How we look and how we appear to others probably worry us more when we arc in our teens or early twenties than at any other time in our life．Few of us are content to accept ourselves as we are, and few are brave enough to ignore the trends of fashion．
Most fashion magazines or TV advertisements try to persuade us that we should dress in a certain way or behave in a certain manner．If we do, they tell us, we will be able to meet new people with confidence and deal with every situation confidently and without embarrassment．
Changing fashion, of course, does not apply just to dress．A barber today does not cut a boy's hair in the same way as he used to, and girls do not make up in the same way as their mothers and grandmothers did．The advertisers show us the latest fashionable styles and we arc constantly under pressure to follow the fashion in case our friends think we arc odd or dull.
What causes fashions to change? Sometimes convenience or practical necessity or just the fancy of an influential person can establish a fashion．Take hats for example- In cold climates, early buildings were cold inside, so people wore hats indoors as well as outside．In recent times, President Kennedy caused a depression in the American hat industry by not wearing hats: more American men followed his example．
There is also a cyclical pattern in fashion．In the 1920s in Europe and America, short skirts became fashionable．After World War Ⅱ , they dropped to ankle length．Then they got shorter and shorter and the miniskirt was in fashion．After a few more years, skirts became longer again．
Today, society is much freer and easier than it used to be．It is no longer necessary to dress like everyone else．Within reason, you can dress as you tike or do your hair the way you like instead of the way you should because it is the fashion．The popularity of jeans and the "untidy" look seems to be a reaction against the increasingly expensive fashion of the top fashion houses．
小題1:What do the fashion magazines or TV advertisements claim to bring us? （No more than 2 words）
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小題2:Why does the writer take President Kennedy as an example? （No more than 14 words）
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小題3:What does the writer try to explain by talking about short skirts? （No more than 8 words）
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小題4:Why are jeans so popular according to the writer? （No more than 10 words）
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