Reading - Mega goal 3 - ثالث ثانوي

9 Beauty Is Only Skin Deep 8 Reading Before Reading رابط الدرس الرقمي www.ien.edu.sa 1. After reading the quote, discuss how beauty is defined in Islam. 2. Describe the features that you notice when you first meet someone. Beauty in Islam is a broad aesthetic and moral concept that includes multiple spiritual, intuitive, physical and material dimensions. It involves feelings and practices related to taste, art, ornamentation, splendor, and beautiful manners. It covers both the individual as well as the community and form as well as content. • • Changing Concepts of Beauty in History Most societies place great value on beauty whether in art and architecture, fashion and appearance, or design and advertising. Throughout history, elegance and beauty have been the subjects of admiration and fascination. In modern times, we have competitions to find the most beautiful person or magazines to tell us about trends in fashion and design, and a billion-dollar cosmetics industry built around looking and feeling beautiful. Yet despite the importance placed on beauty, one question remains: What is beauty? The ancient Greeks thought that proportion was the key to beauty. The Greeks believed that they had discovered the mathematical formula that represented perfect beauty, which was based on proportions in nature. According to this formula, for example, the ideal face was two-thirds as wide as it was high. Modern research has proven that the basic concept of the Greeks' formula, if not the formula itself, was correct: Beauty does seem to relate to proportion and balance. When related to beauty, these qualities are called symmetry. A perfectly symmetrical face, just like a symmetrical flower, would have a left side that is identical to its right side. Research has shown that the more symmetrical an object or a face is, the more beautiful it is believed to be. You might assume that this response to symmetry is something we learn. However, research has shown that the human appreciation for symmetry is instinctive. It has been found that babies will spend more time staring at pictures of symmetrical objects than they will at photos of asymmetrical objects. Not only is this response instinctive, but it does not appear to vary from one culture to another. In a study conducted at the University of Louisville, Kentucky, participants from thirteen different countries were shown pictures of a number of different people. All the participants rated the attractiveness of the people in the same way. They all gave the highest ratings to the people with the most symmetrical faces. While it is true that people across all cultures tend to admire symmetrical features, standards of beauty do vary from one culture to another and from one time period to another. For example, each of the following was considered beautiful at a certain time and place, but would not be considered so today: During the Elizabethan era in England, women thought that high foreheads were elegant. So, they plucked inches of their front hair to achieve this look. Also during the Elizabethan era, women brushed egg whites over their faces in order to have a glazed look. In ancient China, the belief that it was elegant for women to have tiny feet led to foot binding. •From H 14th to 19th centuries in Europe, women would bind their waists. The binding was sometimes so tight that often women could not breathe properly and sometimes fainted. وزارة التعليم Ministry of 44ation 2024-1446 MG_03_COMBO_TEXT_2024.indb 144 30/4/24 3:06 AM

Changing Concepts of Beauty in History

O Another example of how the concept of beauty and fashion changes with time is the way attitudes toward weight have changed through the ages. In Europe between 1500 and 1900, a plump figure was considered very attractive. Famine was widespread, so plump figures represented health and wealth. During that period, it was common for people to pad themselves in order to look heavier. In the 1900s, fears of food shortages started to diminish, and with it, so did the chubby figure. A new ideal began to emerge: Thin was in. Of course, this trend has continued to today. Because there is an overwhelming amount of fattening food available in most developed countries, it is now considered more attractive and healthy to be thin. Today, fashion and beauty products are usually associated with women. However, this, too, is the result of a change that took place over time. In fact, the male form was the original standard of beauty in Western culture. The muscular and fit male athlete was the ideal of elegance. For hundreds of years, make-up was associated with both women and men. Men in ancient Greece, Egypt, and Rome wore make-up on their faces and nails. Roman men even had some bizarre beauty practices of their own, such as the habit of bathing in crocodile water to improve their skin. Men's grooming and make-up went in and out of style a number of times through history, before becoming very unfashionable during the industrial age of the early 1800s. However, there are signs that masculine concern for appearance is making a return, as more men are joining gyms and opting to use skin care products than ever before. The standards for beauty and fashion have changed frequently throughout history and will, no doubt, continue to do so. However, one thing unlikely to ever change is people's fascination with beauty. After Reading Answer the questions. 1. How did the ancient Greeks view beauty? What did they base their formula on? 2. What is symmetry? How does it relate to beauty? 3. What has research shown? 4. Give an example of something considered beautiful at a certain time and place in history. 5. How have attitudes toward body weight changed over time? 9 Speaking 1. Think about and compare inner and outer beauty. Work in pairs/groups. 2. Make notes of your ideas in the chart. Then use your notes to present and discuss your ideas in class. وزارة التعليم Ministry of Education 2024-1446 Advantages Disadvantages MG_03_COMBO_TEXT_2024.indb 145 Inner beauty Outer beauty 145 30/4/24 3:06 AM

In Europe between and 1900 a plump figure was considered very attractive

Think about and compare inner and outer beauty. Work in pairs/groups.

Answer the questions. 1. How did the ancient Greeks view beauty? What did they base their formula on?