2016考研英语阅读题目中的“主题为王”
考研英语阅读部分向来是考生的必争之地，要知道在时间紧迫的考场上，若是不能够做到阅读文章面面俱到的话，那么考生将如何在这短短的时间内保证一定的正确率，并取得一定的分数呢?今天，文都网校的老师们就来为在时间紧迫的2016考研英语考场上如何保证正确率来支支招。
今天我们先要说到的一招就是“主题为王”。考研文章中所有的细节、例子及展开都是为了说明文章主旨、段落主旨而服务的。因此，在考研阅读中考查细节的题目也就相当于在考查主旨。虽然细节题不是主旨题，但能在四个选项中能够体现中心思想的选项是答案的可能性及正确率要远远大于其他三个选项。对考研英语准备较为充分的考生一定不难发现，在历年的考研真题中，这样的题目比比皆是。
首先我们就来看这样的一道题目：在2013年的考研英语阅读中，其中第一篇阅读的第25题：“Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for the text?”这是一道主旨大意题，首先，按照我们之前在课上所学的答题技巧可知，考查主旨大意的题目往往要先去定位首尾段。同时，要想了解一篇文章的主题，考生也可以根据出现在阅读文章中的关键词及高频词汇或短语来确定。除了在文章最后一段出现的这句外(In a world where average is officially over)，类似“average is over”的表述在文中出现了多次。例如，在文章第三段中也出现了类似的表述：“But, today, average is officially over.”，同时在整篇文章中总是一直充斥着“平庸已经结束”这样表达，且全文都一直在围绕
这一宏观主线展开。所以再A(Technology Goes Cheap)、B(New Law Takes Effect)、C(Recession Is Bad)、D(Average Is Over)四个选项中，考生就能够轻而易举的选出正确答案D。
在做考研英语阅读题时，主题为王可以说是相对于其他答题技巧而言较为好用的一项。同时也可以作为考生在考场上的“救命稻草”，一旦时间来不及的情况下，考生就可以在选项中选取与主题相关的选项，这样可以最大程度的保证选项的正确率。文都教育建议各位考生，在考试中只要时间在充足的情况下，考生都有必要将文章细心读完后再进行选择，这样才能更好的保证正确率和得分。
【2016年考研英语点睛班】英语界“长难句王子”何凯文16考研直播课模考课，提供4篇绝密定制文章，训练解题思路、做题技巧，快速掌握阅读高分捷径，快速提升写作技巧，精准作文预测，经典实用模板，考前独家演绎！
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2016 年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语（一） 真题及答案（完整版） Text 1 France, which prides itself as the global innovator of fashion, has decided its fashion industry has lost an absolute right to define physical beauty for woman. Its lawmakers gave preliminary approval last week to a law that would make it a crime to employ ultra-thin models on runways. The parliament also agreed to ban websites that" incite excessive thinness" by promoting extreme dieting. Such measures have a couple of uplifting motives. They suggest beauty should not be defined by looks that end up with impinging on health. That's a start. And the ban on ultra-thin models seems to go beyond protecting models from starring themselves to health -as some have done. It tells the fashion industry that it move take responsibility for the signal it sends women, especially teenage girls, about the social tape -measure they must use to determine their individual worth. The bans, if fully enforced ,would suggest to woman （and many men ）that they should not let others be orbiters of their beauty .And perhaps faintly, they hint that people should look to intangible qualities like character and intellect rather than dieting their way to sine zero or wasp-waist physiques . The French measures, however, rely too much on severe punishment to change a culture that still regards beauty as skin-deep-and bone-showing. Under the law, using a fashion model that does not meet a government-defined index of body mess could result in a $85,000 fine and six months in prison. The fashion industry knows it has an inherent problem in focusing on material adornment and idealized body types. In Denmark, the United States, and a few other countries, it is trying to set voluntary standard for models and fashion images there rely more on pear pressure for enforcement. In contrast to France's actions, Denmark's fashion industry agreed last month on rules and sanctions regarding age, health, and other characteristics of models .The newly revised Danish Fashion Ethical charter clearly states, we are aware of and take responsibility for the impact the fashion industry has on body ideals, especially on young people. The charter's main toll of enforcement is to deny access for designers and modeling agencies to Copenhagen. Fashion week, which is men by the Danish Fashion Institute .But in general it relies on a name-and -shame method of compliance. Relying on ethical persuasion rather than law to address the misuse of body ideals may be the best step. Even better would be to help elevate notions of beauty beyond the material standards of a particular industry. 