黄牛该好好管管了

据@新华社：今年以来，演出市场迅速回暖，再度激起了歌迷、影迷、戏剧迷们久违的热情。然而，官方购票平台“一票难求”、“黄牛”加价倒票“大行其道”又让众多观众“心灰意冷”。混乱的购票秩序、远高定价的“黄牛票”，严重困扰观众体验，扰乱市场秩序。

🤔️小作业：

A. It was nonexistent before the advent of technology.

B. It has been consistently addressed and reduced by legal interventions.

C. It has evolved with changing times but remained a persistent issue.

D. It was less prevalent during the times of outdoor amphitheaters.

A. Scalpers in the digital age using sophisticated methods to obtain tickets.

B. Managers of box offices who are bribed by scalpers.

C. Tickets that are sold at extremely high prices.

D. Concert goers who are willing to pay exorbitant prices for tickets.

无注释原文：

A brief history of scalping concert tickets

From: Global News

January 22, 2023

There are few things more frustrating to a music fan than being shut out of a sold-out concert only to see tickets for sale at inflated prices on the secondary market. And how do those guys selling tickets on the street outside the venue get their inventory?

Scalpers (“ticket touters” to the British and “leveraged arbitragers” to ardent capitalists) are as old as live events themselves. When the Greeks opened the first-ever outdoor amphitheatre in 325 BCE — it was built into the hillside of the Acropolis and sat up to 17,000 people in its 55 semi-circular rows — there was no doubt some dude in a robe outside the gates yelling “Who's got seats?” The same would have happened at the first Roman theatre in Pompeii in 80 BCE. And I'd lay money on the same thing happening outside of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre for the premiere of A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1604.

Scalping (a term that first appeared in the 19th century referring to brokers of railway tickets) has always been a problem. How could a regular person get into shows when there were crowds of “ticket speculators” and “sidewalk men” who employed people to stand in line for them and had secret access to insiders at the box office who gladly handed over tickets for a cut of the proceeds?

When Jenny Lind, a singer known as “The Swedish Nightingale,” toured the United States in 1851, the very best seats in the house mysteriously disappeared immediately only to reappear in the hands of speculators who sold them with significant markups. A ticket with a face value of $3 might go for $6. There was a rumour that Lind's agents were in on the scam, something that damaged her in the eyes of the public.

When Charles Dickens went on a book tour of America in 1867, his public readings sold out in minutes. George Dolby, Dickens' manager, lamented about a show in Boston. “[B]y eight o'clock in the morning, the queue [outside the box office] was nearly half a mile long and about the time that the employers of the persons who had been standing in the streets all night began to arrive to take their places. … The horrid speculators who buy all the good tickets and sell them again at exorbitant prices.” In New York, fans waiting in line were offered as much as twenty dollars for their place in line by scalpers looking to acquire tickets.

Time and time again, theatres, performers, managers, agents, promoters, and governments have tried to clamp down on scalping. In 1927, New York City looked into the situation with Broadway theatres and local music halls. Nothing happened. The same with an investigation in 1949. And again in 1963. Nothing, it seemed, could be done about a black market in theatre tickets that totalled millions of dollars each year. It wasn't uncommon for a box office manager to earn beyond $25,000 a year and buy a new Cadillac every year. Guess where that supplementary income came from?

The problem only became bigger when rock concerts became big business. In the days before computers, box offices had racks of printed tickets, the best of which vanished before sales even began.

Maintaining an accurate ticket count (and thus a proper accounting of revenue) was impossible using the system of hard tickets sold through a box office. Surely there had to be a solution. This is where the first computerized ticket-selling programs came into existence. The first, Computicket and TRS (Ticket Reservation Services), arrived in the middle 1960s, prompting their systems as a way to cut down on scalping by keeping track of every single ticket sold.

Great in theory, but despite decades of advancements with computerized ticket selling, paperless tickets, and fan-driven ticket exchanges, scalpers and secondary-market companies still manage to get their hands on tickets.

