时间:2018-12-07 作者:英语课 分类:午后咖啡


英语课

unit02 Mirror Miracle镜子的魔力


We are all more obsessed 1 with our appearance than we like to admit. Concern about appearance is quit normal and understandable. Attractive people have distinct advantages in our society. Studies show:


Attractive children are more popular, both with classmates and teachers. Teachers give higher evaluations 2 to the work of attractive children and have higher expectations of them.


Attractive applicants 3 have a better chance of getting jobs, and of receiving higher salaries. One US study found that taller men earned around $600 per inch more than shorter excutives a month. In court, attractive people are found guilty less often. When found guilty, they receive less severe sentences.


We also believe in the “What is beautiful is good” stereo-type—a deep-rooted belief that physically 4 attractive people possess other desirable characteristics such as intelligence, competence 5, social skills and confidence—even moral virtue 6. The good fairy princess is always beautiful; the wicked stepmother is always ugly.


It is not surprising that physical attractiveness is of overwhelming importance to us.


Every period of history has its own standards of what is beautiful, and every contemporary society has its own distinctive 7 concept of the ideal physical features. In the 19th century being beautiful meant wearing a corset—causing breathing problems. Now we try to diet and exercise ourselves into the fashionable shape—often with even more serious consequences. But although we resemble our ancestors in our concern about appearance, there is a difference in the degree of concern. Advances in technology and in particular the rise of the mass media have caused normal concerns about how we look to become obsessions 8. How? There are 3 reasons:


Thanks to media, we’ve become accustomed to extremely rigid 9 and uniform standards of beauty.


TV, billboards 10 and magazines mean that we see “beautiful people” all the time, more often than our own family members, making exceptional good looks seem real, normal and attainable 12.


Standards of beauty have become harder and harder to attain 11. The media ideal of thinness for women is achievable by less than 5% of the female population.


Even atttractive people may not be looking in the mirror out of vanity, but out of insecurity. We forget that there were disadvantages to being attractive: attractive people are under much greater pressure to maintain appearance.



1 obsessed
adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的
  • He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
  • The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。
2 evaluations
估价( evaluation的名词复数 ); 赋值; 估计价值; [医学]诊断
  • In fact, our moral evaluations are merely expressions of our desires. 事实上,我们的道德评价只是我们欲望的表达形式。 来自哲学部分
  • Properly speaking, however, these evaluations and insights are not within the concept of official notice. 但准确地讲,这些评估和深远见识并未包括在官方通知概念里。
3 applicants
申请人,求职人( applicant的名词复数 )
  • There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
  • He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。
4 physically
adj.物质上,体格上,身体上,按自然规律
  • He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服,心绪也很乱。
  • Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。
5 competence
n.能力,胜任,称职
  • This mess is a poor reflection on his competence.这种混乱情况说明他难当此任。
  • These are matters within the competence of the court.这些是法院权限以内的事。
6 virtue
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力
  • He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
  • You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。
7 distinctive
adj.特别的,有特色的,与众不同的
  • She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
  • This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。
8 obsessions
n.使人痴迷的人(或物)( obsession的名词复数 );着魔;困扰
  • 95% of patients know their obsessions are irrational. 95%的病人都知道他们的痴迷是不理智的。 来自辞典例句
  • Too often you get caught in your own obsessions. 所以你时常会沉迷在某个电影里。 来自互联网
9 rigid
adj.严格的,死板的;刚硬的,僵硬的
  • She became as rigid as adamant.她变得如顽石般的固执。
  • The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out.考试很严,几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。
10 billboards
n.广告牌( billboard的名词复数 )
  • Large billboards have disfigured the scenery. 大型告示板已破坏了景色。 来自辞典例句
  • Then, put the logo in magazines and on billboards without telling anyone what it means. 接着我们把这个商标刊在杂志和广告看板上,却不跟任何人透漏它的涵意。 来自常春藤生活英语杂志-2006年4月号
11 attain
vt.达到,获得,完成
  • I used the scientific method to attain this end. 我用科学的方法来达到这一目的。
  • His painstaking to attain his goal in life is praiseworthy. 他为实现人生目标所下的苦功是值得称赞的。
12 attainable
a.可达到的,可获得的
  • They set the limits of performance attainable. 它们确定着可达到的运行限度。
  • If objectives are to be meaningful to people, they must be clear, attainable, actionable, and verifiable. 如果目标对人们是具有意义的,则目标必须是清晰的,能达到的,可以行动的,以及可供检验的。
学英语单词
agalma elegans
Asteroxylon
Balto-Slav
bleeding iron
blossomer
bombarde
bonding joint
Boswash
by my faith
c.-a. interval
cabreras
Cauro
Cawayan
center opening door
chelating effect
China-aster
cinerite
cirios
clock gate
common soybean varieties
constant service time
cornlet
cryptophlebia ombrodelta
data processing cycler
decumbiture
dermatosparaxis
diameter of first tooth
discoblastic
dockworking
double fault
dowsett
empiredom
envisagable
fiber (whisker)/particle hybrid reinforced composite
field flax brake
generator drive axle
gitelson
guandong
heat guard
heav
henry-draper catalog
highway beautification
hydraulic efficiency starting
idempotently
in major part
International Radio Service of Call Signs
intrudes
kawaras
kengoes
kieselgur, kieselguhr
lateseason
LEMSIP
lighting circuits
line retirement
malus honanensis rehd.
mandibular notches
microwave discharge
mixing bi-directional
mucous corpuscles
mutualist
nanopolariton
narcissus oil
neonazi
nonlinear recording
odo(u)rant
open gear grease
ophidians
oscillator crystal
periodic temperature variation
perma-frown
permanent building
priesting
revill
rhumb direction
Saldidae
sandgate beds
scatter read
schwabs
self-adoring
show-jumpings
shrinks from
single cream
skyman
Solyman
sopressata
stefan boltzmann law
sthenic
T-dike
tape base system
tending of wood
timomenus morsus
tlk
trichosporon penicillatum
Umfurudzi
va-va-voom
Vaccinium conchophyllum
vanishers
vertical thermosiphon reboiler
visual objective
y'
year-end countdown
Yerville