评论
打印
One out of three men in the United States is under 5 feet 8 inches tall. You'd never guess the magnitude of the demographic from menswear.
在美国，每三位男士当中就有一位身高低于5英尺8英寸(约1米72)。男装市场的统计资料绝对远远出乎你的意料。
'They have stores for big and tall men, so why not for shorter men?' asks Josh Lefkowitz, who describes his height as 'five-foot-three and a half.' A New York public-relations executive, Mr. Lefkowitz likes to buy a jacket in size 36 short and take it to a tailor. To make a size seven shoe fit, he buys inserts to fill out the extra space.
乔希·莱夫寇维兹(Josh Lefkowitz)是纽约一位高级公关主管，他说自己的身高是“5英尺3.5英寸”(约1米61)。他提出了这样一个疑问：“既然有针对身材高大男士的服装店，怎么就没有专门面向矮个男士的呢？” 莱夫寇维兹喜欢买短36码外套，再拿到裁缝那儿修改。他买7码的鞋子，不过还得买点填充物塞进去之后才合脚。
Yet when standard-size clothes are altered for a man like Mr. Lefkowitz, the final proportions can come out all wrong. Simply shortening a suit's hems and sleeves can leave the collar too broad, the pockets oversized, the armholes gargantuan, the elbow curves too low and the rear droopy.
不过，如果把标准尺寸的服装根据莱夫寇维兹的身材加以修改，最后出来的比例也许完全不对头。仅仅修短衣服的下摆和袖子是远远不够的，领口、口袋、袖孔都还是太大，肘弯处太低，后摆也是耷拉着的。
All this can make a small man look even smaller. 'Taller men can get away with having things look a little baggy,' says Mr. Lefkowitz. But the wrong fit 'can make us look schlumpy.'
这样的改动只会让一个原本矮小的人更显矮小。莱夫寇维兹说：“个高的人穿件稍微宽松的衣服，看着也还过得去。“而不合身的衣服”穿在我们身上只会显得人很邋遢。”
Height, for a man, is the ultimate power marker. An added inch of height is equivalent to an extra $30,000 year of salary, on average, when it comes to attracting a mate, says Andrew Trees, author of 'Decoding Love,' a book about the science of attraction. Height also affects earnings -- though less dramatically: Each inch earns you about $600 more per year in salary after controlling for variables like education, he says.
对于男性来说，身高是最具影响力的一项体貌特征。《解密爱情》('Decoding Love')一书探讨了有关两性吸引的科学，该书作者安德鲁·特里斯(Andrew Trees)说，身高增加一英寸，对异性的吸引力等同于年薪增加3万美元。他说，身高同时也会影响到一个人的收入，尽管作用没有那么明显：在不考虑诸如学历等因素的前提下，身高每增加一英寸，意味着你的年收入能增加600美元。
Yet there is one thing that supersedes height: The perception of height. Men who got early growth spurts but wound up short are often perceived to be taller than they are, says Mr. Trees, suggesting that the reason lies in their carriage. The reverse is also true: Men who became tall later on are often perceived as shorter than they are -- possibly because they learned early to think of themselves as short.
不过有另外一个因素可以取身高而代之，那就是：预期身高。特里斯先生说，那些小时候个子长得很快、成年后其实并不高的人通常会被认为比实际上要高，这可能与他们举手投足等仪态有关。反之亦然：那些长个比较晚的人通常会被看矮了──可能是因为他们早就认为自己个矮。
This suggests that short men can seem taller or shorter, depending on how they present themselves. A key element is wearing clothes with the right proportions. A small man wearing oversized clothes risks looking like he's dressing up in Dad's clothes -- emphasizing his diminutive stature.
这表明，个矮男士的打扮会使他们比实际身高显得高些或矮些。其中一个关键因素就是要穿比例协调的衣服。小个子穿的衣服尺码过大，很可能给人感觉是儿子穿了老爸的衣服──只能愈发凸显身材的矮小。
