Part 3

Reading passage 3

Read the text below and answer Questions 29-40.

A. Cosmetics have been in use almost since time immemorial across diverse cultures. Not only do they serve to enhance natural beauty, but they also provide a means of self-expression. From Cleopatra to the modern day, cosmetics have played an integral role in women’s daily beauty regimes.

B. The fashion for cosmetics first started in Ancient Egypt and was later actively embraced by the Romans. In the latter era, cosmetics and their use transcended all classes, as aristocracy and the poor alike availed themselves of all manner of beauty products. However, nail colour was exclusively the preserve of aristocrats, as it continued to be in China in later years. In China this trend even became enshrined in law and transgressors crossing the social divide separating the working class from aristocracy by daring to sport nail colour were summarily executed in public. Quite literally, people died for fashion.

C. As cosmetics grew in popularity, women began to become more extravagant in their use of cosmetics. Imported beauty products from as far away as China, Germany and Gaul were lavishly used by women in their quest for beauty. Excessive use of these costly products ultimately incited public controversy, leading to the introduction of the Lex Oppia Law of 215 BC. The law curbed the use of cosmetics and over-adornment of women generally in public places. Prior to the law’s introduction, women had been becoming ever more competitive in keeping up appearances, even gambling away huge fortunes on the costly cosmetics.

D. In the following interim period between the Roman era and the Middle Ages, use of cosmetics all but disappeared. The Dark Ages, as this era was termed, saw only very limited use of make-up amongst restricted sectors of the public. An edict issued by the Church, denouncing all those wearing cosmetics as heathens and devil-worshippers, ensured that cosmetics suffered a rapid loss in popularity amongst the public. Overwhelmingly, the use of cosmetics during this era was associated with women of ill repute and actors for whom society had scant regard.

E. Only much later, in the Elizabethan era, did cosmetics become popular once again. Lead preparations were particularly favoured as women sought to lighten their skin. Elizabeth I’s famously pallid complexion was attributed to the application of a poisonous lead compound. However, poisonous applications were not limited to lead substances. Belladonna, obtained from the deadly nightshade plant, was used to enlarge pupils in the belief that this made women more attractive. In addition, mercury compounds, such as mercury sulphide, were applied to the lips for colour. It is no small wonder, therefore, that Queen Elizabeth I lived long enough to be one of England’s longest-reigning monarchs, with her reign lasting a total of 45 years.

F. After a brief resurgence in popularity, during the Elizabethan period, cosmetics only became popular again years later during the reign of another long-reigning monarch, Queen Victoria (1837-1901). As in the Elizabethan era, a pallid complexion was favoured over a tanned look. Mercifully, the pale look was attained through applying concoctions of lemon juice and vinegar as opposed to the more lethal lead preparations of the past. Overt applications of make-up were frowned upon, with lipstick and rouge being studiously avoided.

G. Since make-up was deliberately understated in the Victorian as well as the subsequent Edwardian era (1901 -1910), purveyors of cosmetics were few and far between. Purchase of cosmetics was even a somewhat furtive affair, with clients obtaining products from local chemists or from shops with concealed back door entrances.

H. Only with the advent of Selfridge’s in Oxford Street, London (1909) and the establishing of a cosmetics counter where women could publicly try out cosmetics before purchase did buying and wearing of cosmetics gain acceptability. Today the sheer diversity of cosmetics available and the freedom to apply them sparingly, liberally, or not at all are largely due to the burgeoning of the cosmetics industry, spearheaded in the UK by Gordon Selfridge and the influence of Hollywood in the 1920s.

Questions 29-35

The text has eight paragraphs, A-H.

Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 29-35 on your answer sheet.

29ABCDEFGH class distinctions are upheld

30ABCDEFGH a fashion only for a despised minority

31ABCDEFGH a legislative response to public outcry

32ABCDEFGH the motivation to wear cosmetics

33ABCDEFGH health comes a poor second to maintaining appearances

34ABCDEFGH a healthier approach to fashion

35ABCDEFGH freedom of expression

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

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Questions 36-40

Complete the summary below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the text for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet.

Throughout the ages, cosmetics have rarely been out of fashion for long. Beauty products have been and continue to be 36 to the pursuit of physical perfection, although the popularity of cosmetics has waxed and waned in different eras.

Cosmetics have often been used not only as a means of enhancing beauty, but also as a form of 37 in addition to maintaining the 38 between classes. Distinctions between the ruling class and the underclasses, with regard to the observation of fashions, were most stringently observed in China where transgressors were often punished by death.

In certain eras, such as the Dark Ages and the Edwardian period, the obvious use of cosmetics was 39 and positively discouraged. Only in the post-Edwardian era, with the 40 cosmetics counters in major department stores and the fascination for Hollywood, did cosmetics enjoy a resurgence in public popularity.