美國金融危機萬花筒：危機之下 情人掉價(圖)

題圖：法國畫家弗朗索瓦•布歇筆下的國王路易十五的情婦

推薦給大家一篇文章，來自華爾街日報，僅供閱讀參考，兼顧學習英文：）

WSJ Wealth Report: Rich Cut Back on Payments to Mistresses危機之下 情人掉價

Robert Frank  2008年11月20日16:24

You know times are tough when the rich start cutting costs on their mistresses.

當你看到有錢人都開始扣減情人的開銷時，你就會知道現在確實是世道艱難了。

According to a new survey by Prince & Assoc., more than 80% of multimillionaires who had extra-marital lovers planned to cut back on their gifts and allowances. Still, only 12% of the multimillionaire cheaters said they plan to give up on their lovers altogether for financial reasons.

據Prince & Assoc.的最新調查顯示，逾八成擁有婚外情人的百萬富翁已經計劃減少給情人的禮物開支及生活費了。不過，隻有12%的花心大佬說他們會因為金錢方麵的原因和情人徹底說拜拜。

Rich people are getting hit, and they’re all expressing the need to curtail unnecessary spending, said Russ Alan Prince, president of Prince & Assoc., a wealth-research firm based in Connecticut. Lovers are part of the same calculation.

Prince & Assoc.是康涅狄格州一家專門麵向富有人群的調查公司，總裁羅斯·艾倫·普林斯(Russ Alan Prince)說，經濟危機正在衝擊富有人士，他們均表示需要削減不必要的支出，其中就包括花在情人身上的錢。

Of course, any study of millionaires and their mistresses should be taken with a large grain of salt. The survey a subset of a larger wealth study polled 191 individuals with a minimum net worth of $20 million who said they had lovers of at least a year or more (this to screen out the one-night stands, etc.). About two thirds of the respondents were men and one third women. All were married and all had personal control over their finances, meaning the women and men surveyed were the primary wealth holders in their homes.

當然，我們應該對任何針對百萬富翁及其情人們的調查都報以半信半疑的態度。此次調查的191位富翁都至少擁有2,000萬美元淨資產，和情人至少交往一年（由此排除了一夜情等情況）；受訪者男女比例約為2:1，他們均為已婚人士，親自處理個人的財務情況，這就意味在他們是各自家庭的主要財富持有者。此次調查是一個涉及麵更廣的富有人群行為研究的一部分。

The most surprising stats in the study relate to gender and what might be termed length of service. Fully 82% of men in the study said they planned to lower the allowances to their mistresses, while more than three quarters planned to provide fewer gifts, less expensive gifts and fewer perks, like jet rides, resort vacations and top restaurant meals.

在調查結論中令人最感意外的部分與性別及交往時間有關。足足82%的男性受訪者表示他們已計劃降低情婦的生活費，超過75%的人說計劃減少送禮、降低禮物標準以及減少揮霍行為，例如乘坐私人飛機、度假以及頂級餐廳享受美食。

Women were far more generous to their paramours in the face of financial crises. Less than 20% planned to lower allowances, gifts and perks, while more than half planned to raise them.

而相比之下，同樣置身經濟危機中的“富婆們”則對自己的情人慷慨得多。有意減少上述支出的人隻有不到20%，更有過半的人表示要提高情夫的生活標準。

Susan Shapiro Barash, who teaches gender studies at Marymount Manhattan College and wrote Little White Lies, Deep Dark Secrets, about why women lie, said women value their lovers more than men in a time of economic trouble. For the women, lovers matter more than ever now because the rest of life is so dreary, she said. For the men, they’re just cutting across the board.

在Marymount Manhattan College教授性別研究課程的蘇珊·夏普羅·巴羅什(Susan Shapiro Barash)說，在經濟困難的情況下，女性比男性更珍視自己的情人。她說，在女人看來，既然生活的其他部分已經如此令人沮喪了，愛情就變得無比珍貴；而對男人來說，他們隻會通盤考慮問題，想著能省就省。巴羅什還寫有一本研究女性撒謊原因的書《善意小謊言背後的大秘密》（Little White Lies, Deep Dark Secrets）。

Ms. Barash added that women may value their lovers more today because their husbands are so miserable. If your husband lost his job on Wall Street and he’s miserable, you need the escape,§ she says.

巴羅什補充指出，如今女人之所以更看重情人可能是因為自己丈夫正處在低穀期，如果自己的老公被華爾街掃地出門，整天一幅慘兮兮的樣子，這個女人會想要離這位“衰神”遠一點。

The duration of the relationship also seems to play a role in the economics of high-end cavorting. The study found that more than two thirds of the millionaires who had been with their lovers for three or more years planned to cut back. That compares with less than half for those with a tenure of one to three years.

在這種“高端”的出軌遊戲中，婚外情維持時間長短似乎也會對眼下的開支問題產生一定影響。研究表明，在和情人交往三年以上的富翁中，超過三分之二的人表示計劃縮減相關支出；而隻有不到一半的富人忍心“克扣”自己交往時間尚不足三年的情人。

What we found in talking to the respondents is that the magic of the relationship with their lover fades after a while, so they’re more willing to let them go, Mr. Prince says.

普林斯說，我們在調查中發現，婚外情的魔力會在一段時間後漸漸褪色，因此當事人更願意放手讓一切就此逝去。

The survey doesn’t mean to suggest that all, most or even a large minority of rich men and women have affairs. It simply is a snapshot of a certain sample at a certain time. Yet it suggests that in a time of financial crisis, it is better to be a kept man than a compensated woman.

本次調查無意暗示大多數富有男女都擁有婚外情；它隻是特定時期一個特定人群的生活剪影。不過，從這份調查中我們的確可以看出，在金融危機的侵襲下，情夫的日子恐怕要比情婦好過那麽一些些。

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[sun_flower]

出了聊情人，就是說小蜜，憨子的情商很高嘛！