Directions: In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.
Beauty and Body Image in the Media
[A] Images of female bodies are everywhere. Womenand their body partssell everything from food to cars. Popular film and television actresses are becoming younger, taller and thinner. Some have even been known to faint on the set from lack of food. Womens magazines are full of articles urging that if they can just lose those last twenty pounds, theyll have it allthe perfect marriage, loving children, great sex, and a rewarding career.
[B] Why are standards of beauty being imposed on women, the majority of whom are naturally larger and more mature than any of the models? The roots, some analysts say, are economic. By presenting an ideal difficult to achieve and maintain, the cosmetic and diet product industries are assured of growth and profits. And its no accident that youth is increasingly promoted, along with thinness, as an essential criterion of beauty. If not all women need to lose weight, for sure theyre all aging, says the Quebec Action Network for Womens Health in its 2001 report. And, according to the industry, age is a disaster that needs to be dealt with.
[C] The stakes are huge. On the one hand, women who are insecure about their bodies are more likely to buy beauty products, new clothes, and diet aids. It is estimated that the diet industry alone is worth anywhere between 40 to 100 billion a year selling temporary weight loss . On the other hand, research indicates that exposure to images of thin, young, air-brushed female bodies is linked to depression, loss of self-esteem and the development of unhealthy eating habits in women and girls.
[D ] The American research group Anorexia Nervosa Related Eating Disorders, Inc. says that one out of every four college-aged women uses unhealthy methods of weight controlincluding fasting, skipping meals, excessive exercise, laxative abuse, and self-induced vomiting. The pressure to be thin is also affecting young girls: the Canadian Womens Health Network warns that weight control measures are now being taken by girls as young as 5 and 6. American statistics are similar. Several studies, such as one conducted by Marika Tiggemann and Levina Clark in 2006 titled Appearance Culture in 9- to 12-Year-Old Girls: Media and Peer Influences on Body Dissatisfaction, indicate that nearly half of all preadolescent girls wish to be thinner, and as a result have engaged in a diet or are aware of the concept of dieting. In 2003, Teen magazine reported that 35 percent of girls 6 to 12 years old have been on at least one diet, and that 50 to 70 percent of normal weight girls believe they are overweight. Overall research indicates that 90% of women are dissatisfied with their appearance in some way. Media activist Jean Kilbourne concludes that, Women are sold to the diet industry by the magazines we read and the television programs we watch, almost all of which make us feel anxious about our weight.
[ E] Perhaps the most disturbing is the fact that media images of female beauty are unattainable for all but a very small number of women. Researchers generating a computer model of a woman with Barbie-doll proportions, for example, found that her back would be too weak to support the weight of her upper body, and her body would be too narrow to contain more than half a liver and a few centimeters of bowel. A real woman built that way would suffer from chronic diarrhea and eventually die from malnutrition. Jill Barad, President of Mattel , estimated that 99% of girls aged 3 to 10 years old own at least one Barbie doll. Still, the number of real life women and girls who seek a similarly underweight body is epidemic, and they can suffer equally devastating health consequences. In 2006 it was estimated that up to 450, 000 Canadian women were affected by an eating disorder.
[F ] Researchers report that womens magazines have ten and one-half times more ads and articles promoting weight loss than mens magazines do, and over three-quarters of the covers of womens magazines include at least one message about how to change a womans bodily appearanceby diet, exercise or cosmetic surgery. Television and movies reinforce the importance of a thin body as a measure of a womans worth. Canadian researcher Gregory Fouts reports that over three-quarters of the female characters in TV situation comedies are underweight, and only one in twenty are above average in size. Heavier actresses tend to receive negative comments from male characters about their bodies ，and 80 percent of these negative comments are followed by canned audience laughter.
[G] There have been efforts in the magazine industry to buck the trend. For several years the Quebec magazine Coup de Pouce has consistently included full-sized women in their fashion pages and Chatelaine has pledged not to touch up photos and not to include models less than 25 years of age. In Madrid, one of the worlds biggest fashion capitals, ultra-thin models were banned from the runway in 2006. Furthermore Spain has recently undergone a project with the aim to standardize clothing sizes through using a unique process in which a laser beam is used to measure real life womens bodies in order to find the most true to life measurement.
[ H] Another issue is the representation of ethnically diverse women in the media. A 2008 study conducted by Juanita Covert and Travis Dixon titled A Changing View: Representation and Effects of the Portrayal of Women of Color in Mainstream Womens Magazines found that although there was an increase in the representation of women of colour, overall white women were overrepresented in mainstream womens magazines from 1999 to 2004.
[I] The barrage of messages about thinness, dieting and beauty tells ordinary women that they are always in need of adjustmentand that the female body is an object to be perfected. Jean Kilbourne argues that the overwhelming presence of media images of painfully thin women means that real womens bodies have become invisible in the mass media. The real tragedy, Kilbourne concludes, is that many women internalize these
stereotypes, and judge themselves by the beauty industrys standards. Women learn to compare themselves to
other women, and to compete with them for male attention. This focus on beauty and desirability effectively destroys any awareness and action that might help to change that climate.
46. A report in Teen magazine showed that 50% to 70% girls with normal weight think that they need to lose weight.
47. On the whole, for 6 years white women had been occupying much more space in mainstream womens magazines since 1999.
48. Some negative effects such as depression and unhealthy eating habits in females are related to their being exposed to images of thin and young female bodies.
49. The mass media has helped boost the cosmetic and the diet industries.
50. It is reported that there is at least one message about the methods for women to change their bodily appearance on more than three-quarters of the covers of womens magazines.
51. Some film and television actresses even faint on the scene due to eating too little.
52. Too much concern with appearance makes it impossible to change such abnormal trend.
53. Researchers found that a real woman with Barbie-doll proportions would eventually die from malnutrition.
54. The Quebec magazine Coup 的话，她将会患上慢 性腹泻并最终死于营养不良。由此可知，题干对原文做了同义改写，故答案为[E]。
54. [G]。题干意为，几年来魁北克杂志坚持在其时尚页面上刊登正常身材的女性形象，以抵制 这种潮流。注意抓住题干中的关键词The Quebec magazine Coup de 和consistently including fUll-sized women。文章段落中，提及魁北克杂志Coup de )ouou。
55. [B]。题干意为，根据一些分析家的观点，将美丽的标准强加到女性身上的根本原因是经济利益。注意抓 住题干中的关键词fundamental reason、standards of beauty和economic profits。文章段落中，论及将美丽的标 准强加到女性身上的根本原因的内容在[B]段出现，该段前两句提到，为什么会把美丽的标准强加到女性 身上，而大多数女性生来就比模特要胖要成熟?一些分析家认为，根源在于经济利益。由此可知，题干是对 原文的同义转述，故答案为[B]。题干中的fundamental reason和原文中的roots对应。
上一篇： 英语六级阅读新题型模拟题(6)
下一篇： 英语六级阅读理解之选词填空题(5)