【考场题目回忆】：

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?

Nowadays, people are more obsessed with buying material things like expensive clothes and cars because people judge each other according to their possessions. Agree or disagree？

Judgements affect consumer behaviors. Typically, we recognize people driving brand-name cars, envy dwellers’ of extravagant villas, and despise people in rags. Hence, with the wish of being approved of and the worry of being discriminated against, we become obsessed with material possessions, especially luxury ones.

● Brand-name 知名品牌的

● Despise 轻视

In our early formative years, our parents and elders around us intentionally or indirectly lead us onto the path of materialism through their actions. This is the case where elders expect us to maintain a certain social-economic standing. When we grow up, and if their expectations are met, we choose to purchase certain material things to display our ranks and success. Another case is that our parents want us to have a specific type of friends. To integrate into such communities, certain kinds of possessions, without which we may find it hard to affiliate ourselves with the group, are considered as indispensables. Hence, our pursuits of material things can be attributed to our desire for elders’ acclaim and peers’ acceptance.

● formative years 生长期，生命形成期

● social-economic standing 社会经济地位

● affiliate sb. with 使加入（某个组织，工作）

● integrate into 融入

In addition, the chase for happiness, which can be gained from others’ trust or approval, drives us to pursue material possessions. Don’t the following thoughts occur to us at certain points? Firstly, I will not feel complete until I find a partner. Secondly, I can really enjoy if I buy a house. Thirdly, once I get the big promotion, I will be happy. A pattern hence emerges, we often place happiness on some external factors such as material things and others’ acceptance. If such factors are missing, we tend to pin the empty feeling on material things like expensive cars, bigger houses, and greater power. In this case, the underlying intention of our zeal for material possessions is revealed: we need others’ approval and support to fill the void inside us. 

● Pin sth. on 把xx归罪于

● feel complete 感到完整

At this point, we can equate our pursuits for material things with our desire to be approved of and the fear to be excluded. In other words, it is others’ judgements that lead us to buy expensive things.