人们眼中的女性难道只有“美腿”吗？

英国首相特蕾莎·梅最近在与苏格兰首席部长会面时，虽然她只是身着普通职业女性的服装，却因露出双腿而被《每日邮报》头版调侃为“美腿”。面对女性公众人物，人们的关注点往往“跑偏”，女性的衣着打扮总是受到过分的评论——即使她们穿的并无任何不妥之处。

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：

tabloid小报['tæblɔɪd]

garment衣服，服装['gɑːm(ə)nt]

pageant盛会；游行['pædʒ(ə)nt]

patriarchal家长的；族长的[peɪtrɪ'ɑːk(ə)l]

ensemble全体；全套服装[ɒn'sɒmb(ə)l]

transpire发生；使蒸发[træn'spaɪə]

tangential离题的，扯远的

‘Legs-it’ and the naked truth about women in the public eye（816 words）

By Jo Ellison

The great tragedy of the “Legs-it” front page published by British tabloid paper The Daily Mail this week was not that the prime minister Theresa May and Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon were judged by their clothes. But that their clothes only provided punctuation to a far more abusive judgment in which their garments were discarded so they could be pitted against each other in a battle of the “shapely shanks”. The politicians were undressed, like lumps of meat, and subjected to a scrutiny a judge might offer contestants participating in a local beauty pageant.

Bizarrely both were dressed according to the ancient patriarchal code of what is deemed appropriate for women in public office — smart tailored suits, modest jewellery, professional hair and sheer tights. Exactly the sort of ensembles tabloid papers like to fawn over, because they are womanly and attractive (not like those other female politicians, such as the matronly Angela Merkel, for example, who insists on wearing dowdy trouser suits that won't even allow us a gawk at her ankles). Otherwise they were unremarkable. The outfits were singled out both for their similarity — an observation made by people who have clearly never been in a room of professional women — and for their comparative costs. Nicola Sturgeon wore Hobbs, while Theresa May wore a more expensive £595 jacket by Amanda Wakeley. Quite how anyone can still think this an extravagance, when one considers the eye-bleedingly high price tags of those €12,000 Arnys suits favoured by French presidential candidate François Fillon, is stupefying.

Anyway, who cares? They may as well have both worn bathing suits for all the seriousness the meeting was accorded. The clothes mattered not at all. It was the legs that clinched it.

Don't get me wrong — I'm a big fan of Theresa May's legs. Likewise Nicola Sturgeon's. I just despair of a culture in which all discussion of female appearance and clothing transpires to be a way in which to reduce her to her natural state. Our queasy obsession with the female body has not evolved one jot. Amal Clooney “showed off her baby bump” while wearing a black suit on her way to a meeting at the UN. Did she? Or is she just a pregnant woman heading to an office where elasticated pants might be frowned on? An actress “flaunts her enviable” curves while holidaying on a private island where she believes herself to be out of range of the paparazzi lenses.

Woman has body. This shouldn't be interesting. Clothes, on the other hand, are completely fascinating. I could talk about Theresa May's style all day. I applaud the way she “shrobed” her jacket for a portrait taken by the eminent celebrity portraitist Annie Leibovitz for US Vogue this month. Likewise, the way she played the scarlet woman in a jaunty red overcoat while gambolling about the gardens at Chequers. Of course her clothes merit attention, although not necessarily on the front pages, and not in lieu of any other discussion surrounding the circumstances of her being photographed in the first place, such as the future of the UK.

As a way to offer another, slightly tangential perspective on a person's personality, however, clothes are an excellent study. And I love a public figure — female or male — who embraces fashion. Just look at Barack Obama's post-presidential style since leaving the White House. The man who told Vanity Fair that as president he only wore blue or grey suits in order to “pare down decisions … because I have too many other decisions to make” appears to have taken all the time in the world over the details of his wardrobe in recent weeks. Everything from the mirrored, wraparound shades he wore to go kitesurfing with Richard Branson in the British Virgin Islands, to the newly relaxed fit of his open-necked shirts, to the conker-brown leather aviator jacket he wore on a visit to the National Gallery of Art in Washington on March 5, has suggested a highly curated approach to the act of looking casual. From Potus to Relaxed Man, his new look seems to be channelling a stylish secret agent.

The physical transformation has not been without comment. But were Obama a woman, one would presumably have expected to read about him “flaunting” his abs on the beach while engaged in some sort of brawl with his peer as to who looked better in their swimmers. We might have enjoyed a few lines about Obama's “long extremities”, or how his feet were arranged in a “flattering diagonal” line.

Instead, comment has focused largely on his emotional happiness: his new casual wardrobe used to characterise the outward manifestation of his intellectual fufilment. No one would dare undress him. And that's the naked truth. Even when women dress the part, even when they wear all the right things, and conform to every boring stereotype, they still get stripped bare in the end.

1.What has been the front page of The Daily Mail this week?

A.The prime minister and Scottish first minister were judged by their clothes

B.Obama's post-president clothes was judged

C.Angela Merkel's clothes were discarded

D.Different Leaders of the state were judged by the prices of clothes they wear

答案(1)

2.What would in the news if an actress is on holiday on a private island?

A.She is “totally relax and enjoys herself”

B.She “showed off her baby bump”

C.She “flaunts her enviable” curves

D.She is “happy and refreshing”

答案(2)

3.What did Obama wear when he was the president of the United States?

A.Only blue or grey suits

B.Open-necked shirts

C.Leather aviator jacket

D.Sports clothes

答案(3)

4.What would happen to the judgments of women even if they dress all the right things?

A.They will still be judged by their appearances

B.They will be recognize equally as men

C.There is nothing will happen

D.Their ways of dressing will be praised

答案(4)

(1)答案：A.The prime minister and Scottish first minister were judged by their clothes

解释：这周的《每日邮报》上，英国首相在苏格兰首席部长进行会面时的服装受到了极大的关注，《每日邮报》进行该报道时所用的大标题为《别管英国脱欧，看看谁的腿美》。

(2)答案：C.She “flaunts her enviable” curves

解释：当女明星们在私家海滩享受假日时，狗仔队的报道往往是：她骄傲地向人展示她令人艳羡的身体曲线。

(3)答案：A.Only blue or grey suits

解释：奥巴马接受采访时表示，在任职美国总统期间，他只能穿蓝色或者灰色的西装。

(4)答案：A.They will still be judged by their appearances

解释：在作者看来，即时女性按照规范穿对了衣服，她们依然会受到世人的指指点点。