Common
Epidemics Infecting Modern People Xin Boping
Modern people tend to equate
information with knowledge, and knowledge with wisdom. That’s why many of them
are mouse potatoes, searching for hot news day and night. They would rattle on
and on once such people strike a conversation with you, as if they knew
everything about all major events in the world and the secretary-general of UN
were always at his beck and call! However, if you listen attentively and think
carefully you will find they are but parrots that only repeat what others have
said without a single word of their own. They never bother to chew and digest
the information rounded up. They are no more than mongers of information or
cheap megaphones. They tend to take brand for taste
and indifference for cultivation. They never open their mouths without dirty
filthy language. They were well dressed but spit at will on the street. They
always carry some vogue magazine in hand but would not even offer their seats
to senior citizens on buses. They are precocious physically
but deficient mentally. As material affluence tend to cause over-nutrition,
nowadays physically premature children are very common and many of them catch
up with their parents in height in their teens. But many of them do not know
how to make their bed, wash clothes, or even tie their shoestrings after they
become college students! Many of them become frequent
job-hoppers upon graduation from college and will hardly make any achievement.
They always hold that they were bestowed with genius and would sooner or later
find some place to bring their genius into full play. As a result, they would
not take a down-to-earth attitude in doing anything but feel wronged no matter what
jobs they get. To them, nothing is right or satisfactory, just like the saying
goes: “Distant mountains are always greener and taller.” Thus, job-hopping
becomes In modern peoples’ eyes, disgrace
is nothing, whereas, fame is everything. Thus, everyone is overeager to show
his face on the TV. He who can’t grasp such an opportunity rushes to “strip”
himself online, no matter how ugly he might look, how disgraceful the thing
might be, as long as he can fish for fame in return. “Show” swiftly goes to the
reverse: no shyness, all showiness. They buy houses only for the
purpose of showing off, even if they are heavily burdened by mortgage. Housing
is the inevitable topic of conversation no matter what you may talk about with
them. Those who haven’t bought a flat want to buy one, those who already bought
one want to buy a bigger one, and those who already have big ones want to buy a
second one. Flat as their wallets are, their blood boils with sudden urges to buy
whenever some new building opens for sale. When it comes to interior decoration,
they will also strive to score off their neighbors. You make a palace of your
flat? Well, I shall make a presidential suite of mine. However, as their salaries
are limited, they cannot but save every penny in order to make ends meet. Thus,
they drag out a miserable existence under heavy spiritual burden from day to
day. When it comes to the purchase of
private cars, they also keep vying with each other, ignoring the already
serious traffic jam. Many of them buy cares only to save their faces: they are
afraid to be looked down upon if they don’t own cars when others do. Some girls
even demand private cars as a must for marriage. Though driving one’s own car
costs more than hiring a taxi, they still rush to buy. As a result, there are more
and more cars to cram the already crowded streets, and very often walking
proves to be quicker than driving. Very often shopping reduces their
wisdom and they fall into traps set up by businessmen. The mere sight of “discount”
of any commodity will urge them to squeeze into the crowded store to buy it no
matter whether they really need it or not, and this practice has become an
obsession. As a result, heaps of unwanted things reduce their homes into
dumping grounds. As a matter of fact, sometimes they know very well that no discounted
goods is of high quality and they even swear not to be taken in any more.
However, they cannot help themselves as soon they see signs of “discount” or “promotion”.
（陈德彰 译） |
