《鱿鱼游戏》为啥这么火？
10月12日，朝鲜媒体《阿里郎回声》报道称，热门韩剧《鱿鱼游戏》（Squid Game）揭露了“野蛮的韩国社会的悲惨现实”。报道还称，韩国的资本主义文化充斥着“腐败和没有道德的流氓”。
《鱿鱼游戏》（Squid Game）是于2021年9月17日全球上线的Netflix韩国原创剧。该剧播出后，火爆全球，跃升Netflix最受欢迎的非英语原创剧集。
无注释原文：
Behind the Global Appeal of ‘Squid Game,’ a Country’s Economic Unease
The New York Times
In “Squid Game,” the hit dystopian television show on Netflix, 456 people facing severe debt and financial despair play a series of deadly children’s games to win a $38 million cash prize in South Korea.
Koo Yong-hyun, a 35-year-old office worker in Seoul, has never had to face down masked homicidal guards or competitors out to slit his throat, like the characters in the show do. But Mr. Koo, who binge-watched “Squid Game” in a single night, said he empathized with the characters and their struggle to survive in the country’s deeply unequal society.
Mr. Koo, who got by on freelance gigs and government unemployment checks after he lost his steady job, said it is “almost impossible to live comfortably with a regular employee’s salary” in a city with runaway housing prices. Like many young people in South Korea and elsewhere, Mr. Koo sees a growing competition to grab a slice of a shrinking pie, just like the contestants in “Squid Game.”
Those similarities have helped turn the nine-episode drama into an unlikely international sensation. “Squid Game” is now the top-ranked show in the United States on Netflix and is on its way to becoming one of the most-watched shows in the streaming service’s history. “There’s a very good chance it will be our biggest show ever,” Ted Sarandos, a co-chief executive at Netflix, said during a recent business conference.
Culturally, the show has sparked an online embrace of its distinct visuals, especially the black masks decorated with simple squares and triangles worn by the anonymous guards, and a global curiosity for the Korean children’s games that underpin the deadly competitions. Recipes for dalgona, the sugary Korean treat at the center of one especially tense showdown, have gone viral.
Like the “Hunger Games” books and movies, “Squid Game” holds its audience with its violent tone, cynical plot and — spoiler alert! — a willingness to kill off fan-favorite characters. But it has also tapped a sense familiar to people in the United States, Western Europe and other places, that prosperity in nominally rich countries has become increasingly difficult to achieve, as wealth disparities widen and home prices rise past affordable levels.
“The stories and the problems of the characters are extremely personalized but also reflect the problems and realities of Korean society,” Hwang Dong-hyuk, the show’s creator, said in an email. He wrote the script as a film in 2008, when many of these trends had become evident, but overhauled it to reflect new worries, including the impact of the coronavirus. (Minyoung Kim, the head of content for the Asia-Pacific region at Netflix, said the company was in talks with Mr. Hwang about producing a second season.)
“Squid Game” is only the latest South Korean cultural export to win a global audience by tapping into the country’s deep feelings of inequality and ebbing opportunities. “Parasite,” the 2019 film that won best picture at the Oscars, paired a desperate family of grifters with the oblivious members of a rich Seoul household. “Burning,” a 2018 art-house hit, built tension by pitting a young deliveryman against a well-to-do rival for a woman’s attention.
South Korea boomed in the postwar era, making it one of the richest countries in Asia and leading some economists to call its rise the “miracle on the Han River.” But wealth disparity has worsened as the economy has matured.
“South Koreans used to have a collective community spirit,” said Yun Suk-jin, a drama critic and professor of modern literature at Chungnam National University. But the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s undermined the nation’s positive growth story and “made everyone fight for themselves.”
The country now ranks No. 11 using the Gini coefficient, one measure of income inequality, among the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the research group for the world’s richest nations. (The United States is No. 6.)
“Squid Game” lays bare the irony between the social pressure to succeed in South Korea and the difficulty of doing just that, said Shin Yeeun, who graduated from college in January 2020, just before the pandemic hit. Now 27, she said she had spent over a year looking for steady work.
“It’s really difficult for people in their 20s to find a full-time job these days,” she said.
South Korea has also suffered a sharp drop in births, generated partly by a sense among young people that raising children is too expensive.
