Lesson48 Credit and Modern Consumers
　Credit is now being promoted and advertised as never before. People are being persuaded to buy money and then being told by other advertisements what to spend it on. Banks and Building Societies are at the forefront of this onslaught, heedless of the effect of personal debt on the social fabric and the balance of payments and a laissez-faire government refuses to take any responsibility. Artificial needs and desires are being foisted upon us and, because of the employment of evermore sophisticated techniques, we are beginning to believe that they are natural and immutable.
　　We now have to contend with junk mail, telephone selling and even cold visits by sales representatives to our homes in the evening. There is a new and thriving market for "luxury" goods, often bought on credit, naturally, with the manufacturers of glassware, china, jewellery and leather-bound books promoting their products and the associated "lifestyle" all over the place.
Designer labels have acquired special status and emanated a kind of religious aura. Any pair of jeans will not do; it has to be a pair with the correct label. Not only have we been transmogrified into habitual consumers, but we are increasingly defining ourselves and each other in terms of objects. We have become commodity fetishists. Images of consumers in adverts are largely stereotypes; they have to stand for categories of people in order to strike a bond of identification with as many of us as possible.

forefront 　　　　　最前部；最前线
onslaught 　　　　 冲击
heedless 　　　　　不注意的；不顾
laissez faire 　　 放任；自由主义
foist 　　　　　　　硬卖给；把...强加
evermore 　　　　　 始终
emanate　　　　　　散发；发出,
transmogrify 　　　 使变形；使改变
fetishist 　　　　 物神崇拜者

信用与现代消费者
过去从未像现在这样大力提倡和宣传信用。人们被说服去购买金钱，然后又被其他广告告知用钱买什么。银行和建房互助会站在这场冲击波的最前沿，无视个人欠债对社会结构和支付平衡的影响，而一个采取放任主义的政府不愿对此承担任何责任。人造的需求和欲望正强加给我们。因为使用的技术始终很深奥，我们开始相信这些需求是自然的和不可改变的。
我们现在不得不应付垃圾邮件、电话销售，甚至是销售代表们的强行登门夜访。新生而繁荣的“奢侈品”市场，通常以信用支付，自然到处都是玻璃器具、瓷器、珠宝和皮边儿书籍的制造商们在推销他们的产品以及与其紧密联系的“生活方式”。
设计师标牌已经获得了特殊地位，并发出一种带宗教色彩的光环。不是随意一条牛仔裤都行，必须是一条有正确标牌的牛仔裤。我们不但已经被改变为习惯性消费者，而且我们越来越根据物品来定义自己和别人。我们已经开始盲目迷恋商品。广告里的消费者形象大多是模式化的，他们必须代表各个类型的人，以便让尽可能多的人形成认同。