How we look and how we appear to others probably worries us more when we are in our teens or early twenties than at any other time in our life. Few of us are content to accept our-selves 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 until 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 fashions 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!
The author thinks that people are________.
第一段最后一句提到 “Few of us are content to accept ourselves as we are, and few are brave enough to ignore the trends of fashion.”即人们 都不会满足于自己的现状，并且不会忽视对时尚趋势的关注，由此可 知，作者认为很少有人能忽视时尚潮流。因此答案为D。
Fashion magazines and TV advertisement seem to link fashion to________.
由第二段“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把时尚和自信联系在一起。 因此答案为D。
Causes of fashions are________.
第三段提到了多种促成时尚变化的因素，如convenience， practical necessity及the fancy of an influential person等，因此促成时尚 变化的因素是多变的。答案为A。
Present-day society is much freer and earlier because it emphasizes________.
短文倒数第二段告诉我们“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.”可知 只要你认为是时尚的，不那么正式也没有关系。因此答案为B。
Which is the main idea of the last paragraph?
由最后一段“At the same time, appearance is still important in certain circumstances and then we must choose our clothes carefully.”即在 某些情况下，外观仍然很重要，所以我们必须仔细选择我们的衣服。 可知外表还是十分重要的。因此答案为C。