女人的容貌会起到什么作用？

 To conduct an experiment, 20/20 hired actors——some great looking, some not——and put them in situations to gauge¹ how often the "lookers" would get preferential treatment.

In the first test, we put two women next to cars without gas in Atlanta. The women wore the same outfit².

Both Michelle and Tracey stood helplessly by cars with their hoods³ up. For the average-looking Michelle, a few pedestrians⁴ stopped but only made suggestions as where she could walk to get gasoline. But for the beautiful Tracey, cars came screeching⁵ to a halt. More than a dozen cars stopped and six people went to get Tracey gas.

The two actresses helped with our second test, at an Atlanta shopping mall where both women set up a table and sold calendars and teddy bears to raise money for charity. Overall, it looked as if both women were doing well with their sales. Then we counted the money and found Tracey collected 50 percent more.

What if we tested something requiring qualifications, like getting a job? Looks shouldn't matter then but would they?

20/20 hired two women to apply for jobs. The clearest difference between them was looks while they shared similar education and work experience backgrounds. To match them up more closely, we rewrote their résumés to match.

Donia, our more attractive female applicant⁶, and her counterpart, Amy, both had been secretaries and saleswomen. A consultant⁷ trained them so their behavior matched.

Hidden cameras captured interviewers being warmer and friendlier to the better looking applicants⁸ and being less friendly to the other applicants. With Amy and Donia, for example, one job interviewer told Amy employees got a 45-minute lunch break but with Donia the interviewer said there was a flexible policy about lunch. Who got the job offer? Donia. Amy never even got a call back.

"It's a non-conscious process," said Tom Cash, a psychologist at Old Dominion⁹ University. "They assume that more attractive people have an array of valued characteristics."

We should add the bias¹⁰ of "lookism" to sexism and racism¹¹. It's just as bad but we don't need a federal program.

   为了做一个试验，"20/20"节目雇用了演员。有些人容貌出众，有些人却不是。但把演员们放在特定环境下，看看“漂亮人”是如何常常得到优待的。

在第一次试验中，在亚特兰大，我们让两位女演员穿戴一样，分别站在没有汽油的车旁。

Michelle和Tracey引擎罩打开着，绝望无助地站在车旁。相貌平平的Michelle只能让几位行人驻足，但他们也只是为她指出如何加油的路，而美貌Tracey的待遇却大不相同。许多车子为她猛然刹车，一打以上的车主停车，6个人要为Tracey加油。

两位女演员又帮助我们做了第二个试验。在一家亚特兰大购物中心，两人都设摊慈善义卖日历和玩具熊。从表面上看，她们卖得一样好，可是数钱时却发现，Tracey的收入要高出50%.

如果我们实验某些需要资格的事情，比如应聘，结果会如何呢？容貌会起到什么作用呢？

"20/20"节目组雇用了两位女人参加应聘，她们有相似的教育和工作经验背景，但容貌却大不相同。为了使她们更接近，我们改写了她们的履历。

Donia是我们非常迷人的女求职者，与她搭档的Amy，两人都曾当过秘书和销售人员。一位顾问专门对她们进行了训练，使她们的举止相同。

暗藏的摄像机捕获了主聘人员对相貌好看的应聘者十分热情和友好，而对其它应征者则不友好。例如，招聘人员对Amy说，雇员只有45分钟午饭休息时间，而却对Donia说，午饭时间是有弹性的。谁得到工作了？当然是Donia.Amy则再也没有接到回复电话。

Old Dominion大学的心理学家Tom Cash说：“这是一个无意识的过程，他们推测漂亮的人有更多富有价值的品质。”

我们应该在性别歧视和种族歧视之后再添一个“容貌歧视”，尽管它与前两者一样可恶，但对此并不需要联邦立法。

1 gauge   

v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器

参考例句：

• Can you gauge what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gauge one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。

2 outfit   

n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装

参考例句：

• Jenney bought a new outfit for her daughter's wedding.珍妮为参加女儿的婚礼买了一套新装。
• His father bought a ski outfit for him on his birthday.他父亲在他生日那天给他买了一套滑雪用具。

3 hoods   

n.兜帽( hood的名词复数 )；头巾；（汽车、童车等的）折合式车篷；汽车发动机罩v.兜帽( hood的第三人称单数 )；头巾；（汽车、童车等的）折合式车篷；汽车发动机罩

参考例句：

• Michael looked at the four hoods sitting in the kitchen. 迈克尔瞅了瞅坐在厨房里的四条汉子。 来自教父部分
• Eskimos wear hoods to keep their heads warm. 爱斯基摩人戴兜帽使头暖和。 来自辞典例句

4 pedestrians   

n.步行者( pedestrian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Several pedestrians had come to grief on the icy pavement. 几个行人在结冰的人行道上滑倒了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Pedestrians keep to the sidewalk [footpath]! 行人走便道。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 screeching   

v.发出尖叫声( screech的现在分词 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫

参考例句：

• Monkeys were screeching in the trees. 猴子在树上吱吱地叫着。
• the unedifying sight of the two party leaders screeching at each other 两党党魁狺狺对吠的讨厌情景

6 applicant   

n.申请人，求职者，请求者

参考例句：

• He was the hundredth applicant for the job. 他是第100个申请这项工作的人。
• In my estimation, the applicant is well qualified for this job. 据我看, 这位应征者完全具备这项工作的条件。

7 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

8 applicants   

申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
• He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。

9 dominion   

n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图

参考例句：

• Alexander held dominion over a vast area.亚历山大曾统治过辽阔的地域。
• In the affluent society,the authorities are hardly forced to justify their dominion.在富裕社会里，当局几乎无需证明其统治之合理。

10 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

11 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。