首页
登录
职称英语
Why DIY? The reasons why people engage in DIY ha
Why DIY? The reasons why people engage in DIY ha
游客
2023-07-17
14
管理
问题
Why DIY?
The reasons why people engage in DIY have always been numerous and complex. For some, DIY has provided a rare opportunity for creativity and self expression. For others it has been an unwelcome necessity, driven purely by economic considerations. Then there has been a group which feels that a building can never be a home unless it has been altered and modified to reflect a change of occupancy. A final group has traditionally adopted the measure that if you want a job done well, you must do it yourself.
The same four basic species of DIYers exist today, although these various motives may now share some substantially similar characteristics. The perfectionist in search of the good job done well is often also driven by a desire for creativity. There are also two new categories of motive—the pursuit of DIY as a leisure activity and DIY as a form of occupational therapy. These, again, share some characteristics with other reasons.
DIY as necessity
There is a significant number of young homemakers (38% of our interviewees) for whom there is no option but DIY. Their new home, whether bought on a mortgage (抵押) which consumes a major part of their income, or rented at similarly challenging rates, will often require essential redecoration and even structural repair.
Some of these people are reluctant first-time DIYers. They would much prefer to hire professionals, but can’t afford to do so. The majority, however, welcome the opportunity that need has forced upon them to get involved for the first time in the real business of creating a home—with all of its unfamiliar physical labor and the learning from the beginning of new techniques. In time, many will move to one of the other categories of DIYer, continuing to exercise their new found talents and enthusiasm when no longer forced by financial restrictions to do so.
DIY as territorial marking
Even those who have bought a brand new "starter home", the type which becomes increasingly popular around the edges of our towns and cities, will feel compelled to add personal touches of a less dramatic kind to disguise its otherwise boring and expressionless nature. Putting a "personal mark on the place" was one of the most frequently reported motives for DIY, with 72% of sample seeing this as being a very important aspect.
DIY as self-expression
Many young people today are frustrated artists—their potential creative talents just waiting for the chance to reveal themselves. There are also those seeking opportunities for a sense of achievement and personal fulfillment. DIY provided just such opportunities for the overwhelming majority of our interviewees (84%). They spoke at length of their sense of pride after completing their very first DIY task, and about how this experience gave them the drive to tackle more ambitious projects.
This sense of creative achievement comes both from the choices made by the first-time DIYer—the selection of colors, textures and components to apply to the "canvas" of the home—and from the application of specific skills and techniques. The manufacturers of DIY materials clearly understand this and now provide a wide range of "arty" products to fuel creative urges. At the same time, they make the materials themselves much easier to use—the DIY equivalent of painting by numbers. Special paint effects, which once required the specialist knowledge and training of the true professional, can now be achieved straight out of the can with a simple brush. Hence, a new generation of home decorators takes pride in new-found talents.
DIY as perfection-seeking
A large proportion of first-time DIYers (63%) distrust builders and decorators. They feel that most are "cowboys" and that even the more reputable ones are very unlikely to have the same loving attention to detail and care as the DIYer. Some had previously suffered from the so-called repairs of small builders, while others were proud of the fact that no tradesman of this kind had ever set foot in their home.
Within this group there were those who were content for builders to perform basic or structural work, and to undertake tasks such as plastering which are beyond the competence of most DIYers, particularly the younger beginner in our sample. The finishing work, however, was something these people kept for themselves—the final "perfecting" of what otherwise would be just an ordinary result.
This drive for perfection was also evident among the "strippers" in this group. The idea of putting wallpaper over existing paper, or even paint on the top of preceding coats, was to be cursed. Everything needed to be taken back to the bare plaster or the naked wood before any new decoration could be applied. Some interviewees recognized that this search for perfection could sometimes go too far: "It’s puzzling me really. There’s always something I’m working on. I’m never happy with anything."
