酷兔英语
    当前位置:
  1. 首页
  2. 文章
  3. 娱乐英语
  4. 原版小说
  5. 正文

America Through the Spectacles of an Oriental Diplomat-Part13_TingFang Wu(1842-1922)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

0 收藏 0 分享 0 赞

章节正文
文章总共2页
but let us see what can be said for the tight corsetbinding the waist.



So far from being comfortable it must be most inconvenient,

a sort of perpetualpenance and it is certainly injurious to the health.



I feel confident that physicians will support me in my belief

that the death-rate among American women would be less



if corset and other tight lacing were abolished. I have known of instances

where tight lacing for the ballroom has caused the death of enceinte women.



As to the third object, decency, I am not convinced that the American dress

fulfils this object. When I say American dress, I include also



the clothing worn by Europeans for both are practically the same.

It may be a matter of education, but from the Oriental point of view



we would prefer that ladies' dresses should be worn more loosely,

so that the figure should be less prominent. I am aware that this is a view



which my American friends do not share. It is very curious

that what is considered as indecent in one country is thought to be



quite proper in another. During the hot summers in the Province of Kiangsu

the working women avoid the inconveniences and chills of perspiration



by going about their work with nothing on the upper part of their bodies,

except a chest protector to cover the breasts; in Western countries



women would never think of doing this, even during a season of extreme heat;

yet they do not object, even in the depth of winter,



to uncovering their shoulders as low as possible when attending

a dinner-party, a ball, or the theater. I remember the case



of a Chinese rice-pounder in Hongkong who was arrested

and taken to the Police Court on a charge of indecency.



To enable him to do his work better he had dispensed with all his clothing

excepting a loin cloth; for this he was sentenced to pay a fine of $2,



or, in default of payment to be imprisoned for a week.

The English Magistrate, in imposing the fine, lectured him severely,



remarking that in a civilizedcommunity such primitive manners

could not be tolerated, as they were both barbarous and indecent.



When he said this did he think of the way the women of his country dress

when they go to a ball?



It must be remembered that modesty is wholly a matter

of conventionality and custom. Competent observers have testified



that savages who have been accustomed to nudity all their lives

are covered with shame when made to put on clothing for the first time.



They exhibit as much confusion as a civilized person would

if compelled to strip naked in public. In the words of a competent authority



on this subject: "The facts appear to prove that the feeling of shame,

far from being the cause of man's covering his body is, on the contrary,



a result of this custom; and that the covering, if not used

as a protection from the climate, owes its origin, at least in many cases,



to the desire of men and women to make themselves attractive."

Strange as it may seem, it is nevertheless true, that a figure partially clad



appears more indecent than one that is perfectly nude.

The fourth object of clothes is ornament, but ornaments should be harmless,



not only to the wearer, but also to other people; yet from

the following paragraph, copied from one of the daily newspapers,



it does not appear that they are.

"London, May 7. The death of a girl from blood-poisoning caused by a hatpin



penetrating her nose was inquired into at Stockport, Cheshire, yesterday.

The deceased was Mary Elizabeth Thornton, aged twenty-four, daughter of



a Stockport tradesman. The father said that on Saturday evening, April 20,

his daughter was speaking to a friend, Mrs. Pickford, outside the shop.



On the following Monday she complained of her nose being sore.

Next day she again complained and said, "It must be the hatpin."



While talking to Mrs. Pickford, she explained, Mrs. Pickford's baby

stumbled on the footpath. They both stooped to pick it up,






文章总共2页
文章标签:名著  

章节正文
Copyright © 2023 Qeto All rights reserved.
商务合作 | 联系我们 | 关于我们 | 版权声明 | 隐私条款 | 如果智培

京ICP备05059198号-1 京公网安备 11011202003401号