21. According to the first paragraph, what would happen in France [A] Physical beauty would be redefined [B] New runways would be constructed
考研英语阅读理解试题及解析 Being a man hasalways been dangerous. There are about 105 males born for every 100 females,but this ratio drops to near balance at the age of maturity, and among70-year-olds there are twice as many women as men. But the great universal ofmale mortality is being changed. Now, boy babies survive almost as well as girlsdo. This means that, for the first time, there will be an excess of boys inthose crucial years when they are searching for a mate. More important, anotherchance for natural selection has been removed. Fifty years ago, the chance of ababy(particularly a boy baby) surviving depended on its weight. A kilogram toolight or too heavy meant almost certain death. Today it makes almost nodifference. Since much of the variation is due to genes, one more agent ofevolution has gone。 There is another way to commit evolutionary suicide: stay alive,but have fewer children. Few people are as fertile as in the past. Except insome religious communities, very few women have 15 children. Nowadays thenumber of births, like the age of death, has become average. Most of us haveroughly the same number of offspring. Again, differences between people and theopportunity for natural selection to take advantage of it have diminished.India shows what is happening. The country offers wealth for a few in the greatcities and poverty for the remaining tribal peoples. The grand mediocrity oftoday―everyone being the same in
考研英语（一）阅读技巧总结 俗话说：“前人栽树，后人乘凉”，我们做任何事不能闭门造车，备考考研英语也是同样的道理，我们要学会寻找技巧方法，吸取前人的经验教训，进而才能更好的准备我们的考研英语考试。 之前我在准备考研英语考试时，咨询过很多学长学姐，再加上我个人的一些体验，总结了如下技巧（主要是针对考研英语一阅读）一、素材来源 好多同学买到真题就立即上手做，但从未了解过，真题是来源于哪些杂志文章啊，以及它会涉及哪些方面的内容啊，我们只有了解了这些才能做到心中有数，做起题来也更有方向感，其实，考研英语阅读和完形填空的真题文章有一半以上的都来源于英国的著名杂志《经济学人》，这个老牌的英文杂志涵盖的方面比较广泛，包括经济、政治、文化、科技、历史等诸多方面的话题。 二、阅读能力提高 阅读能力的测试包括阅读速度，理解程度以及记忆能力等。要想获得满意的考研英语成绩，最根本的方法就是提高词汇量，加强阅读训练，同时熟悉一些阅读技巧和做题方法也是至关重要的，每个人都有自己做题的一套方法，也各有所取，个人比较偏向于快速浏览，选取关键词的方法，做阅读题时，我们尤其要避免以下几点：第一、不忠于原文，主观选择答案。尤其对比较熟悉的题材或有个人习惯看法的问题往往容易以自己的主观看法代替作者的观点。 第二、问题简单化，粗心以及一些不良的阅读习惯。研究生的阅读题比六级要难一些，一般情况下文章的中心思想比较隐含，不会放在每段的第一句，答案不会在文章中直接给出。 第三、做完题缺少检查。对感觉把握不大或较难的试题，尤其是概括归纳题，作者意图题等在做完后要根据全文和问题的答案，看是否有矛盾，是否符合逻辑。 以上就是个人的经验总结，希望对同学们有帮助，最后，再推
2016年武汉市初中毕业生学业考试 英语试卷 第I卷（选择题共85分） 第一部分听力部分 一．听力测试（共三节） 第一节（共5小题，每小题1分，满分5分） 听下面5个问题。每个问题后有三个答语，从题中所给的A,B,C三个选项中选出最佳选项。听完每个问题后，你都有5秒钟的时间来作答和阅读下一小题。每个问题仅读一遍。 1.A. A nice plate B. Delicious C.For Kate 2.A. A black cat B. Very heavy C.It’s black 3.A. In the meeting room B. At eight thirty C.For about one hour 4.A.I t’s a nice one B.The smaller one C.High in the sky 5.A.This afternoon B.With Jenny C.In the office 第二节（共7小题，每小题1分，满分7分） 听下面7段对话。每段对话后有一个小题，从题中所给的A,B,C三个选项中选出最佳选项。听完每段对话后，你都有10秒钟的时间来作答有关小题和阅读下一小题。每段对话仅读一遍。 