“In South Korea, all parents want to send their kids to the best schools,” Ms. Shin said. “To do that you have to live in the best neighborhoods.” That would require saving enough money to buy a house, a goal so unrealistic “that I’ve never even bothered calculating how long it will take me,” Ms. Shin said.
“Squid Game” revolves around Seong Gi-hun, a gambling addict in his 40s who doesn’t have the means to buy his daughter a proper birthday present or pay for his aging mother’s medical expenses. One day he is offered a chance to participate in the Squid Game, a private event run for the entertainment of wealthy individuals. To claim the $38 million prize, contestants must pass through six rounds of traditional Korean children’s games. Failure means death.
The 456 contestants speak directly to many of the country’s anxieties. One is a graduate from Seoul National University, the nation’s top university, who is wanted for mishandling his clients’ funds. Another is a North Korean defector who needs to take care of her brother and help her mother escape from the North. Another character is an immigrant laborer whose boss refuses to pay his wages.
The characters have resonated with South Korean youth who don’t see a chance to advance in society. Known locally as the “dirt spoon” generation, many are obsessed with ways to get rich quickly, like with cryptocurrencies and the lottery. South Korea has one of the largest markets for virtual currency in the world.
Like the prize money in the show, cryptocurrencies give “people the chance to change their lives in a second,” said Mr. Koo, the office worker. Mr. Koo, whose previous employer went out of business during the pandemic, said the difficulty of earning money is one reason South Koreans are so obsessed with making a quick buck.
“I wonder how many people would participate if ‘Squid Game’ was held in real life,” he said.
- ◆ -
注：中文文本为纽约时报官方译文，仅供参考
含注释全文：
Behind the Global Appeal of ‘Squid Game,’ a Country’s Economic Unease
《鱿鱼游戏》为何引发共鸣：挣扎于一个极度不平等的社会
The New York Times
In “Squid Game,” the hit dystopian television show on Netflix, 456 people facing severe debt and financial despair play a series of deadly children's games to win a $38 million cash prize in South Korea.
在网飞（Netflix）热播的反乌托邦剧《鱿鱼游戏》（Squid Game）中，456位陷入严重债务和财务困境的人为了获得456亿韩元（约2.5亿人民币）的现金奖励，在韩国参与了一系列致命的儿童游戏。
dystopian
dystopian /dɪsˈtoʊpiən/ 表示“反面假想国的；反面乌托邦的”，英文解释为“relating to a very bad or unfair society in which there is a lot of suffering, especially an imaginary society in the future, or to the description of such a society”。
Koo Yong-hyun, a 35-year-old office worker in Seoul, has never had to face down masked homicidal guards or competitors out to slit his throat, like the characters in the show do. But Mr. Koo, who binge-watched “Squid Game” in a single night, said he empathized with the characters and their struggle to survive in the country's deeply unequal society.
35岁的邱容贤（Koo Yong-hyun，音）是首尔的一位上班族，他从来没有像剧中角色那样，面对杀气腾腾的看守者或是想要割断自己喉咙的竞争者。但用了一个晚上就全部看完《鱿鱼游戏》的邱容贤表示，他对剧中角色在极不平等的韩国社会里的生存挣扎感同身受。
homicidal
homicidal /ˈhɒmɪˌsaɪdəl/ 表示“杀人的；有杀人倾向的；有杀人嗜好的；杀气腾腾的”，英文解释为“likely to murder”如：a homicidal maniac 杀人狂。
slit
表示“撕裂，切开；在…上开狭长口子”，英文解释为“to make a long, straight, narrow cut in something”举个🌰：
He slit open the envelope with a knife.
他用刀将信封裁开。
binge
binge可以作动词，也可以作名词，表示“（尤指在饮食和花钱方面）无节制的狂热行为，狂欢，放纵，狂闹”，英文解释为“an occasion when an activity is done in an extreme way, especially eating, drinking, or spending money”，如：a drinking/eating/spending binge 狂饮/暴食/滥花钱，举个🌰：
He went on a five day drinking binge.
他连续5天狂饮。
📍binge drinking可以指“暴饮（酒），酗酒”（the activity of drinking too much alcohol on one occasion）。
📍binge watching可以理解为“无节制地狂看某部电视连续剧”或者说“追剧，刷剧”；binge-watch作动词，举个🌰：
We binge-watched an entire season of Breaking Bad on Sunday.
