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Inflation Hits Different for
Men vs. Women, But Why?
通货膨胀，为何受伤的总是她？
KEY PIONTS
Influencers touting underconsumption and buying nothing are overwhelmingly female.
在"低消费"和"不消费"领域活跃的网络意见领袖绝大多数为女性。
This gender gap is consistent with research showing women are more sensitive to inflation.
这一性别差异与研究结果相吻合——女性对通胀的感知往往更为敏锐。
The reason? It’s a matter of who does the grocery shopping.
究其根源？这取决于家庭日常采购由谁负责。
Grocery store runs aren’t as fun as they used to be, and I’ve got the math to prove it. Last night I was at Trader Joe’s reaching for extra virgin olive oil when I found, for the first time since discovering EVOO, that every bottle was now squarely priced in the double digits. Things didn’t get much better when I stocked up later on all my favorite Reese's peanut butter chocolates in honor of Halloween, whose prices continue to creep even as their packaging continues to shrink. At last check, economists had the latest inflation rates pinned at 2.9%, with no signs of slowing down.
EVOO：特级初榨橄榄油（Extra Virgin Olive Oil 的缩写）
squarely：[副词] 稳稳地，径直地（文中引申为"明确处于"）
double digits：两位数（指10-99的价格区间）
stock up：[动词短语] 囤货，大量采购
in honor of：为纪念，为庆祝
creep：[动词] 悄悄上涨，缓慢攀升
at last check：根据最新核查/统计
去超市购物再也不像从前那样轻松惬意了，我有数据为证。昨晚我在Trader Joe's超市伸手去拿特级初榨橄榄油时，发现每瓶油的价格都已稳稳站上两位数——这是我发现这个油品以来头一回遭遇这种情况。随后为迎接万圣节囤购最爱的里斯花生酱巧克力时，情况也未见好转：这些巧克力包装持续缩水，价格却仍在悄悄攀升。根据最新统计，经济学家测出近期通胀率为2.9%，且毫无放缓迹象。
Things have gotten so out of hand that they’ve inspired their own TikTok trends. Earlier this year, “No Buy 2025” was blowing upFYPs everywhere after last season’s “Rat Boy Summer” and obsession over low taper fades. The days of New Year's Resolutions involving merely more clean eating or rack time at the gym seem quaint by comparison to this new world order, where hordes of Americans are lowkey vowing to not do anything that involves spending money at all.
out of hand：失控，无法收拾
blowing up：（突然）爆红，席卷
FYP：TikTok的"推荐页面"（For You Page的缩写）
Rat Boy Summer：鼠系少年夏日风（2024年流行审美，指随性不羁的街头风格）
low taper fades：低层次渐变短发（一种男士发型）
rack time：（俚语）健身时长
quaint：古怪而过时的
new world order：字面为"世界新秩序"，此处译为"新潮流"更符合语境
hordes of：成群的，大量的
lowkey：（俚语）低调地，不动声色地
情况已经失控到这种地步，甚至在 TikTok 上催生了专属潮流。继上季的"鼠系少年夏日风"和渐变短发风潮之后，"2025禁买年"话题今年早些时候曾血洗各大平台的推荐页。与这股新潮流相比，那些只关乎健康饮食或增加健身时长的传统新年愿望，显得如此过时——如今，成群美国人正默默发誓，要彻底远离任何需要花钱的活动。
The struggle is real, but more real for some than others"
这届年轻人的日子确实不好过，
但某些群体的压力更为真切"。
The struggle is real, as they say, but apparently it’s more real for one half of the population than the other. CNN pointed this out awhile back when they casually noted that most of the Tiktok influencers heralding “No Buy 2025” were women. Rules for such an austere year of living out #underconsumptioncore included rules like no new clothes, beauty products, jewelry, tech, takeout, decor, books or doing things that involve cancellation fees.
The struggle is real：网络流行语，指"处境确实艰难"
awhile back：不久前，此前
heralding：宣扬，预告（原意"传令官"）
austere：简朴的，严苛的
underconsumptioncore：社交媒体标签，指"低物欲生活美学"（core后缀表示核心风格）
cancellation fees：违约金/取消费
正如人们所说，生活不易，但显然有一半人口的压力比另一半更大。美国有线电视新闻网此前就指出，那些宣扬"2025禁买年"的Tikkol网红绝大多数是女性。要实现这种极致低物欲的严苛生活，规则包括不添新衣、不买美妆护肤、不购珠宝科技产品、不点外卖、不买家饰、不买书本，以及不参与任何会产生违约金的消费活动。
The landscape remains oddly skewed when you pan out beyond the viral trends on everyone’s favorite social media platform. My local “Buy Nothing” group—the sole reason I bother with a Facebook account—boasts approximately the same demographics as your average all girls school: there are men around, sure, but they are few and far in between. The extreme couponers who’ve been around for years with the dedicated blogs to match (Hip2Save, MoneySavingMom, HappyMoneySaver to just name a few) also appear to share the same pronouns. Even my favorite comedian’s (@NateBargatze) funniest bits about his household’s efforts to save a buck evolve around the frugal efforts of his wife Laura and not him.
pan out：本意为“摇镜头”，这里引申为“将视线移开，扩大视野来看”
skewed：adj. 歪斜的，有偏见的；文中译为“失衡”以符合语境
virial trends：病毒式传播的潮流，风靡一时的趋势
demographics：n. 人口统计数据
few and far in between：idiom 稀少的，不常见的
extreme couponers：极致优惠券玩家（指极度热衷于使用优惠券省钱的人）
bits：n. （喜剧演员的）段子，桥段
frugal：adj. 节俭的，节约的
然而，若将视线从风靡各大社交平台的潮流移开，会发现这种局面依然呈现出一种奇特的性别失衡。我所在的本地“不消费小组”——这是我仍保留Facebook账号的唯一理由——其成员构成几乎清一色是女性，比例堪比女校。诚然组内确有男性成员，但实在是凤毛麟角。那些经营省钱博客多年的资深极致优惠券玩家（诸如Hip2Save、省钱妈妈、快乐储蓄家等）也似乎清一色是女性。就连我最喜欢的喜剧演员Nate Bargatze，他关于家庭省钱的最精彩段子，也全是围绕他妻子劳拉的节俭努力，而非他自己。
Studies show: Women expect worse inflation, but why?
