第1段

Collecting must be one of the most varied of human activities, and it’s one that many of us psychologists find fascinating. Many forms of collecting have been dignified with a technical name: an archtophilist collects teddy bears, a philatelist collects postage stamps, and a deltiologist collects postcards. Amassing hundreds or even thousands of postcards, chocolate wrappers or whatever, takes time, energy and money that could surely be put to much more productive use. And yet there are millions of collectors around the world. Why do they do it?

第1段：

收藏可以说是人类活动中最多样化的之一，这也是许多心理学家们觉得非常有趣的活动。许多收藏形式都有一个专门的名称：养熊猫的人收集泰迪熊、集邮家收集邮票、明信片收藏家收集明信片。花费时间、精力和金钱来收集几百甚至几千张明信片、巧克力包装纸或其他物品，显然可以更有成效地利用。然而，全世界有数以百万计的收藏家。他们为什么这样做呢？

第2段

There are the people who collect because they want to make money – this could be called an instrumental reason for collecting; that is, collecting as a means to an end. They’ll look for, say, antiques that they can buy cheaply and expect to be able to sell at a profit. But there may well be a psychological element, too – buying cheap and selling dear can give the collector a sense of triumph. And as selling online is so easy, more and more people are joining in.

第2段：

有些人收藏是为了赚钱——这可以称为收藏的目的性原因；也就是将收藏视为达到一个目的的手段。他们会寻找便宜的古董，希望能够以盈利的价格出售。但这里可能也存在心理的因素——以低价购得物品并以高价出售可能会给收藏家带来胜利的感觉。随着在网上销售变得如此容易，越来越多的人加入了收藏的行列。

第3段

Many collectors collect to develop their social life, attending meetings of a group of collectors and exchanging information on items. This is a variant on joining a bridge club or a gym, and similarly brings them into contact with like-minded people.

第3段：

很多收藏家收藏物品是为了发展他们的社交生活，参加收藏者组织的会议并交流有关物品的信息。这类似于参加桥牌俱乐部或健身房，让他们与志同道合的人联系在一起。

第4段

Another motive for collecting is the desire to find something special, or a particular example of the collected item, such as a rare early recording by a particular singer. Some may spend their whole lives in a hunt for this. Psychologically, this can give a purpose to a life that otherwise feels aimless. There is a danger, though, that if the individual is ever lucky enough to find what they’re looking for, rather than celebrating their success, they may feel empty, now that the goal that drove them on has gone.

第4段：

收藏的另一个动机是寻找独特的、特定的收藏品，比如某位歌手早期稀有的唱片。有些人可能会花费一生时间来追寻这个目标。从心理学角度来说，这可以给一个感到目标模糊的生活注入目的。然而，存在一个危险，如果个体幸运地找到他们正在寻找的东西，他们可能会感到空虚，因为驱使他们前进的目标已经消失了。

第5段

If you think about collecting postage stamps, another potential reason for it – or, perhaps, a result of collecting – is its educational value. Stamp collecting opens a window to other countries, and to the plants, animals, or famous people shown on their stamps. Similarly, in the 19th century, many collectors amassed fossils, animals and plants from around the globe, and their collections provided a vast amount of information about the natural world. Without those collections, our understanding would be greatly inferior to what it is.

第5段：

想一想集邮这个例子，收藏邮票的另一个潜在原因——或者说是收藏的结果——是其教育价值。集邮为人们打开了了解其他国家的窗户，了解邮票上展示的植物、动物或著名人物。类似地，在19世纪，许多收藏家在全球范围内聚集了化石、动物和植物，他们的收藏物提供了关于自然界的大量信息。如果没有这些收藏，我们对自然界的理解将大大不如现在。

第6段

In the past – and nowadays, too, though to a lesser extent – a popular form of collecting, particularly among boys and men, was trainspotting. This might involve trying to see every locomotive of a particular type, using published data that identifies each one, and ticking off each engine as it is seen. Trainspotters exchange information, these days often by mobile phone, so they can work out where to go to, to see a particular engine. As a by-product, many practitioners of the hobby become very knowledgeable about railway operations, or the technical specifications of different engine types.

第6段：

过去——现在也如此，虽然程度较小——一种受男孩和男人青睐的收藏形式是追踪火车。这可能涉及到尝试看到某一特定类型的机车，使用公开的数据来确认每台机车，并在看到每台机车时进行勾选。现在的火车迷通过手机等方式交流信息，以确定去哪里看到特定的机车。作为副产品，许多爱好者对铁路运营或不同机车类型的技术规格非常了解。

第7段

Similarly, people who collect dolls may go beyond simply enlarging their collection, and develop an interest in the way that dolls are made, or the materials that are used. These have changed over the centuries from the wood that was standard in 16th century Europe, through the wax and porcelain of later centuries, to the plastics of today’s dolls. Or collectors might be inspired to study how dolls reflect notions of what children like, or ought to like.

第7段：

同样，收藏娃娃的人可能不仅仅停留在扩大他们的收藏范围，还对制作娃娃的方式或使用的材料产生兴趣。这些在数个世纪中从16世纪欧洲标准的木头材料，经过蜡和瓷器的后续世纪，到今天的塑料娃娃，这些材料的改变反映了不同时期儿童喜欢或应该喜欢的想法。或者，收藏家可能会对研究娃娃如何反映出儿童喜好或应该喜好的观念产生兴趣。

第8段

Not all collectors are interested in learning from their hobby, though, so what we might call a psychological reason for collecting is the need for a sense of control, perhaps as a way of dealing with insecurity. Stamp collectors, for instance, arrange their stamps in albums, usually very neatly, organising their collection according to certain commonplace principles – perhaps by country in alphabetical order, or grouping stamps by what they depict – people, birds, maps, and so on.

第8段：

然而，并非所有的收藏家都对他们的爱好有所学习，所以我们可以称之为心理原因的收藏动机是对控制感的需求，这也许是一种应对不安全感的方式。例如，集邮家通常会将邮票整理整齐地放在相册中，按照某些常见的原则进行组织，比如按照国家的字母顺序，或者按照邮票所描绘的内容进行分组，比如人物、鸟类、地图等。

第9段

One reason, conscious or not, for what someone chooses to collect is to show the collector’s individualism. Someone who decides to collect something as unexpected as dog collars, for instance, may be conveying their belief that they must be interesting themselves. And believe it or not, there is at least one dog collar museum in existence, and it grew out of a personal collection.

第9段：

一个人选择收集某种东西的原因，不论是有意识或无意识的，是为了展示他们的个人主义。例如，决定收集狗项圈这样意外的物品的人可能在传达他们自身有趣的信念。而信不信由你，至少有一个狗项圈博物馆存在，并且它起源于一个人的个人收藏。

第10段

Of course, all hobbies give pleasure, but the common factor in collecting is usually passion: pleasure is putting it far too mildly. More than most other hobbies, collecting can be totally engrossing, and can give a strong sense of personal fulfilment. To non-collectors it may appear an eccentric, if harmless, way of spending time, but potentially, collecting has a lot going for it.

第10段：

当然，所有的爱好都带来愉悦，但收藏的共同点通常是激情：愉悦这个词说得太轻了。与大多数其他爱好相比，收藏可能是完全沉浸其中，并能给人带来强烈的个人成就感。对于非收藏家来说，这可能看起来是一个怪异但无害的消耗时间的方式，但潜在地，收藏有很多优点。