阅读第七季.docVIP

(一) A On the high-speed train Avignon to Paris, my husband and I landed in the only remaining seats on the train in the middle of a car, directly opposite a Frenchwoman of middle years. It was an extremely uncomfortable arrangement to be looking straight into the eyes of a stranger. My husband and I pulled out books. The woman produced a large makeup case and made up her face. Except for a lunch break, she continued this activity for the entire three-hour trip. Every once in a while she surveyed the car with a bright-eyed glance, but never once did she catch my eye. My husband and I could have been a blanket wall. I was amused, but some people would have felt uncomfortable, even repulsed(厌恶的）.there is something about making up in public that calls up strong emotional reactions. Partly it’s a question of hygiene. And it’s a matter of degree. Making up a private act has a way of neglecting the presence of others. I was once seated at a party with a model-actress who immediately waved a silly brush and began dusting her face at the table, demonstrating that while she was next to me, she was not with me. In fact, I am generally prohibited from making up in public, except when I am in the company of cosmetics moment. In a gathering more professional than social, I would do so. Kathy Peiss, a history professor at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst says that nose-powdering in the office was an occasion for outrage in 1920’s and 30’s. Deploring(强烈反对) the practice as a waste of company time, trade journals advises managers to discourage it among workers. Peiss theorizes that it was female’s making up in what has been an all-male field that disturb some gentlemen. Peiss tells me that after the 30’s, pulling out a make-up case was no longer an issue. It became an accepted practice. I asked if she feels free to apply lipstick at a professional lunch herself. Sounding mildly shocked, she says she would save that for the privacy of her car afterward