2024年4月1日发(作者：)

Text A of Unit 2 课文分析及知识点

The confusing pursuit of beauty

课文的标题是一个名词短语，话题是pursuit of beauty，“对美的追

求”，confusing“令人困惑的”对名词短语起修饰作用，做定语，

表明作者的态度。本文是一篇对比性的文章，就男性和女性对美的追

求，分三个方面进行概述，并举例说明。注意开头和结尾的写法：开

头设置情景，引出话题。结尾呼应。思考结论是什么？

1 If you're a man at some point a woman will ask you how she looks.

at some moment 在某个时候

2 You must be careful how you answer this question. The best technique is to

form an honest yet sensitive response then promptly excuse yourself for some

kind of emergency. Trust me this is the easiest way out. No amount of

rehearsal will help you come up with the right answer.

Form a response 给予答复

Excuse oneself for some kind of emergency借口有急事马上脱身

Way out ：exit; a way of escaping from a difficult situation出路

例如：She was in a mess and could see no way out

句子学习1：

No amount of sth. will do…用于表达“无论如何都不会发生期待的结果”。

No amount of rehearsal will help you come up with the right answer.

对于她的这一问题，无论你事先练习多少次，都不会找到正确答案。

come up with 想出（答案）

3 The problem is that men do not think of their looks in the same way women

do. Most men form an opinion of themselves in seventh grade and stick to it

for the rest of their lives. Some men think they're irresistibly desirable and they

refuse to change this opinion even when they grow bald and their faces visibly

wrinkle as they age.

句子学习2：

1

The problem is that men do not think of their looks in the same way women do.

本句的结构：主从复合句，从句部分为 that 引出的表语从句，和way 后面的

定语从句。“其原因是，男性和女性对外表的看法截然不同。”

Stick to: keep doing what you believe

Some men think they're irresistibly desirable and they refuse to change this

opinion even when they grow bald and their faces visibly wrinkle as they age.

Irresistibly (adv.) visibly (adv.)

age (v.) to become older

E.g. As he aged, his memory got worse.他随着年事增高，记忆力就变差了。

The population is aging(=more people are living longer).人口正在老龄化。

有些男性认为自己有不可抗拒的魅力，即使随着年龄的增长，他们头发掉光了，

脸上布满皱纹，他们仍然拒绝改变这种看法。

4 Most men I believe are not arrogant about their looks. If the transient thought

passes through their minds at all they like to think of themselves as

average-looking. Being average doesn't bother them; average is fine. They

don't affix much value to their looks or think of them in terms of aesthetics.

Their primary form of beauty care is to shave themselves， which is essentially

the same care they give to their lawns. If at the end of his four minute allotment

of time for grooming a man has managed to wipe most of the shaving cream

out of the strands of his hair and isn't bleeding too badly he feels he's done all

he can.

Be arrogant about…对 感到傲慢

Average-looking 样貌平常的，长相普通的 good-looking 好看的，美貌的

weird-looking 样貌古怪的 （Para 6）

Affix value to sth. 认为 有价值 consider sth. valuable

in terms of aesthetics从美学的角度/方面

句子学习3：

Their primary form of beauty care is to shave themselves， which is essentially

the same care they give to their lawns. 他们的打扮方式主要就是刮刮胡子，

就像打理自家草坪一样。

句子结构：which 引出非限制性定语从句，其中they give to their lawns又是

定语从句修饰先行词care

5 Women do not look at themselves this way. If I had to guess what most

women think about their appearance it would be: "Not good enough." No

matter how attractive a woman may be, her perception of herself is

eclipsed by the beauty industry. She has trouble thinking "I'm beautiful."

She magnifies the smallest imperfections in her body and imagines them as

glaring flaws the whole world will notice and ridicule.

2

句子学习4：

No matter how attractive a woman may be, her perception of herself is

eclipsed by the beauty industry. 一位女士，无论她看起来多么吸引人，她对

自己的看法总是由于受美容业的影响而蒙着一层阴影。

句子结构：No matter how 引出让步状语从句，无论

• Eclipse n. 日蚀,月蚀,衰落 v. 引起日蚀,引起月蚀,使...黯然失色

E.g. Twilight—eclipse 《暮光之城—蚀》

6 Why do women consider their looks so deficient? This chronic insecurity isn't

inborn but created through the interaction of many complex psychological and

societal factors beginning with the dolls we give them as children. Girls grow

up playing with dolls proportioned so that if they were human they would be

seven feet tall and weigh 61 pounds with tiny thighs and a large upper body.

