Text B
Clothes play a critical part in the conclusions we reach by providing clues to who people are, who they are not, and who they would like to be. They tell us a good deal about the wearer's background, personality, status, mood, and social outlook.
Since clothes are such an important source of social information, we can use them to manipulate people's impression of us. Our appearance assumes particular significance in the initial phases of interaction that is likely to occur.
An elderly middle-class man or woman may be alienated by a young adult who is dressed in an unconventional manner,regardless of the person's education, background, or interests.
People tend to agree on what certain types of clothes mean. Adolescent girls can easily agree on the lifestyles of girls who wear certain outfits (套装), including the number of boyfriends they likely have had and whether they smoke or drink. Newscasters, or the announcers who read the news on TV, are considered to be more convincing, honest, and competent when they are dressed conservatively. And college students who view themselves as taking an active role in their interpersonal relationships say they are concerned about the costumes they must wear to play these roles successfully. Moreover, many of us can relate instances in which the clothing we wore changed the way we felt about ourselves and how we acted. Perhaps you have used clothing to gain confidence when you anticipated a stressful situation, such as a job interview or a court appearance.
In the workplace, men have long had well-defined precedents and role models for achieving success. It has been otherwise for women. A good many women in the business world are uncertain about the appropriate mixture of “masculine” and “feminine” attributes they should convey by their professional clothing. The variety of clothing alternatives to women has also been greater than that available for men. Male administrators tend to judge women more favorably for managerial positions when the women display less “feminine” grooming (打扮)—shorter hair, moderate use of makeup, and plain tailored clothing. As one male administrator confessed, “An attractive woman is definitely going to get a longer interview, but she won‟t get a job.”
According to the passage, the way we dress ________.
文中第一段提到， 穿着在为我们提供他人信息方面起着很重要的作用。 它能告诉我们关于这个人的背景、性格、 社会地位、 情绪以及社会观。 故 C 选项“穿着方式对人们评价我们的方式有着直接的影响” 正确。B 选项“提供对我们很挑剔的人的信息” 错误。 B 选项“暗示着我们在选择职业时的喜恶” 不符合。 D项“在我们老的时候尤为重要” 也不符合原文意思。
From the third paragraph of the passage, we can conclude that young adults tend to believe that certain types of clothing can ________.
文中第三段提到， 在他们的人际关系中很活跃的大学生们说， 他们很注重他们的穿着， 以此来让他们成功地扮演好这些角色。 也就是说， 某些服饰可以帮助他们在人际关系中取得成功。 D 选项正确。
The word “precedents” (Sentence 1, Para. 4) probably refers to ________.
此处 precedents 和 role models 表达的是相近的意思。 在工厂里， 男人们很久以来就定义了良好的先例和成功的偶像。 故 A 选项“早期供人们当做榜样效仿的行为” 正确。
According to the passage, many career women find themselves in difficult situations because ________.
由“many career women” 可定位到文中最后一段， 文中说， 很多商业女性不确定她们应该通过她们的职业装传达出何种适当的刚柔并济的特性。 所以让很多职业女性犯难的是， 她们不知道在何种程度上通过穿着来展现她们女性的特性。 D 选项符合原文意思。
What is the passage mainly about?
全文主旨题。 作者首段讲述了穿着的重要性， 其次又分析了不同人群的着装方式和理念， 以及着装对我们自身的影响， 如增加自信等， 可以看出作者主要是想阐述有效着装， 也就是符合个人身份、 性格的着装。 A 选项正确。