
Costume masks of Britain's royal family are flying off the shelves nationwide ahead of Prince William's April 29 wedding to Kate Middleton. And with Britons taking no pains to, well, mask their excitement about the wedding, the bride-to-be's face has been popping up in the most unlikely places.
英国威廉王子和准王妃凯特•米德尔顿将于本月29日举行婚礼,有关英国王室的服饰面具近日在全英热销。戴上面具,英国民众就可以尽情表达自己对婚礼的兴奋之情,因此准王妃的面具突然出现在一些最出人意料的场所。
On the street. At the gym. In the office. And the stores. They're struggling to keep the masks in stock.
在大街上、在健身房、在办公室……随处可见戴着王室面具的人们。还有商场正尽力确保面具供应。
More than 120,000 royal masks have shipped already and Mask-arade, the company behind the phenomenon, is taking orders for 20,000 more each day, according to Ray Duffy, one of its founders.
英国王室面具目前已售出12万个。面具制造商“面具游行”创始人之一雷•达菲表示,每天接到的面具订单都会增加两万个。
Wills and Kate are the best-sellers of course, but the other royals on offer — Prince Harry, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla — are not far behind.
威廉和凯特的面具无疑销路最好,但哈里王子、女王伊丽莎白二世、菲利普亲王、查尔斯王子以及妻子卡米拉等其他王室成员的面具销量也不错。
The success has stunned Duffy and his fellow mask men, forcing the Southam, England-based company to double in size and triple the number of contractors to meet the surge in demand.
面具生意好到让达菲和雇员都非常吃惊,也促使这家位于英国绍瑟姆的公司规模翻番,并将承包商数量增至3倍,以应对需求的激增。
And it's not just enthusiastic locals. Mask-arade is shipping British royal faces all over the world — to the United States, Australia, Scotland, even Vietnam.
并非只有英国人为王室婚礼疯狂。该公司的面具还销往美国、澳大利亚、苏格兰 、甚至越南。