萬聖節名人面具熱銷 傑克遜奧巴馬最火
Here's a way to frighten the neighbors on Halloween: wear a mask looking like convicted multi-billion-dollar swindler Bernard Madoff, a vampire-president "Barakula," or the late Michael Jackson.
Rubber masks of the trio are among the most popular purchases by Americans eager to shake off the economic doldrums and go trick-or-treating on October 31, costume sellers say.
While this ancient Celtic pagan rite, originally held to celebrate the dead and the end of the harvest season, is primarily a children's event, it also gives adults an excuse to dress up like their favorite ghoul and behave like kids.
Halloween is "a recession antidote," said Jim Moore, marketing director of , a website specializing in costume sales.
"It's a day of escapism -- you can still dress up, be someone else and have fun for 50 dollars or less," said Diane Lake, co-owner of the Economy Party Supplies and Costumes in the suburbs of the US capital.
Topical politically inspired masks are often hot items, as are the latest pop-culture inspired procession of zombies and vampires.
This year items related to the "King of Pop," Jackson, who died in June, are top sellers. Jackson loved Halloween, and revolutionized music videos with his 1983 clip "Thriller," in which corpses rise from their graves and dance to a catchy tune.
Copies of the red leather jacket Jackson wore in the "Thriller" video sell well, and compete with replicas of the studded black outfit Jackson wore on the cover of his 1987 album "Bad."
Brad Butler, CEO of Halloween Express, said his company received a late hot seller: "Barakula," a ghoulish version of President Barack Obama's face with bugged-out eyes, Vulcan-style ears and knife-sharp fangs.
"It's a mask that came late, but is going to over-sell all the others," Butler predicted. He said buyers snapped up his stock of 3,000 masks, and he has put in a rush order for another 6,000.
"It's the first time I see a presidential mask that takes it to the next level," Butler said, adding that they are more popular than the Bill Clinton masks from the 1990s.
Other political rubber masks include Obama's wife Michelle, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and former Hollywood action star and California Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger.
想在萬聖節那天嚇嚇鄰居？給你支上一招——戴上面具扮成數百億美元巨騙伯納德•麥道夫、“吸血鬼總統”奧巴馬或者已故“流行天王”邁克爾•傑克遜。
據萬聖節服飾銷售商介紹，上述三人的橡膠面具最受美國民衆歡迎。隨着10月31日萬聖節的到來，深受經濟危機困擾的人們迫不及待地想要放鬆一下，在萬聖夜耍耍“不給糖果就搗亂”的小把戲。
儘管這一古老的凱爾特異教徒的習俗起初是孩子們嬉鬧的節日，但現在它讓成年人們也多了個玩樂的理由，在這一天扮成自己喜愛的鬼怪形象，像孩子一樣鬧一鬧。萬聖節最初是一個祭奠逝者和慶祝豐收季結束的節日。
萬聖節服飾銷售網站的市場總監吉姆•摩爾稱，萬聖節是“擺脫經濟危機的良藥”。
位於美國首都郊區的經濟派對用品及服飾公司的所有者之一黛安•萊克說：“這一天人們可以逃避現實，可以喬裝打扮，扮成別人，花上50美元甚至更少找點樂子。”
政壇熱門人物的面具總是十分暢銷，最近流行文化中出現的“殭屍”和吸血鬼的系列面具銷路也不錯。
今年，與“流行天王”邁克爾·傑克遜有關的面具最爲暢銷。傑克遜於今年六月份去世，他生前最喜愛萬聖節。在他1983年的作品《顫慄》的MV中，殭屍們從墳堆中爬出來，並隨着動感的音樂起舞。傑克遜的這一作品是對音樂電視的一次革命。
傑克遜在《顫慄》MV中所穿的紅色皮夾克仿品銷量很好，堪比傑克遜在1987年的專輯《真棒》封面上所穿的那套佈滿飾釘的黑色禮服。
“萬聖速遞”公司的首席執行官布拉德•巴特勒稱，他們公司最近上了個“遲到的”熱銷品：“鬼怪奧巴馬”面具。面具上的奧巴馬雙眼暴突，長着火神耳，尖牙像刀一樣鋒利。
巴特勒預測稱：“這個面具上市較晚，但其銷量將超過其他產品。”據他介紹，庫存的三千個面具已被搶購一空，他趕緊又加訂了六千個。
巴特勒說：“這還是我第一次看到總統面具要加訂單。”他稱，奧巴馬的面具比上世紀90年代比爾•克林頓總統的面具還要暢銷。
其它政壇人物面具包括奧巴馬伕人米歇爾、國務卿希拉里•克林頓、前好萊塢動作影星及現任加州州長阿諾德• 施瓦辛格。
Vocabulary:
swindler：a person who swindles you by means of deception or fraud（騙子）
vampire：a preternatural being, commonly believed to be a reanimated corpse, that is said to suck the blood of sleeping persons at night（吸血鬼）
trio：any group of three persons or things（三人，三重奏）
pagan：pertaining to the worship or worshipers of any religion that is neither Christian, Jewish, nor Muslim（異教的）
ghoul：an evil demon, originally of Oriental legend, supposed to feed on human beings, and especially to rob graves, prey on corpses, etc（盜屍者，食屍鬼）
escapism：the avoidance of reality by absorption of the mind in entertainment or in an imaginative situation, activity, etc（逃避現實，逃避主義，解脫）
topical：pertaining to or dealing with matters of current or local interest（熱門話題的，有關時事的）
catchy：pleasing and easily remembered（悅耳易記的）
Vulcan：羅馬神話中的火神伏爾坎
snap up：to buy up something（搶購）
