UNIT 7 Beauty 课文及课后练习

UNIT SEVEN

Beauty

Dialogue

Ayu:

Mom

，

I have something exciting to tell you

。

Mother

：

What's up

？

1

Ayu:

I’m going to have an operation to get my eyelids fixed.

Mother

：

What

？

Are

you

saying

that

you're

going

to

get

an

expensive

cosmetic surgery

？

At a hospital

？

Ayu:

Well, it's……it's not so expensive

，

and it's only my eyelids

Mother

：

Only your eyelids

？！

Ayu

：

Yeah. It's not like I'm going to

，

you know

，

do anything drastic.

I' m just going to fix it so I can look prettier.

And Mom

，

it's my money.

I've saved it.

I' ve been working to save my money

，

and I…it's my body.

Mother

：

So that explains it. That's why you’ve been working extra hours.

But you're beautiful the way you are. You look great.

Ayu:

But

，

Mom

，

boys don't see what you see in me. If I look beautiful

，

then

，

you

know,

I'll

be

approached

by

more

boys.

Maybe

I'll

have

a

chance

2

to get jobs that I wouldn't be able to if I didn' t fix my eyelids.

Mother

：

Honey

，

you should attract people with your inner beauty. Your

personality

，

your intelligence ---not your looks.

Ayu:

Mom

，

you

don’t

understand.

Boys

aren't

attracted

by

your

intelligence and your wit. The first thing they see is your looks.

If you're

not beautiful

，

they won't approach you at all.

Then how are they to know

if you have wit or intelligence?

Mother

：

You can't do this.

Ayu

：

Mom

，

I'm doing it

whether you like it or not.

3

Mother

：

I think you're making a terrible mistake.

Make your own dialogue with the substitutes

，

making necessary changes:

1. What's the matter

？

/ What is it

？

2. an opportunity

3. no matter what you think

Passage A

Is Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder?

Pre-reading questions:

1. How do you understand

？

2. What is beauty in your eye?

Is there such a thing as the perfect face

？

Is beauty something you can

measure?

Recent scientific evidence suggests that the answer is

A new

science

，

the science of attraction

，

has come to the conclusion that beauty

is objective and quantifiable and not

，

as the romantics believe

，

in the

eye of the beholder.

For

more

than

a

century

，

it

was thought that

a

beautiful

face

was

appealing

because

it

was

a

collection

of

average

features.

Using

his

computer system

，

Dr. David Perrett of the University of St. Andrews has

challenged

the

theory.

In

a

key

experiment

，

photographs

of

women

were

ranked

for

their

attractiveness

by

a

number

of

volunteers.

Two

composite pictures were then created

：

one

，

the average of all the pictures

；

the

other

made

from

those

rated

most

attractive.

Although

the

faces

looked

very

similar

at

first

glance

，

a

significant

number

said

they

preferred the composite of most attractive faces.

conclusion

I

reached,”

said

Dr.

Perrett

，

that

the

most

attractive shape was not average.

If you look at famous film stars and

supermodels

，

most of them have ideal features----- larger than normal eyes

，

higher arched eyebrows

，

slightly smaller noses

，

cheekbones are a little

more prominent.

Even popular cartoon characters such as Betty Boop

，

Yasmin from Aladdin and Bambi have big eyes

，

small turned-up noses

，

big mouths and small chins.

And if these features are exaggerated

，

the

attractiveness rating goes up even more.

Julia Roberts is a good example

of this.”

But what do scientists make of men's faces

？

Do men with large eyes

，

high

cheekbones

and

a

small

chin

have

the

same

irresistible

appeal

？

Researchers

were

a

bit

shocked

at

the

top- ranking

male

face.

They

expected it to have the classic square jaw and strong cheekbones

，

but

instead

，

women seem to prefer men with gentle faces.

Although there is

more pressure on females to be perfect

，

research suggests that men and

women

look

for

many

of

the

same

things

：

for

example,

expressive

features

such

as

arched

eyebrows

and

a

big smile

were

associated

with

attractiveness in men.

Dr David Perrett puts forward an evolutionary reason to explain why

so many women now swoon over baby-faced stars such as Leonardo Di

Caprio and Tom Cruise.

Women like a man with a feminine face because

he is more likely to have higher levels of the female hormone oestrogen

and therefore to make a kinder and more trustworthy husband and father.

But do these ideals of beauty manage to cross cultural boundaries

？

For

instance

，

in

some

cultures

，

lip

discs

，

scars

and

tattoos

are

considered to be attractive.

Professor Cunningham of the University of

Louisville

，

Kentucky

，

found that there were only very subtle differences

between ethnic groups.

For example

，

Asians tended to prefer faces that

were slightly less mature and slightly less expressive

，

whereas blacks

preferred faces that were a little more plump.

In other words

，

although

there might be a little truth in the old adage that beauty is in the eye of the

beholder

，

by and large

，

we all seem to be attracted to the same things.