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岁的准新郎卢卡斯?沃德打算在10月1日举办婚礼，他是芝加哥一家新 兴技术公司的共同创始人。在结婚礼物心愿清单上，他说道：“一把真正上好的厨刀 是厨房里的强大工具。一把好的夹钳也是如此。”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?格莱曼是一名助理护士，对于沃德的想法，她毫无异议。她 声称自己并不擅长做饭，因此她很乐意由沃德来挑选厨房用具。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.随着婚礼旺季的来临,婚礼礼物的清单也在发生着一些变化-----借此也能走进新人们的新屋，一窥他们对于构建爱巢的想法和期待。在全美四大家居用品零售 商Bed Bath，Beyond、塔吉特百货、梅西百货和Crate and Barrel商场里，最显著的已 经不再是那些经久不衰的餐具、家用小电器和其它一些传统商品。“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.梅西百货面向零售商的婚庆礼品部的副总裁苏姗.伯特尔森说，“在过去的五 年里,梅西百货的精品厨刀一直占据着新人心愿礼物的头把交椅，这主要是受到新 郎官的影响。”她还把家庭酒吧用具，诸如冰桶和调酒器等的销售增长也归功于男 士们。塔吉特百货公司家居用品行销部主管米歇尔?麦森伯格则称，准新郎的倾向 性意见正在推动小电器或露营用品逐渐成为热门的结婚礼物。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.塔吉特百货最热销的浴巾颜色是“野牛棕色”,而梅西百货最热销的毛巾颜色 也是香草色、白色、亚麻色和巧克力色。伯特尔森说,现代美国夫妻搬家的频率更为 频繁，他们“想要一些可以直接带到下一个居所的东西，因此不会选择太过醒目的 颜色。”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，家用的烧烤架、浴盐用品和运动器械可谓是异军突起，备受青睐。曾撰写 过数本家庭及婚姻史著作的史提芬妮?昆茨对此表示，新郎们也对家居用品表达出 更多的渴望，因为他们在家务活动中，开始扮演起更为重要的角色,现在三分之一 的饭都是由男人来做的。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.美国人第一次婚姻的平均年龄在最近的几年一直都在上升，现在已达到男性 的平均年龄是28岁，女性为26岁。研究人员估计，超过70%的人在婚前便已经住在 一起。芝加哥非盈利研究组织“现代家庭理事会”联席主席昆茨说,在新人们拟定结 婚礼物清单时,‘‘他们会一起做出选择，今后也会共同使用。”而在过去，心愿清单上 往往都是一些“华而不实”的东西,年轻的新娘们希望得到的是“价格昂贵但可能一 年都用不上一次的东西：如瓷器、床单和玻璃器皿等。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.现在，绝大多数居住在城市中的夫妻的住房面积都要比过去小得多，因此他们 也没有多余的空间存放那些难得一用的器具。2009年，旧金山市的大卫?米舒克和 梅格?金在登记结婚时，大卫就选择了一个铸铁的多功能荷兰烤肉锅作为结婚礼 物。大卫说与其买一个烤饼机、一个怪异的摊鸡蛋的东西、五个不同尺寸的平底 锅，以及三个不同尺寸的锅，对于我而言,还不如买三四个多功能锅和平底锅更实用”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.烤煎两用的小电器是梅西百货卖得最好的商品，而在Crate and Barrel家居用品 商店，像烤面包机和陶制意面盘等用途单一的商品已经跌出热门排行榜外。