学位英语

Women Staying in Mini-Skirts for Longer

British women are happy nowadays to wear mini-skirts up until the age of 40, according to research by Debenhams.

Just 20 years ago, few women would dare to wear a mini-skirt after the age of 33, the store said. “It shows that women now have an increasing confidence in their bodies and are happy to dress accordingly,” it added in a statement. “If this trend continues, there’s no doubt that, within the next decade, women in their mid 40s and early 50s will rightly regard a mini-skirt as an essential pan of their everyday wardrobe.”

The figures emerged when the store examined the latest age profile of women buying short, 36-cm skirts over the past six months. Their results show that it has jumped from an average age of 36-years-old at the start of millennium to 40 today. Figures from 1980 showed that on average women stopped buying minis when they reached 33 years old -- a figure unchanged from the mid-1960s.

The store noted that experts believe that the popularity of intensive gym culture, providing women with well toned bodies for longer may be the reason The increasing number of British women living on their own may also be a factor.

The Debenhams’ study showed that a modern woman’s love affair with a mini-skin begins at the age of 14 but that she doesn’t buy her first one until the age of 16 Instead, she flouts school roles by rolling up the waistband of the school uniform to give the impression of wearing a mini skirt.

Skirts get shorter between the ages of 16 and 19, reducing in size from 46 to 36 cm before reaching their shortest, a mere 32 cm, at the age of 23. Skirt .length increases slightly between the ages of 23 and 27, rising to 37 cm, possibly due to girls being in their first stable relationship, with no desire to attract attention, the store said.

However, it found short skirt suddenly zoom in popularity between the ages of 27 and 34, as those early relationships break down, and new relationships are formed. The move into longer skins begins irreversibly at 40 years old, when 46-cm skins, still slightly above the knee are the norm. From then on, skirt length increases dramatically, falling below the knee for the very first time since school days at the age of 42.

词汇：

millennium 千禧年 gym .健身房

注释：

1.这里指公元2000年。

2.gym culture：指英国现在流行的去健身房健身的趋势。

3.well toned bodies：指结实而线条良好的体形。

练习：

1.Debenhams could most possibly be

A a fashion magazine

B a lifestyle association

C an expert on trends

D a department store

2.According to the passage, British women are happy to wear mini-skirts up until an older age because of the following reasons EXCEPT ：

A Women are more and more confident in their bodies.

B Women nowadays pay much more attention to body building, and this provides them with well toned bodies to wear mini-skirts.

C The Climate of Great Britain are getting warmer in recent years, thus women can wear minis for a longer time.

D More and more women are now living on their own.

3.We can infer from the second and third paragraph that in 1970s

A a lot of women dared to wear mini-skirts at the age of 40

B most women between 33 and 36 were still happy to wear mini-skirts

C even women in their early 50s rightly regarded a mini-skirt as an essential part of their everyday wardrobe

D most women no longer wore mini-skirts when they reach the age of 33

4.Which of the following statements about the length of the mini-skirts is true?

A At the age of 14,girls often wear mini-skirts which are about 46cm in size.

B Girls at the age of 19 wear the shortest mini-skirts.

C At the age of 23，most girls wear mini-skirts which are 37cm long.

D From the age of 23,skirt length increases because girls are in their first stable relationship.

5.The word “zoom” in the first sentence of the last paragraph can be best replaced by ?

A soar

B decrease

C hold steady

D drop

答案与题解：

1.D从第二段的第一句话可知Debenhams是一个百货公司的名称。

2.C英国女性愿意穿超短裙人群的年龄有上升的趋势，主要是因为人们越来越自信，注意健身保持体形，以及女性生活更加独立。气候变暖不是文中所说的原因之一。

3.D第三段说从20世纪60年代开始一直到80年代，调査都显示女性到33岁之后普遍不再 购买超短裙。

4.D从倒数第二段可知,从23岁开始，女性所穿着的超短裙长度从32 cm渐增至37 cm,主要 是因为这个阶段她们普遍有了稳定的恋爱关系。

5.A “zoom”意为迅速增长，故A是最佳答案。

译文：女性穿超短裙时间更长

根据Debenhams公司的调查，英国女性在40岁之前钟情于穿超短裙。

可就在20年前，只有很少数的女性在33岁以后还敢穿超短裙。Debenhams公司透露，这些表明现代女性对自己身材的信心与日俱增，并在一份声明中补充到现代女性也很喜欢穿衣打扮，如果这个趋势继续下去的话，那么在下个十年的时间里40岁到50岁的英国女性的衣橱无疑将被超短裙占据。

百货公司调查显示，在过去6个月购买36厘米长的超短裙的女性的最新年龄分布出现了新的数字。他们的研究结果表明，在新千年开始之际，平均年龄已由36岁上升到40岁。 从1980年的数字显示，平均起来，当达到33岁时妇女就停止购买迷你裙了——这一数字从60年代中期一直没有改变。

百货公司注意到，专家相信高密度的健身文化的流行，给女性更加长时间的保持身体健康提供了依据。英国生活独立的妇女越来越多也是其中一个因素。

16岁到19岁之间裙子变得越来越短，从46厘米减少到36厘米，23岁时达到32厘米，达到最短。23岁到27岁迷你裙长度又逐渐增长，增加到37厘米，可能是由于女孩感情第一次稳定下来，没有再去吸引人的必要。商店报道说。

然而，由于女孩的第一次感情的破裂，新的关系正在形成，从27岁到34岁迷你裙又突然流行起来。40岁时迷你裙又开始变长，46厘米，稍稍在膝盖上面是标准的流行模式。从那时起，迷你裙的长度急剧增长，在42岁时又达到膝盖以下，这是自从离开校门后首次达到膝盖以下。

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