It’s no secret we are a culture consumed by image. Economists have long recognized what’s been dubbed the "beauty premium"—the i

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问题     It’s no secret we are a culture consumed by image. Economists have long recognized what’s been dubbed the "beauty premium"—the idea that pretty people, whatever their aspirations, tend to do better in, well, almost everything. Handsome men earn, on average, 5 percent more than their less-attractive counterparts (good-looking women earn 4 percent more); pretty people get more attention from teachers, bosses, and mentors; even babies stare longer at good-looking faces (and we stare longer at good-looking babies). A couple of decades ago, when the economy was thriving, we might have brushed off those statistics as superficial. But in 2010, there’s a growing bundle of research to show that our bias against the unattractive is more pervasive than ever. And when it comes to the workplace, it’s looks, not merit, that all too often rule.
    Newsweek surveyed 202 corporate hiring managers, from human-resources staff to senior-level vice presidents, as well as 964 members of the public, only to confirm what no qualified or unqualified employee wants to admit: from hiring to office politics to promotions, even, looking good is no longer something we can dismiss as frivolous (轻浮的) or vain. Fifty-seven percent of hiring managers said qualified but unattractive candidates are likely to have a harder time landing a job, while more than half advised spending as much time and money on "making sure they look attractive" as on perfecting a resume. Asked to rank employee attributes in order of importance, meanwhile, managers placed looks above education: of nine character traits, it came in third, below experience (No. 1) and confidence (No. 2) but above "where a candidate went to school" (No. 4). Does that mean you should drop out of Harvard and invest in a nose job? Probably not. But a state school might be just as marketable. "This is the new reality of the job market," says one New York recruiter. "It’s better to be average and good-looking than brilliant and unattractive."
    Today’s working women have achieved "equality": they dominate the workforce, they are household breadwinners, and so they balk at having to subvert (颠覆) their sexuality, whether in the boardroom or on the beach. Yet while the outside-work milieu (周围环境) might accept the empowered yet feminine ideal, the workplace surely doesn’t. Studies show that unattractive women remain at a disadvantage in low-level positions like secretary, while in upper-level fields that are historically male-dominated, good-looking women can suffer a so-called bimbo effect. They are viewed as too feminine, less intelligent, and, ultimately, less competent—not only by men but also by their female peers.
What is "bimbo effect" according to the last paragraph?

选项 A、The idea that women are at a disadvantage in workplaces.
B、The bias that beautiful women are frivolous or vain.
C、The notion that beautiful women are not intelligent or competent.
D、The prejudice that women should do jobs of low-level positions.

答案C

解析 语义理解题。文章末句正是对bimbo effect的解释:貌美女性遭遇所谓的“美女无脑”偏见,她们被认为女人味过浓,不够聪明,能力欠缺,因此答案为C)。
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