VOA慢速英语--“活珊瑚”:2019年度色彩来自海洋

 ‘Living Coral’: 2019 Color of the Year Comes from the Sea

A company known for shaping trends in color design has announced its color of the year for 2019.

The winning color is called Living Coral. It is based on the look of healthy coral reefs¹ in the world’s oceans.

The announcement came December 5 from Pantone, a company with offices in the American state of New Jersey². Pantone seeks to predict color trends and examine the psychological effects of color.

The company advises major businesses on choosing colors for their products and advertising³ campaigns. Its color of the year can influence many different industries. These includes beauty care, fashion, art, home and product design.

Pantone says its experts look around the world for color influences in these and other industries throughout the year. The company’s Pantone Color Institute chooses the color of the year.

Leatrice Eiseman is the head of the institute. She says people in our busy and technological⁴ world seem to be “craving human interaction and social connection.”

Corals are groups of small organisms called polyps. These polyps live within a hard skeleton⁵ made of limestone⁶.

Millions of corals grow together to form coral reefs. The reefs support many kinds of sea life. Coral reefs also support fishing activities and protect inland waterways.

The color Living Coral, Eiseman said, represents “humanizing and heartening qualities” that she thinks people will warmly receive. "Color is an equalizing lens through which we experience our natural and digital realities,” she added. “And this is particularly true for Living Coral."

Pantone’s vice⁷ president, Laurie Pressman, told the Associated Press (AP) the company considers the 2019 color of the year “warm and welcoming.” The choice was especially important as human interaction seems to be decreasing in society, she said.

“With everything that’s going on today, we’re looking for those humanizing qualities because we’re seeing online life dehumanizing a lot of things,” she told the AP.

Pressman added that the company believes people want colors that signal “nourishment⁸ and comfort” to make them feel good about themselves and the world. Living Coral is an example of that, she said. “It’s not too heavy. We want to play. We want to be uplifted.”

Pressman added that while Living Coral is very bright and eye-catching, it is “not so overpowering and in your face.”

The announcement comes at a time when rising water temperatures and human activities continue to harm coral reefs around the world. Such damage can remove the bright colors that represent coral as living, breathing things.

A Pantone statement said that Living Coral represents the energizing⁹ elements found in nature. It said the color shows the power of coral reefs to provide shelter to a great “kaleidoscope of color.”

I’m Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

trend – n. a general movement or direction

fashion – n. a popular way of dressing¹⁰ during a particular time or among a particular group of people?

crave¹¹ – v. to want something very much

lens – n. rounded piece of glass used by cameras, glasses or equipment to look at things

nourishment – n. the food needed to keep you alive and healthy

comfort – n. pleasant feeling of being relaxed and having no pain

kaleidoscope – n. mixture of many colorful things

1 reefs   

礁体

参考例句：

• The motorboat cut across swift currents and skirted dangerous reefs. 汽艇穿过激流，绕过险滩。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Fish are abundant about the reefs. 暗礁附近鱼很多。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

3 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

4 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

5 skeleton   

n.骨骼，框架，骨干，梗概，提要

参考例句：

• A long illness made a skeleton out of him.长期的卧病使他骨瘦如柴。
• Her notes gave us just the bare skeleton of her theory.她的笔记只给我们提供了她的理论的梗概。

6 limestone   

n.石灰石

参考例句：

• Limestone is often used in building construction.石灰岩常用于建筑。
• Cement is made from limestone.水泥是由石灰石制成的。

7 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

8 nourishment   

n.食物，营养品；营养情况

参考例句：

• Lack of proper nourishment reduces their power to resist disease.营养不良降低了他们抵抗疾病的能力。
• He ventured that plants draw part of their nourishment from the air.他大胆提出植物从空气中吸收部分养分的观点。

9 energizing   

v.给予…精力，能量( energize的现在分词 )；使通电

参考例句：

• a refreshing and energizing fruit drink 提神并增加体能的果汁饮料
• The time required after energizing a device, before its rated output characteristics begin to apply. 从设备通电到它开始提供额定输出特性之间所需的时间。 来自辞典例句

10 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

11 crave   

vt.渴望得到，迫切需要，恳求，请求

参考例句：

• Many young children crave attention.许多小孩子渴望得到关心。
• You may be craving for some fresh air.你可能很想呼吸呼吸新鲜空气。