我们星期天一口气看完了整季的《绝命毒师》。
📍《经济学人》（The Economist）一篇讲述奈飞（Netflix）的文章中提到：Investors lap it up as hungrily as Netflix binge-watchers, who now number 193m worldwide. 投资者对奈飞的追捧一如从世界各地到它网上追剧的1.93亿人。
empathize
表示“表示同情；有同感，产生共鸣”，英文解释为“to be able to understand how someone else feels”。
Mr. Koo, who got by on freelance gigs and government unemployment checks after he lost his steady job, said it is “almost impossible to live comfortably with a regular employee's salary” in a city with runaway housing prices. Like many young people in South Korea and elsewhere, Mr. Koo sees a growing competition to grab a slice of a shrinking pie, just like the contestants in “Squid Game.”
在失去稳定的工作后，邱容贤靠自由职业和政府失业补贴勉强过活，他说，在这座房价飞涨的城市，“以普通职员的收入几乎不可能过上舒适的生活”。与韩国和其他国家的许多年轻人一样，邱容贤看到的是蛋糕越来越小，人们的竞争越来越激烈，就像《鱿鱼游戏》的参与者一样。
get by
表示“勉强过活，勉强对付过去”，英文解释为“to be able to live or deal with a situation with difficulty, usually by having just enough of something you need, such as money”举个🌰：
How can he get by on so little money?
他是怎样靠那么一点儿钱维持生计的？
freelance
表示“特约的；自由职业（者）的”，英文解释为“earning money by selling your work or services to several different organizations rather than being employed by one particular organization”。
gig
1）表示“现场演出；现场演奏会，现场演唱会；现场喜剧表演”，英文解释为“A gig is a live performance by someone such as a musician or a comedian.”举个🌰：
The two bands join forces for a gig on February 8.
这两支乐队将于2月8日联手举行一场演出。
2）表示“（尤指临时的）工作”，英文解释为“a job, especially a temporary one”。
runaway
1）作形容词，表示“迅猛发展而难以控制的”，英文解释为“You use runaway to describe a situation in which something increases or develops very quickly and cannot be controlled.”举个🌰：
Our June sale was a runaway success.
我们6月份的促销大获成功。
2）作名词，表示“离家出走者”，英文解释为“A runaway is someone, especially a child, who leaves home without telling anyone or without permission.”如：a teenage runaway 一名十来岁的离家出走者。
3）作形容词，表示“（车辆或动物）失控的”，英文解释为“A runaway vehicle or animal is moving forward quickly, and its driver or rider has lost control of it.”举个🌰：
The runaway car careered into a bench, hitting an elderly couple.
那辆失控的轿车疾速撞上了一条长凳，撞了一对老夫妇。
contestant
表示“参赛者，选手”，英文解释为“A contestant in a competition or game show is a person who takes part in it”。
区分：
📍combatant表示“战斗人员，战士，斗士”，英文解释为“a person who fights in a war”。
Those similarities have helped turn the nine-episode drama into an unlikely international sensation. “Squid Game” is now the top-ranked show in the United States on Netflix and is on its way to becoming one of the most-watched shows in the streaming service's history. “There's a very good chance it will be our biggest show ever,” Ted Sarandos, a co-chief executive at Netflix, said during a recent business conference.
正是这样的相似之处，让这部九集系列剧出乎意料地引发了全球轰动效应。《鱿鱼游戏》成为了网飞在美国收视最高的剧集，并有望成为该平台有史以来收视最高的剧集之一。“这很有可能会成为我们受众规模最大的剧集，”网飞的联合执行总裁特德·萨兰德斯（Ted Sarandos）在最近的一次商务会议上表示。
episode
在电视/电影节目中，episode表示“一集，一节，片断”（one of the single parts into which a story is divided, especially when it is broadcast on the television or radio），也可以指“事件；（相关的）一连串事件；一段经历”，英文解释为“a single event or group of related events”举个🌰：
This latest episode in the fraud scandal has shocked a lot of people.
