I feel it enormous responsibility, as a mother of two little girls, to lead you down a path that is relatively healthy when it comes to beauty and self-image.
In a lot of women’s eyes I’ve probably already failed in that respect due to the amount of pink princess Barbie (芭比娃娃) mess cluttering up (堆满) Vera’s room. But I will say something about Barbie: I played with that stuff for a solid decade when I was growing up and here I am now at a healthy weight with a healthy outlook on my body and image. I have a successful career. If Barbie was really so damaging to my femininity (女性气质) and self-image I highly doubt I could list all of the accomplishments.
But I get it too. It’s hard for women to maintain a healthy self-image. I have girlfriends around whom I have to brace myself to see, because just being around them makes me self-conscious. I look at old pictures of my mother and wonder why I’ve never been able to be as skinny as she was. And then I have friends who are thinner than their mothers ever were. We women go round and round in circles, holding hands and trying to be one another sometimes. Men like to think we dress and style ourselves for them, but why would we when they hardly notice? I’ve never tried so hard to look good when I know I’m about to meet up with a stylish girlfriend. It’s she who will notice my slimmed-down waist or the thinnest, little bracelet on my arm.
And I have no doubt that the two of you, Veronica and Juliette, will endlessly compare yourselves to each other. You will wonder why one of you got longer legs or shinier hair. The thing I’ll tell you is this: not even the prettiest of us feel settled. The girl you think looks the most perfect in the world is probably the girl who wants to change herself more than anyone else.
Don’t take these on. You are not worthless. You are so full of love and light and you should let it shine through your every second. If someone pushes you down for standing tall then just push yourself back up and stand even taller. And know that the reason they push you down in the first place is just because they’re scared.
小题1:From the second paragraph, we can infer that the author _____.A．regrets buying so much Barbie stuff for her daughtersB．thinks loving Barbie makes her not confident about her self-imageC．owes her beauty and success to playing with BarbieD．thinks playing with Barbie caused no damage to her beauty and success小题2:In the third paragraph, the author intends to show that _____.A．women tend to be proud of their beautiful friendsB．she cares much about her appearance C．she feels proud of her mother’s beautyD．women tend to admire others and compare with each other小题3:Which of the following is true according to the passage?A．The author is disappointed that few men take notice of her slim figure.B．The author cares more about looking good before her girlfriends.C．Girls should constantly compare themselves with others to improve their beauty. D．Only the prettiest girl can feel confident about her beauty.小题4:The author advises her daughters that _____.A．they should be cautious not to be pushed down by othersB．they should care much about their strong points instead of appearances C．they should try to grow taller than othersD．they should care more about others’ opinions