外刊逐句精读｜《经济学人》：经济不好，还有人买奢侈品吗？｜CATTI一级译员外刊

Is the luxury sector recession-proof?

奢侈品行业能扛得住经济衰退吗？

Not all high-end brands will lose their shine

  不是所有高端品牌都会失去光芒 = 有些高端品牌仍能保持良好的表现

①Hermès（爱马仕） is a byword for exclusivity. ②Its signature Birkin bag, one of which sold for $450,000 last year, cannot be bought from the luxury firm’s website or by simply walking into a store. ③There are neither ads in fashion magazines nor glossy campaigns on Instagram.④ For the not-so-famous, owning a Birkin can involve a years-long waiting list.

①byword 代名词 exclusivity 独特性

爱马仕是独特性的代名词

②signature a.标志性的

（爱马仕）它（的）标志性的铂金包，去年能卖45万美元一个，不能从奢侈品官网店或线下店轻易买到。

③glossy a.虚有其表的

铂金包既不在时尚杂志上做广告，也不在Ins上做推广。

④对于那些没那么有名的人来说，想要拥有一个铂金包需要等待数年之久

①Part of the reason for the wait is constrained supply, which Hermès manages with the precision worthy of its stitching. ②But another part is booming demand for all manner of luxury goodies. ③Last year net profits of Kering, which owns fashion labels such as Gucci and Balenciaga, rose by 14%. ④Those at lvmh, owner of Tiffany and Louis Vuitton, among other brands, grew by nearly a quarter. ⑤Hermès and Richemont, which owns Cartier, among other baubles, each saw theirs surge by more than a third. ⑥Together, the four groups raked in over €33bn ($35bn) in profits, on combined revenues of around $130bn.

①constrain v.限制

be worthy of...有...的特征 stitching n.针脚

需要等这么久的部分原因在于爱马仕 用以细密针脚为特征的精确度 来限量供应（饥饿营销）

= 爱马仕的准确度像包的针脚那么密

= 需要等这么久的部分原因在于爱马仕精确管理的限量供应，其精确度像包的针脚那么密

②boom vi.激增

all manner of 各种各样的

goody infol.吸引人的东西

另一部分原因是（人们）对于各种各样的奢侈品需求陡然增多。

③去年，拥有诸如Gucci和巴黎世家这样时尚品牌的开云集团，净产值上涨了14%；

④among other things 除...以外

除了别的品牌以外，拥有蒂凡尼和路易威登的路威酩轩集团则增长了约25%；

⑤拥有卡地亚和其他饰品品牌的厉蜂集团与爱马仕共同增长约33%

⑥make profits of A on revenues of B 从（B）的营收里获得...利润（A）

rake in 大捞特捞

 这四个集团从约1300亿美元的营收中总共捞到了超过350亿美元的利润

①That, though, was before persistent inflation and rising interest rates to combat it fanned fears of a global recession. ②Now, as those fears intensify, luxury brands are losing their shine, at least in the eyes of investors. ③Luxury bosses’ unease expressed at an industry pow-wow on May 22nd provoked a sell-off that wiped $65bn, or 7%, from the four luxury groups’ collective market value. ④Once shareholders stop quaking in their Louboutins, they may pay closer attention to two things in order to assess their luxury stocks’ prospects.

