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Help! My Wardrobe is Making Me Broke!

Although women have held on to jobs betterthan men have during recent economic down-turns， women are still more likely to fall intodebt traps. Here's a look at why:

Reason # 1: Women spend almost $ 300 morea year than men on clothes， according to theConsolidated Credit Counseling Services inFlorida， which examined the profiles of 40，000clients and found that getting dressed for theoffice pushed more women into debt than men. Aguy can buy two suits and a couple of ties andhe's set. Women don't have it so easy. Peoplenotice if you wear the same top every day.

Reason # 2: Shoe sale! About 24 percentof women versus 5 percent of men say they can'tresist bargain shopping， and Iowa State Uni-versity study reports.\"Most men are on thehunt for something specific. Once they findit， they're done.\" \"Women tend to be gather-ers. They'll shop for stuff they need， stuffthey want--and staff they can be convinced toget.\"

Reason # 3: Women still make about 24percent less than their male counterparts， mean-ing less checkbook wiggle room to avoid debt.

Bottom Line: Shop for classic clothesand buy just a few trendy pieces each season.Then knock your boss dead with your brains andyour confidence-two assets than never go outof style.

(Quoted from US Weekly March 24， 2003)

[譯文]

幫幫我吧!我的衣柜使我身無分文!

在當今經濟走下坡路(downturn)之際，雖然女性比男性更能守住現有的工作，但女性仍然深陷債務之中。其原因為：

一．根據(according to)佛羅里達的聯(lián)合信用卡咨詢服務中心統(tǒng)計，女性每年比男性多花費幾乎3 0 0多美元購置衣服。該公司仔細審核(examine)了40000個客戶資料(profile)，發(fā)現進行職業(yè)性裝扮迫使女性比男性更易負債。男人買兩套西裝，幾條領帶，就足夠了。婦女可不這么容易。如果每天穿同樣的上裝，人家會注意到的。

二．鞋子減價了!大約24％的女性，相對于5％的男性說她們無法克制削價購物的欲望。美國依阿華州立大學的研究報告顯示，“大多數男性購物時尋找(hunt)特別需要(specific)的東西，一旦找到了，就結束購物。”“而女性傾向于成為收集者，她們購置急需的物品、想要的物品及說服自己認為值得買的物品。”

三．婦女的薪水仍然比男性同事少24％，也就意味著存折上可應付(avoid)債務的空間也小。

挽救底線：購置雅致而傳統(tǒng)的套裝，每個季節(jié)只買幾件時尚(trendy)的衣飾。用您的智能(brains)及信心(confidence)來征服(knockdown)您的老板一兩件永遠不會過時的法寶。