Beauty has always been regarded as something praise worthy. 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 thought 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 that of attractive overnight successes.
Why are attractive women not thought to be able? An attractive woman is thought to be more feminine and an attractive man more masculine (有男子气概的) 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.
The underlined word "liability" (in Para.1) most probably means "________".
词义题。定位到第一段 “But in the executive circle ， beauty can become a liability ．”联系第二段第一句 “While attractiveness is a positive factor for a man on his way up the executive ladder ． it is harmful to a woman ． ”可知 liability 的意思是 “ 劣势 ” 。
In traditionally female jobs, attractiveness________.
细节题。根据 traditionally female jobs 定位到倒数第三段，最后一句“an attractive woman has all advantage in traditionally female jobs… lack the‘masculine’qualities required”可见，在传统上由女性所从事的工作中，有魅力的女性具有一定优势；但在传统上由男性所从事的工作中，有魅力的女性看起来缺乏所需要的男性特质；由此推断，在传统上由女性所从事的工作中，魅力加强了所需的女性特质。故选 B 。 A 项与文意相反， C 项和 D 项均未在文中体现。
Bowman's experiment reveals that when it comes to politics, attractiveness ________.
推断题。由文章最后一段可知，有魅力的男性彻底击败了缺乏魅力的男性。而那些被认为最有魅力的女性常常得到最少的选票。由此可推出，在政界，对于女性来说，魅力是一个障碍，而不是优势。故选 B 。
It can be inferred from the passage that people's views on beauty are often ________.
推断题。由文章第一段可知，几乎每个人都认为有魅力的人会更幸福、更健康。他们的婚姻更美满，并且拥有更令人尊敬的职业。在找工作方面，私人顾问会给他们更好的建议。甚至法官对于有魅力的被告都会手下留情。由此可推出，人们对美的看法往往是带有偏见的，是缺乏事实依据的。故选 D ， one-sided“ 有偏见的 ” 。
The author writes this passage to ________.
主旨题。本文虽然也提到了魅力有许多积极方面，但那并不是文章的主要方面。文章主要讲的是魅力给一些女性所造成的不利影响。由此可见，作者写这篇文章的目的是要讨论有魅力的消极方面。故选 B 。