Luis國際資訊事務所

　　Today, we think the clean-shaven1 look is what makes us modern men. However, do you know that primitive men were removing the hair from their faces thousands of years before it was considered socially necessary? Cave paintings feature men without beards, and various shaving tools have been found. The oldest method for removing hair was plucking2. Shells and thin bones were used to grab and pull the hair out one at a time. If that sounds painful, sharp stones and bones were also used as razors3 to shave the hair off.

　　Hair removal reached its highest popularity in ancient Egypt, where almost no one had any hair on their entire bodies. In Egypt, wigs4 and hairless bodies showed that people were civilized. Women as well as men removed all of the hair from their heads and wore beautifully designed wigs instead. Even children were not free from this and had their heads shaved except for an S-shaped ponytail5 on the right side. The Egyptians had many ways of removing hair, including the world's first metal razors. Perhaps the most popular way was sugaring, which is similar to waxing6. Hot sugar was spread on the skin, strips of cloth were placed onto the sugar, and after the sugar became hard, the hair was ripped off. Since then, hair removal has remained popular throughout history. One thing has stayed the same—the most effective method still is pulling the hair out one at a time. Ouch!

　　現今，我們認為一副鬍子刮得乾乾淨淨的外表才能使我們稱得上是現代人。但您是否知道，早在除毛被認為有其社會必要性的好幾千年前，古代人就已開始除去 臉上的毛髮了嗎？洞穴壁畫中所描繪的人物清一色都沒有鬍子，而且各種除毛工具也為人所發掘。最古老的除毛方法就是用拔的。人們會用貝殼及很薄的骨頭來夾住 毛髮，然後一根一根地拔。如果這個方法聽起來很痛，人們也會用銳利的石塊和骨頭當剃刀來刮掉毛髮。

　　除毛的普及性在古埃及時期達到顛峰，當時幾乎每個人全身上下都沒有任何毛髮。在埃及，假髮及光滑的身軀代表人類是文明的動物。女人和男人都剃光了頂上 髮絲，並戴上設計精美的假髮。甚至連小孩也無法倖免於此，除了頭部右側會留下S形的馬尾之外，整顆頭都會被剃得乾乾淨淨。埃及人除毛的方法有很多，其中包 括使用世界上最早的金屬剃刀。但或許最普遍的方法仍屬蜜糖除毛，而這種方法和蜜蠟除毛很類似。人們會先用熱的蜜糖塗在皮膚，然後再將一片片布條放在蜜糖 上，等到蜜糖變硬後就可以將毛髮撕下來。從那個時候開始，除毛在人類歷史中便一直很普遍。但不變的一點是－－最有效的方法還是一根一根地拔。真是痛啊！

1. primitive　a. 原始的
Primitive people mainly lived in caves.
原始人多住在洞穴裡。
2. feature　vt. 以……為主要內容∕特色
The new film features many action scenes.
這部新電影的特色是有許多動作場面。
3. shave　vt. 刮除毛髮
Ed looked younger after shaving his beard.
艾德刮掉落腮鬍後看起來比較年輕。
4. removal　n. 去除
There are many methods for stain removal.
有很多方法可以去除污漬。
5. civilized　a. 文明的，開化的
A civilized person doesn't use swear words.
一個有教養的人是不說髒話的。

1. remove A from B　　把 A 從 B 去除∕移走
Naomi removed the painting from the wall.
娜歐蜜把畫從牆上移走。
2. except for...　　除……之外
No one flunked the exam except for Alex.
除了艾力克斯之外，沒有人考試不及格。
3. rip...off/rip off...　　扯掉∕撕掉……
We ripped off the old wallpaper in that room.
我們把那間房內的舊壁紙撕掉了。

1. clean-shaven　a. 鬍子刮得乾淨的
2. pluck　vt. 拔，拉，扯
3. razor　n. 剃刀，刮鬍刀
4. wig　n. 假髮
5. ponytail　n. 馬尾
6. wax　vt. 蜜蠟除毛

Even children were not free from...
（甚至連小孩也無法倖免於……）
be free from/of...　　擺脫∕無……（某種不想要的人事物）的
　　上述片語的 free 作形容詞用，但不表『免費的』或『自由的』，而是作『沒有……的』之意。free 在此定義下亦可作字根，接於名詞後而成複合形容詞，例： trouble-free（沒有煩惱∕問題的）、duty-free（免關稅的）、sugar-free（無糖的）等。
I am free of that boring job at last.
（我終於擺脫那份無聊的工作了。）
Gina usually buys gifts at airport duty-free shops when traveling.
（吉娜出國旅遊時常常會在機場的免稅商店買禮品。）





from 常春藤生活英語 ( HTML 圖文版 )