双语阅读英语外刊精讲：什么是流行(附音频)

2018-11-01 09:07:00来源：酷学英语

　　双语阅读是英语学习爱好者的天堂，在双语阅读里，不仅可以了解英美当地文化、习俗，还可以掌握地道英语表达，提高英语综合能力。本期主题：新东方刘琦老师为大家带来《双语阅读英语外刊精讲：什么是流行(附音频)》，与大家一起分享。更多双语阅读资料，可点击查看：《双语阅读：英语外刊阅读精讲汇总》

　　Popularity

　　Recipe for success

　　The psychology behind and economics of pop culture

　　What makes a hit? Many assume it has to do with artistry or luck. Not so, says Derek Thompson, a writer and editor at the Atlantic. In his first book, “Hit Makers”, he analyses the psychology and economics of pop culture and argues that “hits”- the things that get everybody talking – are based on three rules that rely on more than creative genius alone.

　　First, consumers crave “familiar surprises”. Studies show that people opt for things they recognize over things they do not. Maybe there is an evolutionary explanation for this: survival taught humans that if they had seen an animal before, it had not killed them yet. This familiarity was comforting. The evidence for people's response to recognition is everywhere: the Star Wars franchise, for example, is amalgam of characters and themes from older films. But it remains a fine balance, as people enjoy thinking they have found something new- the “aha” moment, as Mr Thompson calls it.

　　Second, going “viral” overnight is a myth. Hits rely on a series of closely connected events: a celebrity picking up a tweet and sharing it with countless followers, for example. Friends and family alone are unlikely to help you reach the scale you need (unless, of course, they are extremely influential). “Rock Around the Clock”, a rock'n'roll classic, floundered when it was first released. Yet thanks to one music-obsessed teenager and his movie-star father, the song was picked as the opening track to a notorious film called “Blackboard Jungle”, which helped it achieve international renown.

　　Third, technology may evolve, but people's longing for the popular does not. Music labels used to bribe radio stations to play their songs, thus ensuring their success. This meant the labels could dictate the hits. Today the internet offers a seemingly infinite repertoire of readily available music, yet people tend to stick to songs that other people like. One study from Columbia University found that a song at the top of the charts stayed there precisely because people assumed it was good. When the charts were inverted, those previously at the bottom achieved similar success. The quality of the song is not as important as its perceived popularity.

双语阅读：英语外刊阅读精讲(附音频)