诈骗丑闻最新爆出的这一事件让很多人瞠目结舌。
补充：
📍第几集用的是Episode，第几季则为Season. 你下载美剧时可能就会看到S01E02，就是指的第1季第2集。最后一集finale：the last part of a piece of music or of a show, event etc （演出的）终场，最后一幕；（音乐的）终曲；（事件等的）结尾。
🎬还有，看剧时新一集开头通常会有的一个说法：previously on ...，...的前情提要，前情回顾。
sensation
1）表示“轰动；哗然；引起轰动的人（或事物）”，英文解释为“very great surprise, excitement, or interest among a lot of people; the person or the thing that causes this surprise”举个🌰：
The band became a sensation overnight.
一夜之间，这支乐队名声大振。
📍此前，戳爷Troye Sivan被传已分手数月？文中出现过，pop sensation可以理解为“流行巨星”，“流行天王”。还有，63岁中国爷爷成油管网红文中标题就是Master carpenter's ancient Chinese skills are a YouTube sensation.
2）作可数名词，还可以表示“感觉；知觉”，英文解释为“a feeling that you get when sth affects your body”，如：a tingling/burning sensation 刺痛/烧灼的感觉。
3）作不可数名词，可以表示“感觉能力；知觉能力”，英文解释为“the ability to feel through your sense of touch”，举个🌰：
She seemed to have lost all sensation in her arms.
她的两条胳膊好像完全失去知觉了。
🎬电影《困在爱中》（Stuck in Love）中的台词提到：I was overcome by the oddest sensation. 我像是被一种怪异的冲动（感觉）驱使着。
Culturally, the show has sparked an online embrace of its distinct visuals, especially the black masks decorated with simple squares and triangles worn by the anonymous guards, and a global curiosity for the Korean children's games that underpin the deadly competitions. Recipes for dalgona, the sugary Korean treat at the center of one especially tense showdown, have gone viral.
在文化层面上，这部剧独特的视觉效果在网上引发热议，特别是无名的看守们所戴的黑色面具，只以简单的正方形和三角形为装饰。同时它也激发了全世界对于韩国儿童游戏的好奇，剧中的死亡竞赛正是脱胎于此。椪糖制作食谱火爆全网，这种韩国甜食是剧中一场特别紧张的比拼的主线。
spark
spark表示“引发”，英文解释为“If one thing sparks another, the first thing cause the second thing to start happening.”举个🌰：
My teacher organized a unit on computer science that really sparked my interest.
我的老师编排了一个关于计算机科学的单元，它真正激发了我的兴趣。
此前，《后浪》和「青年」一文的标题中就用到：Bilibili's May 4th Youth Day video sparks discussion on social media 引发热议。
类似的还有：
📍stir表示“激发，激起（强烈的感情）；引起（强烈的反应）”，英文解释为“to make someone have a strong feeling or reaction”，举个🌰：
The poem succeeds in stirring the imagination.
这首诗能够激发起想象力。
📍provoke也表示“激起，引起”，英文解释为“to cause a reaction or feeling, especially a sudden one”，如：provoke debate/discussion 激起辩论/讨论。
📍spur 鼓动；激励；鞭策；刺激；鼓舞”，英文解释为“If one thing spurs you to do another, it encourages you to do it.”举个🌰：
It's the money that spurs these fishermen to risk a long ocean journey in their flimsy boats.
是金钱驱使这些渔民驾驶单薄的小船冒险出海远航。
🎬电影《龙之心3：巫师的诅咒》（Dragonheart 3: The Sorcerer's Curse）中的台词提到：To spur the clans to war. 激励部族发起战争。
📍trigger表示“发动；引起；触发”，英文解释为“to make sth happen suddenly”举个🌰：
Nuts can trigger off a violent allergic reaction.
坚果可以引起严重的过敏反应。
anonymous
1）表示“匿名的”，英文解释为“If you remain anonymous when you do something, you do not let people know that you were the person who did it.”举个🌰：
An anonymous benefactor stepped in to provide the prize money.
一位匿名捐助人参与进来提供了奖金。
2）表示“不记名的”，英文解释为“Something that is anonymous does not reveal who you are.”举个🌰：
Of course, that would have to be by anonymous vote.
当然，那得是通过不记名投票。
3）表示“没有特色的”，英文解释为“without any unusual or interesting features”，如：long stretches of dull and anonymous countryside 大片大片千篇一律、枯燥平淡的乡村。举个🌰：
He has a rather anonymous face.
