单选题 Being good-looking is useful in so many ways. In addition to whatever personal pleasure it gives you, being attractive also helps you earn more money, f'amd a higher-earning spouse and get better deals on mortgages. Each of these facts has been demonstrated over the past 20 years by many economists and other researchers, The effects are not small: one study showed that an American worker who was among the bottom one-seventh in looks, as assessed by randomly chosen observers, earned 10 to 15 percent less per year than a similar worker whose looks were assessed in the top one-third — a lifetime difference, in a typical case, of about $ 230, 000.
Most of us, regardless of our professed attitudes, prefer as customers to buy from better-looking salespeople, as jurors to listen to better-looking attorneys, as voters to be led by better-looking politicians, as students to learn from better-looking professors. This is not a matter of evil employers' refusing to hire the ugly: in our roles as workers, customers and potential lovers we are all responsible for these effects.
How could we remedy this injustice? A radical solution may be needed: why not offer legal protections to the ugly, as we do with racial, ethnic and religious minorities, women and handicapped individuals? We actually already do offer such protections in a few places, including in some jurisdictions in California, and in the District of Columbia, where discriminatory treatment based on looks in hiring, promotions, housing and other areas is prohibited. The mechanics of legislating this kind of protection are not as difficult as you might think. Ugliness could be protected generally in the United States by small extensions of the Americans With Disabilities Act. Ugly people could be allowed to seek help from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and other agencies in overcoming the effects of discrimination.
You might argue that people can't be classified by their looks — that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In one study, more than half of a group of people were assessed identically by each of two observers using a five-point scale ; and very few assessments differed by more than one point.
There are possible other objections. "Ugliness" is not a personal trait that many people choose to embrace; those whom we classify as protected might not be willing to admit that they are ugly. But with the chance of obtaining extra pay and promotions amounting to $ 230, 000 in lost lifetime earnings, there's a large enough incentive to do so. Bringing antidiscrimination lawsuits is also costly, and few potential plaintiffs could afford to do so. But many attorneys would be willing to organize classes of plaintiffs to overcome these costs, just as they now do in racial-discrimination and other lawsuits.
Economic arguments for protecting the ugly are as strong as those for protecting some groups currently covered by legislation. So why not go ahead and expand protection to the looks-challenged? There's one legitimate concern. With increasingly tight limits on government resources, expanding rights to yet another protected group would reduce protection for groups that have commanded our legislative and other attention for over 50 years. You might reasonably disagree and argue for protecting all deserving groups. Either way, you shouldn't be surprised to see the United States heading toward this new legal frontier.

单选题 The main idea of the first paragraph is that ______.
A. looking has something to do with the economic prospect of a person
B. the discrimination against the bad-looking is prevalent in daily life
C. the bad looking men earned 10-15 percent less than ordinary men per year
D. the shame of being ugly will go with a person through his life
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】段落主旨题
[解析] 本题考查对文章第一段主旨含义的把握。第一段第一句话“外貌漂亮好处多多”并不是这一段的主旨句，从第二句开始可以发现本段一直在谈论外貌和人的经济收入的关系。“除了令人赏心悦目之外，吸引眼球的外表可以帮助你拿到丰厚的薪水，吸引到高收入的配偶，在办理房屋抵押贷款时拿到更好的折扣。”因此本题的正确答案应该选[A]。[B]利用文章第一段话和常识设置干扰。[C]只是提到了第一段中的一个细节，并不足以概括整个第一段的内容。[D]利用第一段最后一句话提到的“lifetime difference”设置干扰，但是这里谈的并不是“长得丑带来的羞耻对人影响”而是“长得丑对人的经济影响”。
单选题 According to Paragraph 2, who should be responsible for the discrimination against bad looking people in the workplace?
A. The employer. B. Public at large.
C. The customers. D. The policy-makers.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】具体细节题
[解析] 本题考查对文章第二段内容的理解。第二段首先列举了日常生活中常见的对于长相丑陋的人的偏见：“大部分人购物时更愿意购买漂亮的销售人员推销的产品；陪审员更关注外形俊美律师的发言；选民更倾向于长相英俊的政治家；学生更喜爱相貌出众的教授。”最后一句话提到，如果说雇主更愿意雇用长相漂亮的人，这并不是雇主的问题，而是整个社会的问题。因此，本题的正确答案应该选[B]。[A]和[C]利用原文提到的字眼设置干扰，[D]无中生有。
单选题 In the author's opinion, to legislate protection for the ugly is ______.
A. ideologically radical
B. fundamentally unnecessary
C. economically unrealistic
D. legally feasible
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】作者观点题
[解析] 本题考查文中作者的观点态度。作者在第三段明确提出应该为长相丑陋的人提供法律保护。“进行立法保护并不是人们通常以为的那么困难，只需对《美国残疾人法案》做出细微扩展就可实现。”因此，[D]正确。[A]、[B]和[C]反向干扰。
单选题 The result of the study mentioned in Paragraph 4 demonstrates that ______.
A. people's judgment on looking varies greatly
B. people's judgment on looking is generally the same
C. beauty is in the eye of the beholder
D. judgment on looking depends on your relationship with the person
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】段落主旨题
[解析] 本题主要考查对文章第四段内容的理解。第四段作者主要反驳了对丑人立法的一种质疑。有的人认为对人的容貌的判定并没有统一的标准。“that beauty is in the eye of the beholder”。但是一项实验却表明，大多数人对某个人的长相判断都是相同的，也就是说基于容貌的法律保护是有依据的。[B]正确。[A]和[C]利用文中“that beauty is in the eye of the beholder”设置干扰。[D]无中生有。
单选题 One possible way to reduce discrimination lawsuit cost is ______.
A. lower compensation claim
B. apply for designated attorney
C. classify different prosecution criterion
D. organize group lawsuit
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】具体细节题
[解析] 本题主要考查对文章第五段一处细节内容的理解。第五段倒数第二句话提到引入反歧视法律成本高昂，乐于提出诉讼的人可能无力独自承担。这时候律师们可以通过组织classes of plaintiffs来克服这一问题。这里的classes是“群体诉讼”的意思，因此[D]是正确答案。而[B]利用attorney设置干扰，[C]是对这里classes一词的错误理解。[A]无中生有。