新视野大学英语 读写教程第四册 unit8-b

　　Why Are Women Afraid of Wrinkles
When I casually¹ mentioned to a colleague that I was looking into skin cream that claimed to beat back the destruction that comes with age, her worries poured out. A month ago, she told me, she had suddenly noticed wrinkles all over her face. Fingering her beautiful but finely-lined features, she explained that, although she knew that her discovery had more to do with the shock resulting from the sudden end of a six-year relationship than early ageing, she just had to do something about it.
Giving her the painful facts concerning her chance to renew herself, I told her I thought the claims of such miracle cures were ridiculous. Despite my remarks, however, she begged to know where she could get the treatments I had mentioned. When it comes to beauty who wants to know the truth?
Our ability to believe what we want to has, in the past, made life easy for the beauty industry. Fuelled by the immense value attached to youth, it has made millions out of vacant promises of renewing faces and bodies. To give skin care scientific authority, beauty counters have now stolen a thin covering of respectability from the hospital clinic. Sales staff in white coats "diagnose" skin types on "computers" and blind customers with the science of damaged molecules² and DNA³ repair. Providing the "drugs" for this game, the industry has created new skin therapies which, they say, don't just sit on the surface but actually interact with the cells.
Is this really just a harmless game, though? The increasingly exaggerated claims made by manufacturers about their products' ability to get rid of wrinkles have worried doctors. The advertisements declare that active ingredients stimulate⁴ cells deep in the skin's layers to divide, so replacing old cells and effectively renewing the skin.
If these claims are true, could the effects be harmful? If normal cells can be stimulated⁵ to divide, then abnormal ones could also be prompted to multiply, so causing or accelerating skin cancer. A new arrival on the anti-wrinkle front claims to be a more natural way to avoid those terrible lines. As a pill rather than a cream, Imedeen works from the inside out, providing the skin with nutritional⁶ and chemical support to encourage the body's own self-repairing process.
First developed in Scandinavia, it contains extracts of fish, marine⁷ plants, and shrimp⁸ shells, which provide a formula including proteins, minerals, and vitamins. According to a published study, visible improvements appear in the skin texture⁹ after two or three months of treatment. The skin is softer, smoother, wrinkles decrease but are not eliminated, and marks and fine brown lines disappear.
One woman admits she was doubtful until she tried Imedeen herself. Women, she believes, should take responsibility for the natural balance of their body chemistry. Careful care of the body chemistry, she says, not only improves looks but also enhances energy processes and even expands awareness¹⁰ and mental function. Imedeen fits this concept by providing for the skin's needs. But can shrimp shells really do the trick with wrinkles?
Offering a more scientific interpretation¹¹, Brian Newman, a British surgeon who has studied Imedeen, explains that the compound has a specific action as food is digested, preventing the destruction of essential proteins in the diet and allowing them to be absorbed in a state more easily utilized¹² by the skin.
On the other hand, a different doctor who specializes in the study of the skin is unimpressed by the data and questions the methods used in the study. In addition, the medical journal in which the study of Imedeen is published is a "pay" journal — one in which any studies can be published for a fee. According to the doctor, any attempt to play by the medical world's rules of research has been a failure.
Such controversy¹³ is familiar ground to Brian Newman, who used a type of oil from flowers for years before it was generally accepted. In no way discouraged, he insists the most important point to establish is that Imedeen actually works.
Ultimately, however, the real issue is why we are so afraid of wrinkles in the first place. Sadly, youth and beauty have become the currency of our society, buying popularity and opportunity. The value of age and experience is denied, and women in particular feel the threat that the visible changes of ageing bring. According to one psychological expert, when men gain a little gray hair, their appeal often increases because, for them, age implies power, success, wealth, and position. But as a woman's power is still strongly perceived to be tied up with the ability to bear children, ageing demonstrates to the world her decline, her uselessness for her primary function. Wrinkles are symbolic¹⁴ of the decline of her ability to reproduce.
Until we appreciate the true value of age, it is difficult to do anything but panic when the signs of it emerge. While the media continues to show men of all ages alongside young, smooth-skinned women as a vision of success, women will go on investing in pots of worthless rubbish. Let's see more mature, wrinkled women in attractive, successful, happy roles and let's see men fighting to be with them.
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1 casually   

adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地

参考例句：

• She remarked casually that she was changing her job.她当时漫不经心地说要换工作。
• I casually mentioned that I might be interested in working abroad.我不经意地提到我可能会对出国工作感兴趣。

2 molecules   

分子( molecule的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The structure of molecules can be seen under an electron microscope. 分子的结构可在电子显微镜下观察到。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules. 在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

3 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

4 stimulate   

vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋

参考例句：

• Your encouragement will stimulate me to further efforts.你的鼓励会激发我进一步努力。
• Success will stimulate the people for fresh efforts.成功能鼓舞人们去作新的努力。

5 stimulated   

a.刺激的

参考例句：

• The exhibition has stimulated interest in her work. 展览增进了人们对她作品的兴趣。
• The award has stimulated her into working still harder. 奖金促使她更加努力地工作。

6 nutritional   

adj.营养的，滋养的

参考例句：

• A diet lacking in nutritional value will not keep a person healthy.缺乏营养价值的饮食不能维持人的健康。
• The labels on food products give a lot of information about their nutritional content.食品上的标签提供很多关于营养成分的信息。

7 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

8 shrimp   

n.虾，小虾；矮小的人

参考例句：

• When the shrimp farm is built it will block the stream.一旦养虾场建起来，将会截断这条河流。
• When it comes to seafood,I like shrimp the best.说到海鲜，我最喜欢虾。

9 texture   

n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理

参考例句：

• We could feel the smooth texture of silk.我们能感觉出丝绸的光滑质地。
• Her skin has a fine texture.她的皮肤细腻。

10 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

11 interpretation   

n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理

参考例句：

• His statement admits of one interpretation only.他的话只有一种解释。
• Analysis and interpretation is a very personal thing.分析与说明是个很主观的事情。

12 utilized   

v.利用，使用( utilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• In the19th century waterpower was widely utilized to generate electricity. 在19世纪人们大规模使用水力来发电。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The empty building can be utilized for city storage. 可以利用那栋空建筑物作城市的仓库。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

14 symbolic   

adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的

参考例句：

• It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
• The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。