調查局三等
113年
[調查工作組] 外國文(英文)
第 33 題
📖 題組：
How do we know if the economy is in decline? The answer might be on our lips. Estee Lauder chairman Leonard Lauder created the “lipstick index” during the economic downturn following September 11, 2001. He noticed that the purchase of cosmetics, particularly lipsticks, tends to be inversely related to the economy because women replace more expensive purchases with small pick-me-ups. In the fall of 2001, US lipstick sales increased by 11%. During the Great Depression, cosmetics sales overall increased by 25%. In 2020, at the height of the Covid economic downturn, Estee Lauder’s CEO Fabrizio Freda said that the lipstick index had been replaced by a skincare item as customers donned masks and worked from home. “The lipstick index has been substituted with the moisturizing index,” said Freda. “But the concept of the index is still there.” Now we may be seeing that phenomenon rear its ugly head once more. The retailer Sephora recently announced a record sales year, and data from consumer research group Circana shows that prestige beauty growth has outpaced mass beauty sales, growing 9% and 2%, respectively in the first quarter of the year. Of course, the so-called lipstick index is a less technical — and more fun — measure of economic downturn and is not always entirely accurate. But as the free-spending post-pandemic party comes to an end in the US, it’s something worth exploring. Before the Bell (the CNN business newsletter) spoke with Neela Montgomery, CEO of Overeon (a collective of premium cosmetics brands including BareMinerals and Laura Mercier), about the outlook for beauty in an uncertain economic climate in an interview below. Before the Bell: What do you see dominating the beauty market in the second half of the year? Neela Montgomery: Clean has become a real buzzword in this industry, but this whole idea of no-tox (anti-botox) remains a really important thing. The market is bifurcating between this very authentic, real look and people who are getting more cosmetic work done. What we see is a need for more of these kinds of efficacious products for people who don’t want to go down the cosmetic procedure or injectables route. And then we continue to see that sort of clean girl with a pop of color look. So, you know, we have this sort of red lip…We continue to see that grow and expand.
How do we know if the economy is in decline? The answer might be on our lips. Estee Lauder chairman Leonard Lauder created the “lipstick index” during the economic downturn following September 11, 2001. He noticed that the purchase of cosmetics, particularly lipsticks, tends to be inversely related to the economy because women replace more expensive purchases with small pick-me-ups. In the fall of 2001, US lipstick sales increased by 11%. During the Great Depression, cosmetics sales overall increased by 25%. In 2020, at the height of the Covid economic downturn, Estee Lauder’s CEO Fabrizio Freda said that the lipstick index had been replaced by a skincare item as customers donned masks and worked from home. “The lipstick index has been substituted with the moisturizing index,” said Freda. “But the concept of the index is still there.” Now we may be seeing that phenomenon rear its ugly head once more. The retailer Sephora recently announced a record sales year, and data from consumer research group Circana shows that prestige beauty growth has outpaced mass beauty sales, growing 9% and 2%, respectively in the first quarter of the year. Of course, the so-called lipstick index is a less technical — and more fun — measure of economic downturn and is not always entirely accurate. But as the free-spending post-pandemic party comes to an end in the US, it’s something worth exploring. Before the Bell (the CNN business newsletter) spoke with Neela Montgomery, CEO of Overeon (a collective of premium cosmetics brands including BareMinerals and Laura Mercier), about the outlook for beauty in an uncertain economic climate in an interview below. Before the Bell: What do you see dominating the beauty market in the second half of the year? Neela Montgomery: Clean has become a real buzzword in this industry, but this whole idea of no-tox (anti-botox) remains a really important thing. The market is bifurcating between this very authentic, real look and people who are getting more cosmetic work done. What we see is a need for more of these kinds of efficacious products for people who don’t want to go down the cosmetic procedure or injectables route. And then we continue to see that sort of clean girl with a pop of color look. So, you know, we have this sort of red lip…We continue to see that grow and expand.
What does “rear its ugly head” in the passage mean?
- A To appear very tall and big above the head.
- B Something unpleasant to appear.
- C To approach at the back of an object.
- D To follow the trend significantly.
思路引導 VIP
請觀察這個片語中的關鍵字 “ugly”（醜陋的），這通常代表作者對這個現象持正面還是負面的觀感？再結合前文提到的「經濟衰退」背景，當一個不被歡迎的狀況重新「抬起頭」來時，你認為這個動作在描述該事物正在發生什麼樣的變化？
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AI 詳解
AI 專屬家教
🌟 哇庫哇庫！你答對了！彭德預知了你！
- 觀念驗證： 彭德搖尾巴了！安妮亞知道！你答對了！你真的有讀心術嗎？你看到那個『phenomenon』是說『經濟衰退』，還有口紅指數，就猜到後面『ugly』會是壞壞的意思。當壞壞的詞『ugly』跟『rear its...head』（抬頭）一起出現，就是那個潛水很久的負面問題又偷偷跑出來了！哇庫哇庫！你竟然聽懂了這個貶義的魔法咒語，好棒好棒！安妮亞要摸摸彭德的頭！
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