The Power of Beauty

美的力量

1. One of the most successful, influential and 1)beloved women in American history, Eleanor Roosevelt once said that she had one regret: she wished she had been prettier. Who hasn't felt the same way? We are all too 2)aware of our 3)physical 4)imperfections. To overcome them, we spend 5)billions upon billions of dollars every year-on 6)cosmetics, 7)diet products, fashion, and 8)plastic surgery.

身为美国史上最成功、最有影响力且最受人喜爱的女性之一的罗斯福夫人曾说她有一个遗憾：她希望自己长得更漂亮。谁没有过同样的想法呢？我们都强烈感觉到自己身体的缺陷。为了克服缺陷，我们每年都要花费几十亿美元--在化妆品、减肥食品、流行时尚与整容手术上。

1.1) beloved (a.) 受人喜爱的 2) aware (a.) 明白的 3) physical (a.) 身体的 4) imperfection (n.) 不完美，瑕疵 5) billion (n.) 十亿 6) cosmetics (n.) 化妆品 7) diet (n.) (特种)饮食 8) plastic surgery (n.) 整形外科) 兴奋的

2. Why do we care so much about how we look? Because it matters. Because beauty is powerful. Because even when we learn to value people mostly for being kind and wise and funny, we are still moved by beauty. No matter how much we argue against it or pretend to be 1)immune, beauty 2)exerts its power over us. There is simply no escape.

我们如此这么在意自己的外貌？因为它很重要。因为美的力量很大。因为即使我们学着基本上去看重仁慈、智能、风趣的人，但我们仍会受到美的感动。无论我们多么用力辩驳，或假装对它免疫，美仍然对我们产生影响。根本无法逃避。

2.1) immune (a.) 免疫的 2) exert (v.) 发挥出

3. Aristotle said, "Beauty is a greater 1)recommendation than any letter of introduction." It's not fair, but it's true. We simply treat beautiful people better than we do others. 2)Attach a photograph of a beautiful author to an essay, and people will think that it is more creative and more 3)intelligently written than exactly the same 4)essay 5)accompanied by the photo of a 6)homely author.

亚里斯多德说：「美是比任何介绍信都要有用的推荐函。」这并不公平，但却是事实。我们就是会对美丽的人比较好。把一位美丽作家的照片贴在作品上，读者就会认为这篇文章较有创意，写得更有智能。完全相同的文章配上相貌平凡的作家照片，评价就会较低。

3.1) recommendation (n.) 推荐 2) attach (v.) 贴上，附上 3) intelligently (adv.) 聪明地 4) essay (n.) 论文，小品文 5) accompany (v.) 伴随 6) homely (a.) 平凡的

4. As children, beautiful people are more likely to become favorites with parents and teachers. Later, they're more likely to get good jobs and 1)promotions. Beautiful lawyers get paid more than their less attractive 2)colleagues. Good-looking 3)criminals are more likely to win the 4)sympathy of judges and 5)juries. Attractive people 6)in need are more likely to receive help from strangers.

漂亮的小孩比较容易获得父母与老师的宠爱。长大后，他们比较容易找到好工作与获得升迁。漂亮的律师赚的钱比卖相较差的同事多。长得好的罪犯比较容易获得法官与陪审团的同情。有吸引力的人在穷困时，获得陌生人帮助的机率也比较大。

4.1)promotion (n.) 升迁 2) colleague (n.) 同事 3) criminal (n.) 罪犯 4) sympathy (n.) 同情 5) jury (n.) 陪审团 6) in need (a.) 穷困的，有需要的

5. In 1)bodily form, 2)symmetry is beauty. One thing that makes men and women attractive to each other is having a 3)symmetrical body. Men with an 4)alluring, symmetrical 5)figure begin having sex at an earlier age, have sex earlier in relationships and have two to three times as many sex partners as their 6)asymmetrical 7)pals. It doesn't seem fair-it isn't-but symmetrical men also make better lovers. In her book, 8)Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty, Harvard 9)psychologist Nancy Etcoff describes research which shows that the best way to predict whether or not a woman will have an orgasm during sex is to look at the symmetry of her partner. This turns out to be a better 10)predictor "than the couple's feeling of love, the 11)investment of either party in the relationship, the male's 12)potential 13)earnings, or the level of sexual experience or frequency of lovemaking of the couple."

