今天我想说说消费主义  

Jīn tiān wǒ xiǎng shuō shuo xiāo fèi zhǔ yì  

Today I want to talk about consumerism  

随着人类的发展  

Suí zhe rén lèi de fā zhǎn  

With the development of humanity  

我们现在增加了好多的节日  

Wǒ men xiàn zài zēng jiā le hǎo duō de jié rì  

We have added a lot of festivals now  

似乎快把一年365天占满了  

Sì hū kuài bǎ yī nián sān bǎi liù shí wǔ tiān zhàn mǎn le  

It seems like they are almost filling up all 365 days of the year  

这些节日又被商家们利用起来  

Zhè xiē jié rì yòu bèi shāng jiā men lì yòng qǐ lái  

These festivals are then used by merchants  

在每一个节日都催促我们消费  

Zài měi yī gè jié rì dōu cuī cù wǒ men xiāo fèi  

Urging us to consume during every festival  

每个电商都做了节日海报  

Měi gè diàn shāng dōu zuò le jié rì hǎi bào  

Every e-commerce platform has made festival posters  

每个商场都做了节日装饰  

Měi gè shāng chǎng dōu zuò le jié rì zhuāng shì  

Every shopping mall has put up festival decorations  

它们传递的氛围是那么的开心、兴奋  

Tā men chuán dì de fēn wéi shì nà me de kāi xīn 、xīng fèn  

The atmosphere they convey is so joyful and exciting  

买吧买吧  

Mǎi ba mǎi ba  

Buy, buy  

其实我现在消费欲望比较低  

Qí shí wǒ xiàn zài xiāo fèi yù wàng bǐ jiào dī  

In fact, my desire to consume is relatively low now  

也也许是因为赚钱不易吧  

Yě yě xǔ shì yīn wèi zhuàn qián bù yì ba  

Maybe it's because making money is not easy  

越来越多的人也意识到了消费主义陷阱  

Yuè lái yuè duō de rén yě yì shí dào le xiāo fèi zhǔ yì xiàn jǐng  

More and more people have also realized the trap of consumerism  

前几年经济好的时候  

Qián jǐ nián jīng jì hǎo de shí hou  

A few years ago when the economy was good  

网上常常鼓吹消费升级  

Wǎng shàng cháng cháng gǔ chuī xiāo fèi shēng jí  

It’s often advocated  [ ˈadvəkeɪt] online that people should upgrade their consumption  

也就是说你的生活品质要升级  

Yě jiù shì shuō nǐ de shēng huó pǐn zhì yào shēng jí  

That is to say, your quality of life needs to be upgraded  

要买更好的东西  

Yào mǎi gèng hǎo de dōng xī  

You need to buy better things  

这些年经济很差  

Zhè xiē nián jīng jì hěn chà  

In recent years, the economy has been very poor  

就没见到说消费升级了  

Jiù méi jiàn dào shuō xiāo fèi shēng jí le  

We no longer hear talk about consumption upgrading  

我身边有一些人和家庭  

Wǒ shēn biān yǒu yī xiē rén hé jiā tíng  

There are some people and families around me  

属于消费主义  

Shǔ yú xiāo fèi zhǔ yì  

Who are part of consumerism  

他们随意花钱，从不考虑储蓄  

Tā men suí yì huā qián ，cóng bù kǎo lǜ chǔ xù  

They spend money casually and never consider saving  

遇到急需用钱的时候  

Yù dào jí xū yòng qián de shí hou  

When they encounter a situation where they urgently need money  

就找别人借  

Jiù zhǎo bié rén jiè  

They borrow from others  

反正自己当下花钱很愉快  

Fǎn zhèng zì jǐ dāng xià huā qián hěn yú kuài  

Anyway, they feel happy spending money at the moment  

我和我的先生都是花钱比较谨慎的人  

Wǒ hé wǒ de xiān sheng dōu shì huā qián bǐ jiào jǐn shèn de rén  

My husband and I are both people who spend money cautiously  

因为我们懂得开源节流的重要性  

Yīn wèi wǒ men dǒng de kāi yuán jié liú de zhòng yào xìng  

Because we understand the importance of increasing income and reducing expenses  

正是这样，我们才能从二手破自行车  

Zhèng shì zhè yàng ，wǒ men cái néng cóng èr shǒu pò zì xíng chē  

It is precisely [prɪˈsaɪsli] because of this that we were able to go from a second-hand broken bicycle  

换到二手汽车  

Huàn dào èr shǒu qì chē  

To a second-hand car  

再换到标致新车  

Zài huàn dào Biāo zhì xīn chē  

Then to a new Peugeot  

再换到奔驰新车  

Zài huàn dào Bēn chí xīn chē  

Then to a new Mercedes-Benz  /məˈseɪdiːz bɛnts/

从合租房，到整租房  

Cóng hé zū fáng ，dào zhěng zū fáng  

From a shared rental house to an entire rental house  

再到买小房子  

Zài dào mǎi xiǎo fáng zi  

Then to buying a small house  

再到买大房子  

Zài dào mǎi dà fáng zi  

Then to buying a big house  

再到买投资型房产  

Zài dào mǎi tóu zī xíng fáng chǎn  

Then to buying investment properties  

再到买学区大房子  

Zài dào mǎi xué qū dà fáng zi  

Then to buying a big house in a school district  

我觉得储蓄和消费是一个平衡问题  

Wǒ jué de chǔ xù hé xiāo fèi shì yī gè píng héng wèn tí  

I think saving and consumption is a matter of balance