【雅思阅读素材】西方女性完美身材百年变迁史（双语）

2015年01月22日10:09 来源：小站整理

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也许目前金•卡戴珊(Kim Kardashian)的招牌曲线能成为杂志封面的亮点，但日后却不一定。

Rewind 100 years and the perfect female figure was an altogether different story.

时间退回100年前，各个时期女性的完美身材标准大相径庭。

Inspired by Greatist, FEMAIL has taken a look back over the past few generations to examine exactly how the female ideals have changed.

FEMAIL受网络媒体Greatist的影响展开了一次调查，了解过去几代女性的完美身材标准是如何发生变化的。

From the Gibson Girl of the early 1900s to the Bootylicious Beyonce of today - via Heroin chic Kate Moss - just how much the most desired shape of the day has changed over the years may surprise you.

从20世纪早期的吉布森少女(Gibson Girl)，到掀起“海洛因潮流”(Heroin chic)的凯特•摩丝(Kate Moss)，再到如今身材秀色可餐的碧昂斯(Beyonce)，在此之间人们对理想身材的看法究竟发生了多大的变化？也许这些改变会让你大吃一惊。

In 1910, it was all about the Gibson Girl look: the pouty, curvy woman who personified beauty portrayed by the illustrations of Charles Dana Gibson.

20世纪10年代是吉布森少女的时代。吉布森少女是指插画家查理斯•德纳•吉布森(Charles Dana Gibson)描绘的那些嘴唇微噘、曲线优美的漂亮女性。

Her physique was tall and slender but with a buxom bosom and large hips; essentially an 'S' shaped body achieved by wearing a super-cinched corset.

这类女性身材高挑，丰臀肥乳。紧身的束胸衣成为她们塑造S型身材的必需品。

By 1920, the flapper girl was well in fashion. Times were hard for the Twenties flapper girl. A quarter of a century before the creation of the egalitarian Welfare State, poverty meant many British adults and children never had enough to eat.

到了20世纪20年代，美丽轻佻的年轻女郎掀起了一股时尚潮流。但那时这些年轻女郎的处境并不是太好。在平等主义的福利国家建立前的25年，英国许多成年人和孩子因为贫穷而食不果腹。

The housewife did not need a personal trainer to keep the surplus pounds at bay. In a world before vacuum cleaners and washing machines, housework kept her trim.

在吸尘器和洗衣机还未诞生之前，家庭主妇不需要花钱去请私人教练帮她减去多余的脂肪，因为繁重的家务活能使她保持苗条的身材。

But while the majority of women had no problem keeping slim, it was the Twenties which saw the invention of dieting.

虽然大多数女性能保持苗条的身材，但在20世纪20年代的时候，节食减肥法还是出现了。

Upper-class women who ate a richer diet and exercised less bought the new women's magazines which featured weight-loss diets designed to give you that fashionable, streamlined figure that worked so well with the iconic flapper dress.

饮食丰富且很少锻炼的上流社会女性开始购买以减肥食谱为主的新女性杂志。许多人都想拥有时下最流行的身材并能成功地把自己塞进标志性的片状短裙中，而这些杂志正是为这些人量身订造的。

Hemlines fell in 1930, when morale was low following the stock market crash. Curves seeped their way back into fashion and women dared to bare their shoulders.

20世纪30年代，随着股票市场大跌，整个社会士气低落。曲线美再次成为时尚潮流，女性也敢于露出她们的肩膀。

This slightly more voluptuous look was embraced by the media, which lead nicely into the screen queen era of the 1940s.

这些撩人的美貌通过媒体传遍了大街小巷，也因此开创了20世纪40年代的荧屏皇后时代。

The Forties woman was one inch larger all round than the Flapper simply because she was better nourished.

这些40年代女性由于饮食比较有营养，整体体型要比20年代那些年轻女郎大一英寸。

The Forties laid the foundation for women becoming taller as the Government decreed that every child was entitled to one-third of a pint of milk a day, so promoting the growth of strong bones. This continued in schools until Margaret Thatcher scrapped it in the 1970s.

由于当时政府下令规定孩子每天必须要喝三分之一品脱的牛奶以保证骨骼的健康发育，因此40年代的女性个子相对较高。学校一直在执行这一规定，直到70年代玛格丽特•撒切尔(Margaret Thatcher)执政后才将它废除。

Again, it was their highly energetic lifestyle that kept Forties women slim. There was no petrol for cars, and people cycled or walked for miles every day. Girls thought little of walking ten miles home after a Saturday night dance.

