Endless loops of songs like "All I Want For Christmas" in shops during the festive season don't just drive us mad - they also make us more careless with our money, academics have warned.
在节日期间，商店里不停地循环播放像《我想要的圣诞礼物》（All I Want For Christmas）这样的经典歌曲，这不仅仅会让我们心烦 。日前就有学者警告说，这也会让我们更舍得花钱。

While repeated renditions of "Jingle Bells" may seem like an innocent attempt to raise customers' spirits during the nightmare of Christmas shopping, the songs also have a more subtle impact.
不断重复的《铃儿响叮当》（Jingle Bells）的旋律，貌似是给消费者在噩梦般的圣诞购物时提神使用的，实际上还有微妙的影响。

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Background music, or "Muzak", can be used by marketers to impose cultures - such as the commercialisation of Christmas - onto consumers and influence their behaviour, experts said.
专家们认为，这种在公共场所连续播放的背景音乐（又名“米尤扎克”），可以被营销人员用来向消费者们灌输文化，例如圣诞节的商业化，并以此影响消费者的行为。

Dr Alan Bradshaw of Royal Holloway, University of London, said: “Festive jingles are force-fed to Christmas shoppers in a bid to change their mood, influence their sense of time and what sort of products they buy. In other words, this is an attempt to manipulate your shopping habits in a way that you might barely be aware of.
英国伦敦大学皇家霍洛威学院的阿兰-布拉德肖博士说：“节日时播放的广告歌曲， 是为了改善消费者的心情而强行地灌输给消费者的。这会影响他们对时间和所买产品的感觉。换句话说，这是一种用你几乎都不知道的方式来操纵你的购物习惯。”

“Often we are told that we have the freedom to choose where we want to shop, but during Christmas the use of music in this way is so ubiquitous that our freedom to choose disappears.”
“很多时候，我们都被告知，我们有选择去哪里购物的自由，但是在圣诞节期间，到处都在使用这种背景音乐，我们选择的自由消失了。”

Dr Bradshaw and Prof Morris B Holbrook of Columbia University examined the phenomenon and found that retailers often "dumb down" the music played in shops to relax customers, meaning it is easier to control their behaviour.
布拉德肖博士和哥伦比亚大学的莫瑞斯-霍尔布鲁克对这一现象进行了研究，发现零售商们经常在商店里“放慢节奏”播放音乐来让顾客放松，这样能更容易地对顾客的行为进行控制。

It is thought that slowing down the tempo of music in shops can trick customers into thinking less time has passed, and therefore spend more time perusing the shelves, for example.
人们认为，放慢商品里播放音乐的节奏能让顾客认为才过了一小会儿时间，从而花更多的时间仔细查看货架上的商品。

Some providers of background music have been known to promote their services by claiming they can boost profits by controlling the behaviour of customers.
一些背景音乐的提供商说，他们可以通过控制顾客的行为来提高利润，从而提升他们的服务。

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A common trick is to take a popular current song and record an instrumental version which can be slowed down or sped up at different times of the day to influence behaviour in different ways, Dr Bradshaw said.
布拉德肖博士说，常见的一种做法是选一个当前流行的歌曲并录制乐器版本，这样可以在一天的不同时段减速或加速播放，从而用不同的方式来影响用户的行为。

"I think you can see a real intention on the part of shop managers to use Christmas music to inflence their customers," he added.
他又补充道：“我认为，商店的管理者想通过圣诞音乐来影响消费者的这一意图很明显。”

“Not only is this bad for musicians and the dignity of their work, representing a triumph of commercial greed over artistic creativity, but it can have negative social implications”.
“这不仅对音乐家来说是件坏事儿，有损他们工作的尊严，表示商业的贪婪性胜过了艺术的创造性， 而且对社会也有负面影响。”

Background music is often classed as "Muzak" in recognition of the Seattle-based company which began producing its soft-sounding melodies in the 1930s.
背景音乐通常归类于“米尤扎克”，这个名字是用来表彰西雅图的一家公司在20世纪30年代所开始创造的软音乐旋律。