The problem is not going away. In fact, things are just getting weirder and more contentious. “Diggers” and “ice” also still exist in the digital realm. Instead of bribing box office managers and hiring people to stand in line, they use bots, fake identities, access comp tickets, and infiltrate sales meant for fan clubs. They're pretty resourceful and tech-savvy people.

This past Friday, Jan. 20, Madonna started selling tickets for her worldwide 40th-anniversary Celebration Tour, Ticketmaster's first major on-sale challenge since the Taylor Swift fiasco late last year. Although tickets were advertised for as little as $40, you have to wonder how many of those made it into the hands of fans at that price and how many are now controlled by the secondary market (StubHub, SeatGeek, Vivid Tickets, etc.) as well as individual scalpers.

Also this week, a new campaign called Make Tickets Fair launched in the U.K. and EU. The goal is to educate the public about the perils and protocols of ticket reselling. It may help a little bit, but I can't help feeling that organizers are wasting their breath.

It all comes down to this: When you have a perishable high-demand commodity like a concert ticket, someone is always going to find a way to make money from someone else's desires. It's a game of Whack-A-Mole as old as live entertainment itself.

- ◆ -

注：中文文本为机器翻译并非一一对应，仅供参考

含注释全文：

A brief history of scalping concert tickets

From: Global News

January 22, 2023

There are few things more frustrating to a music fan than being shut out of a sold-out concert only to see tickets for sale at inflated prices on the secondary market. And how do those guys selling tickets on the street outside the venue get their inventory?

对乐迷来说，没有什么比看到一场即将举行的演唱会门票已售罄，而在二级市场上又看到票价被炒高的现象更令人沮丧的了。而那些在场馆外兜售门票的人，他们的票又是从哪里来的呢？

scalp /skælp/ 1）表示“头皮”，英文解释为“the skin on the top of a person's head where hair usually grows”如：a dry/oily/itchy scalp 干燥的/油性的/发痒的头皮；

2）表示“（在竞争或竞选中）击败的人，手下败将；（表示某人已被打败或已受到惩罚的）标志”，英文解释为“someone you defeat in a competition or election；a symbol of the fact that sb has been defeated or punished”举个🌰：They have claimed some impressive scalps in their bid for the championship. 他们已在夺取冠军的征途上获得显著进展。

3）作动词，scalp /skælp/ 表示“倒卖（戏票等）”，英文解释为“to buy things, such as theatre tickets, at the usual prices and then sell them, when they are difficult to get, at much higher prices”

inflated 表示“（价格、成本、数目等）过高的，过多的”，英文解释为“Inflated prices, costs, numbers, etc. are higher than they should be, or higher than people think is reasonable.”

1）表示“（商店的）存货；存货价值”，英文解释为“the amount of goods a shop has, or the value of them”举个🌰：The inventory will be disposed of over the next twelve weeks. 在未来的十二个星期中将进行清仓处理。

2）表示“（某处的）物品清单”，英文解释为“a detailed list of all the things in a place”。

3）表示“盘点，清点存货”，英文解释为“the counting of all the goods, materials, etc. kept in a place such as a shop”

Scalpers (“ticket touters” to the British and “leveraged arbitragers” to ardent capitalists) are as old as live events themselves. When the Greeks opened the first-ever outdoor amphitheatre in 325 BCE — it was built into the hillside of the Acropolis and sat up to 17,000 people in its 55 semi-circular rows — there was no doubt some dude in a robeoutside the gates yelling “Who's got seats?” The same would have happened at the first Roman theatre in Pompeii in 80 BCE. And I'd lay money on the same thing happening outside of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre for the premiere of A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1604.

