复合题 Directions: In this section there are reading passages followed by multiple-choice questions. Read the passages and then mark your answers on your answer sheet.

Passage two

How we look and how we appear to others probably worries us more when are in our teens or early twenties than at any other time in our life. Few of us are content to accept ourselves as we are, and few are brave enough to ignore the trends of fashion.

Most fashion magazines or TV advertisements try to persuade us that we should dress in a certain way or behave in a certain manner. If we do, they tell us, we will be able to meet new people with confidence and deal with every situation confidently and without embarrassment. Changing fashion, of course, does not apply just to dress. A barber today does not cut a boy’ s hair in the same way as he used to, and girls do not make up in the same way as their mothers and grandmothers did. The advertisers show us the latest fashionable styles and we are constantly under pressure to follow the fashion in case our friends think we are odd or dull.

What causes fashions to change? Sometimes convenience or practical necessity or just the fancy of an influential person can establish a fashion. Take hats, for example. In cold climates, early buildings were cold inside, so people wore hats indoors as well as outside. In recent times, the late President Kennedy caused a depression in the American hat industry by not wearing hats: more American men followed his example.

There is also a cyclical pattern in fashion. In the 1920s in Europe and America, short skirts became fashionable. After World War Two, they dropped to ankle length. Then they got shorter and shorter and the miniskirt was in fashion. After a few more years, skirts became longer again.

Today, society is much freer and easier than it used to be. It is no longer necessary to dress like everyone else. Within reason, you can dress as you like or do your hair the way you like instead of the way you should because it is the fashion. The popularity of jeans and the “untidy” look seems to be a reaction against the increasingly expensive fashion of the top fashion houses.

At the same time, appearance is still important in certain circumstances and then we must choose our clothes carefully. It would be foolish to go to an interview for a job in a law firm wearing jeans and a sweater; and it would be discourteous to visit some distinguished scholar looking as if we were going to the beach or a night club. However, you need never feel depressed if you don’ t look like the latest fashion photo. Look around you and you’ ll see that no one else does either! 

单选题 The author thinks that people are _____.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】第一段最后一句“Few of us are content to accept ourselves as we are, and few are brave enough to ignore the trends of fashion. ” 提到我们中很少有人满足地接受我们本身的样子， 并且勇 敢到忽视时尚的潮流， 故A项为正确答案。
单选题 Fashion magazines and TV advertisement seem to link fashion to _____.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】第二段第四 句“If we do, they tell us, we will be able to meet new people with confidence and deal with every situation confidently and without embarrassment． ”可知时尚杂志和电视广告可以让我们获得自信Confidence， 故A项为正确答案。
单选题 Causes of fashions are _____.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】原文第三段第二句话“Sometimes convenience or practical necessity or just the fancy of an influential person can establish a fashion. ” 提到时尚可能是由便捷， 或者实际必要性所导致， 或者就是出于喜欢确立潮流的人， 可以看出时尚的因素是很多样的， 故B项为正确答案。
单选题 Present-day society is much freer and earlier because it emphasizes _____.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】原文倒数第二段提到在当今社会， 人们不再需要穿得像别人一样， 你可以按照自己喜欢而不是应该的方式来选择服装和发型， 可以看到当今人们非常强调individuality（个性； 个人） ，故D项为正确答案。
单选题 Which is the main idea of the last paragraph?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】最后一段首先提到在一定场合下面外表是重要的， 比如去参加面试（an interview for a job in a law firm） 以及拜访学者（visit some distinguished scholar） 的时候， 这些场合均属于formal situations（正式场合） ， 故A项为正确答案。