Women, as all research suggests, are far more critical of their appearance than men. Most of them are likely to feel dissatisfied with their reflection in the mirror.
It is quite possible that men looking in the mirror are 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 more on their appearance than men, and standards of female beauty are considerably higher and more inflexible. Women are continually bombarded (轰炸) 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 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 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighed nearly 10 stone. Even 25 years ago, top models and beauty queens weighed only 8% less than the average women, now they weigh 23% less. The current media ideal for women is achievable by less than 5% of the female population---and that’s just in terms of weight and size. If you want the ideal shape, face etc., it’s probably more like 1%.
小题1:The passage is mainly to _____________.
A．compare different views on beauty between women and men
B．tell us that standards of female beauty are very high
C．explain why women are more critical of their appearance than men
D．show us that women pay more attention to their appearance than men小题2:Which of the following is NOT the reason why women are more critical of their appearance?
A．People pay more attention to their appearance than men’s.
B．The criterion (标准；准则) used to judge women’s beauty is more critical and less changeable.
C．Idealized images of female beauty are constantly shown in different media.
D．Women tend to pursue perfection by nature.小题3:Which statement is true about men?
A．Few men will feel pleased when they are looking themselves in the mirror.
B．Men looking in the mirror usually ignore the flaws in their appearance.
C．It is likely that men will consider themselves more attractive than they really are.
D．Men don’t care about their body image.小题4:Nowadays, if an average woman weighs 110 pounds, then a physically perfect woman should weigh about _________.
A．85 pounds
B．101 pounds
C．90 pounds
D．135 pounds小题5:What can be inferred from the last paragraph?
A．Most women try to achieve the standards of beauty.
B．The standards of female beauty. in the past were more easily achieved than today.
C．Women are more unrealistic in their pursuit of beauty than men.
D．Less than 5% of the female population can achieve the current media ideal for women.
