Упражнения уровня TOEFL по английскому языку. № 20.

Women today have fewer babies, have them later, are less exposed to the elements, and are better nourished and less disease-ridden than their ancestors. They can look like an ancestral teenager well into middle age. Women also have techniques to stimulate and exaggerate the clues to youth, femaleness, and health: eye make-up (to enlarge the eyes), lipstick, eyebrow plucking (to reduce the appearance of a masculine brow ridge), make-up products that increase the lustre, thickness, and colour of hair, and hundreds of potions alleged to keep the skin looking young. Dieting and exercise can also help, to keep the waist thinner and the waist-to-hip ratio lower.

Why do they do this? Is it merely an attempt to look sexy? It could be. But people decorate their bodies for many reasons: to look rich, to look well connected, to look 'in', to earn membership of a particular social group. People outside a culture usually agree with the people inside about who is beautiful and who is not, and people everywhere want to attract good-looking partners. Even three-month-old babies prefer to look at a pretty face.

(1) 'the elements' (line 1) is closest in meaning to:
a) the weather /
b) chemicals /
c) illness /

(2) The article implies that…
a) women with big hips are sexy. /
b) women with waists thinner than their hips are sexy. /
c) dieting and exercise will reduce hip size. /

(3) The article states that…
a) women today have to wear make-up to keep them looking young in middle age. /
b) there is no universal agreement about what is or isn't beautiful. /
c) women today have children older than they did in the past. /

(4) According to the article…
a) three-month-old babies like their mothers to wear make-up. /
b) three-month-old babies have an awareness of what is or isn't beautiful. /
c) pretty three-month-old babies like to look at their own reflection in a mirror. /