黄牛党（英国人称其为“票贩子”，而狂热的资本家则称之为“杠杆套利者”）自开展现场演出活动以来就一直存在。当希腊人在雅典卫城的山坡上建造了第一座露天圆形剧场，55排半圆形的座位可容纳多达1.7万人时，毫无疑问，有些穿着长袍的人会在门外大喊“谁要票？”同样的事情也发生在公元前80年庞贝的第一座罗马剧院。我敢打赌，1604年莎士比亚的《仲夏夜之梦》在环球剧院首演时，也有同样的事情发生。

scalper /ˈskæl.pər/ 表示“倒卖（戏票等）的人”，英文解释为“someone who buys things, such as theatre tickets, at the usual prices and then sells them, when they are difficult to get, at much higher prices”

1）表示“标榜；吹捧；吹嘘”，英文解释为“to try to persuade people that sb/sth is important or valuable by praising them/it”举个🌰：A local car dealership was touting its services/wares on the radio. 一家地方汽车特许经销商正在当地电台作宣传。

🎬电影《大谎言家》（Big Fat Liar）中的台词提到：Big Fat Liar is already being touted as next summer's must-see movie event. 《大谎言家》已被誉为明年夏天必看的电影。

2）表示“（通常以高出官方价格很多的价格）倒卖，高价出售（体育比赛票、戏票等）”，英文解释为“to sell tickets for something such as a sports game or theatre performance unofficially, usually at a much higher price than the official price”

leveraged /ˈliː.vər.ɪdʒd/ 1）表示“（公司）举债经营的”，英文解释为“A leveraged company or organization owes a large amount of money in relation to its value.”举个🌰：The company is highly leveraged and struggling with interest payments. 这家公司的举债率很高，在利息支付方面非常吃力。

2）表示“（交易或投资）依赖借款的，举债的，高杠杆的”，英文解释为“A leveraged deal or investment has been paid for using borrowed money. ”

表示“套汇者；证券套利者；套购商”，英文解释为“In finance, an arbitrager is someone who buys currencies, securities, or commodities on one country's market in order to make money by immediately selling them at a profit on another country's market.”

ardent /ˈɑː.dənt/ 表示“热烈的；激情的；强烈的”，英文解释为“showing strong feelings”如：an ardent supporter of Manchester United 曼联队的狂热支持者。

amphitheatre /ˈæm.fɪˌθɪə.tər/ 表示“（露天）圆形剧场（或竞技场）”，英文解释为“a circular or oval area of ground around which rows of seats are arranged on a steep slope, for watching plays, sports, etc. outside”

表示“长袍，罩袍；（尤指特别正式场合穿的）袍服，礼袍”，英文解释为“a long, loose piece of clothing worn especially on very formal occasions”

lay /leɪ/ 可以表示“押（赌注），为…打赌，对…下注”，英文解释为“to risk something, usually money, on the result of an event”举个🌰：He won't get the job - I'd lay money on it! 他得不到那份工作——我敢打赌！

premiere /ˈprɛmɪˌɛə, ˈprɛmɪə/ 可以作动词和名词，表示“首映，首演，首次上演/映”，英文解释为“the first public performance of a play or any other type of entertainment“。

📍这里要注意的是这个词去掉末尾的 e 就变成了 premier“首相，总理”；另外，premier作为形容词则表示“首位的，首要的”（best or most important），举个🌰：He's one of the nation's premier scientists. 他是该国最重要的科学家之一。

Scalping (a term that first appeared in the 19th century referring to brokers of railway tickets) has always been a problem. How could a regular person get into shows when there were crowds of “ticket speculators” and “sidewalk men” who employed people to stand in line for them and had secret access to insiders at the box office who gladly handed over tickets for a cut of the proceeds?

倒卖（这个词最早出现在19世纪，指的是火车票中间商）一直是一个问题。当有大批的“票贩子”雇人代排，或者通过内部人士秘密获取门票（这些人欣然交出门票以获得收益分成），那普通人如何能进入演出现场呢？

作名词，broker /ˈbrəʊ.kər/ 表示“经纪人，掮客”，英文解释为“a person who buys and sells foreign money, shares in companies, etc., for other people”如：a commodity/insurance/mortgage broker 商品/保险/抵押经纪人。