他相貌平平。
underpin
表示“加强，巩固，构成（…的基础等）”，英文解释为“to support or form the basis of an argument, a claim, etc.”举个🌰：
The report is underpinned by extensive research.
这份报告以广泛的研究为基础。
recipe
此处表示“食谱”，此外还可以指“方法；秘诀；诀窍”，英文解释为“a method or an idea that seems likely to have a particular result”举个🌰：
What's her recipe for success?
她成功的秘诀是什么？
showdown
表示“决定胜负的大辩论；摊牌”，英文解释为“an important argument that is intended to end a disagreement that has existed for a long time”。
viral
表示“（通过网络在个体之间迅速）病毒式的（传播）”，英文解释为“used to describe something that quickly becomes very popular or well known by being published on the internet or sent from person to person by email, phone, etc.”举个🌰：
Here's a list of the top ten viral videos this week.
以下是本周十大病毒式传播的视频。
📍常用短语 go viral，字面意思就是“像病毒一样传播、扩散”，引申为“走红，十分流行，疯狂传播”，比如朋友圈xxx刷屏了，也可以说go viral.
Like the “Hunger Games” books and movies, “Squid Game” holds its audience with its violent tone, cynical plot and — spoiler alert! — a willingness to kill off fan-favorite characters. But it has also tapped a sense familiar to people in the United States, Western Europe and other places, that prosperity in nominally rich countries has become increasingly difficult to achieve, as wealth disparities widen and home prices rise past affordable levels.
就像《饥饿游戏》（Hunger Games）系列丛书和电影一样，《鱿鱼游戏》的引人入胜在于其暴力基调、嘲讽的情节和（剧透警告！）对杀死最受粉丝喜爱的角色的热衷。但它也触及到了美国、西欧等各地人们习以为常的认知，即随着贫富差距扩大，房价上涨到无法承受的水平，名义上的富裕国家已经越来越难以实现富裕的生活。
cynical
cynical /ˈsɪnɪkl/ 1）表示“愤世嫉俗的；怀疑人之真诚的；认为人皆自私的”，英文解释为“believing that people are only interested in themselves and are not sincere”如：a cynical view/smile 愤世嫉俗的观点。
2）表示“利用他人感情的；损人利己的”，英文解释为“used to say that someone's feelings or emotions are used to your own advantage”。
spoiler
表示“（在电影、电视连续剧等公映前的）剧情透漏”，英文解释为“information that you are given about what is going to happen in a film/movie, television series etc. before it is shown to the public”。
这个词还有两个比较有趣的意思，分别是：
1) 表示“搅乱的人；搅乱的事物”，英文解释为“If you describe someone or something as a spoiler, you mean that they try to spoil the performance of other people or things.”举个🌰：
I was a talentless spoiler.
我是个毫无天赋的捣乱分子。
2) 表示“（飞机上用以减速的）扰流器；（汽车的）气流偏导器”，英文解释为：A spoiler is an object which forms part of an aircraft's wings or part of the body of a car. It changes the flow of air around the vehicle, allowing an aircraft to change direction or making a car's forward movement more efficient.
tap
1）表示“轻敲；轻拍；轻叩”（to hit sb/sth quickly and lightly）举个🌰：
He tapped at the door.
他轻轻敲门。
2）表示“轻触（手机或平板电脑等给予指令）”（to touch the screen of a phone, tablet computer, etc. in order to give an instruction for something to happen）举个🌰：
You can manage the repeat and shuffle options by tapping the screen once and swiping to the left.
你可以通过轻触一下屏幕向左滑动来使用重复和移动功能。
3）表示“ 在（电话或电报线）上装窃听器；窃听”（to use a small device attached to a phone in order to listen secretly to what people are saying）举个🌰：
He suspected that his phone had been tapped.
他怀疑自己的电话被人窃听了。
4）表示“利用，开发，发掘（已有的资源、知识等）”（to make use of a source of energy, knowledge, etc. that already exists）举个🌰：
We need to tap the expertise of the people we already have.