在体型方面，对称就是美。男女互相吸引的因素之一，就是拥有匀称的身材。身材迷人匀称的男人发生第一次性经验的年龄比较早，每谈一次恋爱也比较早发生性行为，而且性伴侣的人数是身材不匀称者的两到三倍。似乎不太公平--的确是不公平--但身材匀称的男人也是比较好的情人。哈佛心理学家南茜艾特考夫在她的著作《美者生存：美的科学》中介绍一些研究，显示如果要预测女性是否会有性高潮，最可靠的指针是看她伴侣的身材是否匀称。结果发现这项指针的可靠性甚至超过「这对情侣恋爱的感觉、双方的感情投入、男方潜在的赚钱能力、双方性经验的水平或做爱的频率」。

5. 1) bodily (a.) 身体的 2) symmetry (n.) 对称 3) symmetrical (a.) 对称的 4) alluring (a.) 诱人的 5) figure (n.) 身材 6) asymmetrical (a.) 不对称的 7) pal (n.) 伙伴 8) survival (n.) 生存 9) psychologist (n.) 心理学家 10) predictor (n.) 预测工具 11) investment (n.) 投资 12) potential (a.) 潜在的

6. Symmetrical women have it better, too. Surprisingly, women's symmetry 1)varies throughout each month. As 2)indicated by changes in the 3)measurements of their ears, fingers and other body parts, women become most symmetrical-and most attractive-when they most need to be: on the day when they ovulate.

身材匀称的女人也比较有利。令人惊讶的是，女人的匀称每一个月从头到尾都会变化。测量女人耳朵、手指与身体其它部位的尺寸变化显示：女人在最需要匀称时会变得最匀称--因此最有吸引力：就是排卵那一天。

6.1) vary (v.) 变化 2) indicate (v.) 显示 3) measurement (n.) 测量

7. Many of the physical 1)features that make us attractive to one another are, in fact, signals of our health and 2)fertility. For thousands of years, women have been using 3)makeup to try to look like teenagers. Why? Men everywhere find young, 4)fertile women to be the most sexually attractive.

许多使我们对他人具有吸引力的身体特征，其实是表现健康与生育能力的征兆。数千年来，女性一直用化妆品来使自己看起来像少女。为什么？因为世界各地的男人都觉得年轻而有生育能力的女性最具有性吸引力。

7. 1)feature (n.) 特征 2) fertility (n.) 生育能力 3) makeup (n.) 化妆品 4) fertile (a.) 有生育能力的

8. Men have a natural preference for women with youthfully narrow 1)waists and full 2)hips. Psychologist Devendra Singh tested men in 18 different cultures for their response to women of varying shapes. 3)Overwhelmingly they found women with a waist-to-hip 4)ratio of 0.7 as the most attractive. Marilyn Monroe was shaped just so. Another 1950s beauty, Audrey Hepburn, had a much 5)slimmer figure that 6)resembles the 7)skinny, 8)supermodel look that has recently been fashionable in the United States. But Hepburn's waist-to-hip ratio was exactly 0.7, just like Monroe's. It is no 9)coincidence that scientists have discovered that women with such a waist-to-hip ratio are the most fertile. By following their 10)instinct, men are naturally attracted to the most fertile women around.

