For centuries, beauty has been the currency of womanhood, transcending class, culture, and time. More valuable than intelligence, athleticism, confidence, or kindness, physical beauty has always been a woman's most precious commodity.

In the Middle Ages, women would bleed themselves to achieve a pale complexion. A paleface 【小题1】 wealth. and nobility. Lead poisoning as a result of skin and hair powdering was equally common throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Complexion 【小题2】 edible wafers made of arsenic, known to cause cancer, promised to transform the most sallow (yellowish and unhealthy) skin into 【小题3】 health; remove pimples; and clear the face of freckles and tan.

Women's bodies were equally under criticism or attack. Corsets(紧身衣), at the height of their 【小题4】 in the 19lh century, prompted women to remove ribs and endure skeletal deformities and organ damage, in addition to the inconvenient and frequent fainting spells that they caused.

The list of dangerous, violent, and harmful practices imposed on women's bodies is endless, and the pathological obsession with female beauty has hardly 【小题5】 in recent years. Rather, with globalization and mass production, the 20th century brought unprecedented exposure to the beauty industry and saw the 【小题6】 of unrealistic beauty standards. Today, beauty is a $488 billion industry. where the Asia—Pacific now accounts for one third of the industry's global value and is one of the world's fastest—growing markets.

It is uncomfortable to acknowledge that, despite significant progress in women's rights, beauty continues to endure and be 【小题7】 as the dominant currency for women. Female beauty, no matter how expanded and 【小题8】 the definition, will continue to be an oppressive restriction on women unless we challenge the system that advocates the notion that beauty is a woman's primary currency. This notion harms women, occupies a majority of their time, and distracts society from the diversity of talents that we have to offer.

The answer to this problem is not the creation of more space for beauty content and conversation. Instead, let's lift and celebrate the diversity of other areas of female 【小题9】 including their contribution to sport, history, academia, science, politics, and business This does not mean that we ignore beauty entirely. Instead, we must admit that there is a toxic preoccupation with female beauty that is driven by a 【小题10】 on women's shame and insecurity.

Chinese calligraphy has developed along with China’s 【小题1】. It is difficult to say when 【小题2】 calligraphy started. Chinese writing was first done by carving symbols onto bones and shells, but as it developed into a writing 【小题3】, it also developed as a form of art done with a brush. It is believed that Chinese calligraphy dates back to at least the Han Dynasty. Soon after that, the idea developed that calligraphy was not only a beautiful art form but also a 【小题4】 of showing the character of the “man behind the brush”. Today, anyone from small children to old people can enjoy practicing the 【小题5】 art of Chinese calligraphy.

In most democracies today, people expect women to vote. Women are just as able to make decisions about their 【小题1】 leaders as men. But 200 years ago, most people didn't think so.

As late as the middle of the 19 century only men voted in most Western countries. A few countries or states let women vote in local elections. But women voting was far from 【小题2】. At that time, people believed that women belonged in the home. That meant they should not get involved with public life.

But women in Europe, North America and New Zealand began 【小题3】 this situation. They believed that they should have a(n) 【小题4】 in their government's leaders. In 1792 an English novelist named Mary Wollstonecraft 【小题5】that women should be able to vote, In the United States, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were important figures. They met while campaigning to put a(n) 【小题6】 to slavery. In the process, they decided that women also should have more 【小题7】.

Yet despite the 【小题8】 of these women neither Great Britain nor the United States was the first country to let women vote. That honor goes to New Zealand, which changed their law on September 19, 1893. This was because of women like Kate Shepherd. She led a group that presented petitions(请愿书) to their parliament three years in a row. Shepherd is now honored on New Zealand's s10 bill.

New Zealand was followed by Australia in 1902 and Finland in 19 zero six. By this time, some U.S. states and territories allowed women to vote. But the country as a whole didn't give women the right until after World War I.

In many countries, the right to hold political office came along with the right to vote. And women have 【小题9】 that right. In many countries, women have even held their country's highest office. All of that is due to the efforts of women who fought for a(n) 【小题10】 voice