6.Who sings well? A.Mary B.Kate C.Classmates 7.How will the man probably go to the hotel? A.On foot B.By bus C. By subway 8.What happened to the boy? A.He was late for school B.He went to see a doctor C.His father left him alone home. 9.Who thinks history is not as popular as art? A.The man B.The woman C. Both of them 10.What’s the time now? A.10:15 B.10:30 C.10:45 11.Where are the two people? A. In the man’s office B.In the woman’s home C. In a restaurant 12.What does the woman mean? A.She has just bought a new car. B.She has no tim e to help the man. C.She will drive the man to the station. 第三节（共13小题，每小题1分，满分13分） 听下面4段对话或独白。每段对话或独白后有几个小题，从题中所给的A,B,C三个选项中选出最佳选项。听每段对话或独白前，你将有时间阅读各个小题，每小题5秒钟，听完后，各小题将给出5秒钟的作答时间，每段对话或独白两遍。 听下面一段对话，回答13至15三个小题。
2016年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语试题 Section I: Use of English Directions: Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points) In Cambodia, the choice of a spouse is a complex one for the young male. It may involve not only his parents and his friends, １those of the young women, but also a matchmaker. A young 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. [A] folding [B] piling [C] wrapping [D] tying 10. [A] passing [B] lighting [C] hiding [D] serving 11. [A] meeting [B] collection [C] association [D] union 12. [A] grow [B] part [C] deal [D] live 13. [A] whereas [B] until [C] if [D] for 14. [A] obtain [B] follow [C] challenge [D]avoid 15. [A] isolated [B] persuaded [C] viewed [D] exposed 16. [A] whatever [B] however [C] whenever [D] wherever 17. [A] changed [B] brought [C] shaped [D] pushed
考研备考英语阅读之新题型解析 选择搭配题是考研备考英语在2005年改革以后出现的一种新题型，主要考查学生理解文章结构、以及文章连贯性的能力。通常有三种考查方式，其中有一种是从500-600词的文章中留出5个空白，再从题后的6-7个备选答案中分别选出能填入文章的5个。 解题步骤： 1. 速读文章，弄清文章主旨和大体意思 2. 读被插入的句子，找出句首或句尾的关键词或关键意思 2. 阅读可以插入空格前后的信息，寻找与插入句相关的意思 3. 选择与插入句最相关的空格 注意：如果出现以下情况，答案都可能是错误的： ★打乱了相邻句子之间的逻辑性 ★影响了转折语的正确使用 ★打乱了代词与其指代对象之间的逻辑关系 ★隔开了本是相邻的两句话 解题技巧： 1.快速通读整篇文章，大致理解文章意思，可以看出文章主要是在讲加拿大的药物价格问题。 Canada's premiers (the leaders of provincial governments), if they have any breath left after complaining about Ottawa at their late July annual meeting, might spare a moment to do something, to reduce health-care costs. They're all groaning about soaring health budgets, the fastest-growing component of which are pharmaceutical costs. 41. What to do? Both the Romanow commission and the Kirby committee on health care-to say nothing of reports from other experts recommended the creation of a national drug agency. Instead of each province having its own list of approved drugs , bureaucracy, procedures and limited bargaining power, all would pool resources , work with Ottawa, and create a national institution. 42. But “national”doesn't have to mean that. “National”could mean inter-provincial combining efforts to create one body. Either way, one benefit of a “national”organization would be to negotiate better prices, if possible, with drug manufacturers. Instead of having one province-or a series of hospitals within a province-negotiate a price for a given drug on the provincial list, the national agency would negotiate on behalf of all provinces. Rather than, say, Quebec, negotiating on behalf of seven million people, the national agency would negotiate on behalf 31 million people. Basic economics suggests the greater the potential consumers, the higher the likelihood of a better price.
