Numbers for clothes and foot – wear sizes

Measurements around the parts of the body may be in inches or centimetres:

She is 36-24-36 – means that she is 36 inches round the bust, 24 inches round the waist, 36 inches round the hips;

She is 91-61-91 – means: 96 cm round the bust, 61 cm round the waist, 91 cm round the hips.

As to the person the word “tall” (not “high”) is used “My mother is 5 foot/feet six inches tall (5 ft 6 in = 5’6”)” or “My mother is one metre sixty-eight centimetres tall” (1 m 68 cm / 1• 68 m).

Strange as it may seem, there is no unification in determining the sizes of human bodies. Here is a comparative table of women’s and men’s sizes for clothes and foot-wear:

Sizes (sz.) for:

Countries	Women clothes
Russia
England
USA
	Women shoes, foot-wear
Russia
England		3.5		4.5		5.5
USA		4.5		5.5		6.5	7.5
	Men clothes (suit and coats)
Russia
England
USA
	Men foot-wear (shoes and boots)
Russia
England	5.5	6.5			8.5	9.5	10.5
USA			7.5	8.5

The Word “One”

Care should be taken while translating the word “one” because it may be:

1) a numeral (один, единственный): one fine day – в один прекрасный день; one fire drives out another – один пожар тушит другой; (клин клином вышибает.

2) an indefinite pronoun: in the function of the subject it is not translated, because in Russian it is an impersonal sentence (безличное предложение): One can’t read in the darkness – нельзя читать в темноте. One should be careful crossing the street – Следует соблюдать осторожность (быть внимательным) переходя улицу.

3) a substitute word to avoid the repetition of the previous noun(s). In this case it has a singular (one) and a plural (ones) forms depending on the noun it replaces and articles: Bread, meat, butter, vegetables are common substances, the ones which people live on. He was the best student at the University, the one to be sent to the Conference. You have brought a red book, but I asked you to bring a black one.

Notes: единство – unity; одностронний – unilateral; единорог – unicorn; единственный –the only.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-02