研究显示：为何女性对通胀的预期更为悲观？
Of course, anecdotal evidence doesn’t make something true (contrary to what the demagogues of today are telling you). So leave it to a trio of empiricists to demonstrate that what you’ve seen online actually belies a larger phenomenon: Women register inflation more than men, and they’ve got the data to back it up.
anecdotal evidence： 个案证据/孤证（指基于个人经历的非系统性证据）
demagogues： 煽动家（指利用情绪操纵公众的政客）
trio of empiricists： 三位实证研究者（trio指三人组，empiricists强调以数据验证理论的研究者）
belies： 掩盖/揭示（文中取"表象背后隐藏着"的释义）
register： 感知/记录（此处译为"感知"更符合认知学语境）
当然，个例证据不足以证实普遍真相（这与当下某些煽动家的论调恰恰相反）。且看三位实证研究者如何证实，你在网络上观察到的现象背后，确实隐藏着更宏观的规律：女性对通胀的感知比男性更敏锐，而且他们有数据支撑这个结论。
In their sample of large scale survey data of married couples across America, the researchers found that women expected more inflation than men. For better or worse, everyone’s expectations were worse than reality, but the gap was especially pronounced for wives: a gap that amounted to a quarter of the Federal Reserve’s target inflation rate.
sample：n. 样本，抽样数据
large scale survey data：大规模调查数据
pronounced：adj. 显著的，明显的
amounted to：v. 相当于，总计达
Federal Reserve：美联储（美国中央银行）
研究人员通过对美国全国已婚夫妇的大规模调查数据进行抽样分析，发现女性对通胀的预期普遍高于男性。无论好坏，所有人的预期都比实际情况更为悲观，但妻子的预期偏差尤为显著——其差距竟相当于美联储目标通胀率的四分之一。
Gender gaps abound in everything from wages to time to whether you believe in vaccines but the fact that women are extra sensitive to inflation seems to fly in the face all the stereotypes surrounding how much this gender allegedly loves to spend money.
abound：v. 大量存在，富于（文中意译为"无处不在"）
time：n. 此处具体化为"时间分配"
vaccines：n. 疫苗（文中延伸为"对疫苗的信任度"）
fly in the face of：idiom 公然违抗，与...完全相反
allegedly：adv. 据称，据传闻（带质疑意味）
从薪资待遇到时间分配，再到对疫苗的信任度，性别差异无处不在。但女性对通胀格外敏感这一事实，似乎彻底颠覆了社会对该性别群体"热衷消费"的刻板印象。
Mystery solved: Who does the grocery shopping?
谜底揭晓：谁是家庭采购的主力？
The mystery of why this is the case becomes clear as soon as you look at who is doing the grocery shopping. As D’Acunto and his colleagues discovered, women frequently do the bulk of the grocery shopping. Ask anyone who is still traumatized by the price of eggs during avian flu season earlier this year, and they can tell you: Grocery prices are notoriously volatile. As the ones charged with their households’ weekly food runs, women run up against this volatility on a weekly basis and it’s messing with their economic expectations.
the bulk of：大部分，主要部分
traumatized：adj. 受创伤的，心有余悸的（文中指对价格波动产生心理阴影）
avian flu：禽流感
notoriously：adv. 臭名昭著地，人尽皆知地（强调波动性之显著）
volatile：adj. 易波动的，不稳定的
charged with：承担...责任
run up against：遭遇，直面
mess with：干扰，影响（口语化表达）
只要看看日常采购由谁负责，性别差异的谜团便瞬间明朗。正如D'Acunto及其团队研究发现：女性通常承担着家庭食品采买的主要任务。若问那些对年初禽流感期间鸡蛋价格心有余悸的人，他们都会告诉你：食品杂货价格波动之大可谓人尽皆知。作为承担家庭每周食品采购任务的主力，女性每周都在直面这种价格波动，这持续影响着她们对经济形势的预期。
On the bright side, households who managed to split the shopping duties evenly between the genders didn’t show any of this gap. So if inflation is keeping you up at night, the fix is surprisingly simple: just get your other half to go to the grocery store. If all else fails, just close your eyes while ordering from Instacart.
on the bright side：* idiom* 好在，乐观的一面
split...evenly：v. 平均分担
keep you up at night：* idiom* 让你夜不能寐（引申为深感忧虑）
the fix：n. 解决方法（口语化表达）
Instacart：n. 美国生鲜杂货配送平台（保留英文名，中文读者可结合上下文理解）
if all else fails：* idiom* 如果所有方法都行不通
好在，那些能由夫妻双方平均分担采购任务的家庭，完全不存在这种预期差异。所以，如果通胀问题让你夜不能寐，解决方法其实非常简单：让你的另一半去超市采购就行。如果所有方法都行不通，那么在Instacart下单时闭上眼睛假装没看见（价格）吧。
写在文末
看来，“购物车焦虑”真的是一种现代女性集体症候群！从超市货架到生鲜App，每周的价格波动我们都门儿清。研究终于证实了这种“她体验”：不是我们更敏感，而是因为家庭采购的“首席财务官”永远在直面市场第一线。是时候让另一半体验一下“鸡蛋价格惊魂”了！
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