令40年代女性保持苗条身材的仍是她们精力充沛的生活方式。那时还没有汽车和汽油，人们日常的出行方式就是单车和步行。因此，对于女孩们而言，周六晚上舞会结束后步行十多英里回家不是什么大不了的事。

With their men off fighting, fashion changed. The curvy feminine look to cheer returning heroes became the order of the day, with fitted suits and belted flowery dresses to show off the waist, and the Flapper's flattening bodice giving way to the circle-stitched bra。

时尚潮流随着她们的丈夫投身战场发生了变化。在那个时代，为迎接凯旋的战士，曲线优美的女性化身材成为了当下流行。女性们身着合身的套装和华丽的束带裙以展现腰部的曲线。扁平连衣裙上衣不得不给这些圆润的BRA让路。

Those ideals heightened in the Fifties, when weight gain tablets were promoted in magazines to help women fill out their curves.

当各大杂志开始提倡用药物增肥，使女性的曲线变得更加撩人后，这类身材在50年代时更是受到了热捧。

This was a stark contrast to the 1960s, which ushered in a more much gaunt figure popularised by supermodels such as Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton.

这类型的完美身材与20世纪60年代的大相径庭。60年代骨瘦如柴的超模成为时尚标杆，例如崔姬(Twiggy)和简•诗琳普顿(Jean Shrimpton)。

Dresses shrunk to suit the favoured petite frame and women craved smaller busts and tinier hips.

裙子的尺码开始变小以迎合惹人喜爱的小身型。女性也开始渴望拥有较小的胸部和扁平的屁股。

Many women embarked on diets to fulfill their goals and Weight Watchers was founded - and welcomed - in 1963.

许多女性为了拥有这样的身材开始节食。1963年减肥者协会(Weight Watchers)成立并深受大众欢迎。

Back came the curves in 1970 - the era of the long, lean dancing queen.

但是到了70年代，曲线又开始回归，那是身材瘦长的舞蹈女皇的时代。

Farrah Fawcett was the poster girl of this decade and waspish frames were on their way out.

法拉•福赛特(Farrah Fawcett)是那十年里红极一时的海报女郎，腰细的苗条的身材成为了过去式。

By the time the Eighties came along, the British woman was well on the way to an irretrievable pear-shape, with her hips measuring two inches more than her bust.

接着人们迎来了80年代的女性。这个时代的英国女性身材朝着无可挽救的梨形趋势发展，臀部比胸部还大两英寸。

Women idolised the 'supermodels' of the era - including leggy Elle MacPherson, Naomi Campbell, and Linda Evangelist.

那个时代的超模成了广大女性同胞的偶像，例如拥有一双长腿的艾拉•麦克弗森、娜奥米•坎贝尔和琳达•伊万格丽斯塔。

It was, of course, in the Eighties that exercise classes became fashionable, with women looking to Jane Fonda in a bid to achieve lithe, muscular bodies.

80年代，女性开始追求简•方达(Jane Fonda)那样柔软而又带有一点肌肉的身材，参加健身课程也在这个时期成为了一股热潮。

Alas, despite huge numbers of videos sold and classes attended, the inches continued to increase.

尽管卖出了大量的健身录像带，参加健身课程的人也变多了，但人们的体型也渐渐变得宽厚。

Then came the 1990s - and Kate Moss. The supermodel and pin-up of her time, became known as 'the waif' and she and fellow catwalk queens such as Jodie Kidd popularised the 'heroin chic' look, which was gaunt with hollow eyes.

到了20世纪90年代，凯特•摩丝走进了公众的视线。她以一副看似流浪儿的外表成为了那个时候炙手可热的超模和封面女郎。她和同一时期的猫步女王如裘蒂•洁德(Jodie Kidd)等掀起了一股“海洛因潮流”——即骨瘦如柴的身材和凹陷的双眼，深受大众的喜爱。

The look, thankfully, came to an end thanks to Gisele Bundchen, who promoted a healthy lifestyle and washboard abs.

谢天谢地，吉赛尔•邦辰(Gisele Bundchen)健康的生活方式和搓衣板似的腹肌结束了这一潮流趋势。

Britney Spears also jumped on the bandwagon and shocked the world when she revealed she completes 600 sit-ups a day to achieve her toned tummy.

就连布兰妮•斯皮尔斯(Britney Spears)也不甘落后，紧跟潮流。当她告诉众人自己为了拥有强健的腹肌每天做600个仰卧起坐时，所有人都震惊了。

By the year 2000, the pearshape became even more marked, with the average waistsize having ballooned four inches in 20 years.

21世纪时的梨形身材愈发明显。在20年内这种身形的平均腰围就增加了4英寸。

The wasp-waisted Twenties woman would be shocked at the dimensions of today's Kim Kardashian and Nicki Minaj, who champion the bigger is better mantra.

20年代那些腰肢纤细的女性估计会被金•卡戴珊和尼奇•米娜(Nicki Minaj)的丰臀给吓到，但她们二人捍卫了当今的大号身材标准。