我们需要利用我们现有人员的专业知识。
🎬电影《头号玩家》（Ready Player One）中的台词提到：This isn't real, you're tapping my feed. 这不是真的 你们拦截了我的信号。
🎬电影《银河护卫队2》（Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2）中的台词提到：She wouldn't even tap her foot. Wouldn't move a muscle. 她也毫不动容 连脚趾头也不动一下。
disparity
disparity /dɪˈspærɪtɪ/表示“（尤指不公正的）不同，差异”，英文解释为“a difference between two or more things, especially an unfair one”，如：a disparity between the rates of pay for men and women 男性与女性在工资水平上的差异。
相反的：
📍parity表示“（尤指薪金、权利或权力的）相同，相等，同等”，英文解释为“the state of being equal, especially having equal pay, rights, or power”举个🌰：
Women workers are demanding parity with their male colleagues.
女职工在要求与男同事享有同等的待遇。
还可以指两个不同国家的货币单位的“平价，等价”(equality between the units of money from two diffe-rent countries）；
📍2019年「妇女节」联合国秘书长发表讲话时，就提到：
📍在2018年政府工作报告中，居民收入增长和经济增长基本同步；就处理为：Basic parity in personal income growth and economic growth.
“The stories and the problems of the characters are extremely personalized but also reflect the problems and realities of Korean society,” Hwang Dong-hyuk, the show's creator, said in an email. He wrote the script as a film in 2008, when many of these trends had become evident, but overhauled it to reflect new worries, including the impact of the coronavirus. (Minyoung Kim, the head of content for the Asia-Pacific region at Netflix, said the company was in talks with Mr. Hwang about producing a second season.)
“这些故事和角色遇到的困难都是极度个人化的，但还是反映了韩国社会的问题和现实，”该剧创作者黄东赫(Hwang Dong-hyuk)在电子邮件中写道。2008年，他创作出该剧的电影剧本，当时许多趋势已经很明显，但后来他对剧本进行了修改，表达了更多新的担忧，包括新冠病毒的影响。（网飞亚太区的内容总监金敏英[Minyoung Kim，音]表示，该公司正在与黄东赫商谈第二季的制作事宜。）
script
表示“剧本；电影剧本；广播（或讲话等）稿”，英文解释为“a written text of a play, film/movie, broadcast, talk, etc.”举个🌰：
That line isn't in the original script.
原剧本中没有那句台词。
overhaul
表示“彻底检修，大修；改造；改进”，英文解释为“to repair or improve something so that every part of it works as it should”举个🌰：
I got the engine overhauled.
我彻底检修了发动机。
“Squid Game” is only the latest South Korean cultural export to win a global audience by tapping into the country's deep feelings of inequality and ebbing opportunities. “Parasite,” the 2019 film that won best picture at the Oscars, paired a desperate family of grifters with the oblivious members of a rich Seoul household. “Burning,” a 2018 art-house hit, built tension by pitting a young deliveryman against a well-to-do rival for a woman's attention.
《鱿鱼游戏》只是最新一个赢得全球口碑的韩国文化输出案例，这些作品无不在展示韩国社会对不平等和机会减少的深刻体会。2019年的《寄生虫》（Parasite）拿下了奥斯卡最佳影片奖，该片将走投无路的骗子家庭与冷漠无知的首尔富裕家庭的故事交织在一起。2018年的热门文艺片《燃烧》（Burning）则通过年轻送货员与富有的对手争夺女人欢心制造了戏剧张力。
ebb
ebb /ɛb/ 1）表示“衰退；逐渐减少；衰竭”，英文解释为“If someone's life, support, or feeling ebbs, it becomes weaker and gradually disappears.”举个🌰：
Were there occasions when enthusiasm ebbed?
热情会有衰退的时候吗？
2）另一个含义表示“落潮，退潮”，英文解释为“When the sea or tide ebbs, it moves away from the coast and falls to a lower level.”
📍ebb作名词时，有个短语叫ebb and flow意思是“起伏，涨落”（the way in which the level of something regularly becomes higher or lower in a situation）举个🌰：
You have to accept the ebb and flow of love in a relationship.
你得承受恋爱过程中爱情的起起伏伏。
🎬电影《无法无天》（Lawless）中的台词提到：There's an ebb and flow to this kind of work. 这种工作总是起起落落。
grifter
表示“骗财的人”，英文解释为“someone who gets money dishonestly by tricking people”。
pit sb. against sb.
