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One out of three men in the United States is under 5 feet 8 inches tall. You'd never guess the magnitude of the demographic from menswear.
在美國，每三位男士當中就有一位身高低于5英尺8英寸(約1米72)。男裝市場的統計資料絕對遠遠出乎你的意料。
'They have stores for big and tall men, so why not for shorter men?' asks Josh Lefkowitz, who describes his height as 'five-foot-three and a half.' A New York public-relations executive, Mr. Lefkowitz likes to buy a jacket in size 36 short and take it to a tailor. To make a size seven shoe fit, he buys inserts to fill out the extra space.
喬?！とR夫寇維茲(Josh Lefkowitz)是紐約一位高級公關主管，他說自己的身高是“5英尺3.5英寸”(約1米61)。他提出了這樣一個疑問：“既然有針對身材高大男士的服裝店，怎么就沒有專門面向矮個男士的呢？” 萊夫寇維茲喜歡買短36碼外套，再拿到裁縫那兒修改。他買7碼的鞋子，不過還得買點填充物塞進去之后才合腳。
Yet when standard-size clothes are altered for a man like Mr. Lefkowitz, the final proportions can come out all wrong. Simply shortening a suit's hems and sleeves can leave the collar too broad, the pockets oversized, the armholes gargantuan, the elbow curves too low and the rear droopy.
不過，如果把標準尺寸的服裝根據萊夫寇維茲的身材加以修改，最后出來的比例也許完全不對頭。僅僅修短衣服的下擺和袖子是遠遠不夠的，領口、口袋、袖孔都還是太大，肘彎處太低，后擺也是耷拉著的。
All this can make a small man look even smaller. 'Taller men can get away with having things look a little baggy,' says Mr. Lefkowitz. But the wrong fit 'can make us look schlumpy.'
這樣的改動只會讓一個原本矮小的人更顯矮小。萊夫寇維茲說：“個高的人穿件稍微寬松的衣服，看著也還過得去?！岸缓仙淼囊路贝┰谖覀兩砩现粫@得人很邋遢。”
Height, for a man, is the ultimate power marker. An added inch of height is equivalent to an extra $30,000 year of salary, on average, when it comes to attracting a mate, says Andrew Trees, author of 'Decoding Love,' a book about the science of attraction. Height also affects earnings -- though less dramatically: Each inch earns you about $600 more per year in salary after controlling for variables like education, he says.
對于男性來說，身高是最具影響力的一項體貌特征?！督饷軔矍椤?'Decoding Love')一書探討了有關兩性吸引的科學，該書作者安德魯·特里斯(Andrew Trees)說，身高增加一英寸，對異性的吸引力等同于年薪增加3萬美元。他說，身高同時也會影響到一個人的收入，盡管作用沒有那么明顯：在不考慮諸如學歷等因素的前提下，身高每增加一英寸，意味著你的年收入能增加600美元。
Yet there is one thing that supersedes height: The perception of height. Men who got early growth spurts but wound up short are often perceived to be taller than they are, says Mr. Trees, suggesting that the reason lies in their carriage. The reverse is also true: Men who became tall later on are often perceived as shorter than they are -- possibly because they learned early to think of themselves as short.
不過有另外一個因素可以取身高而代之，那就是：預期身高。特里斯先生說，那些小時候個子長得很快、成年后其實并不高的人通常會被認為比實際上要高，這可能與他們舉手投足等儀態有關。反之亦然：那些長個比較晚的人通常會被看矮了──可能是因為他們早就認為自己個矮。
This suggests that short men can seem taller or shorter, depending on how they present themselves. A key element is wearing clothes with the right proportions. A small man wearing oversized clothes risks looking like he's dressing up in Dad's clothes -- emphasizing his diminutive stature.
這表明，個矮男士的打扮會使他們比實際身高顯得高些或矮些。其中一個關鍵因素就是要穿比例協調的衣服。小個子穿的衣服尺碼過大，很可能給人感覺是兒子穿了老爸的衣服──只能愈發凸顯身材的矮小。
