A
“Beauty is only skin deep.” This expression means that beauty is only a temporary surface quality. And some beauty products can cause lasting damage that goes far below the surface of the skin.
In the United States, many people use sunlight and nonnatural light to darken their skin.Health experts advise against what is called “tanning” because of its links to skin cancer.In the African country of Senegal (塞内加尔), some women take health risks trying to do just
the_opposite.
An average beauty supply shop in Dakar has many kinds of skinlightening creams and soaps.The World Health Organization says that 25 percent of Senegalese women use skinlightening products on a usual basis.These products can contain chemicals such as mercury (汞), hydroquinone (对苯二酚), etc.These are dangerous ingredients that can cause cancer and possibly other physical damage to the skin.They can actually burn the eyes and skin.
Shop worker Adama Diagne advises her visitors to avoid the stronger products that promise fast results.She uses a cream that is made from carrots and not the strong chemical, hydroquinone.She says that it is a personal choice and that no one pressures her.Some women want to be black every day, but for her, she likes to be a shade of brown.
Women in Senegal say they lighten their skin for the same reason that women all over the world make changes to their appearance.They say they want to look beautiful, to find a husband, or to stand out in a crowd or simply to look great for a special event.
This thinking troubles Senegalese filmmaker Khardiata Pouye Sall.So, she made This Color That Bothers Me, a film about the subject of skin lightening.She said, “I used the most shocking images so that women would see the dangers.It is hard to understand why a woman says that dark skin is not beautiful.It is in their heads.They want to please a man, to be loved.Or they want to please society, to succeed.”
Ms Sall says that the government needs to better control the marketing and sale of skin lightening products.But she adds that education is the best way to persuade people against using them.
语篇解读：本文是说明文。塞内加尔的女性为了美使用的一些化学产品给其带来了极大的危害。
1.The underlined parts “the opposite” in Paragraph 2 means some Senegalese women ________.
A．use sunlight to darken their skin
B．try creams to prevent skin cancer
C．use products to lighten their skin
D．take health risks to become beautiful
解析：选C 词义猜测题。根据第二段的第一句“In the United States, many people use sunlight and nonnatural light to darken their skin.”可推知，塞内加尔的一些女性正好和美国人相反，与“darken their skin”相反。
2．According to Adama Diagne, women shouldn't believe ________.
A．beauty is just a personal choice
B．a cream from carrots is healthier
C．it is beautiful to be black every day
D．a product can make you beautiful quickly
解析：选D 细节理解题。根据第四段的第一句“Shop worker Adama Diagne advises her visitors to avoid the stronger products that promise fast results.”可知，Adama Diagne不赞同人们用快速见效的美容产品。
3．We can infer that women in Senegal ________.
A．attract attention with shocking images
B．don't consider dark skin to be beautiful
C．find it hard to understand the true beauty
D．put beauty in their first place in their heads
解析：选B 推理判断题。根据第六段的“It is hard to understand why a woman says that dark skin is not beautiful.”可推知，塞内加尔的女性并不认为黑皮肤是漂亮的。
4．What is Sall's attitude towards skinlightening products?
A．Unsupportive. B．Casual.
C．Reasonable. D．Positive.
解析：选A 推理判断题。根据第六段的“I used the most shocking images so that women would see the dangers.”以及最后一段的内容可推知，Ms Sall对亮肤产品持不赞成态度。
