Throughout the world, clothing has many uses. It is used to provide protection from the elements. It also is worn to prevent others from seeing specific parts of one’s body. However, the parts of the body that must be covered vary widely throughout the world. Some clothing is worn to provide supernatural protection. Wearing a lucky shirt to take an exam is calling for supernatural assistance.

People in all cultures use clothing and other forms of bodily decoration to communicate status, intentions and other messages. In North America, we dress differently for business and various leisure activities. North American women usually are much more knowledgeable of and concerned with little difference in messages communicated by clothes than men. At times, this leads to silly mistakes of interpretation of female intentions on the part of men. Of course, clothing styles also are intended to communicate messages to members of the same gender（性别）.

Long before we are near enough to talk to someone, their appearance tells their gender, age, economic class, and often even intentions. We begin to recognize the important cultural clues at an early age. The vocabulary of dress that we learn includes not only items of clothing but also hairstyles, jewelry, and other body decoration. In most cultures, however, the same style of dress communicates different messages depending on the age, gender, and physical appearance of the individual wearing it.

Putting on certain types of clothing can change your behavior and the behavior of others towards you. This can be the case with a doctor’s white lab coat, or an army uniform. Most uniforms are clearly symbolic so that they can rapidly and unmistakably communicate status. For instance, the strange hairstyle and clothing of the English “punks” are essential aspects of their uniforms.

There are many forms of body decoration other than clothes that are used around the world to send messages. These include body and hair paint, and even body deformation. When doctors put braces on teeth, they are actually doing the same thing – deforming or reforming a part of the body to make it more attractive. 

36. Which of the following is the best title for this passage?

      A.   Clothing and Culture

      B.   Communication through Clothing

      C.   Clothing and Social Behavior

      D.   Ways of Sending Message

37. Some people wear lucky shirts to take an exam because they believe         .

      A.   clothes have extraordinary power

      B.   clothes can hide their fear for the exam

      C.   shirts can make them more comfortable

      D.   shirts provide protection against bad weather

38. In North America, men sometimes misunderstand women’s intention because         .

      A.   men are more careless than women

      B.   women spend more time on their clothes

      C.   men care less about the different messages communicated by clothes

      D.   men and women have different views on clothing styles

39. From the passage, it can be inferred that         .

      A.   messages communicated by clothes are the same in different cultures

      B.   words of dress are not enough to communicate different messages

      C.   dress is better than language in communicating messages

      D.   clothing plays an important role in social activities

40. According to the passage, the behavior of others towards you can be changed by your         .

      A.   age              B. dress                    C.   status            D.  behavior