考研英语阅读经验 h t p:/w w.C n K y.N e t 2006-5-31 考研英语的重点就是要大量的阅读。现在考研英语对阅读的考查越来越多，这也需要我们进一步的提高阅读能力。虽然考研的阅读理解有一定的规律可循，但是这些规律也在逐年的淡化。这几年反技巧的出题趋势越来越明显，考试越来越重视考生的真正阅读分析能力。所以，我们一定要提前打好基础，在整个一年的复习中，每天除了做专门的阅读理解练习外，还要阅读一定量的英语报刊。据了解，考研的阅读理解很多都是摘自国外的一些著名的报纸，如美国的New York Times（纽约时报），英国的Times （泰晤士报）等等。如果能找来的话，这些都是很好的阅读材料。06年最新的4篇文章就来自于传统的核心刊物：Economist，Time，以及Newsweek，这个进一步说明考研英语文章选材来源的固定化，进而给参加2007年考研的同学也提供了一个非常好的平时选读文章的方向。在这里必须要强调一点的就是，2006年阅读理解的最后一篇文章在“英语文摘”第7期上不但已经发表，而且还附之以中文翻译。这个就告诉我们的广大考生，在我们选读国外经典杂志时也不应该忽略犹如“英语文摘”、“英语世界”等等核心的国内英语刊物。希望参加2007年的考生予以重视。而且，考研英语的阅读量越来越大，里面不但有很多考察全文的主旨题，还有很多的细节题和作者态度题，这些内容的提炼都要我们在平时的阅读中渐渐地培养，而不是靠考前一两个月就可以一蹴而就的。 与此同时，备战考试的同学还要刻意训练自己快速阅读的能力，由上下文推理的能力以及中英文翻译能力，这对于解答新题型以及翻译题都有很大的帮助。 英语语言教育包括听、说、读、写、译，但是对大多数考研的学生来说，学英语将来主要的目的是看懂国外本专业领域的英语著作，了解本专业最新发展状况。因而，在国内外各类英语考试中，阅读能力的考核越来越受到重视，难度也逐年升高，在雅思、托福测试中也是如此。所以新大纲加强阅读的考核也是顺应时代要求。阅读理解是硕士研究生入学英语考试的重中之重，这一部分要能获得高分，考生便能在考试中处于有利地位。 阅读理解部分，考生们常常碰到的困难是：理解准确率和阅读速度矛盾，往往是提高了阅读速度，理解准确率就下降，而一味要准确率时，阅读速度就恨慢。要想加快阅读速度，首先要养成正确、良好的阅读习惯。应克服如下4种不良习惯：
广东省广州市2016年中考英语试卷 一、语法选择（共15小题：每小题1分，满分15分） 阅读下面短文，按照句子结构的语法性和上下文连贯的要求，从1-15各题所给的A、B、C、D项中选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。 In a far-away place, there was a village. The village was___1___ in potatoes than anywhere else in the country. At the end of every growing season, ___2____potatoes were dug out of the ground, and readied for market. In each home, men and women would_____3_____divide the potatoes into three groups, large, medium and small. One year, there was a young man___4_____received his share of the potatoes. As the other villagers_____5_____, he walked around the village laughing and talking._____6____villagers thought he was lazy, and they worried that this man would never get______7_____potatoes ready in time. When it was time for the villagers____8______to market, they were greatly surprised to find that the man’s potatoes____9____perfectly into three groups. After _____10____the man how he did it, they understood he was not lazy, ____11____very clever. He had put all his potatoes in a cart and pulled it alo ng the village’s rough dirt road. As the cart moved up and down over the road, the potatoes moved_____12____. The small potatoes moved to the bottom, the larger potatoes rose to the top and the medium potatoes rested___13___ the middle. Life___14____like this too. The rough roads we travel along can also___15____us. 1. A. rich B. richer C. richest D. more rich 2. A. thousand with B. thousands with C. thousand of D. thousands of 3. A. busily B. busy C. more busily D. busier 4. A. who B. which C. what D. whose 5. A. work B. was working C. were working D. works 6. A. A B. An C. The D. / 7. A. he B. him C. himself D. his 8. A. go B. going C. to go D. went 9. A. are divided B. were divided C. are dividing D. divided 10. A. asking B. asked C. ask D. asks 11. A. so B. and C. or D. but 12. A. too B. also C. either D. neither 13. A. on B. in C. with D. by 14. A. has B. are C. were D. is 15. A. to help B. help C. helps D. helped 二、完形填空（共10小题，每小题1.5分，满分15分） 阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从16-25各题所给的A、B、C、D项中选出最佳选
2016年考研英语一翻译真题及译文 (ctrl+D收藏即可)。更多考研信息请关注我们网站的更新! 2016年考研英语一翻译真题及译文 试题来源：Slowing Down to the Speed of Life: How to Create a More Peaceful, Simpler Life from the Inside Out 原文作者：Richard Carlson, Joseph Bailey 文章主题：Mental Health， 文章字数：
