新编大学英语（第三版浙江大学编著）4视听说教程原文Unit 3

crimes of violence.

Some say that this is simply a matter of biology; others suggest than it is a function of the way we organize the sex and gender roles in our society. In fact, many of the findings, in this area, have turned out to be unsatisfactory, and often there turns out be very small differences with a large degree of overlap.

Biologically, men certainly seem to be the weaker sex. On average, men experience heart attacks 10 years earlier than women, but have a better rate of survival if they survive the first year after an attack. Symptoms also vary by sex:

Women experience shortness of breath, fatigue, and chest pain; most male heart attacks come on as sudden, striking pain in the chest. In adulthood, men are more likely to be infected with viruses and have a shorter average lifespan.

In recent years, a great many biological sex differences have been found throughout the body, including the brain. However, regardless of the findings that sex differences really do exist after all and despite the pressure to deny them, socially, we still expect women to behave like women and men like men.

Listening 4

It is my belief that gender stereotypes are very real gender characteristics that are exaggerated to the extreme ends with no gray areas. So in truth a woman is “weak” physically only because a man is in reality “stronger”. A woman is “submissive” only because a man in reality is more “aggressive”. A woman is “emotional” only because a man is “less emotional”. All these are observed facts.

Are there ways to avoid the stereotyping? This is hard to do. We as males and females love to exaggerate our differences. It seems we love to do this in many ways. We love to exaggerate gender traits as if to say “Look how female I am” or “Look how male I am”. Do we go so far as to actually create differences that do not exist? Not from what I see. I think we like to exaggerate our differences because the more male we feel or the more female we feel, the more attractive we feel.

So, all in all, I believe stereotypes are true differences that are exaggerated. I don’t think stereotypes should be avoided because they are real. I don’t think that we should be attribute extremes of a trait to a gender as a whole, and most certainly not limit someone’s potential abilities based on a stereotype. Stereotypes should apply in general but not to an individual. They should serve to help make judgments but not as an absolute.