男人很自然会偏好有青春细腰与丰臀的女人。心理学家戴维卓席恩对十八种不同文化中的男性进行测试，看他们对各种身材的女性有何反应。绝大多数的男人都认为腰与臀比率是0.7的女人最迷人。玛丽莲梦露的身材正是如此。1950年代另一位美女奥黛莉赫本的身材苗条得多，很像近年来美国流行的纤细、超级名模造型。但赫本的腰臀比也是0.7，跟玛丽莲梦露一样。科学家发现具有这种腰臀比的女性生育能力最强，这绝非巧合。男性听从本能，自然就会被吸引到最有生育力的女性身旁。

8.1) waist (n.) 腰 2) hip (n.) 臀部 3) overwhelmingly (adv.) 压倒性地 4) ratio (n.) 比例 5) slim (a.) 苗条的 6) resemble (v.) 类似 7) skinny (a.) 瘦的 8) supermodel (n.) 超级名模 9) coincidence (n.) 巧合 10) instinct (n.) 本能

9. These days, in addition to cosmetics, women and men both rely on 1)advanced technology to 2)enhance their beauty. 3)Wrinkles can be 4)stretched away with a face lift. Special 5)injections can make lips look attractively young and 6)plump. 7)Countless 8)creams and 9)chemicals promise clear, 10)glowing skin for men and women. Besides being a sign of youth, good skin also means that the person is likely to be healthy and free from 11)parasites.

除了化妆品之外，最近的男女都仰赖先进的科技来使自己变得更美。拉皮可以拉掉皱纹，特殊的注射可以使嘴唇年轻饱满、更加迷人。无数种面霜与化学药品保证男男女女都能拥有晶莹光润的肌肤。除了是年轻的象征之外，美丽的肌肤也代表这个人可能很健康，没有寄生虫。

9.1) advanced (a.) 先进的 2) enhance (v.) 促进 3) wrinkle (n.) 皱纹 4) stretch (v.) 绷紧 5) injection (n.) 注射 6) plump (a.) 丰满的 7) countless (a.) 数不尽的 8) cream (n.) 乳霜 9) chemical (n.) 化学药物 10) glow (v.) 发亮 11) parasite (n.) 寄生虫

10. Still, it's possible to go too far. At the end of the 19th century, some women even had 1)ribs 2)removed so they'd have that perfect narrow waist. Some people today have poison injected in the face to get rid of wrinkles, even though this means that their 3)facial muscles will be 4)paralyzed, unable to express certain 5)emotions.

不过，还是有可能做得太过火。十九世纪末，有些女人甚至拿掉一些肋骨，只为拥有完美的柳腰。今天有些人在脸上注射毒药来消除皱纹，即使脸部肌肉会因此瘫痪而做不出某些表情，也在所不惜。

10.1) rib (n.) 肋骨 2) remove (v.) 除去 3) facial (a.) 面部的 4) paralyze (v.) 瘫痪 5) emotion (n.) 情感

11. Our 1)sensitivity to physical beauty is not something we can control at will. We are born with it. Experiments 2)conducted by psychologist Judith H. Langlois showed that even small 3)infants prefer to look at attractive faces. Before they have met a single supermodel, before they have watched a single TV show, before they have opened up a single fashion magazine, they are drawn to the same faces which 4)adults have judged to be attractive.

我们对外在美的敏感，不是可以控制自如的。我们天生就这么敏感。心理学家朱迪丝蓝洛斯的实验显示，就连小婴儿也喜欢看漂亮的脸。他们从来没有见过超级名模、没看过电视节目，也没翻开过时尚杂志，却已经受到大人也认为有魅力的脸庞所吸引。

11. 1)sensitivity (n.) 敏感度 2) conduct (v.) 进行 3) infant (n.) 婴儿 4) adult (n.) 成年人

12. There are more important things in life than beauty. But as Etcoff says, "We have to understand beauty, or we will always be 1)enslaved by it." If you aim to be wise and kind and funny, it doesn't mean that you can't also try your best to look beautiful. There's no reason to feel guilty about being moved by beauty's power. It moves us all.
人生中有比美丽更重要的事，但就如艾特考夫所说：「我们必须了解美，否则我们永远都会是它的奴隶。」如果你的目标是要聪明、仁慈又风趣，这并不代表你就不能尽力让自己变得漂亮。被美的力量感动，并不需要有罪恶感，因为所有的人都受它感动。