any information that leads us to believe the illegally repackaged product is on the market." According to Michael Mullen, Heinz's vice president of corporate and government affairs, "The site of this operation was abandoned and had produced only a small quantity of bottles, much of which was still on site."
造假者们把普通番茄酱装进"亨氏"瓶中,并贴上假标签。当这些番茄酱暴露在空气和可能存在的杂质中,发酵就开始了,番茄酱中的糖和酸反应,产生大量气体,最终撑爆了瓶子。亨氏集团做了相关调查,其发言人称"目前还未发现非法重新包装的番茄酱流入市场"。据亨氏公司副总裁迈克尔·马伦称"造假厂已被摧毁,他们只生产了少量瓶子,大部分瓶子都在事发现场。"
1.苹果专卖店
Dubbed by some as the world's most valuable brand, it will come as no surprise that Apple products—which range in price from hundreds to thousands of dollars—are frequently counterfeited. Often, they aren't even particularly good fakes—just weighted glass frames designed to replicate iPads. In a typical street transaction, by the time the buyer recognizes that he's been defrauded, the seller is blocks away and picking up speed.
苹果被认为是世界上最有价值的品牌,所以苹果产品——价值几百至几千美元不等——经常被仿制也不足为奇。苹果公司的仿制品通常都不好——它们只是在玻璃框架的重量和外型上追求与IPad一致。典型的街头交易中,当买方意识到自己被骗后,卖方就会越过街区快速逃离。
In fact, Apple is so popular that entire fake stores have sprung up in China. In 2011, a shocking 22 counterfeit Apple stores were discovered in Kunming, some with incredibly elaborate detail, from the trademark company uniform of blue shirts and lanyards down to architectural trademarks like Apple's winding staircases. However, like most fakes, there were subtle differences, such as misspelled signage advertising the "Apple Stoer." After an American posted photos of this ruse on a blog, Chinese authorities swept in to shut the stores down. Of course, this did little to stem the tide; merchants began offering knockoff Apple watches in March 2015, even before the official version's release date.
事实上,苹果公司的产品太流行了,这就导致了山寨苹果专卖店如雨后春笋般出现在中国大地上。2011年,昆明惊现22家山寨苹果店,有些甚至很难分辨得出来——不管是从印有苹果商标的蓝色T恤及铭牌还是从店内的旋转扶梯上。尽管如此,它们和大多数假货一样,和真店相比还是有细微的差别,比如拼写错误的招牌"Apple Stoer"。在美国人将这组山寨苹果店的照片放到博客上后,中国政府勒令山寨店关闭。当然,这并不能阻止造假潮流。2015年3月,在官方版本出来之前,商家们就已经开始提供山寨苹果手表了。