作动词，表示“作为经纪人（或中间人）安排（交易、协议等）”，英文解释为“to arrange something such as a deal, agreement, etc. between two or more groups or countries”举个🌰：They have failed in their attempts to broker a ceasefire. 他们促成停火的尝试已告失败。

speculator /ˈspek.jə.leɪ.tər/ 表示“投机商，投机者”，英文解释为“a person who buys goods, property, money, etc. in the hope of selling them at a profit”

在这个语境中，sidewalk men是19世纪术语，用于指那些在街头（如人行道）出售或兜售活动门票的人，他们通常以高于面值的价格卖出这些门票，这就是我们所说的票贩子。

1）表示“伤口；切口；割痕”，英文解释为“an injury made when the skin is cut with something sharp”如：a deep cut 一道深深的伤痕。

2）还可以表示“份额（通常指钱）”，英文解释为“a share of something, usually money”举个🌰：When am I going to get my cut? 我什么时候能拿到我那份钱？

复数形式，表示“（从事某种活动或变卖财物的）收入，收益，进款”，英文解释为“the amount of money received from a particular event or activity or when something is sold”举个🌰：She sold her car and bought a piano with the proceeds. 她卖掉了汽车，然后用这笔收入买了一架钢琴。

🎬电影《神偷艳贼》（Gambit）中的台词提到：I bag the coins and donate the proceeds to charity. 我要把这些硬币封装好捐给慈善机构。

When Jenny Lind, a singer known as “The Swedish Nightingale,” toured the United States in 1851, the very best seats in the house mysteriously disappeared immediately only to reappear in the hands of speculators who sold them with significant markups. A ticket with a face value of $3 might go for $6. There was a rumour that Lind's agents were in on the scam, something that damaged her in the eyes of the public.

当被称为“瑞典夜莺”的歌手珍妮·林德（Jenny Lind）1851年在美国巡演时，全场最好的座位神秘地消失了，却又重新出现在投机者手中，他们以大幅加价出售。票面价值3美元的票可能卖到6美元。有传言说林德的经纪人参与了这场骗局，这对她在公众眼中的形象造成了损害。

nightingale /ˈnaɪ.tɪŋ.ɡeɪl/ 表示“夜莺”，英文解释为“a small, brown European bird known especially for the beautiful song of the male, usually heard during the night”

markup /ˈmɑːk.ʌp/ 表示“加价幅度”，英文解释为“the amount by which the price of something is increased before it is sold again”举个🌰：The usual markup on clothes is about 20 percent. 服装通常加价20%左右。

When Charles Dickens went on a book tour of America in 1867, his public readings sold out in minutes. George Dolby, Dickens' manager, lamented about a show in Boston. “[B]y eight o'clock in the morning, the queue [outside the box office] was nearly half a mile long and about the time that the employers of the persons who had been standing in the streets all night began to arrive to take their places. … [T]he horrid speculators who buy all the good tickets and sell them again at exorbitant prices.” In New York, fans waiting in line were offered as much as twenty dollars for their place in line by scalpers looking to acquire tickets.

1867年，当查尔斯·狄更斯（Charles Dickens）在美国巡回售书活动时，他的公开读物在几分钟内就售罄了。狄更斯的经纪人乔治·杜比（George Dolby）感叹道，“早上8点，（售票处外）的队伍排了将近半英里长，而大约就在这个时候，那些在街上排了一整夜的人的雇主们开始接替他们的位置。……那些可恶的投机者买走了所有好位置的票，然后以高价再次出售。”在纽约，有黄牛党出价高达二十美元来买人们的排队位置以购票。

表示“对…感到悲痛，对…表示失望，痛惜”，英文解释为“to express sadness and feeling sorry about something”举个🌰：My grandmother, as usual, lamented the decline in moral standards in today's society. 和往常一样，我奶奶对当今社会世风日下深感痛惜。

horrid /ˈhɒr.ɪd/ 表示“令人不愉快的；不友好的”，英文解释为“unpleasant or unkind”举个🌰：Don't be so horrid! 别那么不友好！

exorbitant /ɪɡˈzɔːbɪtənt/ 表示“（价格、费用）过高的”，英文解释为“If you describe something such as a price or fee as exorbitant, you are emphasizing that it is much higher than it should be.”举个🌰：Exorbitant housing prices have created an acute shortage of affordable housing for the poor. 过高的房价使穷人负担得起的房源严重短缺。

