本期外刊精读选自The Economist关于英国运动服装品牌Gymshark的报道：How social media made Gymshark

Gymshark是近年来在英国崛起的一个运动服装品牌，其创始人是来自伯明翰的一名年轻人本·弗朗西斯。该品牌成功的重要原因是公司借助Instagram等社交网络进行宣传，同时，西方最近兴起的健身文化也让更多人接受运动服装。文章对此进行了分析。

文章小标题Primus Insta pares来自拉丁语primus inter pares，primus inter pares意思相当于a first among equals，即“同级别的一群人中地位最高的一个人”。作者将inter改为Instagram的缩写Insta，寓意为“Instagram用户中地位最高的人”，在文中指为Gymshark宣传的各位社交网络大V。下面是关于文章的详细分析。

开头段介绍了运动服装品牌Gymshark及其创始人本·弗朗西斯的故事。

When richard branson, a serial entrepreneur, was 28, he snapped up a Caribbean island to impress a woman. In London he hobnobbed with rockstars and posed for a photograph in the bath, naked save for a well-positioned copy of the Financial Times.

当连续创业者里查德·布兰森28岁时，他买下了一个加勒比海岛以打动一名女子。他在伦敦和摇滚明星交际，在浴缸里拍裸照，只在关键部位巧妙地放一份《金融时报》。

Richard Branson（查德·布兰森）是英国著名企业家，他也是维珍集团的老板。作者在文章开头将查德·布兰森与运动服装品牌Gymshark的创始人进行对比，来突出两者的不同之处。

Save在这里是介词，意思相当于except，比如：She answered all the questions save one. 她回答了所有问题，只有一个例外。

Now the same age, Ben Francis has made more money than the young Mr Branson had. But the Brummie founder of Gymshark, an athletic clothing brand, could hardly be less flamboyant.

同样处于28岁的年龄，本·弗朗西斯现在已经比年轻时的布兰森赚了更多钱。但这一名来自伯明翰的运动服装品牌Gymshark创始人要比布兰森低调很多。

XX could hardly be less flamboyant 是一个双重否定句，可能不太好理解，它相当于：XX could not be less flamboyant，“XX已经很不高调了，不能再更加不高调了”，即“XX已经很低调了”。类似的例子还有韦氏词典给出的一个例句：I could hardly be more pleased [=I'm very pleased] with the way things are going.

His black and grey outfit matches his HQ. When he isn’t working, he’s lifting weights, messing around with motorbikes or eating Nando’s. “That’s literally all I do,” he says. “I’m a really boring person.”

他黑灰色的服装风格与他公司总部的颜色相匹配。当他不工作时，他会举重、玩摩托车或者吃烤鸡店Nando’s的食品。他说：“这简直就是我生活的全部了。我真是一个无聊的人。”

第二段介绍了本·弗朗西斯创立Gymshark的故事。

But the men share a lucrative knack for capturing the zeitgeist. Mr Francis founded Gymshark from his parents’ garage in 2012, making gym gear his grandmother taught him to sew.

但这些人都有善于抓住时代潮流的天赋，这些天赋极具价值。弗朗西斯于2012年在他父母车库中创立了Gymshark，他缝制健身服装的技能是祖母教会他的。

Somebody shares/has a knack for doing something是一个固定搭配，意思是“某人有做某事的天赋”，例如：Some people seem to have a knack for making money.有些人好像天生有赚钱的本事。

On August 14th, General Atlantic, an American fund manager, bought a 21% stake in the firm, in a deal that valued it at more than £1bn ($1.3bn).

美国基金管理公司General Atlantic在8月14号买下了公司21%的股份，这场交易也让公司估值超过了10亿英镑（合13亿美元）。

That transformation makes for a remarkable business story, but it also reveals how quickly gym culture is changing in the rich world.

公司的这一转变造就了一个非凡的商业故事，但它同时也说明了富裕国家中健身文化的变化有多快。

That transformation指的是Gymshark从一家小创业公司变成一家估值10亿英镑的独角兽这一过程。

XX makes for something是一个常见搭配，意思是“XX促成了某事”（to help to make something possible），例如：Constant arguing doesn't make for a happy marriage. 不断争吵不可能使婚姻幸福。

第三段分析了Gymshark成功的原因。

The brand’s early success owed much to men like Mr Francis. When he first started going to a gym at 16, he found it intimidating.

该品牌早期的成功很大程度上归功于像弗朗西斯这样的人。当他16岁开始去健身房时，他发现健身让人感到紧张不安。

“You have no idea what you’re doing, you think everybody’s looking at you, you feel really self-conscious. Am I doing this bicep curl right?” So he turned to YouTube and online forums for tips.

