外国人最想和你聊的时事话题：都市美男

　What is metrosexual　什么是都市美男
     Metrosexual is a neologism derived from metropolitan and heterosexual coined in 1994, which describes a man (especially one living in a post-industrial, capitalist culture) who spends a lot of time and money on shopping for his appearance. Debate surrounds the term's use as a theoretical signifier of sex deconstruction and its associations with consumerism.
     The term originated in an article by Mark Simpson published on November 15, 1994, in The Independent. Simpson wrote:
     Metrosexual man, the single young man with a high disposable income, living or working in the city (because that's where all the best shops are), is perhaps the most promising consumer market of the decade. In the Eighties he was only to be found inside fashion magazines such as GQ, in television advertisements for Levi's jeans or in gay bars. In the Nineties, he's everywhere and he's going shopping.
     However, it was not until the early 2000s that the term caught on, greatly increasing in popularity following a series of articles and reports hyping this purportedly new phenomenon. In 2002, Salon.com published an article by Simpson, "Meet the metrosexual", which identified David Beckham as the metrosexual poster boy. The advertising agency Euro RCSG Worldwide adopted the term shortly thereafter for a marketing study. Sydney's daily broadsheet, The Sydney Morning Herald, ran a major feature in March 2003 titled "The Rise of the Metrosexual" (also syndicated in its sister paper The Age) which borrowed heavily from the Salon.com piece. A couple of months later, the New York Times'Sunday Styles section ran a story, "Metrosexuals Come Out". The term and its connotations continued to roll steadily into more news outlets around the world.
     Former Metro Radio presenter Mitch Murray claims that he invented the term in the 1980s. At that time, he says, the word had a very different connotation, as it was simply a play on words involving "Metro Radio" and heterosexuals. Murray would send a weekly tape to the local radio station in Newcastle upon Tyne. "Very early during the process", he created station identification segments, one of which he claims included the phrase "We are the metrosexuals". It is unclear whether the segment was actually broadcast, and there is no documentary evidence of his claims. Also, when the word first became popular, various sources incorrectly attributed its origin to trendspotter Marian Salzman, but by Salzman's own admission Simpson's 2002 Salon.com article was the original source for her usage of the term.
     Though it did represent a complex and gradual change in the shopping and self-presentation habits of both men and women, the idea of metrosexuality was often distilled in the media down to a few men-David Beckham, Sam Romano, and Brad Pitt were frequently mentioned-and a short checklist of vanities, like skin care products, scented candles and costly, colorful dress shirts and pricey designer jeans. It was this image of the metrosexual-that of a straight young man who got pedicures and facials, practiced aromatherapy and spent freely on clothes-that contributed to a backlash against the term from men who merely wanted to feel free to take more care with their appearance than had been the norm in the 1990s, when companies abandoned dress codes, Dockers khakis became a popular brand, and XL, or extra-large, became the one size that fit all.
     A 60 Minutes story on 1960s-70s pro footballer Joe Namath suggested he was "perhaps, America's first metrosexual" after filming his most famous ad sporting Beautymist pantyhose. Simpson has called Joe Namath "America's abandoned metrosexual prototype", leaving the field open for later Brit metro imports such as Beckham.
     都市美男（metrosexual）并不是出现在今天，而是十多年前就存在。但都市美男的标准在不断变化，这主要受到时尚明星(fashion star)的影响。都市美男人群的不断扩大，使得许多企业开始生产面向男性的化妆品(male cosmetics)。与此同时，男士时装(fashionable dress)公司的数量一直在增加，都市美男的形象频繁地出现在各种时尚杂志封面(crash magazine)。这不仅是由于编辑的思想，也由于都市美男能够带来更多的广告(advertisement)。
     有分析家认为，都市美男的大量出现有其深刻的社会因素(social sectors)。随着数量众多的女性涉足原本属于男性的工作领域，并逐步得到社会的承认，导致男性也相应地调整原有的生活方式(way of life)，从而对男性重新定义。此外，男性的工作环境也有了很大改变。随着竞争的日趋激烈，为了能胜任工作，男性不得不考虑穿戴整洁、将头发梳理整齐，更加在乎自己的身体，从而给别人留下好印象，在竞争中立于不败之地。