North Pole expedition, spoilt babies 北極探險考察, 嬰兒用品市場的興起

本集內容

Sailing to the North Pole 英國探險者引領船員駛向北極

Spoiling our babies 全球嬰兒用品的消費需求日益增長

文字稿

Setting off into uncharted Arctic waters – a pair of yachts attempting a first, sailing all the way to the North Pole. A crew of ten and dog Fukimi have just departed from Alaska. Led by British explorer Pen Hadow, they have a 3,500 mile voyage ahead. It’s the rapidly warming conditions in the Artctic that have made this expedition even possible. A large scale analysis from the US Polar Science Center estimates that from the late 1970s, half of the volume of sea ice has been lost.

這對帆船正向北極的未知水域進發，希望成為首次一路航行至北極的隊伍。一組由十名船員和一條叫 Fukimi 的狗組成的隊伍剛剛從阿拉斯加啟程。由英國探險者佩恩·哈多領隊的這組船員們還要行駛3500英裡（5600公裡）才能到達目的地。給這次探險帶來一線可能的是北極地區急速升高的溫度條件。據美國極地科學中心發佈的一項大規模分析估計，自1970年代後期起，海冰總體積的一半已消融不見。

Shopping for a baby isn’t what it used to be. There’s an explosion of choice. In America women are waiting longer to have children – by then they often have more disposable income. This year the global market for baby care products is expected to reach 66.8 billion dollars. Take every parent’s desire to get the best for their kids, fuel it with the classic consumer desire to keep up with the Joneses, and big profits for the baby gear companies seem to be child’s play.

如今，為嬰兒購物和以往大有不同。人們可選擇的商品種類迅速增多。現在在美國，女性需要等到有更多可自由支配的收入後再生育。今年育嬰產品的全球市場預期值將達到668億美元（約4460億元人民幣）。造成這一局面的原因可能是每個傢長都渴望自己的孩子能得到最好的東西，再加上人們想要和別人攀比這一典型的消費者欲求，這樣一來，售賣嬰兒用品的公司輕而易舉地就能賺得巨大的利潤。