讲解人 · Ronan
原文
Thomas A P van Leeuwen has a riveting view from his Amsterdam flat.
His street is lined with imposing 17th-century canal houses — but what he sees each day is distinctly modern.
Day after day, tourists form long queues on the bridge, holding up €5.50 (£4.80) boxes of fries against the gabled backdrop for TikTok or Instagram posts.
Why queues seduce us
A queue doesn’t just signal popularity.
It triggers powerful psychological cues.
“For positive experiences, when people see other people in line for something, it makes the ‘thing’ people are queuing up for seem more desirable and elicits FOMO, “ says Rachel S Herz, author of Why You Eat What You Eat.
Travel as performance
People aren’t just eating the viral food — they’re filming themselves doing it, with their subsequent posts indicating to others that they’re onto something special.
Celebrities and influencers amplify the cycle, adds researcher Stefan Gössling.
They are tirelessly collecting social capital to identify the next hyped place to stay relevant, with their followers imitating the aspirational behaviour to show that they are part of the same community.
The illusion of discovery
Social media has created a sense that everyone is “finding” the same hotspot simultaneously — even though the algorithms are doing the work.
But it comes at a cost.
Algorithms prioritise what is already popular, which means the same places are pushed to millions of people at the same time.
Still, crowds rarely deter people.
Seeing others in line “gives you confidence that you’re doing the right thing, “ Gössling says.
带着问题听讲解
- 如何理解 staple 这个词？
- 根据文章，为什么排队本身会让网红美食看起来更有吸引力？
- 根据文章，为什么即使队伍很长，人们也不太容易被劝退？
讲解
重点词汇
viral
/ˈvaɪ.rəl/
adj. 爆火的；刷屏的；病毒的，病毒引起的
- 搭配短语：a viral flu，a viral infection搭配短语：go viral
- 例句：Her video went viral on TikTok.
take
/teɪk/
n. 处理办法
- 词性拓展：take（v.）英文释义：a particular way of dealing with or treating something搭配短语：take on sth.
- 例句：This film is a modern take on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
staple
/ˈsteɪ.pəl/
n. 主食；主要产品
- 词根词缀：estaple（古法语，表“市场”）
riveting
/ˈrɪv.ɪ.t̬ɪŋ/
adj. 引人入胜的，非常迷人的
- 近义词：interesting相关词汇：rivet（n. 铆钉）
英文释义：very exciting or interesting搭配短语：a riveting story，a riveting performance
imposing
/ɪmˈpoʊ.zɪŋ/
adj. 使人难忘的；壮观的
- 英文释义：very large or impressive
distinctly
/dɪˈstɪŋkt.li/
adv. 极度地；非常
- 同义词：very，extremely
gabled
/ˈɡeɪ.bəld/
adj.（建筑）有三角墙的，有山墙的
- 相关词汇：gable（n. 三角墙；山墙）
trigger
/ˈtrɪɡ.ɚ/
v. 触发；引起
- 词性拓展：trigger（n.（枪的）扳机）
cue
/kjuː/
n. 暗示
elicit
/iˈlɪs.ɪt/
v. 引出，引起（某人的某种反应）
- 例句：The test uses pictures to elicit words from the child.
subsequent
/ˈsʌb.sɪ.kwənt/
adj. 随后的，接着的
- 词根词缀：来自拉丁语 sequi（表示“跟随”）。
- 派生词：sequence（顺序、序列）；consequence（后果）；sequel（续集）
近义词：following
be onto sth.
了解，掌握
- 英文释义：to have information that will help to you make an important discovery例句：I think you're onto something with this business idea.相关短语：be onto sb.（发现（某人做了坏事））
- 例句：The police are onto him.
amplify
/ˈæm.plə.faɪ/
v. 扩大，增强
- 相关词汇：amplifier（n. 扬声器）
hype
/haɪp/
v. 大肆宣传，炒作
- 词性拓展：hype（n. 炒作）
aspirational
/ˌæs.pəˈreɪ.ʃən.əl/
adj. 渴望成功的，令人向往的
- 相关词汇：aspiration（n. 渴望；抱负）
at a cost
有代价
- 英文释义：used for saying that it may not have been worth doing something because so much has been lost or damaged as a result
still
/stɪl/
adv. 尽管如此
deter
/dɪˈtɝː/
v. 阻止，威慑，使不敢
- 例句：The high price might deter customers.
拓展阅读
