英語故事:誰是世界上最虛榮的女人

【英文原文】

Brazilian women care more about their appearance than any other women in the world, with half prepared to undergo plastic surgery to keep their looks, a recent study shows. In Brazil, where being called "vain" is often a compliment suggesting self-respect, 86 percent of women said they tried extremely hard to improve their looks compared with an average of 67 percent worldwide, according to the 2003 global women’s survey by cosmetics company Avon. 90 percent of Brazilian women classified beauty products as an essential rather than a luxury, compared with an average of 77 percent worldwide, Avon said, citing its survey of 21,000 women in 24 countries. Avon’s official explanation for Brazilian women’s beauty consciousness was their struggle to enter a job market where they are still well under-represented in many fields. "It’s important to look good, and feel good if you want to confront the male-dominated world," said Marcia Gonsales, planning and marketing director at Avon Brazil. Looking good in Brazil is a national pastime. Nowhere on Earth is plastic surgery more popular on a per-capita basis than in this nation of 175 million people. Some male Brazilian writers attribute this to a national aesthetic that women should be sexy and sensual. Others point to the nation’s predominantly tropical climate where men and women wear less clothes and are more concerned about making the best of what they have on show.

【中文譯文】

最近的一項研究顯示，巴西女子比世界上其他任何地方的婦女都更在意自己的外表，其中一半願意通過整形手術來留住美麗。在巴西，“虛榮”常常是一句諛辭，意思是“自尊”。根據化妝品公司雅芳在2003年對全球婦女進行的一次調查，86%的巴西婦女聲稱自己爲增添美貌而不遺餘力，而在全球範圍內這一比例是67%。雅芳引用這次對24國21,000位婦女的調查結果說，90%的巴西女人認爲美容用品是必需品而不是奢侈品，而全球的平均比例是77%。雅芳的官員解釋說，巴西婦女在許多行業中仍然只佔極少數，愛美意識體現着她們努力進入就業市場的抗爭。雅芳巴西公司的策劃及營銷總監瑪西婭·岡薩雷斯說：“在對抗男性主宰的世界之時，美麗的外表及良好的自我感覺十分重要。”打扮是巴西的一種全國性消遣活動，按人均水平計算，這個擁有1.75億人口的國家是世界上整形手術最流行的地方。巴西的一些男性作家將這種狀況歸因於一種全國性的審美共識：女人應該漂亮性感。另一些人則認爲其原因在於巴西主導性的熱帶氣候：男男女女都穿得比較少，因此更得讓露在外面的部分顯得美麗動人。