This is an absurd standard to live up to especially when you consider the size

of the doll's waist a relative measurement physically impossible for a living

human to achieve. Contrast this absurd standard with that presented to little

boys with their "action figures". Most of the toys that young boys have played

with were weird-looking like the one called Buzz-Off that was part human part

flying insect. This guy was not a looker but he was still extremely self-confident.

You could not imagine him saying to the others "Is this accessory the right

shade of violet for this outfit?"

句子学习5：

This chronic insecurity isn't inborn but created through the interaction of many

complex psychological and societal factors beginning with the dolls we give

them as children. 这种长期的不安全感并不是与生俱来的，而是由许多复杂的

心理和社会因素的相互作用造成的，从小时候大人们给她们买洋娃娃时就开始了。

句子结构：通过介词 through 和分词短语beginning with 使句子得以扩展

句子学习6：

Sth. happens especially when….表达“事物的普遍性或严重性”

This is an absurd standard to live up to especially when you consider the size

of the doll's waist a relative measurement physically impossible for a living

human to achieve. 要达到这样的标准是很荒唐的，尤其是当我们想想那种洋娃

娃的腰围尺寸，就知道其相对尺寸对任何一个活人来说都是不可企及的。

Play with dolls/toys 摆弄的洋娃娃/玩具

Hang out with friends 和朋友一起玩

Live up to a standard 达到标准

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7 But women grow up thinking they need to look like Barbie dolls or girls on

magazine covers which for most women is impossible. Nonetheless, the

multibillion-dollar beauty industry, complete with its own aisle in the grocery

store, is devoted to constant warfare on female self-esteem, convincing

women that they must buy all the newest moisturizing creams, bronzing

powders and appliances that promise to "stimulate and restore" their skin. I

once saw an Oprah Show in which supermodel Cindy Crawford dispensed

makeup tips to the studio audience. Cindy had all these middle-aged women

apply clay masks and other "wrinkle-removing" products to their faces; she

stressed how important it was to adhere to the guidelines like applying

products via the tips of their fingers to protect elasticity. All the women dutifully

did this even though it was obvious to any rational observer that no matter how

carefully they applied these products they would never have Cindy Crawford's

face or complexion.

句子学习7：

Nonetheless, the multibillion-dollar beauty industry, complete with its own

aisle in the grocery store, is devoted to constant warfare on female self-esteem,

