大学英语四级考试阅读讲义(二十六)

Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage:
　　Beauty has always been regarded as something praiseworthy. Almost everyone thinks attractive people are happier and healthier, have better marriages and have more respectable occupations. Personal consultants give them better advice for finding jobs. Even judges are softer on attractive defendants (被告). 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 perceived as having more integrity than plainer men; effort and ability were thought to account for their success. 　　Attractive female executives were considered to have less integrity than unattractive ones; their success was attributed not to ability but to factors such as luck.
　　All unattractive women executives were thought to have more integrity and to be more capable than the attractive female executives. Interestingly, though, the rise of the unattractive overnight successes was attributed more to personal relationships and less to ability than was that of attractive overnight successes.?
　　Why are attractive women not thought to be able? An attractive woman is perceived to be more feminine and an attractive man more masculine than the less attractive ones. Thus, an attractive woman has an advantage in traditionally female jobs, but an attractive woman in a traditionally masculine position appears to lack the “masculine” 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 utterly defeated unattractive men, but the women who had been ranked most attractive invariably received the fewest votes.
　　26. The word “liability”(Para.1, Line 5) most probably means “ .”
　　A) misfortune
　　B) instability
　　C) disadvantage
　　D) burden
　　27. In traditionally female jobs, attractiveness .
　　A) reinforces the feminine qualities required
　　B) makes women look more honest and capable
　　C) is of primary importance to women
　　D) often enables women to succeed quickly
　　28. Bowman’s experiment reveals that when it comes to politics, attractiveness .
　　A) turns out to be an obstacle to men
　　B) affects men and women alike
　　C) has as little effect on men as on women
　　D) is more of an obstacle than a benefit to women
　　29. It can be inferred from the passage that people’s views on beauty are often .
　　A) practical
　　C) old-fashioned
　　B) prejudiced
　　D) radical
　　30. The author writes this passage to .
　　A) discuss the negative aspects of being attractive
　　B) give advice to job-seekers who are attractive
　　C) demand equal rights for women
　　D) emphasize the importance of appearance