1.2023年6月英语四级阅读理解练习 篇一
Pots Of PromiseMedieval noblewomen swallowed arsenic and dabbed on bats blood to improve their complexions; 18 th century Americans prized the warm urine of young boys to erase their freckles; Victorian ladies removed their ribs to give themselves a wasp waist. The desire to be beautiful is as old as civilization, as is the pain that it can cause.
The pain has not stopped the passion from creating a 160 billion-a-year global industry,encompassing make -up, skin and hair care, fragrances, cosmetic surgery, health clubs and diet pills. Americans spend more each year on beauty than they do on education.
Such spending is not mere vanity. Being pretty — or just not ugly — confers1 enormous genetic and social advantages. Attractive people ( both men and women) are judged to be more intelligent and sexy; they earn more and they are more likely to marry.
Basic instinct keeps the beauty industry powerful. In medieval times, recipes for homemade cosmetics were kept in the kitchen right beside those used to feed the family.
But it was not until the start of the 20 th century, when mass production coincided with mass exposure to an idealized standard of beauty ( through photography, magazines and movies) that the industry first took off.
In 1909, Eugene Schueller founded the French Harmless Hair Coloring Co., which later became L'Oreal2— today's industry leader. Two years later, a Hamburg pharmacist, developed the first cream to bind oil and water. Today, it sells in 150 countries as Nivea, the biggest personal-care brand in the world.
But it was the great rivalry between two women in America that made the industry what it is today. Elizabeth Arden opened the first modern beauty salon in 1910 , followed a few years later by Helena Rubinstein, a Polish immigrant. The two took cosmetics out of household pots and pans and into the modern era . Both thought beauty and health were interlinked. They combined facials with diets and exercise classes in a holistic approach that the industry is now returning to.
The emerging beauty industry played on3 the fear of looking ugly as much as on the pleasure of looking beautiful, drawing on the new science of psychology to convince women that an inferiority complex4 could be cured by a dab of lipstick.
练习题：
Ⅰ. Matching:
1. In medieval time ( ) . 2. In 1910 ( ) .
3. In 1909 ( ) . 4. In 1911 ( ) .
A. Swallow arsenic to improve their complexion.
B. Recipes for homemade cosmetics were kept in the kitchen.
C. Eugene Schueller found the French Harmless Hair Coloring Co.
D. A Hamburg Pharmacist developed the first cream that now sells to 150 countries.
E. Elizabeth Arden opened the first modern beauty salon.
Ⅱ. Questions:
1. What are the advantages of being pretty according to the passage ?
2. What’s your opinion about beauty? Is it really so important?
2.2023年6月英语四级阅读理解练习 篇二
created Barbie in 1959 was inspired by this desire amongst girls for a confident female role model. Handler probably didn't expect the hostile reaction her doll initially received from the American public. Because Barbie had breasts she was accused of giving young girls a negative body image and making them obsessed with their looks.Those in the anti-Barbie camp say that if Barbie were human, she would be 1.68m tall, weigh 54kg and measure an impossible 38 - 18 - 34. Young girls, who play with Barbie, according to her critics, will grow up wanting to have big breasts and slim waists.
They will grow up starving themselves so as to achieve that perfect, but impossible, figure.
In my post-Barbie teen years, as I was trying to develop my own personality and find my place in the world, I started to believe such pseudo -feminist arguments. I started to distance myself from my Barbie -playing childhood, and would look down upon anything that was colored pink like Barbie's clothes. Pink was evil, I thought. It signified silly and pretty things of little consequence — it signified Barbie.
Luckily enough, this crazy phrase didn't last long. Feminism goes much deeper than hating Barbie, I quickly realize. I have long reclaimed the color pink for myself. I declare proudly that I love Barbie and all she represents.
Indeed, it is not wrong for a child to want to be beautiful and wear nice clothes, as long as these aren't the only things they aspire to. Educational toys are well and good — they are necessary to feed the brain — but a child's fantasy life also needs to be nurtured.
Yes, Barbie does let young girls dream they can be supermodels and princesses. But that's not all. Since 1959, Barbie has had over 80 different careers — doctor, lawyer, pilot, presidential candidate, and even astronaut. Contrary to popular belief, she is not a passive creature. She held the spotlight for women long before feminism began in the 1970s.
练习题：
Ⅰ. Find reasons for the following facts according to the passage :
1. The mother sent back the Barbie doll. ( )
2. Ruth Handler created Barbie. ( )
3. The author asserted Barbie was not passive . ( )
Ⅱ. Question:
What's your opinon about Barbie? Will toy have effect on children's mental development?
3.2023年6月英语四级阅读理解练习 篇三
Is GM Food Safe To Eat ?Traditional plant breeding involves crossing varieties of the same species in ways they could cross naturally. For example, disease-resistant varieties of wheat have been crossed with high-yield wheat to combine these properties. This type of natural gene exchange is safe and fairly predictable.
Genetic engineering ( GE) involves exchanging genes between unrelated species that cannot naturally exchange genes with each other. GE can involve the exchange of genes between vastly different species — e.g. putting scorpion toxin genes into maize or fish antifreeze genes into tomatoes. It is possible that a scorpion toxin gene, even when it is in maize DNA1, will still get the organism to produce scorpion toxin — but what other effects may it have in this alien environment? We are already seeing this problem — adding human growth hormone genes to pigs certainly makes them grow — but it also gives them arthritis and makes them cross-eyed, which was entirely unpredictable.
It will be obvious, for example, that the gene for human intelligence will not have the same effect if inserted into cabbage DNA as it had in human DNA— but what side-effect would it have? In other words, is GM food2 safe to eat? The answer is that nobody knows because long-term tests have not been carried out.
Companies wanting a GM product approved in the UK or USA are required to provide regulatory bodies with results of their own safety tests. Monsanto’s3 soya beans were apparently fed to fish for 10 weeks before being approved. There was no requirement for independent testing, for long-term testing, for testing on humans or testing for specific dangers to children or allergic4 people.
The current position of the UK Government is that"There is no evidence of long-term dangers from GM foods."In the US, the American Food and Drug Administration5 is currently being prosecuted for covering up research that suggested possible risks from GM foods.
练习题：
Ⅰ. Match the words with their Chinese quivalents:
1. disease-resistant A. 掩盖( 真相)
2. side-effect B. 高产的
3. long-term dangers C. 长期危害
4. cover up D. 副作用
5. high-yield E. 抗病的
Ⅱ. Question:
What do companies wanting a GM product approved in the UK or USA do?