表示“使相斗；使竞争；使较量”，英文解释为“to cause one person, group, or thing to fight against or be in competition with another”，也有用pitch sb/sth against sb/sth这个表达，英文解释为“to make someone fight or compete against someone else”，互相较劲/较量/对立/对战，举个🌰：
The climbers pitted themselves against the mountain.
攀登者与大山一较高下。
It was a bitter war, that pitted neighbour against neighbour.
那是一场可怕的战争，使人和人之间相互为敌。
📍此前，霉霉新歌MV与水果姐拥抱 重归于好文中就提到：It also reiterates that while fans might be out there trying to pit females stars against one another,
well-to-do
表示“富有的，有钱的”，相当于rich，如：well-to-do families 富裕的家庭。
South Korea boomed in the postwar era, making it one of the richest countries in Asia and leading some economists to call its rise the “miracle on the Han River.” But wealth disparity has worsened as the economy has matured.
韩国在战后繁荣发展，成为了亚洲最富裕的国家之一，一些经济学家将其崛起称为“汉江奇迹”。但随着经济的成熟，贫富差距也在加剧。
boom
表示“增长；迅速发展”，英文解释为“to increase or become successful and produce a lot of money very quickly”举个🌰：
The leisure industry is booming.
休闲产业正在蓬勃发展。
“South Koreans used to have a collective community spirit,” said Yun Suk-jin, a drama critic and professor of modern literature at Chungnam National University. But the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s undermined the nation's positive growth story and “made everyone fight for themselves.”
“韩国人曾经有一种集体精神，”戏剧评论家、忠南大学（Chungnam National University）现代文学教授尹淑珍（Yun Suk-jin，音）说。但上世纪90年代末的亚洲金融危机导致韩国的经济增长神话破灭，“人人都各自为战。”
undermine
1）表示“逐渐削弱；逐渐动摇”，英文解释为“If you undermine something such as a feeling or a system, you make it less strong or less secure than it was before, often by a gradual process or by repeated efforts.”举个🌰：
Offering advice on each and every problem will undermine her feeling of being adult.
每个问题都为她提出忠告会逐渐削弱她的成年意识。
2）表示“（通常以间接方式）动摇（某人的地位或权威）”，英文解释为“If you undermine someone or undermine their position or authority, you make their authority or position less secure, often by indirect methods.”举个🌰：
She undermined him and destroyed his confidence in his own talent.
她动摇了他的地位，摧毁了他对自己才能的信心。
The country now ranks No. 11 using the Gini coefficient, one measure of income inequality, among the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the research group for the world's richest nations. (The United States is No. 6.)
在研究世界最富裕国家的经济合作与发展组织（Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development）的成员国中，韩国的基尼系数如今排在第11位，该指标是衡量收入不平等的标准之一。（美国排名第六。）
“Squid Game” lays bare the irony between the social pressure to succeed in South Korea and the difficulty of doing just that, said Shin Yeeun, who graduated from college in January 2020, just before the pandemic hit. Now 27, she said she had spent over a year looking for steady work.
2020年1月，也就是在疫情前才从大学毕业的辛誉恩（Shin Yeeun，音）说，《鱿鱼游戏》通过揭示在韩国取得成功的社会压力和实现这一目标的难度，将讽刺意味展露无遗。现年27岁的辛誉恩说，她花了一年多时间来寻找稳定的工作。
lay bare sth.
表示“公开，公布”，英文解释为“to make something known”举个🌰：
It's been promoted as the biography that lays bare the truth behind the legend.
这本自传被宣传成是一部揭示传奇背后真相的作品。
“It's really difficult for people in their 20s to find a full-time job these days,” she said.
“如今20多岁的人真的很难找到全职工作，”她说。
South Korea has also suffered a sharp drop in births, generated partly by a sense among young people that raising children is too expensive.
韩国也面临人口出生率的大幅下滑，部分原因是年轻人觉得养孩子太贵。
“In South Korea, all parents want to send their kids to the best schools,” Ms. Shin said. “To do that you have to live in the best neighborhoods.” That would require saving enough money to buy a house, a goal so unrealistic “that I've never even bothered calculating how long it will take me,” Ms. Shin said.