“你不知道自己在做什么，你觉得每个人都在看着你，你会感到不自然。我这个二头弯举动作做对了吗？” 为此，他在YouTube和在线论坛上寻找健身技巧。

His business milks this merging of physical and online spaces. The 125 influencers Gymshark pays to market its brand on platforms like Instagram are role models as much as fashion models, offering the sort of encouragement Mr Francis once sought.

他的公司借助这种线上和线下空间的融合来获利。Gymshark付费让125名网络意见领袖在诸如Instagram这样的平台上宣传公司品牌，这些人既是时装模特，也是人们的榜样。他们能够提供弗朗西斯当初寻找的那种激励。

Milk在这里是熟词生义，它作为动词使用，意思是“借……牟利，捞好处”，比如：A few people tried to milk the insurance companies. 一些人试图从保险公司敲一笔钱。

Instagram provides motive as well as means: muscular men in tight-fitting gear attract envy as well as romantic attention.

Instagram平台提供了动机和手段：身穿紧身服的肌肉男能够引起嫉妒以及浪漫的关注。

第四段分析了Gymshark成功背后的文化潮流因素。

But Gymshark would not be nearly as valuable if it were not for a second culture shift. That is the trend for “athleisure”, wearing gym gear not just for working out.

但如果不是因为第二次文化转变，Gymshark不会像今天一样有价值。这一文化转变是指“休闲运动”的潮流，即人们不仅仅是在运动的时候穿着健身服装。

第一句使用了虚拟语气，假设与现在事实相反的情况，句子补充完整后相当于 But Gymshark would not be nearly as valuable (as it is today) if it were not for a second culture shift. 同时，a second culture shift也呼应了前文的句子：…but it also reveals how quickly gym culture is changing in the rich world.

Though Gymshark initially targeted beefy male weightlifters, women now account for about two-thirds of its sales. And, as Melis Kahya Akar of General Atlantic is quick to point out, they are the bigger spenders. 

尽管Gymshark最初针对的是大块头的男性举重者，女性用户现在贡献了其销售额的三分之二。同时，正如基金管理公司General Atlantic的梅利斯·卡亚·阿卡所敏锐指出的一样，她们是更大的消费群体。

Many women wear Gymshark to lift weights, but plenty favour fit and fashion over performance.

很多女性用户穿着Gymshark的衣服去举重，但比起衣服带来的性能提升，她们很多人更看重衣服的合身性和时尚性。

Social media allow Gymshark to target distinct demographics simultaneously. A study in 2018 by Linus Juhlin and Miretta Soini, then MBA students in Sweden, explains how it works.

社交媒体让Gymshark能够同时定位不同的目标群体。莱纳斯·朱林和米雷塔·索尼在2018年进行了一项研究（他们当时还在瑞典读工商管理学硕士），研究报告对此进行了解释。

结尾段介绍了两名研究者的成果。

The authors studied the Instagram posts of 30 Gymshark influencers, including suchbig noises as fitgurlmel, who has 1m followers.

论文作者研究了30名Gymshark意见领袖在Instagram上的帖子，这些意见领袖包括像fitgurlmel这样的大人物（他有一百万关注者）。

Big noise是一个固定搭配，意思是“要人，有影响力的人”（an important and powerful person in an organization）。

Male influencers were more than twice as likely as their female counterparts to pose while working out, but much less likely to stress the fit, colour and design of the gear.

男性意见领袖比起女性有两倍多的几率会在健身的时候摆姿势拍照，但他们很少会突出健身服装的舒适度、颜色和设计。

Fit在这里是名词，意思是“适合，合身”，比如要表达“这条连衣裙非常合身”，可以说：The dress is a perfect fit.

“Gym settings were common in the male influencers’ posts,” the authors wrote. In posts by women, poses were more commonly “lifestyle-related”; one wore a sports bra to a basketball game.

作者们写道：“健身房背景经常出现在男性意见领袖的帖子里面。”而在女性用户的帖子中，她们拍照时摆的姿势更多与“生活方式相关”；一名用户在篮球比赛中穿着运动文胸上场。

So Mr Francis can afford to be boring. A tribe of Instagrammers will do the talking—and the selling—for him.

因此弗朗西斯可以继续那种无聊生活，因为有一大群Instagram用户会帮他宣传和销售公司的产品。

So Mr Francis can afford to be boring. 与文章第一段最后一句形成了呼应：“I’m a really boring person.” 这样能让文章在逻辑上更加连贯。