美国国家公共电台 NPR Swimsuit Season Gets Complicated

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Now that the pools are open and families are heading back to the beaches, it's time to pack the cooler, choose a beach read and pick out your swimsuit - except this season, it's going to be a challenge. There are a lot of cutouts and straps¹ and strings² that make them look more like high-end straitjackets than swimwear.

Sarah Halzack was the Washington Post retail³ reporter, and she's now heading to Bloomberg. She joins us for more on swimwear that she has described as a jumble⁴ of straps that are sure to squeeze your flesh like a meat tie around a tenderloin (laughter). Welcome.

SARAH HALZACK: Thank you.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Sarah, can you untangle this for us?

HALZACK: So I'm putting this swimsuit horror show into three buckets. First are these ones with all these crisscrossing straps and lace-ups. It kind of looks like a game of cat's cradle is being played on your chest or on your belly⁵. And it's kind of baffling because the tan lines that these are going to leave behind are really going to be a tough look (laughter).

So then there's also these ones with a lot of cutouts. So maybe they have a big circle on the tummy, or they have rows of slits⁶ kind of running from your bust⁷ to your hips⁸. And women, you know, we all dread⁹ the possibility of a muffin top...

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yes.

HALZACK: ...And a lot of these allow the opportunity for several muffin tops.

And then the last one is these off-the-shoulder swimsuits. So you've probably seen women wearing these off-the-shoulder blouses. They've become really popular. But the problem is when you're wearing an off-the-shoulder top, you can't really move your arms.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: You're going to drown if you go into the water with this.

HALZACK: Yes. Good luck trying to do your breaststroke or your butterfly wearing a suit where you can't lift your arms past 90 degrees. Right?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Why do you think all this strapping¹¹ and wrapping happened?

HALZACK: It's hard to ignore the role of social media in all of this. Right? And so I think what we're seeing is retailers¹² thought - OK, people are living their lives on their Instagram page, on their Snapchats. And they want to look distinctive¹³. They want something that stands out in a photo. When they post that photo of themselves, you know, laying on the beach with their toes in the sand, they really want to present themselves in this aspirational¹⁴ way.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: You have talked to trend forecasters. Do we expect this to stay around? Tell me no.

HALZACK: Unfortunately, the ones I talked to said, yeah, you can expect it to hang in there for at least another year or so. But this "Baywatch" movie just came out - right? - with big stars like The Rock and Zac Efron in it. And so they're wondering if that might spur, you know, more interest in that sort of Pam Anderson-style, classic one-piece, high-cut kind of look. So it kind of might depend on how well the movie does, and I think it's still a little early to know. But that could be a look we see bubbling up soon, too.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Clearly, this is not a trend for men, or is it? I mean, do they have butt¹⁰ cutouts now?

HALZACK: This is just something that's being inflicted¹⁵ on women. I, thankfully, have not seen any butt cutouts for men, and I hope not to anytime soon.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Sarah Halzack, thank you so much, and good luck at the beach.

HALZACK: Thank you.

1 straps   

n.带子( strap的名词复数 )；挎带；肩带；背带v.用皮带捆扎( strap的第三人称单数 )；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带

参考例句：

• the shoulder straps of her dress 她连衣裙上的肩带
• The straps can be adjusted to suit the wearer. 这些背带可进行调整以适合使用者。

2 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。

3 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

4 jumble   

vt.使混乱，混杂；n.混乱；杂乱的一堆

参考例句：

• Even the furniture remained the same jumble that it had always been.甚至家具还是象过去一样杂乱无章。
• The things in the drawer were all in a jumble.抽屉里的东西很杂乱。

5 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

6 slits   

n.狭长的口子，裂缝( slit的名词复数 )v.切开，撕开( slit的第三人称单数 )；在…上开狭长口子

参考例句：

• He appears to have two slits for eyes. 他眯着两眼。
• "You go to--Halifax,'she said tensely, her green eyes slits of rage. "你给我滚----滚到远远的地方去！" 她恶狠狠地说，那双绿眼睛冒出了怒火。

7 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。

8 hips   

abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的

参考例句：

• She stood with her hands on her hips. 她双手叉腰站着。
• They wiggled their hips to the sound of pop music. 他们随着流行音乐的声音摇晃着臀部。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 dread   

vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧

参考例句：

• We all dread to think what will happen if the company closes.我们都不敢去想一旦公司关门我们该怎么办。
• Her heart was relieved of its blankest dread.她极度恐惧的心理消除了。

10 butt   

n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶

参考例句：

• The water butt catches the overflow from this pipe.大水桶盛接管子里流出的东西。
• He was the butt of their jokes.他是他们的笑柄。

11 strapping   

adj. 魁伟的, 身材高大健壮的 n. 皮绳或皮带的材料, 裹伤胶带, 皮鞭 动词strap的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• He's a strapping lad—already bigger than his father. 他是一个魁梧的小伙子——已经比他父亲高了。
• He was a tall strapping boy. 他是一个高大健壮的小伙子。

12 retailers   

零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
• Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。

13 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。

14 aspirational   

志同的，有抱负的

参考例句：

• Most of the images that bombard us all are aspirational. 轰击的图像，我们都期望最大。
• Analysts said self-help and aspirational reading could explain India's high figures. 分析师们指出，自助读书、热爱读书是印度人均读书时间超过别的国家的主要原因。

15 inflicted   

把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They inflicted a humiliating defeat on the home team. 他们使主队吃了一场很没面子的败仗。
• Zoya heroically bore the torture that the Fascists inflicted upon her. 卓娅英勇地承受法西斯匪徒加在她身上的酷刑。