Time and time again, theatres, performers, managers, agents, promoters, and governments have tried to clamp down on scalping. In 1927, New York City looked into the situation with Broadway theatres and local music halls. Nothing happened. The same with an investigation in 1949. And again in 1963. Nothing, it seemed, could be done about a black market in theatre tickets that totalled millions of dollars each year. It wasn't uncommon for a box office manager to earn beyond $25,000 a year and buy a new Cadillac every year. Guess where that supplementary income came from?

剧院、表演者、经理、经纪人、促销商和政府一次又一次地试图打击黄牛党。1927年，纽约市调查了百老汇剧院和当地音乐厅的情况。结果什么都没有发生。1949年的调查也是如此，1963年也是。似乎对每年总计数百万美元的剧院门票黑市无能为力。售票处经理年收入超过25,000美元并每年购买一辆新凯迪拉克的情况并不少见。你猜这些额外的收入来自哪里？

表示“取缔；严加限制；强行限制；压制；严厉打击（犯罪等）”，英文解释为“to take strict action in order to prevent sth, especially crime”如：a campaign by police to clamp down on street crime 警方严厉打击街头犯罪的运动，举个🌰：The government is clamping down on teenage drinking. 政府严禁青少年饮酒。

📍《经济学人》（The Economist）一篇讲述比特币的文章中提到：Were that problem solved, governments would clamp down quickly on any technology that threatened their monetary sovereignty. 假如加密货币的这个问题得到解决，各国政府会迅速行动，打击任何威胁到它们对货币的最高控制权的技术。

supplementary /ˌsʌp.lɪˈmen.tər.i/ 表示“额外”，英文解释为“extra”如：a supplementary income 额外收入。

The problem only became bigger when rock concerts became big business. In the days before computers, box offices had racks of printed tickets, the best of which vanished before sales even began.

这个问题在摇滚音乐会火热时变得更严重了。在计算机出现之前，售票处有一堆印刷好的票，其中最好的票在销售开始前就消失了。

big business /ˌbɪɡ ˈbɪz.nɪs/ 表示“利润高的行当，赚钱的行业”，英文解释为“something that makes a lot of money”举个🌰：Health clubs are big business these days. 如今健身俱乐部是很赚钱的。

表示“（尤指突然）消失，灭绝”，英文解释为“to disappear or stop being present or existing, especially in a sudden, surprising way”举个🌰：The child vanished while on her way home from school. 那个小女孩在放学回家的路上不见了。

Maintaining an accurate ticket count (and thus a proper accounting of revenue) was impossible using the system of hard tickets sold through a box office. Surely there had to be a solution. This is where the first computerized ticket-selling programs came into existence. The first, Computicket and TRS (Ticket Reservation Services), arrived in the middle 1960s, prompting their systems as a way to cut down on scalping by keeping track of every single ticket sold.

在售票处通过实体票销售的系统下，保持准确票数（从而对收入进行正确核算）是不可能的。当然，肯定有解决方案。第一个计算机化售票程序诞生了。Computicket和TRS（Ticket Reservation Services，票务预订服务）在20世纪60年代中期问世，系统通过追踪每一张售出的门票来打击黄牛党。

accounting /əˈkaʊn.tɪŋ/ 表示“会计；会计学；核算”，英文解释为“the skill or activity of keeping records of the money a person or organization earns and spends”

作名词，1）表示“（计算机屏幕上的）提示符（显示计算机已经准备好接受指令）”，英文解释为“a sign on a computer screen that shows that the computer is ready to receive your instructions”

2）表示“（给演员的）提词，提白”，英文解释为“words that are spoken to an actor who has forgotten what he or she is going to say during the performance of a play”

