VOA常速英语:Retail Chains Try Facelifts to Lure Back Customers

短语讲解：

1. Pampered shoppers could sample perfumes, select suits for which tailors would carefully measure them, take the elevator up to Lingerie or Housewares, linger at animated Christmas-window displays, even meet friends for lunch.

take the elevator乘电梯
例句：Please take the elevator to the fifth floor.
请乘电梯到5楼。

2. But toward the end of the 20th Century, discount stores began luring away bargain-hunters, and chic, designer-brand competitors nibbled away at department stores’ high-end customer base.

lure away劝说…离开；引诱…离开
例句：He attempted to lure her away from husband and family.
他企图引诱她离开丈夫和家庭。
nibble away一点一点地拿走，蚕食
例句：His glory was being nibbled away by years.
他头上的荣光随着岁月的流逝慢慢地失去了光泽。

3. That left them with an unpleasant choice: offer less expensive merchandise, join forces with a rival, or perish.

leave with将…留给…
例句：I will leave the matter with you.
我将把这事交给你考虑。

4. Over the past decade, a wider threat has further crippled retailers - especially those tied to so-called brick-and-mortar stores in shopping malls.

be tied to依靠；系在上面；限制
例句：He did not want to be tied to a steady job.
他不愿死守着一件乏味的工作。

5. Americans began doing a lot of their buying on the Internet and their hand-held phones, knowing that the selection of goods would be wider and that their purchases would often be shipped to them for free.

for free免费
例句：I got the sample for free.
我免费得到这样品。

6. Others have adopted a look reminiscent of old-fashioned general stores, with bins of merchandise and booths selling frozen custard or fountain drinks such as New York egg creams.

be reminiscent of 使人联想，提醒， 暗示
例句：His style of painting is reminiscent of Da Vinci's.
他的绘画风格像达．芬奇。
such as像, 例如
例句：We dislike people such as him.
我们不喜欢像他这号人。

7. The idea is to make going shopping pleasurable again - an experience that cannot be duplicated online.

go shopping去买东西
例句：I'm going shopping at the supermarket.
我打算去超级市场购物。