Groom-to-be Lucsis Ward has two ispgcific rsquests on the gift registry for hm Oct, 1 wedding. “A mally good chef’s knife is the power tool for the kitchen,”says the 28-year-old ao-founder of a Chicago technology start-up. ttSo is a good pair of tongs.今年28歲的準新郎盧卡斯?沃德打算在10月1日舉辦婚禮，他是芝加哥一家新 興技術公司的共同創始人。在結婚禮物心愿清單上，他說道：“一把真正上好的廚刀 是廚房里的強大工具。一把好的夾鉗也是如此。”No argument from fiancee Paula Grahmann, a numing assistant. She says she isn’t much of a cook and is happy to have Mr. Ward pick kitchen gear.沃德的未婚妻保拉?格萊曼是一名助理護士，對于沃德的想法，她毫無異議。她 聲稱自己并不擅長做飯，因此她很樂意由沃德來挑選廚房用具。As wedding season kicks in, gift registries ara making some changes _ and offer a glimpse into the homes and expeotations of couptes. The most-popular items registered at four big retailers, Bed Bath ，Beyond, Target, Maoy’s and Grata and Barrel, highlight some marked departures from perennially popular flatwam, small appliances and other traditional items.隨著婚禮旺季的來臨,婚禮禮物的清單也在發生著一些變化-----借此也能走進新人們的新屋，一窺他們對于構建愛巢的想法和期待。在全美四大家居用品零售 商Bed Bath，Beyond、塔吉特百貨、梅西百貨和Crate and Barrel商場里，最顯著的已 經不再是那些經久不衰的餐具、家用小電器和其它一些傳統商品。“At Macy’s, premium kitchen autfery has rocketed to the top of wedding registries in the past five years, partly due to grooms influence”says Susan Bertelsen, group vipa-president, wedding and gift registry, for the retailer. She also credits men for helping drive sales gains in home bar ware, sueh as ice buckets and cocktail shakers. And Michelle Mesenburg, director of marketing for home items at Target, says grooms-to-be are helping drive the growing popularity of eleetronics or camping gear as wadding gifts.梅西百貨面向零售商的婚慶禮品部的副總裁蘇姍.伯特爾森說，“在過去的五 年里,梅西百貨的精品廚刀一直占據著新人心愿禮物的頭把交椅，這主要是受到新 郎官的影響。”她還把家庭酒吧用具，諸如冰桶和調酒器等的銷售增長也歸功于男 士們。塔吉特百貨公司家居用品行銷部主管米歇爾?麥森伯格則稱，準新郎的傾向 性意見正在推動小電器或露營用品逐漸成為熱門的結婚禮物。Target’s most popular bath-towel color is “wbison brown”.Maoy’s top towel picks ara vanilla, white, linen and choGolate. Couples move more often and “want something they can taka with them to their next place and not ba Gomrnitted to a bold color statement.”Ms. Bertelsen says.塔吉特百貨最熱銷的浴巾顏色是“野牛棕色”,而梅西百貨最熱銷的毛巾顏色 也是香草色、白色、亞麻色和巧克力色。伯特爾森說,現代美國夫妻搬家的頻率更為 頻繁，他們“想要一些可以直接帶到下一個居所的東西，因此不會選擇太過醒目的 顏色。”These days, family-sized barbecue grills, bamboo bath accessories and sports gear are cropping up. Grooms are also requesting more household items, since they take a largsr role in housekeeping, now doing one-third of the cooking, says Stephanie Coontz, author of several books on the history of families and marriage.最近，家用的燒烤架、浴鹽用品和運動器械可謂是異軍突起，備受青睞。曾撰寫 過數本家庭及婚姻史著作的史提芬妮?昆茨對此表示，新郎們也對家居用品表達出 更多的渴望，因為他們在家務活動中，開始扮演起更為重要的角色,現在三分之一 的飯都是由男人來做的。Couples’ average age at first marriage has risen by several years, to 28 for men and 26 for women. More than 70% have already been living together by the time they marry, researchers estimate. When couples make up gift lists, “they choose them together, and they will use them together,” says Ms. Coontz, cochairwoman of the Council on Contemporary Families, a nonprofit Chicago research organization. In the past, wedding-gift lists tended to be Mcookie-cutter affairs, with young brides asking for “big-ticket items that would be used once a year, if ever,” Ms. Coontz says — china, linens and glassware.美國人第一次婚姻的平均年齡在最近的幾年一直都在上升，現在已達到男性 的平均年齡是28歲，女性為26歲。研究人員估計，超過70%的人在婚前便已經住在 一起。芝加哥非盈利研究組織“現代家庭理事會”聯席主席昆茨說,在新人們擬定結 婚禮物清單時,‘‘他們會一起做出選擇，今后也會共同使用。”而在過去，心愿清單上 往往都是一些“華而不實”的東西,年輕的新娘們希望得到的是“價格昂貴但可能一 年都用不上一次的東西：如瓷器、床單和玻璃器皿等。Couples in most urban areas typically live in smaller homes compared with the past, and they Jack space to store gadgets or items they will use only occasionally. When David Mishook and Meg Keene of San Francisco registered for their wedding in 2009, he chose a multipurpose cast-iron Dutch oven. “Instead of buying a waffle iron and one of those weird egg things they make, and five different sizes of pans and three different sizes of pots, it makes more sense to me to buy three or four pots and pans that are versatile，” he says.現在，絕大多數居住在城市中的夫妻的住房面積都要比過去小得多，因此他們 也沒有多余的空間存放那些難得一用的器具。2009年，舊金山市的大衛?米舒克和 梅格?金在登記結婚時，大衛就選擇了一個鑄鐵的多功能荷蘭烤肉鍋作為結婚禮 物。大衛說與其買一個烤餅機、一個怪異的攤雞蛋的東西、五個不同尺寸的平底 鍋，以及三個不同尺寸的鍋，對于我而言,還不如買三四個多功能鍋和平底鍋更實用”An appliance that doubles as grill and griddle is among Macy’s hottest picks. At Crate and Barrel, single-use items such as toasters and ceramic pasta sets have fallen off its top-picks list.烤煎兩用的小電器是梅西百貨賣得最好的商品，而在Crate and Barrel家居用品 商店，像烤面包機和陶制意面盤等用途單一的商品已經跌出熱門排行榜外。