单选题 Beauty has always been regarded as something praiseworthy. Almost everyone thinks attractive people are happier and healthier, have better marriages and respectable occupations. Personal consultants give 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. Increasingly, 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 (女性的) and an attractive man more masculine (男性的) 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 one 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 undergraduates 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.

单选题 The word "liability (Line 4, Para. 1)" most probably means "______."
A. misfortune B. instability C. disadvantage D. burden

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】此题为释义题。如果孤立地看liability一词，很难断定它的词义，但是如果结合上下文，那么它的意思很容易就可以看出。该词出现在文章的第一段，因此只需将这部分读懂就可以推断出该词的意思。第一段前面部分都是有关美貌的种种好处，最后用了表示转折的连词 but，那么下面的意思肯定与前面的内容相反，即美貌的不利之处，而且文章后面的内容也主要淡美貌的种种不利之处，因此liability的意思很可能就是“不利之处”，所以C为正确答案。liability一词在词典中也包含“不利条件”这层意思。

单选题 In traditionally female jobs, attractiveness ______.
A. reinforces the fem ale qualities required
B. makes women look more honest and capable
C. is of primary importance to women
D. often enables women to succeed quickly

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】根据题中关键词traditionally female jobs，找到第六段的第三句为解此题的依据。该句说：“因此，有吸引力的女人在传统的女性职业中占有优势。”即传统女性的职业要求女性要有吸引力。将四个选项与之一一对照，只有A最合适，它说：“在传统的女性职业中，女性有吸引力增强了这些职业所要求的女性特征。”因此，A为正确答案。