2007职称英语（理工类）模拟试题(2)

　　4.第4部分：阅读理解 第二篇

The Appearance of Woman

　　All research to date on body image shows that women are much more critical of their appearance than men－much less likely to admire what they see in the mirror. Up to 8 out of 10 women are dissatisfied with their reflection, and more than half may see a distorted image.

　　Men looking in the mirror are more likely to be either pleased with what they see or indifferent. Research shows that men generally have a much more positive body image than women－if anything, they may tend to over-estimate their attractiveness. Some men looking in the mirror may literally not see the flaws in their appearance.

　　Why are women so much more self-critical than men? Because women are judged on their appearance more than men, and standards of female beauty are considerably higher and more inflexible. Women are continually bombarded with images of the "ideal" face. And constant exposure to idealized images of female beauty on TV, magazines and billboards makes exceptional good looks seem normal and anything short of perfection seem abnormal and ugly. It has been estimated that young women now see more images of outstandingly beautiful women in one day than our mothers saw throughout their entire adolescence.

　　Also, most women are trying to achieve the impossible: standards of female beauty have in fact become progressively more unrealistic during the last century. In 1917, the physically perfect woman was about 5ft 4in tall and weighed nearly 10 stone. Even 25 years ago, top models and beauty queens weighed only 8% less than the average woman, now they weigh 23% less. The current media ideal for women is achievable by less than 5% of the female population－and thats just in terms of weight and size. If you want the ideal shape, face etc., its probably more like 1%.

　　36. The main purpose of the passage is to _______.

　　A. explain a phenomenon

　　B. compare two facts

　　C. make a suggestion

　　D. strengthen a current theory

　　37. The difference between men and women when they look into the mirror is that _______.

　　A. women stay longer before the mirror than men

　　B. women feel more comfortable about their appearance than men

　　C. women, more than men, come away from the mirror feeling unsatisfied

　　D. womens looks before the mirror appear more distorted than mens

　　38. The phrase "bombarded with" （Para. 3.could best be replaced by _______.

　　A. denied

　　B. doubtful of

　　C. very proud of

　　D. influenced by

　　39. Which of the following can be inferred about the physically perfect woman in 1917? _______.

　　A. She was not very much different from the average woman

　　B. She was hardly achievable by the female population

　　C. She looked into the mirror more often than women today

　　D. She was regarded perfect only in terms of her face