美国国家公共电台 NPR Despite Pockets Of Popularity, Are Cargo Shorts Gauche?

Despite Pockets Of Popularity, Are Cargo¹ Shorts Gauche²?

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And let's take a moment now to mark a dramatic turning point in men's fashion.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

CRAIG FERGUSON: Cargo shorts.

(LAUGHTER)

MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY: The crime of are they long short pants or short long pants?

FERGUSON: Just, like, you know, who you trying to kid, man? You're not doing any maintenance. You don't need pockets for tools.

INSKEEP: That's former late night host Craig Ferguson with actor Matthew McConaughey talking about those long shorts with baggy³ pockets known as cargo shorts, a staple⁴ of men's summer wardrobes. The Wall Street Journal has now announced a backlash reporting these shorts are ridiculed⁵ by the partners of people who wear them. Maybe you already knew that.

The shorts have even been banned at golf clubs. Joseph Hancock is a design and merchandising professor at Drexel University.

JOSEPH HANCOCK: When you're taking your significant other out to a dressier barbecue function, the last thing that they need to be doing is wearing a cargo short, right?

INSKEEP: Some people would disagree. But sales of cargo shorts are now down for the first time in a decade, according to The Journal. Marshal Cohen is a chief analyst⁶ with NPD Group, a market research firm.

MARSHAL COHEN: It seems that guys have had, you know, have enough. And with this movement towards the more athletic⁷ look, well, cargo shorts are the ones that are paying the price.

INSKEEP: Cargo shorts started out as military style clothing. They were a big trend in the '90s, which is not in this century, by the way. Joseph Hancock, who wrote his Ph.D. on the rebranding of cargo shorts, suggests their popularity can be boiled down to two things.

HANCOCK: With the rise of gadgets⁸, cargo shorts became really popular because not only were they fashionable for the time period, they were functional⁹.

INSKEEP: Now in recent years, much slimmer shorts have replaced cargo shorts in fashionable circles. But they remain fashionable with men who are not interested in being fashionable.

1 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

2 gauche   

adj.笨拙的，粗鲁的

参考例句：

• He now seems gauche and uninteresting.他显得又笨拙又古板。
• She was a rather gauche,provincial creature.她是个非常不善交际、偏狭守旧的人。

3 baggy   

adj.膨胀如袋的，宽松下垂的

参考例句：

• My T-shirt went all baggy in the wash.我的T恤越洗越大了。
• Baggy pants are meant to be stylish,not offensive.松松垮垮的裤子意味着时髦，而不是无礼。

4 staple   

n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类

参考例句：

• Tea is the staple crop here.本地产品以茶叶为大宗。
• Potatoes are the staple of their diet.土豆是他们的主要食品。

5 ridiculed   

v.嘲笑，嘲弄，奚落( ridicule的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Biosphere 2 was ultimately ridiculed as a research debade, as exfravagant pseudoscience. 生物圈2号最终被讥讽为科研上的大失败，代价是昂贵的伪科学。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She ridiculed his insatiable greed. 她嘲笑他的贪得无厌。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

7 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

8 gadgets   

n.小机械，小器具（ gadget的名词复数 ）

参考例句：

• Certainly. The idea is not to have a house full of gadgets. 当然。设想是房屋不再充满小配件。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• This meant more gadgets and more experiments. 这意味着要设计出更多的装置，做更多的实验。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史

9 functional   

adj.为实用而设计的，具备功能的，起作用的

参考例句：

• The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了，但现在可以用了。
• The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的，只是为了实用。