當年劉謙第一次上春晚表演小品，配合他演出的董卿被大家喊為“托兒”。英文中用shill一詞來指代“托兒”，而在個人競賣網站上自己競拍來提高物品競拍價格的行為則是shill bidding。

Attempting to generate a little extra cash by flogging off one or two unwanted items on the Internet is now a common pastime in 21st century life, usually via online auction sites such as eBay.

在21世紀，到網上兜售一兩件自己不要的物品來賺點小錢已經是司空見慣的事情，網上售賣通常都通過eBay這樣的競拍網站。

However for the more unscrupulous among us, it seems that there's an all too enticing shortcut to ensuring that the item you have for sale goes for the highest possible price. Once you're sure that you have interest in what you're selling, why not bid on the item yourself, therefore falsely giving the impression to potential buyers that there's competition, and so forcing them to pay more than they would have? This is what is meant by shill bidding, which is a violation of eBay rules and, moreover, illegal. People who engage in the practice are known as shill bidders, and a bid placed deliberately to push up prices is described as a shill bid. The word shill can also be used as an intransitive verb to describe the same activity, perpetrators correspondingly dubbed shillers.

不過，對我們當中會不擇手段的一些人來說，似乎有一個很誘人的捷徑可以確保你出售的物品拿到一個盡可能高的價格。一旦你很確信你對自己出售的物品很感興趣，為什么不去自己競拍呢？這樣一來就可以給潛在的買家一種錯覺，以為有人在跟他競買這件物品，從而迫使買家出更高的價格。這就是shill bidding的意思，即“自抬競價”。這種行為是違法eBay規定的，也是違法的。有自抬競價行為的人就叫shill bidder，以此方式達成的交易就叫shill bid。Shill一詞也可以作為不及物動詞表示“自抬競價”，付諸該行為的人則是shiller。

Shill dates back to 1914 and is thought to be a shortened form of the earlier term shillaber. Its original use was to describe a person who acted as a swindler's accomplice by reacting in an enthusiastic way in order to encourage others, often as an audience member at a carnival in order to elicit interest in an attraction. Over time the word began to be applied in a variety of contexts. For example in marketing, a shill is a person who gives the impression that they are a satisfied independent customer of someone they're in fact secretly working for. (Source: macmillandictionary.com)

Shill一詞可追溯到1914年，基本都認為是shillaber（托兒）一詞的簡寫形式。該詞最初指在狂歡節等場合為了吸引人們注意而配合騙子積極對其表演做出回應的同伙。后來，這個詞逐漸用于不同的語境。比如，在市場營銷中，shill指受商販雇傭，假裝成顧客給其好評的“托兒”。

相關閱讀

網絡熟人 E-cquaintance

先逛店后網購 showrooming

網購時代的monitor shopping

網購“抄號族”

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen）

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