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.
身為美國史上最成功、最有影響力且最受人喜愛的女性之一的羅斯福夫人曾說她有一個遺憾：她希望自己長得更漂亮。誰沒有過同樣的想法呢?我們都強烈感覺到自己身體的缺陷。為了克服缺陷，我們每年都要花費幾十億美元--在化妝品、減肥食品、流行時尚與整容手術上。
1.1) beloved (a.) 受人喜愛的 2) aware (a.) 明白的 3) physical (a.) 身體的 4) imperfection (n.) 不完美，瑕疵 5) billion (n.) 十億 6) cosmetics (n.) 化妝品 7) diet (n.) (特種)飲食 8) plastic surgery (n.) 整形外科) 興奮的
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.
我們如此這么在意自己的外貌?因為它很重要。因為美的力量很大。因為即使我們學著基本上去看重仁慈、智能、風趣的人，但我們仍會受到美的感動。無論我們多么用力辯駁，或假裝對它免疫，美仍然對我們產生影響。根本無法逃避。
2.1) immune (a.) 免疫的 2) exert (v.) 發揮出
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.
亞里斯多德說：「美是比任何介紹信都要有用的推薦函。」這并不公平，但卻是事實。我們就是會對美麗的人比較好。把一位美麗作家的照片貼在作品上，讀者就會認為這篇文章較有創意，寫得更有智能。完全相同的文章配上相貌平凡的作家照片，評價就會較低。
3.1) recommendation (n.) 推薦 2) attach (v.) 貼上，附上 3) intelligently (adv.) 聰明地 4) essay (n.) 論文，小品文 5) accompany (v.) 伴隨 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.
漂亮的小孩比較容易獲得父母與老師的寵愛。長大后，他們比較容易找到好工作與獲得升遷。漂亮的律師賺的錢比賣相較差的同事多。長得好的罪犯比較容易獲得法官與陪審團的同情。有吸引力的人在窮困時，獲得陌生人幫助的機率也比較大。
4.1)promotion (n.) 升遷 2) colleague (n.) 同事 3) criminal (n.) 罪犯 4) sympathy (n.) 同情 5) jury (n.) 陪審團 6) in need (a.) 窮困的，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."
在體型方面，對稱就是美。男女互相吸引的因素之一，就是擁有勻稱的身材。身材迷人勻稱的男人發生第一次性經驗的年齡比較早，每談一次戀愛也比較早發生性行為，而且性伴侶的人數是身材不勻稱者的兩到三倍。似乎不太公平--的確是不公平--但身材勻稱的男人也是比較好的情人。哈佛心理學家南茜艾特考夫在她的著作《美者生存：美的科學》中介紹一些研究，顯示如果要預測女性是否會有性高潮，最可靠的指針是看她伴侶的身材是否勻稱。結果發現這項指針的可靠性甚至超過「這對情侶戀愛的感覺、雙方的感情投入、男方潛在的賺錢能力、雙方性經驗的水平或做愛的頻率」。
5. 1) bodily (a.) 身體的 2) symmetry (n.) 對稱 3) symmetrical (a.) 對稱的 4) alluring (a.) 誘人的 5) figure (n.) 身材 6) asymmetrical (a.) 不對稱的 7) pal (n.) 伙伴 8) survival (n.) 生存 9) psychologist (n.) 心理學家 10) predictor (n.) 預測工具 11) investment (n.) 投資 12) potential (a.) 潛在的
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.
身材勻稱的女人也比較有利。令人驚訝的是，女人的勻稱每一個月從頭到尾都會變化。測量女人耳朵、手指與身體其它部位的尺寸變化顯示：女人在最需要勻稱時會變得最勻稱--因此最有吸引力：就是排卵那一天。
6.1) vary (v.) 變化 2) indicate (v.) 顯示 3) measurement (n.) 測量
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.
許多使我們對他人具有吸引力的身體特征，其實是表現健康與生育能力的征兆。數千年來，女性一直用化妝品來使自己看起來像少女。為什么?因為世界各地的男人都覺得年輕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.) 化妝品 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.
男人很自然會偏好有青春細腰與豐臀的女人。心理學家戴維卓席恩對十八種不同文化中的男性進行測試，看他們對各種身材的女性有何反應。絕大多數的男人都認為腰與臀比率是0.7的女人最迷人。瑪麗蓮夢露的身材正是如此。1950年代另一位美女奧黛莉赫本的身材苗條得多，很像近年來美國流行的纖細、超級名模造型。但赫本的腰臀比也是0.7，跟瑪麗蓮夢露一樣。科學家發現具有這種腰臀比的女性生育能力最強，這絕非巧合。男性聽從本能，自然就會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.) 壓倒性地 4) ratio (n.) 比例 5) slim (a.) 苗條的 6) resemble (v.) 類似 7) skinny (a.) 瘦的 8) supermodel (n.) 超級名模 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.
除了化妝品之外，最近的男女都仰賴先進的科技來使自己變得更美。拉皮可以拉掉皺紋，特殊的注射可以使嘴唇年輕飽滿、更加迷人。無數種面霜與化學藥品保證男男女女都能擁有晶瑩光潤的肌膚。除了是年輕的象征之外，美麗的肌膚也代表這個人可能很健康，沒有寄生蟲。
9.1) advanced (a.) 先進的 2) enhance (v.) 促進 3) wrinkle (n.) 皺紋 4) stretch (v.) 繃緊 5) injection (n.) 注射 6) plump (a.) 豐滿的 7) countless (a.) 數不盡的 8) cream (n.) 乳霜 9) chemical (n.) 化學藥物 10) glow (v.) 發亮 11) parasite (n.) 寄生蟲
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.
不過，還是有可能做得太過火。十九世紀末，有些女人甚至拿掉一些肋骨，只為擁有完美的柳腰。今天有些人在臉上注射毒藥來消除皺紋，即使臉部肌肉會因此癱瘓而做不出某些表情，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.) 癱瘓 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.
我們對外在美的敏感，不是可以控制自如的。我們天生就這么敏感。心理學家朱迪絲藍洛斯的實驗顯示，就連小嬰兒也喜歡看漂亮的臉。他們從來沒有見過超級名模、沒看過電視節目，也沒翻開過時尚雜志，卻已經受到大人也認為有魅力的臉龐所吸引。
11. 1)sensitivity (n.) 敏感度 2) conduct (v.) 進行 3) infant (n.) 嬰兒 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.
人生中有比美麗更重要的事，但就如艾特考夫所說：「我們必須了解美，否則我們永遠都會是它的奴隸。」如果你的目標是要聰明、仁慈又風趣，這并不代表你就不能盡力讓自己變得漂亮。被美的力量感動，并不需要有罪惡感，因為所有的人都受它感動。
