阅读理解
It may be one of Britain’s most successful exports – Miss World．This 53-year-old event took place in China last week and attracted over 120 women worldwide with knockout looks in a mad struggle for the crown．
Traditional values have long kept the Chinese especially women from displaying beauty．But Chinese people have now changed their attitude toward beauty contest although some men will still be shouting that the winner is no more beautiful than his wife or his former girl friend or even his mother in a sour tone．But such men are not shouting for the right reason．The question to be：Why isn’t there a Mr．World Beauty Contest?
And a further question to be asked is：Does taking part in a beauty contest show a woman’s courage wisdom and liberation or rather the opposite－ forced choice and a revolting act made under conditions of long-term discrimination?
Organizers of such beauty contests claim that the contestants are judged on qualities other than just their physical appearance．But still no answer is given to why there isn’t a Mr．Beauty or a Mr．World Contest? Or at least why isn’t that kind of contest popular? Why is it that only women’s “qualities” need to be recognized but not men’s?
Think about who is always standing beside a fancy car on show? Is it a boy or a girl? And this is how “qualities” are judged：if the girl looks good there is little reason why the car beside her is not of high quality．
The beauty contests go on year after year with winners enjoying fame which quickly disappears．While such events go on and on what never changes is the routine practice that in every fancy car show a girl stands beside a fancy car．What never changes is the need to hold a women’s conference every year to appeal for the promotion of respect for and improvement of women．What never changes is the fate of women as a class．So let’s put more time and resources into trying to change all this rather than holding beauty contests．