 ①that：指代上文四大集团大赚特赚的景象

fan vt.煽动

而这些繁荣景象以后，是持续的通胀和为了对抗通胀而上调利率，这激起了人们对于全球经济衰退的恐慌。

②如今，随着恐慌的加剧，奢侈品品牌逐渐失去光芒（=盈利逐渐减少），至少在投资者眼里是这样。

③pow-wow n.碰头会，聚会 unease n.不安

sell-off 抛售

奢侈品老板们在5月22日的行业峰会上表达了不安，引起了一场抛售，抹去了四大奢侈品集团的650亿美元、也就是7%的共同市值

④quake in your boots（→Louboutins路铂廷） 怕的发抖

一旦股东们不再穿着路铂廷鞋发抖（→不再持股），他们或许就会为了评估奢侈品股票的前景而更加关注两件事——

①The first is a brand’s positioning within the luxury business. ②Mid-market houses that target the merely affluent, such as Ralph Lauren, a maker of polo-themed apparel, are more sensitive to economic headwinds than top-end brands catering to the obscenely wealthy. ③This was already evident last year. ④Shoppers who had shelled out up to €1,000 on designer goods before the pandemic cut their average spending in half in 2022, according to Bernstein, a broker. ⑤By contrast, the truly loaded more than doubled theirs. ⑥These days just 5% of buyers account for two-fifths of global luxury sales.

①positioning n.产品品牌定位

第一个就是产品在奢侈品行业的市场定位

②mid-market a.中端市场的，house n.（某种生意的）公司，apparel n.服装，obscence a.不公平的，骇人的

以刚达到富裕阶层的人为目标的中端市场公司，例如做马球主题服装的拉尔夫·劳伦，比为富得流油的人服务的高端品牌对经济逆风更加敏感。

③这在去年已经很明显了

④shell out 付（一大笔钱），designer xx名牌设计的，broker n.经纪人

按照Bernstein经纪公司的数据，在疫情前愿意为名牌设计服装付高达1000欧元的消费者们在2022年将平均支出削减至一半。

⑤more than不止 loaded infol.有钱人

相比之下，真正有钱的人在对奢侈品的开销上翻了不止一倍

⑥现如今，仅5%的消费者占了全球奢侈品销售额的2/5。

①Exposure to China, one of the world’s biggest luxury markets, is another factor. ②Luxury merchants counting on a sharp rebound from years of harsh zero-covid lockdowns to raise sales have been disappointed by Chinese shoppers’ unobliging restraint. ③Brands including Estée Lauder, a pedlar of pricey cosmetics, have slashed their outlook for the region.④ Burberry, a British maker of beige coats, generated less than a third of sales from Chinese shoppers, down from 40% before the pandemic. ⑤Things could get worse for American and European brands in China if Sino-Western geopolitical tensions ratchet up.

①第二个因素是在全世界最大奢侈品市场之一的中国的曝光度

②unobliging a.不愿合作的

奢侈品商指望着从（中国）好几年严厉封城后（购买力）的急剧回升来提升销售量，而中国消费者不领情的克制让他们很失望。

③pedlar n.流动小贩 pricey a.价格高的

许多品牌，诸如卖高昂化妆品的雅诗兰黛，已经放低对中国市场的预期

④beige coat 淡棕色大衣

做淡棕色大衣的英国品牌巴宝莉，与疫情前40%相比，在中国消费者身上只赚得不到33%

⑤geopolitical a.地缘政治 ratchet up 加剧

若地缘政治的紧张局面持续升高，情况对于美国和欧洲品牌只会更糟糕

①Luxury houses are already searching for new engines of growth. ②These include India, which though mostly poor has growing ranks of the super-rich, and sub-Saharan Africa, where last year Chanel became the first European luxury brand to stage an African fashion show, in Dakar, the capital of Senegal. ③But these markets will take years to reach China’s scale, if they manage to do so at all. ④In the meantime, investors are likely to become as discerning about their luxury stocks as they are about their posh wardrobes.

①奢侈品公司已经在寻找新的销售助力了

②ranks pl.（团体）成员

这其中包括印度，尽管大部分的民众都很穷，但极度富裕群体的人数不断增多，和非洲撒哈拉沙漠以南的地区，去年香奈儿就在塞内加尔的首都达喀尔举办了非洲时尚秀，成为了第一个这样做的欧洲奢侈品品牌

③但是如果他们竭尽全力，这些市场仍需要很多年才能达到中国市场的规模

④discerning a.有辨别力的 posh a.豪华的

与此同时，投资商很可能变得像对他们的豪华衣橱（里的衣服）一样对奢侈品股票挑剔