《英语流行话题阅读:语境识词3500》Unit74:你是Cosplayer一族吗?

　　Unit 74
Are You a Cosplayer?
-- What is a Cosplay?
"Cosplay" is an event which people dress up as their favorite character from cartoons, animations¹ and video games and can take photos with them. The word is a compound word made up of "costume" and "play".
-- History of cosplay
Cosplay's history can be traced back to the 1970s, when merchants selling Star Trek² comic books dressed up as Capt. Kirk and Mr. Spock as a marketing³ ploy⁴ at the ComicMarket convention held in Tokyo each year.
The idea slowly caught on with customers, and now thousands of costume players crowd into ComicMarket every year.
Throughout the country there are believed to be around 50,000 costume players.
-- What are players' reasons for cosplaying?
"Cosplay to me is a way for me to make great new friends with the same interests as I have, improve my sewing skills, creativity, and let me use my imagination to help bring an amazing characters to life. I also really enjoy the challenge of making a good costume. I know a lot of people ask me why I cosplay, so these are a few reasons on why I spend so much time and money cosplaying."-- Angela
"Have a few reasons why I currently cosplay. I enjoy the challenge of creating something with my bare hands, discovering new ways to design and duplicate complicated outfits⁵ and accessories, and finally putting on the final product. While I enjoy wearing the costumes, I enjoy making them even more. Secondly⁶, I typically cosplay characters that I myself care about. I've grown to love these characters for different reasons, but nevertheless, I care for them like you care for a character in a novel you love, or a movie you enjoy. I want to kind of 'pay homage⁷' to these characters by re-creating them in the best way I can. As an actor, I enjoy the element of occasionally being in character as well. Finally, I enjoy the people. I've made a lot of friends through this hobby, and every few forms of social gathering⁸ can compare with the true Cos experience! As it is, I can say that my reasons for cosplaying haven't really changed all that much since I began... and I like it that way. I'm here to have fun, and I hope that never changes."-- Matt
The reason I started doing this was, well, I've been looking for an "analog⁹" hobby for a while now. I mean I do a lot of things with computers and electronics. I work at a computer company and I am on the computer most of the time in my off hours.
I got bored one day so me and a friend went to Fanime, an anime convention in San Jose. There we saw a lot of great costumes from anime that I recognized and from video games too. I sort of wanted to tackle a costume, and that's where it all started. -- Dennis
I first heard of this phenomenon when I moved to the USA three years ago (from Germany). I joined an anime club and we planned a group trip to the biggest anime convention here, Anime Expo. The idea of dressing¹⁰ up as a drawn¹¹ character fascinated me and I started planning a costume. After wearing it to the convention I was completely addicted¹².-- Christina

1 animations   

n.生气( animation的名词复数 )；兴奋；动画片；（指电影、录像、电脑游戏的）动画制作

参考例句：

• You'll see your team cheerleaders and mascot performing new animations as well. 你会看到啦啦队队长跟吉祥物也都会有全新的动作。 来自互联网
• Ability to create simple movie and animations using graphic & multimedia software. 能够用平面和多媒体软件制作简单的电影及动画。 来自互联网

2 trek   

vi.作长途艰辛的旅行；n.长途艰苦的旅行

参考例句：

• We often go pony-trek in the summer.夏季我们经常骑马旅行。
• It took us the whole day to trek across the rocky terrain.我们花了一整天的时间艰难地穿过那片遍布岩石的地带。

3 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

4 ploy   

n.花招，手段

参考例句：

• I think this is just a government ploy to deceive the public.我认为这只是政府欺骗公众的手段。
• Christmas should be a time of excitement and wonder,not a cynical marketing ploy.圣诞节应该是兴奋和美妙的时刻，而不该是一种肆无忌惮的营销策略。

5 outfits   

n.全套装备( outfit的名词复数 )；一套服装；集体；组织v.装备，配置设备，供给服装( outfit的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He jobbed out the contract to a number of small outfits. 他把承包工程分包给许多小单位。 来自辞典例句
• Some cyclists carry repair outfits because they may have a puncture. 有些骑自行车的人带修理工具，因为他们车胎可能小孔。 来自辞典例句

6 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

7 homage   

n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬

参考例句：

• We pay homage to the genius of Shakespeare.我们对莎士比亚的天才表示敬仰。
• The soldiers swore to pay their homage to the Queen.士兵们宣誓效忠于女王陛下。

8 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

9 analog   

n.类似物，模拟

参考例句：

• The analog signal contains high-frequency video information,which helps make up the picture.模拟信号包括有助于构成图像的高频视频信息。
• The analog computer measures continuously,without proceeding step by step.模拟计算机不是一步一步地进行，而是连续地进行量度。

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 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

12 addicted   

adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的

参考例句：

• He was addicted to heroin at the age of 17.他17岁的时候对海洛因上了瘾。
• She's become addicted to love stories.她迷上了爱情小说。