3）作动词，表示“促使；导致；激起”，英文解释为“to make sb decide to do sth; to cause sth to happen”举个🌰：His speech prompted an angry outburst from a man in the crowd. 他的讲话激起了人群中一男子的愤怒。

📺美剧《斯巴达克斯：血与沙》（Spartacus: Blood and Sand）中的台词提到：One cannot but wonder what would prompt such an act 不知他们为何遭此不幸。

4）作动词，表示“（尤指）给（演员）提词”，英文解释为“to help someone, especially an actor, to remember what they were going to say or do”举个🌰：I forgot my line and had to be prompted. 我忘词了，只好让人提词。

Great in theory, but despite decades of advancements with computerized ticket selling, paperless tickets, and fan-driven ticket exchanges, scalpers and secondary-market companies still manage to get their hands on tickets.

理论上说这很不错，但尽管计算机化售票、无纸化票务和粉丝驱动的票务互换经过了几十年的发展，黄牛党和二级市场公司仍然能够得到门票。

The problem is not going away. In fact, things are just getting weirder and more contentious. “Diggers” and “ice” also still exist in the digital realm. Instead of bribing box office managers and hiring people to stand in line, they use bots, fake identities, access comp tickets, and infiltrate sales meant for fan clubs. They're pretty resourceful and tech-savvy people.

问题并没有消失。事实上，事情变得越来越奇怪，越来越有争议。售票转向线上后“代排”和“回扣”依然存在。他们不再贿赂售票处经理或雇人排队，而是使用机器人，伪造身份，获得免费票，以及混入专为粉丝提供的销售中。他们足智多谋，也精通技术。

contentious /kənˈten.ʃəs/ 表示“有争议的；引起争论的；可能引发争议的”，英文解释为“causing or likely to cause disagreement”如：a contentious decision/issue/subject 有争议的决定/问题/话题。

在这个特定的上下文中，digger可能指的是被雇佣去排队购买门票的人。这个词通常用于描述进行体力劳动或挖掘工作的人，但在这里，它被借用来描述那些被票贩子雇佣，去排队购买门票的人。他们在售票窗口前面排队，以确保他们的雇主能得到所需的门票。

Ice在这里则是一个古老的术语，用于指走私或非法交易中的一种贿赂形式。在这个上下文中，ice是指票务办公室内部的人为了一部分收益而私下交出门票的那部分非法收入。可以被理解为一种回扣或提成。所以，可以将其翻译为“提成”，“回扣”或者“分成”。

realm /rɛlm/ 1）表示“领域；场所”，英文解释为“an area of activity, interest, or knowledge”举个🌰：At the end of the speech he seemed to be moving  into the realms of  fantasy. 讲话的最后，他似乎进入了虚幻的境地。

2）表示“王国”（a country ruled by a king or queen）

📍beyond the realm of possibility 表示“超出范围，不可能”（not possible），相反的说法：within the realm of possibility 意思就是“在可能的范围”（possible），举个🌰：A successful outcome is not beyond the realms of possibility. 最后取得成功并非没有可能。

🎬电影《复仇者联盟2：奥创纪元》（Avengers: Age of Ultron）中的台词提到：In every realm, there's a reflection. 每个国度都有倒影。

comp /kɒmp/ 表示“馈赠，赠送”，英文解释为“to give someone something valuable without asking for payment”举个🌰：Usually, the writer's entire trip is comped. 一般来说作者全部旅程的费用都是全包的。

infiltrate /ˈɪn.fɪl.treɪt/ 表示“（使）潜入；（使）渗透”，英文解释为“to secretly become part of a group in order to get information or to influence the way that group thinks or behaves”举个🌰：A journalist managed to infiltrate the powerful drug cartel. 一位记者设法打入了势力强大的贩毒集团内部。

resourceful /rɪˈzɔː.sfəl/ 表示“机敏的；足智多谋的”，英文解释为“skilled at solving problems and making decisions on your own”举个🌰：She's a very resourceful manager. 她是一位非常有智谋的经理。

