評論
打印
Conservative constituents
It was noconsolationto Miss Elizabeth that she was losing weight. Theconstituentsof her company were veryconservativeand they hadconstrictedher to aconsistentandconstraineddiet. She hadconsiderablepower herself, but they hadconsolidatedtogether in order to keep her weight at aconstantlevel of decline so as to best increase sales of the clothing line they sold.
Her thinness was becomingconspicuous, however, and televisionconsultantswere beginning to tell her toconsumemore food, for God' s sake! They were forming a sort of looseconsortiumofconsideratepeople willing toconsoleher and give her positive consultation. Thisconstituteda mutiny to her company, however, and they were planning to lock her in aconservatoryto control her before any one else could.
That was when Miss Elizabeth began to slip more and more into depression each day. Theconsistencyof her public appearances declined and people began toconstructall kinds of theories as to what was happening. Soon she disappeared altogether. All of theconsultativepeople had not helped. Her constituents had won.
When Miss Elizabeth passed away in her conservatoire and company sales declined drastically, even the mostconservativeconstituents acknowledged that they might have made a mistake. As Miss Elizabeth's younger sister, Miss Delphine, stepped in to take over her sister's share in the company, however, the constituents convinced her as well that she needed to lose weight in order to boost sales. Miss Delphine sadly began the same slide that had takenher sister. No one had learned anything.
保守的公司成員
體重正在減輕對伊麗莎白小姐而言并非是一種安慰。公司成員是些非常保守的家伙，他們約束她，讓她堅持強制節食。她自己當然有相當大的權力，可是為了最大限度地增加他們公司的服裝銷售，他們卻聯合起來讓她的體重保持不斷下降的水平。
然而，她的消瘦變得很引人注目，電視顧問開始要她看在上帝的份上多消費點兒食物!他們正在建立一個松散的關心他人者協會，他們愿意安慰伊麗莎白并且給她一些積極的咨詢。但這對她的公司構成了反叛，所以他們打算在別人之前把她關進一家音樂學院控制起來。
就是從那時起，伊麗莎白小姐的心情開始一天天滑向抑郁的深淵。她在公眾面前的形象越來越沒有了一致性，人們開始編造各種各樣的說法，猜測她發生了什么事情。很快她就完全不露面了。所有那些給她提供咨詢意見的人沒有幫到什么忙，公司成員們贏了。
當伊麗莎白小姐在音樂學院去世、公司銷售額急劇下降時，就連最保守的成員也不得不承認他們或許犯了個錯誤。然而，當伊麗莎白小姐的妹妹黛爾芬小姐前來繼承姐姐在公司里的股份時，成員們也給她勸導了一番，讓她相信為了提高公司的銷售額，她需要減肥。黛爾芬小姐慘兮兮地開始重蹈姐姐的覆轍，體重日益下降。沒有人吸取任何教訓。