原文和逐句对照译文： 46. We don’t have to learn how to be mentally healthy; it is built into us in the same way that our bodies know how to heal a cut or mend a broken bone. 我们不必学习如何保持健康的心理;它与生俱来，正如我们的身体知道如何让伤口痊愈，如何让骨折好转。 47. Our mental health doesn’t really go anywhere; like the sun behind a cloud, it can be temporarily hidden from view, but it is fully capable of being restored in an instant. 健康的心理其实一直都在我们身边;正如乌云背后的太阳，人们有时会看不见它，但是它完全有能力立刻回来。 48. Mental health allows us to view others with sympathy
考研英语阅读做题经验 和方法 IMB standardization office【IMB 5AB- IMBK 08- IMB 2C】
考研英语真题经验和方法 阅读理解的文章大多为说明文或者议论文。针对这两类文章，考生应该有不同的阅读重点和策略。对于说明文来说，最重要的是抓住文章的说明对象、事实和数据；对于议论文来说，最重要的是总结作者的观点和结论、抓住作者的态度，以及作者的观点和态度与其他人的观点和态度之间的关系等等。 13个重点考点和四大命题原则。考生应该熟记这些重点考点，并在平时的练习中训练自己对这些考点的敏感程度，做到使自己的神经能够一找到这些考点就会条件反射般地兴奋起来，从而增强对重点的记忆和理解。下面首先将一一介绍阅读理解文章的敏感考点。 1、首段和尾段 一篇文章的主题句、或者说是中心思想往往出现在文章的首段或者尾段。大家在阅读了一定数量的文章之后就能够发现，许多文章开门见山地在文章第一段中就提出了要说明的对象或者要论证的观点，这些中心思想句的位置一般都是文章第一句话或者第一段的最后一两句话。 此外，文章的最后一段一般都会对全文的说明和论证进行总结，这些句子往往位于最后一段的第一句话或最后一句话。通过一些标志性词汇或者短语，我们可以更快地找到这些总结性句子，如： allinall,inshort,toconclude,inconsequence,insummary,inaword,asaresult,the refore,accordingly,thus等。 主题句考查了考生是否能够把握文章大意的能力，因此是常考且几乎是必考的一个考点。 2、段首和段尾 无论是说明文还是议论文，一篇文章往往会分成几个部分或层次进行说明和论证，每一个段落一般都是一个部分或者层次。英美人写文章的逻辑性非常强，文章结构都非常规范，因此每个段落的首句和尾句也经常是该段落的中心思想句，因此也是出题的重点区域，涉及的问题包括了中心思想题、推理判断题和细节题等。下文也将会提到，在进行快速阅读的时候，考生只需要浏览文章每一段的第一句话就大致能够判断这篇文章的中心思想和主旨。 3、长难句 上文提到了长难句是阅读理解的主要难度所在，其中包含了同位语、插入语、定语、不定式、分词、各种从句等，使得句子长达好几行。因此这些复杂的句型也往往成为了试题的重点所在。考生应该加强训练自己对付长难句的能力，平时练习中有意识地去分解这些句子，理解其中的指代关系和句子层次。 4、列举处 所谓的列举是指通过一些表示顺承关系的词语逐项列出一些事实或者观点，标志性的词汇包括First,Second,Third…;Firstly,Secondly,Thirdly… Finally;Firstofall,Then,Inaddition,Further,Furthermore,Besides,Moreover…针对这一考点的题目通常考查文章细节，有时候也涉及对文章内容的推理判断。这种题目没有固定的提问方式，不过通常会有两种题型：第一种是从四个答案选项中选择正确的一项，错误选项的意思往往与文章的意思相反或因果关系颠倒；第二中
2019中考英语阅读理解汇编 广安市罗渡中学2019中考英语：阅读理解编题（1）含答案 【实战训练】 A （2019中考日常生活类训练） Have yu ever seen a ar withut a driver? It sunds razy, but these puter-driven driverless ars will sn be filling rads near yu. panies like Ggle and Tesla have been designing and testing these ars, and the tehnlgy is there. S hw? The ars have sensrs（感应器）all arund whih an find ther ars and bets in the rad. Rad signs are read by aeras, and satellite navigatin systes（卫星导航系统）are used s the ar knws hw t get where yu want t g. All yu have t d is type in the address! Finally, a entral puter syste takes in all the infratin that it reeives fr the sensrs and aeras and wrks ut when t speed up, stp and turn. Sund like yur idea f heaven（天堂）? Sitting bak, lking ut f the windws and even wathing a fil r reading a bk while ‘driving’ wuld be pssible with this new
考研英语阅读理解试题及名师解析(3) When a new movementin art attains a certain fashion, it is advisable to find out what itsadvocates are aiming at, for, however farfetched and unreasonable theirprinciples may seem today, it is possible that in years to come they may beregarded as normal. With regard to Futurist poetry, however, the case is ratherdifficult, for whatever Futurist poetry may be―even admitting thatthe theory on which it is based may be right―it can hardly beclassed as Literature。 