大学英语四级阅读训练(有解析)

Beauty has always been regarded as something praiseworthy. Almost everyone thinks attractive people are happier and healthier, have better marriages and have more respectable jobs. Personal ad­visors give them better advice for finding jobs. Even judges are softer on attractive defendants. But in the executive circle, beauty can become a liability.

While attractiveness is a positive factor for a man on his. way up the executive ladder, it is harm­ful to a woman. Handsome male executives were considered having more honesty than plainer men; effort and ability were thought to lead to their success. Attractive female executives were considered to have less honesty than unattractive ones; their success was connected not with ability but with factors such as luck.

All unattractive women executives were thought to have more honesty and to be more capable than the attractive female executives. Interestingly, though, the rise of the attractive overnight succes­ses was connected more to personal relationships and less to ability than that of the unattractive over­night successes.

Why are attractive women not thought to be able? An attractive woman considered to be more feminine has an advantage in traditionally female jobs, but an attractive woman in a traditionally man­ly position appears to lack the " manly" qualities required.

This is true even in politics, “When the only clue is how he or she looks, people treat men and women differently,” says Anne Bowman, who recently published a study on the effects of attractive­ness on political candidates. She asked 125 undergraduate students to rank two groups of photographs, one of men and one of women, in order of attractiveness. The students were told the photographs were of candidates for political offices. They were asked to rank them again, in the order they would vote for them.

The results showed that attractive males completely defeated unattractive men, but the women who had ranked most attractive unchangeably received the fewest votes.

17. The underlined word "liability" most probably means ________.

A. disadvantage        

B. advantage     

C. misfortune  

D. trouble (from www.46english.com)

18. Bowman’s experiment shows that when it comes to politics, attractiveness ________.

A. turns out to be a disadvantage to men

B. is more of a disadvantage than an advantage to women

C. has as little effect on men as on women

D. affects men and women alike

19. It can be inferred from the passage that people’s views on beauty are often ________.

A. practical         

B. supportive    

C. old-fashioned 

D. one-sided

20. The author writes this passage to________.

A. give advice to job-seekers who are attractive

B. discuss the disadvantages of being attractive

C. demand equal rights for women

D. state the importance of appearance (from www.46english.com)

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