“在韩国，所有的家长都想把孩子送到最好的学校，”辛誉恩说。“要做到这一点，你必须住在最好的社区。”这意味着要攒够买房钱，这个目标太过不切实际，“我甚至都从来不去计算要攒多长时间，”她说。
“Squid Game” revolves around Seong Gi-hun, a gambling addict in his 40s who doesn't have the means to buy his daughter a proper birthday present or pay for his aging mother's medical expenses. One day he is offered a chance to participate in the Squid Game, a private event run for the entertainment of wealthy individuals. To claim the $38 million prize, contestants must pass through six rounds of traditional Korean children's games. Failure means death.
《鱿鱼游戏》的故事围绕着主角成奇勋（Seong Gi-hun）展开，年过四十的他赌博成瘾，连给女儿买份像样生日礼物的钱都没有，也付不起他年迈老母的医药费。某一天他得到了参加“鱿鱼游戏”的机会，这是一种为富人提供的秘密娱乐活动。为了获得3800万美元的奖金，参赛者必须完成六轮传统的韩国儿童游戏。失败就意味着死亡。
revolve around
表示“以…为中心；围绕（某个主题）”，英文解释为“If you say that one thing revolves around another thing, you mean that the second thing is the main feature or focus of the first thing.”举个🌰：
Since childhood, her life has revolved around tennis.
从孩提时代起，她的生活就一直以网球为中心。
The 456 contestants speak directly to many of the country's anxieties. One is a graduate from Seoul National University, the nation's top university, who is wanted for mishandling his clients' funds. Another is a North Korean defector who needs to take care of her brother and help her mother escape from the North. Another character is an immigrant laborer whose boss refuses to pay his wages.
456位参赛者直接反映了韩国民众的焦虑之情。其中一人毕业于韩国最好的首尔大学，却因挪用客户资金被通缉。另一人则是需要照顾弟弟并帮助母亲逃离朝鲜的脱北者。还有一个角色是移民劳工，他的老板拒绝支付他的工资。
defector
表示“叛逃者”，英文解释为“A defector is someone who leaves their country, political party, or other group, and joins an opposing country, party, or group.”
The characters have resonated with South Korean youth who don't see a chance to advance in society. Known locally as the “dirt spoon” generation, many are obsessed with ways to get rich quickly, like with cryptocurrencies and the lottery. South Korea has one of the largest markets for virtual currency in the world.
这些角色在看不到上升机会的韩国青年中引起了共鸣。在韩国被称为“土汤匙”一代的群体中，许多人痴迷于一夜暴富的方法，比如加密货币和彩票。韩国是全世界最大的虚拟货币市场之一。
resonate
表示“使产生联想；引起共鸣”，英文解释为“If an experience or memory resonates, it makes you think of another similar one.”举个🌰：
Her experiences resonate powerfully with me, living, as I do, in a similar family situation.
她的家庭生活环境和我相似，所以她的经历在我心中引起强烈共鸣。
obsess
表示“使痴迷，使迷恋，使心神不宁”，英文解释为“if something or someone obsesses you, you think or worry about them all the time and you cannot think about anything else – used to show disapproval”，用法：be obsessed by / with sth / sb，举个🌰：
A lot of young girls are obsessed by their weight.
许多少女都过于担心自己的体重。
she has been obsessed with some lifeguard for months.
她几个月来一直在迷恋着某个救生员。
Like the prize money in the show, cryptocurrencies give “people the chance to change their lives in a second,” said Mr. Koo, the office worker. Mr. Koo, whose previous employer went out of business during the pandemic, said the difficulty of earning money is one reason South Koreans are so obsessed with making a quick buck.
就像剧中的奖金一样，加密货币“让人有机会瞬间改变自己的人生”，上班族邱容贤说道。他之前的公司在疫情期间倒闭，他说赚钱太难是韩国人如此痴迷于快速暴富的原因之一。
make a fast/quick buck
表示“轻易地赚钱”，英文解释为“to earn money quickly and easily”。
“I wonder how many people would participate if ‘Squid Game’ was held in real life,” he said.
“如果现实中真有‘鱿鱼游戏’，不知道多少人会参加，”他说。
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2015 Nobel Prize winner Angus Deaton…
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LearnAndRecord
2015年2月8日
2021年10月13日
第2440天
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