This, in brief, is what the Futurist says: for a century, pastconditions of life have been conditionally speeding up, till now we live in aworld of noise and violence and speed. Consequently, our feelings, thoughts andemotions have undergone a corresponding change. This speeding up of life, saysthe Futurist, requires a new form of expression. We must speed up ourliterature too, if we want to interpret modern stress. We must pour out a largestream of essential words, unhampered by stops, or qualifying adjectives, orfinite verbs. Instead of describing sounds we must make up words that imitatethem; we must use many sizes of type and different colored inks on the samepage, and shorten or lengthen words at will。 Certainly their descriptions of battles are confused. But it is alittle upsetting to read in the explanatory notes that a certain line describesa
考研英语的学习心得体会范文 我参加了新东方XX年的考研英语强化培训班，在XX年1月份的考研中取得了75分的成绩。这个分数不算很高，但是相对于我在英语学习上花费的时间精力，我已经对此很满意了，所以非常感谢成都新东方学校的老师对我的指导和帮助。 英语作为一门外语学科，最基础的当然是单词。作为一名理工科的学生，背单词一直是我最头疼的问题，每次看到一本本那么厚的单词书就让我感到很烦躁。但是新东方教会了我最快捷高效的记忆单词的方法，那就是只背真题词汇。没错，就是在历年真题中找出生词，然后抄写下来反复背诵。考研的整个过程中我都没有看过单词书，就是靠着新东方的这种背真题单词的方法进行学习，而且我感觉在正式考试的时候效果非常好。 考研英语和四六级在题型上最大的区别就是没有听力，所以阅读和作文就显得尤为重要。首先是阅读，考研英语阅读题目量不多，但是分值很重。所以一定要保证正确率，不用盲目追求速度。阅读首先还是要有词汇量，就是历年真题中的单词要尽量多掌握。然后就是句子分析，这方面新东方的培训讲得很透彻，只要用心听都没问题，而且还顺便把翻译拿下了。最后就是一些做题的小技巧，新东方的老师都会总结的很细致，记好笔记有空多看两眼就行。 作文也是考研时很重要的项目，不求文采飞扬，也要中规中矩。考研历年来题型就几种，每一种练习几篇就行了。最重要的是背模版，尤其是一些长难句和闪光句子，老师会给你很多，挑几个自己比较喜欢、觉得能用的比较好的记住，然后不论什么题目，都想办法把句子套进去就行了。 至于完形填空，有了以上的大基础，填一填就没有太大问题。有了单词和句子分析的基础，翻译和阅读也不会太离谱。 只要考试的时候放松心态，把自己会的东西发挥出来肯定就能取得满意的结果。 最后祝所有考研学子都能取得满意的成绩!
2016 英语（一）阅读理解 Text 1 France, which prides itself as the global innovator of fashion, has decided its fashion industry has lost an absolute right to define physical beauty for women. Its lawmakers gave preliminary approval last week to a law that would make it a crime to employ ultra-thin models on runaways. The parliament also agreed to ban websites that “incite excessive thinness” by promoting extreme dieting. Such measures have a couple of uplifting motives. They suggest beauty should not be defined by looks that end up impinging on health. That’s a start. And the ban on ultra-thin models seems to go beyond protecting models from starving themselves to death-as some have done. It tells the fashion industry that it must take responsibility for the signal it sends women, especially teenage girls, about the social tape-measure they must use to determine their individual worth. The bans, if fully enforced,would suggest to women (and many men) that they should not let others be arbiters of their beauty. And perhaps faintly,they hint that people should look to intangible qualities like character and intellect rather than dieting their way to size zero or wasp-waist physiques. The French measures, however, rely too much on severe punishment to change a culture that still regards beauty as skin-deep-and bone-showing. Under the law, using a fashion model that does not meet a government-defined index of body mass could result in a $85,000 fine and six months in prison. The fashion industry knows it has an inherent problem in focusing on material adornment and idealized body types. In Denmark, the United States, and a few other countries, it is trying to set voluntary standards for models and fashion images that rely more on peer pressure for enforcement. In contrast to France’s actions, Denmark’s fashion industry agreed last month on rules and sanctions regarding the age, health, and other characteristics of models. The newly revised Danish Fashion Ethical Charter clearly states: “We are aware of and take responsibility for the impact the fashion industry has on body ideals, especially