模特走上因特网
Fashion shows going beyond catwalk and into the world of cyberspace

MILAN -- Alluring models are now prancing down the catwalks also on the Internet, parading the latest creations of famous couturiers. Through its new cybernetic dimnsion the fashion industry hopes to win a lot of additional customers, especially among young web surfers everywhere.

*cyberspace：电脑空间。这里“cyber-”是个前缀，意思是“计算机，计算机的”。第一段出现的“cybernetic”则意为“（电脑）控制论的”。
*prancing：原形是prance，意思是“昂首阔步，趾高气昂地行走”。如“He pranced out of the room.”现在这个网络时代，模特不仅走在天桥上，而且走上了互联网。
*parading：原形是parade，文中是“炫耀，展示”的意思。比如“He is parading his knowledge.”（他在卖弄知识。）Parade的基本意思是“游行”，也可作名词。另外，有个短语“rain on sb's parade”（使某人扫兴）。如果有人扫了你的兴，你可以说“It's you who rained on my parade!”
*couturier：女服装设计师。
*web surfers：网上冲浪者们。通过Internet，时尚业希望赢得大量消费者，尤其是年轻的web surfers。

Decreeing what people are to wear is one of the ways whereby the rich West imposes its tastes and lifestyles on the rest of the world-- Japan and South Korea as well as developing countries that can't afford them. The dictates of fashion are now proclaimed in, essentially, four places: Milan, Paris, London and New York.

*decreeing：原形是decree，文中作动词，意思是“宣布，公告”。当遇到你心仪的人，你可以说“God decreed that we should meet!”（我们相见是天意！）
*dictates：常作复数，表示“命令，支配”。西方发达国家通过宣告人们将要穿什么，把他们的品味和生活方式强加于他国，从而形成时尚。

A couple of generations ago Paris was the sole lodestar for haute couture while London used to lay down the law as to how a gentleman should be attired. Today the designers, models, photographers, TV crews, fashion writers, piratical copyists and those bejeweled mature groups who always manage to get invitations chase one another along the traveling fashion circus's entire itinerary from Italy to the United States.

*lodestar：北极星。几代人以前，巴黎曾是唯一一个领导高级女装（haute couture）潮流的都市，因此这里把巴黎比作时装界的北极星。
*piratical：盗版的。这个词来源于“pirate”——海盗，现在引申为“盗版者”。 *circus：马戏团，流动戏班。人们追随着流动的时尚路线（itinerary）而动。

The spring and fall shows in the four paramount fashion centers have long become periodic television events that always generate vast audiences. Now, thanks to the Net, those festivals of consumerism threaten to turn into year-round affairs.

*paramount：most important，最重要的，至高的。这个词比较书面化，比如众所周知的好莱坞电影公司“派拉蒙”就是“Paramont”。
*threaten：这里是“可能来临，似将发生”的意思，由原来的“威胁”引申而来。正是由于因特网的存在，这四个重要时尚中心的春秋时装秀才可能被随时看到。

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