美国国家公共电台 NPR Male Rompers: Could This Garment Be The Worst Idea Ever?

 

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

We turn now to breaking news from the world of fashion. And if you're on social media, this has probably already popped up on your feed. And we feel it's our duty to report on this because it could be the hot trend for the summer for men or the worst idea ever. We're talking about rompers for men, a onesie. You probably wore one yourself when you were, say, Prince George's age.

And the reason this is all over social media is part of what makes it interesting. It's due to a Kickstarter campaign on behalf of a company called RompHim which has raised more than a quarter of a million dollars in just a few days. This is just to get the seed funding to start making rompers.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: On May 15, 2017, ACED¹ Design will introduce the original RompHim, and you'll see why this summer is about to get romped².

MARTIN: As we said, we feel this is a must discuss, so we called on Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Robin³ Givhan. She reports on fashion and culture for The Washington Post. We called her at her office probably to be sure she didn't throw something at our heads for wanting to discuss this.

ROBIN GIVHAN: (Laughter).

MARTIN: Robin, thank you so much for joining us.

GIVHAN: My pleasure.

MARTIN: Who knew there was a pent-up demand for male rompers?

GIVHAN: Well, I'm going to argue that I still am not really convinced that there is a pent-up demand for this strange little garment. I think there's a pent-up demand for amusement.

MARTIN: Now, for people who have not seen this, could you describe it?

GIVHAN: It looks like abbreviated⁴ coveralls, right? It looks sort of like a jumpsuit that's been hacked⁵ off high up on the thigh⁶ and looks like something that you might wear at a keg party.

MARTIN: You know, I'm getting the impression, Robin - correct me if I'm wrong - that you're not exactly a fan of this look.

GIVHAN: Well, I think it is not a particularly attractive look for the vast majority of men. I think if you're a 5-year-old boy, it probably looks adorable. But I also think that it's, you know, a sign that the men's market is becoming much more fashion-oriented and much more trend-driven. And as a result, it's seeing these kinds of odd, ill-considered ideas pop up to see if anyone bites.

MARTIN: Now, I just - in doing the research for this, our producers turned up Sean Connery as James Bond wearing a blue terrycloth romper in "Goldfinger." So that would seem to be some rather elegant inspiration maybe. No? (Laughter).

GIVHAN: I would argue that just because a Hollywood movie says it's so, doesn't make it true.

MARTIN: So do you think we are honestly going to see these on the streets this summer?

GIVHAN: I am not going to say absolutely not because I think that, you know, there's always the possibility that some risk-taking, quirky fella might decide that it's just the kind of thing to wear on a 95-degree day with lots of humidity. So it's possible, but I don't think that it's really a good idea.

MARTIN: How come?

GIVHAN: Well, for me, the biggest issue beyond the aesthetics⁷ of it, I think that there's this aspect of it that's extremely infantilizing. And so it's, you know - it's the same reason that it sort of irks me when I see an adult woman sitting on her boyfriend's lap. My initial reaction is that you're not a 10-year-old girl. So I think you deserve to have your own seat.

So I just think that when adults infantilize themselves, it is never a good idea because it just sort of helps our culture devolve in ways that are just not healthy. That's a really big notion for little rompers.

(LAUGHTER)

MARTIN: And we'll take it though. That's why you are the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer. That was Robin Givhan, Washington Post fashion editor. We reached her at her office. Robin, thanks so much for speaking with us.

GIVHAN: My pleasure.

1 aced   

vt.发球得分（ace的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• I don't know how I aced in, I was lucky enough. 我不知道这好事怎么让我给碰上了，我够幸运的。 来自互联网
• He aced every physical fitness test they gave him. 他顺利通过了他们对他所作的每项体格检查。 来自互联网

2 romped   

v.嬉笑玩闹( romp的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指在赛跑或竞选等中）轻易获胜

参考例句：

• Children romped on the playground. 孩子们在操场上嬉笑玩闹。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• John romped home well ahead of all the other runners. 约翰赛马跑时轻而易举地战胜了所有的选手。 来自辞典例句

3 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

4 abbreviated   

adj. 简短的，省略的 动词abbreviate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He abbreviated so much that it was hard to understand his article. 他的文章缩写词使用太多，令人费解。
• The United States of America is commonly abbreviated to U.S.A.. 美利坚合众国常被缩略为U.S.A.。

5 hacked   

生气

参考例句：

• I hacked the dead branches off. 我把枯树枝砍掉了。
• I'm really hacked off. 我真是很恼火。

6 thigh   

n.大腿；股骨

参考例句：

• He is suffering from a strained thigh muscle.他的大腿肌肉拉伤了，疼得很。
• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。

7 aesthetics   

n.(尤指艺术方面之)美学，审美学

参考例句：

• Sometimes, of course, our markings may be simply a matter of aesthetics. 当然，有时我们的标点符号也许只是个审美的问题。 来自名作英译部分
• The field of aesthetics presents an especially difficult problem to the historian. 美学领域向历史学家提出了一个格外困难的问题。