convincing women they must buy all the newest moisturizing creams,

promise to "stimulate and restore" their bronzing powders and appliances

skin. 尽管如此，产值达几十亿美元的美容业，在超市化妆品销售专区的配合下，

总是在不停地攻击着女性的自尊，使其相信自己只有购买最新的保湿面霜、古铜

散粉，以及各种美容器具，才能“激发和恢复”肌肤活力。

句子的主干结构是 the industry is devoted to constant warfare on…，

complete with是形容词短语修饰主语 convincing women that…是分词短语修

饰句子的谓语部分，that they must buy all the newest moisturizing creams,

bronzing powders and appliances 是宾语从句，that promise to "stimulate and

restore" their skin是定语从句修饰all the newest moisturizing creams, bronzing

powders and appliances

Nonetheless adv. 尽管如此，但是

beauty industry美容业

dispense sth. to sb. –provide sth. for people

dispensed makeup tips to the studio audience和演播室里的观众分享了化妆秘

诀

apply…to…敷上

apply clay masks and other "wrinkle-removing" products to their faces在脸上

敷上黏土面膜和其他去皱产品

adhere to the guidelines遵守这些方法/指南

句子学习8：

4

All the women dutifully did this even though it was obvious to any rational

observer that no matter how carefully they applied these products they would

never have Cindy Crawford's face or complexion. 所有这些妇女都非常忠实地

按照辛迪说的做了。可是对任何一个理智的旁观者来说，无论她们如何认真地使

用这些产品，她们都不可能拥有辛迪那样的面容或肤色。（翻译时，可以把主句

单独翻译为一个句子。）

结构：主句 All the women dutifully did this 从句部分：even though引出让

步状语从句，it was obvious that …that 引出主语从句，其中 no matter how

又引导让步状语从句

8 I'm not saying that men are superior. I'm just saying that you're not going to

get a group of middle-aged men to plaster cosmetics to themselves under the

instruction of Brad Pitt in hopes of looking more like him. Men don't face the

same societal focus purely on physical beauty and they're encouraged to

reach out to other characteristics to promote their self-esteem. They might say

to Brad: "Oh yeah? Well what do you know about lawn care pretty boy?"

句子学习9：

I’m not saying that…I’m just saying that 用来“更正某人真实的想法”

I'm not saying that men are superior. I'm just saying that you're not going to get

a group of middle-aged men to plaster cosmetics to themselves under the

instruction of Brad Pitt in hopes of looking more like him. 我并不是说男性优于

女性。我的意思是你不可能让一群中年男子在布拉德·皮特的指导下把化妆品敷

到自己脸上，期望自己能看起来更像布拉德。

in hopes of：怀有 … 的希望

reach out to: 请求/借助… 的帮助

9 Of course women argue that they become obsessed with appearance as a

reaction to pressure from men. The truth is that most men think beauty is more

than just lipstick and perfume and take no notice of these extra details. I have

never once， in more than 40 years of listening to men talk about women，

heard a man say "She had gorgeous fingernails!" To most men， little things

like fingernails are all homogeneous anyway， and one woman's flawless pink

polish is exactly as invisible as another's bare nails.

become obsessed with sth.对 迷恋

句子学习10

The truth is that most men think beauty is more than just lipstick and perfume

and take no notice of these extra details.

而事实是，大多数男性认为美丽不仅仅来自于口红和香水，而且他们也不会去注

意这些额外的细节。

5

句子结构：that 引出表语从句

句子学习11

To most men， little things like fingernails are all homogeneous anyway， and

one woman's flawless pink polish is exactly as invisible as another's bare

nails.

对大多数男性来说，像指甲这样小的东西看起来都一样，无论一个女士的指甲是

用粉色指甲油涂得完美无瑕，还是光光的毫无修饰，男性都一概视而不见。

句子结构：and连接并列句

Like 介词：比如

As…as 和 一样

10 By participating in this system of extreme conformity women are actually

opening themselves up to the scrutiny of other women， the only ones qualified

to judge their efforts. What is the real benefit of working this hard to appease

men who don't notice when it only exposes women to prosecution from other

women?

extreme conformity极端的从众行为

open up to 对… 开放，对 … 打开心扉

句子学习12：

What is the real benefit of working this hard to appease men who don't notice

when it only exposes women to prosecution from other women?

但是，如此费力地去取悦男性而他们却根本不会注意，同时又只是招致其他女性

的指责，这样做究竟有什么好处呢？

句子结构：主句是疑问句部分，从句是 who引出的定语从句和 when 引出的时

间状语从句，it指的是working this hard to appease men who don't notice

Expose… to 暴露于，使处于 的影响下

11 Anyway to get back to my original point: If you're a man and a woman asks

you how she looks you can't say she looks bad without receiving immediate

and well-deserved outrage. But you also can't shower her with empty

compliments about how her shoes complement her dress nicely because

she'll know you're lying. She has spent countless hours worrying about the

differences between her looks and Cindy Crawford's. Also she suspects that

you're not qualified to voice a subjective opinion on anybody's appearance.

This may be because you have shaving cream in your hair and inside the folds

of your ears.

句子学习13：

Anyway to get back to my original point:言归正传

Anyway to get back to my original point: If you're a man and a woman asks you

how she looks you can't say she looks bad without receiving immediate and

well-deserved outrage.

6

句子学习14：

But you also can't shower her with empty compliments about how her shoes

complement her dress nicely because she'll know you're lying.

但是，你也不能慷慨地大放空洞之词，赞美她的鞋子和裙子是多么相配，因为她

知道你是在说谎。

句子结构：主句you also can't shower her with empty compliments about

从句 宾语从句 how…. 原因状语从句 because…..

Compliment n. 赞美

Complement v. 补足

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