S e c o n d e d I t I o n 1 Reading for the Real World 1

Here are six words that are related to the topic but are not in the reading. 
Fill in each blank with the best word from the list. Use each word only 
once.
spouse sterile gorgeous symmetry appealing consensus
1.
A __________ is a wife or a husband.
2.
She is so beautiful that she is just __________.
3.
They can’t have children because they are __________.
4.
I don’t care about appearance as much as personality. If someone has 
a good personality, that is very __________ to me.
5.
“Are you all in agreement?” “Yes, we have reached a __________.”
6.
Scientists have found out that if a face is well balanced or has __________, 
people think it is more beautiful.
First Sentence:
Researchers do not agree as to what factors have a greater influence 
on how most people judge beauty.
1.
One perspective believes that the hourglass body shape is rated highest by men 
because the evolution of the brain associates this body figure with fertility.
2.
In modern times, the power of mass media is thought to be a stronger influence 
than genetics because it changes a man’s idea of beauty.
3.
Conducting a survey is the most reliable to find out how men judge a woman’s 
beauty.
4.
As the world becomes more globalized, it will become more difficult to prove 
which side is correct because there will be no one left who is uninfluenced by the 
mass media.
5.
If a woman’s waist is 70 percent as wide as her hips, she is judged as attractive by 
most men even if she is overweight.
Directions:
An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided 
below. Select THREE answer choices to complete the summary.

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upplemental Reading
V 
enezuela may make most of its money from exporting oil, but this 
country is probably more well known for exporting beautiful women. 
Ever since 1985, there has always been a woman from Venezuela in the 
finals of both the Miss World and Miss Universe contests. In fact, in 1995 
women from Venezuela held both titles. No other country comes close to 
matching Venezuela’s record for sending winners to these contests.
How does a country with only 21 million people do it? The answer is probably 
connected to the Miss Venezuela Academy, a special school for any Miss World or 
Miss Universe contestant run by Osmel Sousa. With his staff, Sousa chooses 
women from discos, shopping centers, schools, and off the street to apply for his 
school. Other women come to the school on their own. A few of the things that 
Sousa and his staff look for are age (only women between the ages of 
seventeen and twenty-four are considered), education (the women 
must be able to answer difficult contest questions), and height (the 
women must be at least 1.7 meters/5 feet 7 inches). And one more 
thing, the women must look good in a swimsuit.
The finalists for the school are chosen in March so that the 
school’s special plastic surgeons will have time to work on the 
women because everything must be healed by September, when the 
contests begin. The surgery is all paid for by the school, so few of the 
women complain. After completing the academy, even the women 
who don’t win Miss World or Miss Universe end up in modeling, 
broadcasting, or acting.