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Should one judge a person by external appearances?

When we are watching Carrie Bradshaw and her friends who keep changing their gorgeous outfits in every episode of “Sex and the city”, we realize the power of external appearances as they can make us leave a good impression to others. Some people, however, claim that we should not judge others by external appearances because it could mislead us in some ways. I take exception with this claim, I think external appearances do offer some help in the judging process.

Inner character and external appearances are people’s two aspects. Public have formed a stereotype for a long time that we can judge a person by his or her external appearance because it can reflect his or her inner character. But people with this idea usually get wrong information because external appearance is not always in coordination with inner character. Sometimes, they are even completely different. For example, not all the person who wear nice and tidy clothes are that decent as they look like, some bandits dress them well in order to hide their malice. People can change their appearances at will, so it is unreliable to judge others by these external factors.

So far, it sounds that external appearance is not trustworthy, but I think we are being too quick to draw the conclusion, in other words, external appearances do have some advantages. First, they can help us make a quick judgment. Living in a fast-paced world, we are forced to rush into doing everything by our competitors, our superiors and even ourselves, and no one seems to have enough time. Needless to say, it is impossible that we spend a great deal of time to know a person. For instance, in the job fair, employers will meet hundred upon hundred job hunters, it is a “mission impossible” to know everyone well and to decide who is the right person in the position. In fact, external appearance helps under this circumstance. If two job hunters are almost equally matched, then the employer will turn to appearance. One is in a formal suit which reflects respect for the job and employers;  the other one is in a causal sport shirt which is relatively less professional and a little immature. I think the answer is quite obvious.

Secondly, external appearances employ as a means of providing a lot of information. In our society, certain clothes stand for certain professions. Dancers wear their leotards; the police wear their police uniform. From external appearances, we can recognize their profession easily. And due to different culture, the way people dress differs. As it knows to all that women in Middle East always wear veil, thus their identities are clear through the observation of appearances.

Although sometimes they may convey false information, external appearances, a relatively direct way to gain the quick judgment and to identify others’ professions and identities, do help us judging people.


[ 本帖最后由 lastangel 于 2007-7-16 08:01 编辑 ]

kevinliu6883UID: 2338522

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I take exception with this claim, I think external appearances do offer some help in the judging process.

前句是同意服装不能决定对人的理解吧? 怎么后句又成不同意了? 这里少了个however/nevertheless?
文章的中心论点不明确, 到底是同意还是不同意? BODY第一段和第二, 三段的论证矛盾, 第一段说不可靠, 第二段却说只能信这个, 应该在程度和范围上加以限定, 比如在第一段说是accurate understand而第二段说可以认识到比较表面的大体形象, 等等.