The problem perfectionists face is that progress can be very slow. One young female partner of such a perfectionist said, "My boyfriend spent so long decorating the bedroom that I had to hire in someone to do the living room." The living room was finished first. When perfectionists are obliged, by nagging or circumstance, to speed things up, other problems can result: "The only time I rushed a job was when we had friends coming for the weekend. I was so unhappy with it that I painted it again after they had gone."
DIY as leisure activity
For a significant minority of first-timers (28%), DIY is seen as a new and entertaining pastime. It is not really work, but something similar to entertainment, shared by both partners and even the children in the case of young families. "It’s just great fun," one of our samples said enthusiastically.
The idea that DIYing is similar to a trip to the lions of Longleat may seem strange. But for these interviewees home-making was sufficiently different from, and infinitely preferable to, the dull routines of weekday work to constitute a weekend break. The results of such activity were rewarding, but probably less so than engaging in the activity itself.
DIY as therapy
"It has healing powers, doesn’t it? I’m always in my own little world when I’m doing DIY—it’s great." So said a young man of 27 in our sample. "For me it’s occupational therapy," said another interviewee. For them and others it was their way of getting rid of stress after a long day at work—a way of relaxing and using the repetitive nature of many DIY tasks as a way of relaxing. Others hinted at a similar process, where DIY was almost an end in itself, rather than just a means to achieving a better home. In this sense they were similar to those who saw DIY as a form of leisure, but it was the psychological effects which were emphasized by 18% of our sample.
While people in this group might sound upset, lacking the basic social skills to get a life outside of the home, they were quite the opposite. DIY provided a transitional stage between work and play—something which allowed them to relax and rid themselves of tensions, becoming more capable of social communication in the process. [br] "Strippers" are people who are driven by the pursuit of DIY as______.
选项
答案
perfection/perfection seeking
解析
空白处应为名词词组。根据题眼定位原文后,可以知道stripper这个词只出现在第4个小标题DIY as perfection-seeking部分.可见该题答案就是第4个小标题所说的perfection—seeking,或在原文该句中出现的perfection。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/2843468.html
相关试题推荐
[originaltext]Thefirst"NationalSampleSurveyofPeople’sReadingTrends"
"Family"isofcourseanelasticword.ButwhenBritishpeoplesaythattheirso
[originaltext]Ifyouarelikemostpeople,yourintelligencevariesfromse
[originaltext]Ifyouarelikemostpeople,yourintelligencevariesfromse
Manypeoplesuggestthatthegovernment______aconsumerprotectionagency.A、ins
Whydopeoplesmoke?Onereasonisthatpeoplebecome【B1】______tocigare
Whydopeoplesmoke?Onereasonisthatpeoplebecome【B1】______tocigare
Whydopeoplesmoke?Onereasonisthatpeoplebecome【B1】______tocigare
Whydopeoplesmoke?Onereasonisthatpeoplebecome【B1】______tocigare
PeopleallovertheworldwritetoBigBen.They【C1】______sendbirthdaypresents
随机试题
共轭水深是指()。A.水跃的跃前水深与跃后水深 B.溢流坝下游水流收缩断面
常用于临床血清蛋白分离的常规方法为A.醋酸纤维素薄膜电泳B.琼脂糖凝胶电泳C.聚
某混凝土试块强度值不满足规范要求,但经法定检测单位对混凝土实体强度经过法定检测后
采用移动平均法对时间数列修匀后所得到的一个新的时间数列()。A.是由序时平均数组
为了加强对生活饮用水地表水源地保护,《水污染防治法》规定中未提及的是()。
城市总体规划社会环境的现状调查,最主要的内容是( )的调查。A.政府部门 B
一般认为,处理劳动争议的机构有( )。A.基层人民调解委员会 B.企业劳动争
分上市公司、非上市公司和亏损企业三种情况的年薪支付模式是()模式。 A.S
某牛奶生产上生产1000单位牛奶时,牛奶的平均生产总成本为20元,边际生产成本为
关于情景分析和压力测试,下列说法正确的是()。A.压力测试是考虑极端情景下
最新回复
(
0
)