作名词，savvy /ˈsæv.i/ 表示“常识；实际能力”，英文解释为“practical knowledge and ability”如：business savvy 专业知识。

savvy 作形容词，表示“有见识的；懂实际知识的；通情达理的”，英文解释为“having practical knowledge and understanding of sth; having common sense”，如tech-savvy指的就是懂技术，精通技术/科技的（knowing a lot about modern technology, especially computers）。

🎬电影《爱情、婚礼和婚姻》（Love, Wedding, Marriage）中的台词提到：if you're gonna be gone for six months, you need to be internet email savvy. 如果你要离开半年 你得精通互联网电子邮件。

This past Friday, Jan. 20, Madonna started selling tickets for her worldwide 40th-anniversary Celebration Tour, Ticketmaster's first major on-sale challenge since the Taylor Swift fiasco late last year. Although tickets were advertised for as little as $40, you have to wonder how many of those made it into the hands of fans at that price and how many are now controlled by the secondary market (StubHub, SeatGeek, Vivid Tickets, etc.) as well as individual scalpers.

上周五，1月20日，麦当娜（Madonna）全球40周年庆典巡回演唱会门票开售，这是自去年底Ticketmaster因泰勒·斯威夫特（Taylor Swift）巡演售票系统崩溃以来的第一个重大售票挑战。尽管票价宣传为低至40美元，但你不禁会想，有多少票是以这个价格卖给了粉丝，又有多少现在被二手市场（如StubHub，SeatGeek，Vivid Tickets等）以及个人黄牛所控制。

fiasco /fɪˈæskəʊ/表示“惨败；可耻的失败；尴尬的结局”，英文解释为“something that does not succeed, often in a way that causes embarrassment”。

Also this week, a new campaign called Make Tickets Fair launched in the U.K. and EU. The goal is to educate the public about the perils and protocols of ticket reselling. It may help a little bit, but I can't help feeling that organizers are wasting their breath.

同样在本周，英国和欧盟发起一项名为“票务公平”的新运动。目标是向公众普及门票转售的危害和规则。这可能会有所帮助，但我不禁觉得组织者在浪费时间。

peril /ˈperəl/表示“巨大的危险；险情，险境”，英文解释为“great danger, or something that is very dangerous”。

1）表示“规程，协议（计算机之间交换信息的计算机语言）”，英文解释为“a computer language allowing computers that are connected to each other to communicate”

2）表示“礼仪；外交礼节”，英文解释为“a system of fixed rules and formal behaviour used at official meetings, usually between governments”如：a breach of protocol 违反外交礼节。

3）表示“（正式的国际性）条约，公约，议定书”，英文解释为“a formal international agreement”举个🌰：The Geneva Protocol of 1925 prohibits the use of poisonous gases in war. 1925年通过的《日内瓦公约》禁止在战争中使用有毒气体。

表示“白费唇舌”，英文解释为“If you waste your breath, you spend time and energy trying to give advice that is ignored.”举个🌰：Honestly, you're wasting your breath - she doesn't want to hear what anyone else has got to say. 说实话，你在白费唇舌——她不想听其他任何人的意见。

It all comes down to this: When you have a perishable high-demand commodity like a concert ticket, someone is always going to find a way to make money from someone else's desires. It's a game of Whack-A-Mole as old as live entertainment itself.

这一切都归结为：当你拥有像演唱会门票这样的需求量大而有时效的商品时，总会有人想办法从别人的欲望中赚钱。这就像一场打地鼠游戏，早已存在于现场演出活动之中。

perishable /ˈperɪʃəbl/ 表示“（食物）易腐烂的，易变质的”，英文解释为“Perishable food decays quickly.”举个🌰：It's important to store perishable food in a cool place. 一定要把易腐烂的食物放在阴凉的地方。

在这个上下文中，perishable指的是有使用期限的，或者说具有特定有效期的。这是因为一旦演唱会过去，门票就失去了其价值，所以可以视为“有期限的”或者“会过期的”商品。

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