英语课外阅读材料(大一下).docx

1The cheongsam is a body-hugging one-piece Chinese dress for women; the male version is the changshan. It is known in Mandarin Chinese as the qipao or chipao, and is also known in English as a?mandarin gown.?The modernized version is noted for?accentuating?the figures of women, and as such was popular as a dress for high society. As Western fashions changed, the basic cheongsam design changed too, introducing high-necked sleeveless dresses, bell-like sleeves, and the black?lace?frothing?at the?hem. By the 1940s, cheongsam came in a wide variety of fabrics with an equal variety of accessories.A frog (sometimes referred to as a Chinese frog) is an?ornamental?braiding for fastening the front of a garment that consists of a button and a?loop?through which it passes.“旗袍”在英语中有一个固定的词，不过是一个loanword，外来语，写做cheongsam，是从广东话Cantonese里来的。我们也可以拼写为qipao或者chipao：旗袍是中国一种紧身的连衣女子服饰，男子的被称为长衫。英语中也用mandarin?gown来表示这种服饰。清朝时候的旗装是很宽松的，1900年之后，在上海，旗袍的样式发生了改变：现代版的旗袍很贴身，更能显出女子的身材，为上流社会的女性所推崇。旗袍的式样也跟随西方时尚而变化，出现了高领无袖、喇叭状袖子和黑色蕾丝泡泡镶边的款式。到上世纪四十年代，旗袍已经有很多种不同材质和配饰。旗袍和长衫的那种标志性小立领被称为mandarin collar，a short unfolded stand-up collar style，而旗袍的那种盘扣被称为frog，或者Chinese frog，frog在这里不是青蛙的意思哦，意为一种用细绳做的扣饰：盘扣是一种装饰性的编织状扣子，用来扣住一件衣服的前襟。2A Bite of China, a mouth-watering late-night documentary television series featuring delicious Chinese food, has attracted countless viewers, and moved many to tears.Given its subject matter and time slot, A Bite of China was initially considered a weak player on TV. Surprisingly, the documentary became popular immediately after airing, and has made viewers go beyond thinking about delicacies.Man is what he eats, said Ludwig Feuerbach. From its very beginning, A Bite of China is not just a documentary about food. The scenes of digging for bamboo shoots, hanging hams, catching fish using a net, opening a steamer filled with white steamed buns, and pulling wheat dough into thin strands for noodles move us to tears. What a lovely China! a viewer said.A Bite of China is a serious documenta