Reading Comprehension (I semester)-11th grades.

Read the text and complete the gaps (1-5) with the sentences (A-G) below. There are two extra sentences. Put ticks in extra 1, extra two in the order of the English ABC.

Have significantly altered people’s perceptions – значно змінили людьське сприйняття

Overly concerned – надмірно стурбовані

To be preoccupied – бути замисленим, зайнятим

Trim - вишуканий, чепурний

Over the past three decades, the popular magazine Psychology Today has conducted several surveys on how people feel about the appearance of their bodies. The changing results make for interesting reading. The dramatic changes in American culture have significantly altered people’s perceptions of themselves. In 1972, 23 percent of American women were dissatisfied with their appearance, but by 1997 that figure had risen to 56 percent. In 1972, 15 percent of men were dissatisfied with their appearance, but by 1997 that figure had risen to 43 percent.

Images of beauty are everywhere. Pictures of handsome men and beautiful women can be found in glossy magazines, on television, billboards, consumer products and the Internet. (1 _____ ). As a result, the beauty industry, despite nearly thirty years of feminism, is a multi-billion dollar a year business.

Visit any newsagent’s and you will find dozens of magazines on various aspects of style, fashion and health. There are many magazines devoted to the topic of hairstyles and hair care. Men’s magazines tell men how to get flat stomachs and strong muscles. Images of slim, fit models seem to be everywhere, making vast numbers of women overly concerned about their weight. (2 _____ ).

But the images of beauty are not the average man or woman. Few ordinary people can aspire to look like the images of the exceptional beauty that the media present us with. The models, actors and actresses are selected from the thousands that apply. They are statistically exceptional in their appearance. (3 _____ ). However, in films and soap operas, they are often placed in ordinary situations so that we all feel that they are our competition.

To suggest that we can either have something very beautiful and desirable if we purchase a car, or look very beautiful and desirable if we use a certain hair conditioner and eye make-up, sells products very effectively. (4 _____ ).

Feminists have blamed men and society. Socialists have blamed capitalists and the advertising industry. But what is really going on? Why are both men and women more preoccupied, more anxious, about being beautiful these days than even before? (5 _____ )

The developed countries of the world are going through a period of great turbulence. Just as the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s led to great changes in society, so too is the Information Revolution of the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries. And it is happening fast.

For hundreds of thousands of years our ancestors were hunter-gatherers. Civilisation and cities are only a few thousand years old. Just as our bodies evolved over those countless millennia in order to adapt and survive, so did our psychologies. The reasons why it is so important for women to be beautiful and men to be strong and handsome are deeply rooted in the human psyche and are the product of hundreds of thousands of years of evolution.

A. That’s why the American beauty industry has earned a staggering (приголомшливий) $1 billion in selling body care products alone.

Over the past three decades, the popular magazine Psychology Today has conducted several surveys on how people feel about the appearance of their bodies. The changing results make for interesting reading. The dramatic changes in American culture have significantly altered people’s perceptions of themselves. In 1972, 23 percent of American women were dissatisfied with their appearance, but by 1997 that figure had risen to 56 percent. In 1972, 15 percent of men were dissatisfied with their appearance, but by 1997 that figure had risen to 43 percent.

Images of beauty are everywhere. Pictures of handsome men and beautiful women can be found in glossy magazines, on television, billboards, consumer products and the Internet. (1 _____ ). As a result, the beauty industry, despite nearly thirty years of feminism, is a multi-billion dollar a year business.

Visit any newsagent’s and you will find dozens of magazines on various aspects of style, fashion and health. There are many magazines devoted to the topic of hairstyles and hair care. Men’s magazines tell men how to get flat stomachs and strong muscles. Images of slim, fit models seem to be everywhere, making vast numbers of women overly concerned about their weight. (2 _____ ).

But the images of beauty are not the average man or woman. Few ordinary people can aspire to look like the images of the exceptional beauty that the media present us with. The models, actors and actresses are selected from the thousands that apply. They are statistically exceptional in their appearance. (3 _____ ). However, in films and soap operas, they are often placed in ordinary situations so that we all feel that they are our competition.

To suggest that we can either have something very beautiful and desirable if we purchase a car, or look very beautiful and desirable if we use a certain hair conditioner and eye make-up, sells products very effectively. (4 _____ ).

Feminists have blamed men and society. Socialists have blamed capitalists and the advertising industry. But what is really going on? Why are both men and women more preoccupied, more anxious, about being beautiful these days than even before? (5 _____ )

The developed countries of the world are going through a period of great turbulence. Just as the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s led to great changes in society, so too is the Information Revolution of the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries. And it is happening fast.

For hundreds of thousands of years our ancestors were hunter-gatherers. Civilisation and cities are only a few thousand years old. Just as our bodies evolved over those countless millennia in order to adapt and survive, so did our psychologies. The reasons why it is so important for women to be beautiful and men to be strong and handsome are deeply rooted in the human psyche and are the product of hundreds of thousands of years of evolution.

B In the developed world, the incredibly strong interest in the body and beauty is intensifying.

Over the past three decades, the popular magazine Psychology Today has conducted several surveys on how people feel about the appearance of their bodies. The changing results make for interesting reading. The dramatic changes in American culture have significantly altered people’s perceptions of themselves. In 1972, 23 percent of American women were dissatisfied with their appearance, but by 1997 that figure had risen to 56 percent. In 1972, 15 percent of men were dissatisfied with their appearance, but by 1997 that figure had risen to 43 percent.

Images of beauty are everywhere. Pictures of handsome men and beautiful women can be found in glossy magazines, on television, billboards, consumer products and the Internet. (1 _____ ). As a result, the beauty industry, despite nearly thirty years of feminism, is a multi-billion dollar a year business.

Visit any newsagent’s and you will find dozens of magazines on various aspects of style, fashion and health. There are many magazines devoted to the topic of hairstyles and hair care. Men’s magazines tell men how to get flat stomachs and strong muscles. Images of slim, fit models seem to be everywhere, making vast numbers of women overly concerned about their weight. (2 _____ ).

But the images of beauty are not the average man or woman. Few ordinary people can aspire to look like the images of the exceptional beauty that the media present us with. The models, actors and actresses are selected from the thousands that apply. They are statistically exceptional in their appearance. (3 _____ ). However, in films and soap operas, they are often placed in ordinary situations so that we all feel that they are our competition.

To suggest that we can either have something very beautiful and desirable if we purchase a car, or look very beautiful and desirable if we use a certain hair conditioner and eye make-up, sells products very effectively. (4 _____ ).

Feminists have blamed men and society. Socialists have blamed capitalists and the advertising industry. But what is really going on? Why are both men and women more preoccupied, more anxious, about being beautiful these days than even before? (5 _____ )

The developed countries of the world are going through a period of great turbulence. Just as the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s led to great changes in society, so too is the Information Revolution of the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries. And it is happening fast.

For hundreds of thousands of years our ancestors were hunter-gatherers. Civilisation and cities are only a few thousand years old. Just as our bodies evolved over those countless millennia in order to adapt and survive, so did our psychologies. The reasons why it is so important for women to be beautiful and men to be strong and handsome are deeply rooted in the human psyche and are the product of hundreds of thousands of years of evolution.

C. This is because it touches on some very deep-rooted (закоренілі) worries in human psychology and offers a solution to them.