[E399]The little red look
本文音频及原文摘自杂志The Economist 2016年第16期，China版块。
Intimate apparel
A brief history of Chinese underwear
Apr 16th 2016 | BEIJING
REVEALING the curves of breasts was considered lewd[1] for most of Chinese imperial history[2]. Bosoms[3] were often bound[4] (though not as savagely[5] as feet, a bone-crushing[6] practice intended to enhance the female form). Imperial underwear developed accordingly. Various types of compressing vests or tunics[7] were popular over the centuries. High-class women often favoured the dudou , or belly-band[8]—a diamond-shaped piece of embroidered cloth[9] that stretched from neck to waist[10] and was tied at the back (some designers are now trying to resurrect[11] the dudou as a fashion item). Men wore thong-like[12] loincloths[13], similar to sumo-wrestlers' competition belts[14], but underpants for women were rare.
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注释
[1]lewd
(of , , , .) in an and way
淫秽的，色情的，猥亵的，下流的Ignore him - he's being lewd.别理他——他是个色鬼。a lewd 下流的建议
[2]帝国历史
[3]bosom=上句的breast
[4]束紧的,被缚住的,被束缚的;捆,绑
[5]野蛮地;残酷地;凶暴地(in a violent, cruel or very severe way)
[6]bone-crushing 有碎骨之力的,强有力的;麻烦的.很痛苦的
1.powerful or constricting enough to crush one's bones
a bone-crushing handshake.
2.extremely painful, troublesome, costly, etc.
a bone-crushing mortgage.
[7]背心;紧身短上衣
[8]肚兜;腹带
[9]菱形绣花布
[10]从脖子 到 腰
[11]resurrect
to back something into use or that had or
重新使用；恢复；使重新流行Several of the have resurrected the of .该党几位党员重新提出了修改宪法的主张。She has been to resurrect her .她一直奔忙，试图重振她的好莱坞演艺生涯。
[12]thong
a of or the of a with a very at the back which does not the
（背后为窄条的）露臀内衣；（比基尼泳衣的）臀部部分
a of used to something or as of a 皮带；条带；（皮）鞭
[13]loincloth
a of that down from around the , sometimes by men in
（某些热带国家男人用的）遮腰布
[14]日本相扑选手竞赛的腰带
[搜一下相扑的图片就知道了......]
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Bosoms briefly enjoyed a renaissance[1] after the collapse of the last imperial dynasty in 1911. Fancy foreign bras also began to spread around that time.But such items were dismissed as bourgeois[2] when the Communists took over in 1949. Under Mao's rule, both sexes sported loose outfits[3]. If women wore any underpinnings at all they were typically modelled on functional Soviet undergarments[4].[此处略去原文一长句]
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注释
[1]renaissance 复兴
[2]bourgeois
to or of the (= a between the and the ) in and , or in having a in and possessions
中产阶级的；追求物质享受的；世俗的It's a bourgeois, isn't it, a ? 参加高尔夫球俱乐部有点庸俗，不是吗？
[3]loose outfits 宽松着装/衣服
sport (v)
to or be with something
穿戴；装点Back in the 1960s he sported bell-bottom , and down past his .20世纪60年代，他那时穿喇叭裤、厚底鞋，蓄着披肩长发。The of the sported a .汽车前部都插着一面德国国旗。
[4]underpinning: underwear, especially women's underwear.
undergarment: a piece of underwear 内衣
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After China began opening to the outside world in the late 1970s, social mores[1] loosened only slowly. It was not until 1986 that bikinis were worn for the first time in public—and only then because an international bodybuilding contest[2] in China required female contestants to wear them (the bikini had made its debut[3] in Paris in 1946). Some Chinese commentators said the garment[4] offended “oriental sensibilities”. But Guangming Daily , a national newspaper, declared the bikini to be compatible with[5] Communist values[6]. As one judge at the competition put it: “The women of China, after thousands of years of imbibing feudalist thinking[7], are opening their minds.”
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注释
[1]社会习俗;风俗习惯
[2]国际健美比赛
[3]首演;初次亮相
[4]garment: a piece of clothing 衣服
[5]一致;适合;与…相配
[6]共产主义价值观
[7]imbibe feudalist thinking 接受/吸收封建思想
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Even in the 1990s, fashions remained modest. Big, flesh-coloured knickers[1] were then in vogue[2], often stretching down to the knee. Bras made for the domestic market still tend to be less skimpy[3] than those for export.But breast size has since become an obsession: racks[4] are now filled with technicolour[5], diamanté and heavily padded cleavage-boosters. These days China makes and buys more fancy underwear than any other country, supporting socialism from top to bottom[6].
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注释
[1]灯笼裤,短裤;女用灯笼裤型的扎口短裤
[2]正在流行;正时兴
[3]skimpy
Skimpy a lot of
（衣服）暴露的a skimpy 短小暴露的裙子
[4]rack 货架
[5]technicolour: having a lot of bright colours 色彩鲜艳的,艳丽多彩的
[6]从上到下,彻底地;完完全全,从头到脚
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以上言论不代表本人立场。
原文摘自The economist，仅外语学习之用。
其中生词解释来源于Cambridge Dictionaries
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