06 话题 | 最爱的一件衣服

【原文故事】

大家好，欢迎来到《走遍美国》！前面两次课，我们跟着高中生Alexandra坐上公交车去找摄影师Richard；又跟着Richard来到了他妻子Marilyn的时装店，学了一些跟“Fashion”相关的表达。今天的课程内容包括两个环节。第一个环节，作为对前两次课语言内容的回顾，我们一起聊一个话题：你在特殊场合穿过的一件衣服；在随后的第二个环节，我们会一起聊一个很有趣的语言点：downtown这个词为什么表示“市中心”。

【场景语言】

首先进入第一个环节。我来跟大家描述一个话题：The Clothes that You Wear to Special Occasions. 特殊场合穿的衣服。大家注意听，我的描述会包括之前讲过的一些语言点，看大家能不能捕捉到。另外还会有一些之前没有提到过的表达，我们一起学一下。

首先，我来描述下这是怎么一件衣服。

The clothes that I often wear to special occasions is a black suit. This suit is made of Italian wool, and therefore gives me refined feel.

大家应该听明白了，我描述的是一套黑色西服a black suit。这件西服的面料是Italian wool。我们知道w-o-o-l，wool是“羊毛”，Italian wool就是“意大利羊毛”。我用了be made of 这个词组来引出这套西服的面料：This suit is made of Italian wool。如果是棉质的衣服，那就是made of cotton，c-o-t-t-o-n，cotton 是“棉的”；亚麻的，made of linen，l-i-n-e-n，是“亚麻”。

描述完面料之后，我说到，就是因为这件西服面料比较好，所以让我感觉很“高级”。表达“高级”这个意思，不知大家刚才有没有听清楚我用的词。我用的是refined，r-e-f-i-n-e-d，refined。如果我们形容一个人refined，那就是说这个人elegant and well-educated，很优雅、很有教养；如果我们形容一样东西refined，通常是说这样东西“纯净无杂质的”，比如refined oil，那是经过提纯的石油。这边形容面料给人的感觉refined，就是说让人感觉很“高级”。It gives me refined feel.

刚才描述了我这套西服的面料，接着我想描述下它的做工和剪裁。

The suit is well made, perfectly tailored to fit my size. 西服做工很好，完美贴合我的体型。well-made，我们应该熟悉，就是“做工很好”的意思；tailor，t-a-i-l-o-r，肯定有朋友认识，就是“裁缝”那个词。这个词可以作动词来用，表示““剪裁”。我说那件衬衫perfectly tailored to fit my size，就是说他剪裁完美，完全贴合我的体型：fit my size。s-i-z-e，size就是“尺寸”的意思，f-i-t，fit，是大小适合的意思。fit my size，适合我的尺寸，也就是贴合我的体型。

描述完这套西服的大致情况，我接下来要说说是在哪里买的这样一套西服。

I bought that suit from a tailor shop. A friend of mine recommended that tailor to me.

我是在一个裁缝店里面定做的这件西服。一个朋友向我推荐了这个裁缝。

It was not easy for me to get to that shop, because it was in quite a remote place, far away from downtown, and there was no public transportation to take me there. By that I mean there was no subway station or bus stop near that shop. Given that I had no driver’s license at that time, I had no choice but to grab a cab.

那家店远离市中心，far away from downtown，公交到不了，我又没驾照，只能打车去。grab a cab，打车。还好做出来的衣服还不错，不枉我专程跑一趟，所以：I didn’t regret that because the moment I saw the suits displayed in the tailor’s shop, I knew I was at the right place. 我不后悔，I didn’t regret that. r-e-g-r-e-t，regret是后悔的意思。

接下来，我来说说我穿着这套西服参加了什么特殊的场合。

The occasion that I wore the suit to was a wedding. It was my best friend’s wedding. In order to show him how much I valued his getting married, I bought that suit right before his wedding day, and wore it to attend the wedding party.

我参加的呀是我最好的朋友的婚礼，my best friend’s wedding. 最好的朋友结婚当然要重视一点了。为了让他知道我有多重视，我就买了这套西服。表示为了……，我用了in order to 这个词组。表示“重视”，我用了是value这个词，v-a-l-u-e。这个词大家认识哈，作名词来用，意思是“价值”，作动词，意思就是“认为……有价值”，也就是“重视”。I bought the suit in order to show my friend how much I valued his wedding.

好了，关于这个话题，我们最后再完整地听一下我的描述：

The clothes that I often wear to special occasions is a black suit. This suit is made of Italian wool, and therefore gives me refined feel. The suit is well made, perfectly tailored to fit my size. I bought that suit from a tailor shop. A friend of mine recommended that tailor to me.

It was not easy for me to get to that shop, because it was quite far away from my home, and there was no public transportation to take me there. By that I mean there was no subway station or bus stop near that shop. Given that I had no driver’s license at that time, I had no choice but to grab a cab. I didn’t regret that because the moment I saw the suits displayed in the tailor’s shop, I knew I was at the right place.

The occasion that I wore the suit to was a wedding. It was my best friend’s wedding. In order to show him how much I valued his getting married, I bought that suit right before his wedding day, and wore it to attend the wedding party.

【文化知识】

聊完了我在特殊场合穿的一件衣服，我们来讲一个很有趣的文化知识点。

在刚才的那个话题里，我提到我去过的那家裁缝店far away from downtown，远离市中心。在我们《走遍美国》的课本里面也有个恰巧跟downtown 相反的词，叫uptown。Richard 家就在纽约的uptown.

Alexandra 去 Richard 家里，需要乘坐开往 uptown 的地铁。我们知道 downtown 可以表示“市中心”，那 uptown岂不正好相反，就是“郊区”？其实不是。美国人会把市中心称作 downtown 是因为美国的很多城市都是从南部先发展起来，比如华尔街就在曼哈顿的南部。上北下南，南边比较繁华，因而 downtown 也就用来代指“市中心”了。美国的居住区通常远离繁华的下城downtown，位于上城uptown，因此 uptown 并不是指“郊区”，而是“居住区”。

那英国人是不是也有类似的说法？并没有。和美国城市从南向北发展的轨迹不同，英国的很多城市是中中心向周边发展。因此“市中心”在 British English 里面并不是 downtown，而是city center。

好了，今天我们话题描述和文化延伸就聊到这里啦。大家课后也可以试试用上我们刚才提到的语言点，描述一下你在特殊场合穿过的一件衣服。我们下周再见啦！