万花筒 2008-05-03&-05-04

Once the logo signified a take-away. Soon it might be a fashion statement. If it looks like brown, but color of the new McDonald's uniform is officially mocker as in coffee and the managers' shirts are said to be biscuit.

 Eating in or take order? Eating in.

 Soon all of McDonald's 67,000 staff will adopt the uniform and as is obligatory¹ in the company they are loving it. But according to Bruce Oldfield, there were some initial design problems discovered during wearer trials.

 " We found that there was one particular design of shirts and it chafed² . So just by dint³ of it being really uncomfortable rather than being a color that somebody didn't like to wear, we had to get rid of it because we didn't want our girls' or our boys' indeed nipples chafed ."

 Designer uniforms are nothing new of course. These BOAC designs were unveiled in 1969 with the help of Clive of Mayfair. Queen's dress designer Hardy⁴ Amies designed uniforms for the metropolitan⁵ police in the same year. And in 1971, Christian⁶ Dior showed off these nursing designs. They appeared hopelessly impractical⁷ although with plenty to cheer up bed-ridden males. So where can designer uniforms go wrong?

 " You don't want people to be dressed up like billboards⁸. You want people to feel comfortable and on side with the messages of the brand that they are portraying⁹. So, yeah, colors like red can be difficult with different skin types and those sort of things. So you have to design against that, which is usually why most brands will have a pallet or a range of colors."

 Now McDonald's says the new uniform should help close the gap between the perception and the reality of working here. In other words, wearing an outfit¹⁰ like this should help staff feel more Julian McDonald than Ronald McDonald. Thank you.

 Ron Milligan, ABC news.

1 obligatory   

adj.强制性的，义务的，必须的

参考例句：

• It is obligatory for us to obey the laws.我们必须守法。
• It is obligatory on every citizen to safeguard our great motherland.保卫我们伟大的祖国是每一个公民应尽的义务。

2 chafed   

v.擦热（尤指皮肤）( chafe的过去式 )；擦痛；发怒；惹怒

参考例句：

• Her wrists chafed where the rope had been. 她的手腕上绳子勒过的地方都磨红了。
• She chafed her cold hands. 她揉搓冰冷的双手使之暖和。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

3 dint   

n.由于，靠；凹坑

参考例句：

• He succeeded by dint of hard work.他靠苦干获得成功。
• He reached the top by dint of great effort.他费了很大的劲终于爬到了顶。

4 hardy   

adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的

参考例句：

• The kind of plant is a hardy annual.这种植物是耐寒的一年生植物。
• He is a hardy person.他是一个能吃苦耐劳的人。

5 metropolitan   

adj.大城市的，大都会的

参考例句：

• Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
• Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

6 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

7 impractical   

adj.不现实的，不实用的，不切实际的

参考例句：

• He was hopelessly impractical when it came to planning new projects.一到规划新项目，他就完全没有了实际操作的能力。
• An entirely rigid system is impractical.一套完全死板的体制是不实际的。

8 billboards   

n.广告牌( billboard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Large billboards have disfigured the scenery. 大型告示板已破坏了景色。 来自辞典例句
• Then, put the logo in magazines and on billboards without telling anyone what it means. 接着我们把这个商标刊在杂志和广告看板上，却不跟任何人透漏它的涵意。 来自常春藤生活英语杂志-2006年4月号

9 portraying   

v.画像( portray的现在分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• The artist has succeeded in portraying my father to the life. 那位画家把我的父亲画得惟妙惟肖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ding Ling was good at portraying figures through careful and refined description of human psychology. 《莎菲女士的日记》是丁玲的成名作，曾引起强烈的社会反响。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

10 outfit   

n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装

参考例句：

• Jenney bought a new outfit for her daughter's wedding.珍妮为参加女儿的婚礼买了一套新装。
• His father bought a ski outfit for him on his birthday.他父亲在他生日那天给他买了一套滑雪用具。