经济学人224:让身材丰满的人赶上时尚潮流

 　　NANCY UPTON, an actress, entered an online contest to find an XL fashion model with shots of herself bathing in creamy salad dressing¹ and covering her crotch with a large cherry pie. American Apparel, the clothes shop sponsoring the contest, snootily rejected her. She won a storm of publicity² and a shamefaced invitation to the firm’s headquarters. It is a small sign of a growing trend: clothesmakers are paying attention to customers with ample proportions.

　　女演员南希?厄普顿参加了最近用自己的照片参加了一场海选丰满型模特的网络竞赛，在她自己疯狂拍摄的这些些照片中，她赤身裸体地泡在奶油沙拉中，同时用一个大樱桃馅饼挡在胯下。美国服饰（赞助这个在线竞赛的服饰店）不屑的拒绝了她。但因为这件事她赢得了大家的眼球，最终公司总部不情愿的给她发了颁奖邀请。这显然是增长趋势的一个小标志：制造商开始重视丰满型身材的客户了。

　　For such people, shopping for clothes can be tiresome³, or even traumatic. First, there is the problem of trying on clothes in front of irritatingly svelte⁴ young shop assistants—an ordeal⁵ many plus-sized shoppers would rather not endure. Then there is the difficulty of finding clothes that fit.

　　对于这些（需要特大号衣服的）人来说，购买衣服那是相当让人烦恼，甚至可以说是相当痛苦。首先，买衣服时自己得在苗条年轻店员前试穿这些衣服，对于这些（肥胖的）人是相当讽刺的，并且大部分买肥胖衣服的人宁愿不受这种折磨。再说也很难找到合适自己的衣服。

　　To paraphrase⁶ Tolstoy, whereas thin people are all (roughly) alike, fat people are all fat after their own fashion. Body weight is distributed in many different ways, and clothing sizes are unreliable guides. Some 80% of women surveyed by Charming Shoppes, America’s leading retailer⁷ of clothes for larger women, said their bras didn’t fit properly. This is one reason why, although more than a third of American women are obese⁸, the plus-size market accounts for less than a fifth of American clothing sales, according to Marshal Cohen of NPD, a market-research firm.

　　就像托尔斯泰（俄国小说家）所写的那样，瘦人的身材大致相似，而胖人的身材却各有不同。体重分布都是呈不均匀分布的，所以说凭衣服的尺寸来挑选大多是不靠谱的。据美国领先的大号女士衣服零售商Charming Shoppes调查，80%的受访女性觉得她们的胸罩不合适。这也就是为什么美国妇女三分之一以上是肥胖的，而加大号衣服的销售量连美国服装销售总额的1/5的都不到的原因之一，这是根据Marshal Cohen of NPD（一家市场研究公司）的调查结果。

　　On the web people can shop without embarrassment⁹, but finding the right fit is even harder. Online, plus-size sales are a mere¹⁰ 11% of the total. However, when plus-size customers find clothes they like, says Sucharita Mulpuru of Forrester Research, they spend up to twice as much as other people. Clearly, there is an opportunity.

　　网上购衣服就没有那么尴尬了，但是想找到合适尺寸的衣服却是更难。加大号衣服销售量仅占网上服装销售总额的11%。美国福雷斯特研究公司的Sucharita Mulpuru说，一旦买加大号衣服的消费者找到自己喜欢的衣服了，他们愿意花费两倍的价钱把衣服买下来。很明显，这是一个商机。

　　Charming Shoppes has just launched an online tool called Fashion Genius, which it modestly calls the “plus-size fashion breakthrough of the century!” Built by Zafu, a site that helps women find better-fitting jeans, Fashion Genius poses a deceptively simple questionnaire based on data crunched¹¹ from over 1m online surveys and 10,000 fittings. It asks women about their figures (hourglass, rectangular, circular, etc), how their existing clothes fit them (Loose at the waist? Rides up at the back?) and what kind of clothes and even handbags they like. It then gives them a profile (“Fearlessly confident…Dramatic and trendy”) and dressing tips, and can recommend matches from a database of up to 300 brands.

　　Charming Shoppes公司推出了所谓的时尚天才（Fashion Genius）在线工具，被称为“本世纪加大号时尚衣服的突破”。Zafu网站创建了这个在线工具，一个供女士们挑选合适自己牛仔裤的网站，Fashion Genius会从100万份网上调查和一万项匹配结果的数据库中随机弹出一个调查问卷。调查问卷会问到她们自身的数据（偏瘦，正常，偏胖等），现有衣服合不合身（腰带太松？衣服太过紧身？），喜欢哪种衣服和手提包。随后Fashion Genius会给出一个大概的轮廓和穿衣的方法，也能给你推荐多达300个搭配品牌。

　　The response, says Bill Bass¹² of Charming Shoppes, has been enthusiastic, though whether customers keep the clothes they buy will be the ultimate test. But there is plenty of room for more innovations. In the regular-size world, customisation of clothes is beginning to take off. Mr Bass thinks that clothes-shopping on tablet devices will be the next big thing. Let your fingers do the tailoring?

　　Charming Shoppes的比尔?巴斯说，Fashion Genius面世之后，消费者对此很是狂热，尽管消费者最终是否买下已收藏的衣服有待最终的测试，当然这还有很大的创新空间。常规尺码衣服的定做量开始增长。巴斯先生认为下一步将在平板电脑上主打网上销售。干脆挥动你的手指，让我们量体裁衣吧？

1 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

2 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

3 tiresome   

adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的

参考例句：

• His doubts and hesitations were tiresome.他的疑惑和犹豫令人厌烦。
• He was tiresome in contending for the value of his own labors.他老为他自己劳动的价值而争强斗胜，令人生厌。

4 svelte   

adj.（女人）体态苗条的

参考例句：

• The countess was tall,svelte and very pale.伯爵夫人身材修长，苗条优雅，面色十分苍白。
• Her figure is svelte.她身材苗条。

5 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

6 paraphrase   

vt.将…释义，改写；n.释义，意义

参考例句：

• You may read the prose paraphrase of this poem.你可以看一下这首诗的散文释义。
• Paraphrase the following sentences or parts of sentences using your own words.用你自己的话解释下面的句子或句子的一部分。

7 retailer   

n.零售商(人)

参考例句：

• What are the retailer requirements?零售商会有哪些要求呢？
• The retailer has assembled a team in Shanghai to examine the question.这家零售商在上海组建了一支团队研究这个问题。

8 obese   

adj.过度肥胖的，肥大的

参考例句：

• The old man is really obese,it can't be healthy.那位老人确实过于肥胖了，不能算是健康。
• Being obese and lazy is dangerous to health.又胖又懒危害健康。

9 embarrassment   

n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫

参考例句：

• She could have died away with embarrassment.她窘迫得要死。
• Coughing at a concert can be a real embarrassment.在音乐会上咳嗽真会使人难堪。

10 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

11 crunched   

v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的过去式和过去分词 )；嘎吱作响；（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄

参考例句：

• Our feet crunched on the frozen snow. 我们的脚嘎吱嘎吱地踩在冻雪上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He closed his jaws on the bones and crunched. 他咬紧骨头，使劲地嚼。 来自英汉文学 - 热爱生命

12 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。