Being a man hasalways been dangerous. There are about 105 males born for every 100 females,but this ratio drops to near balance at the age of maturity, and among70-year-olds there are twice as many women as men. But the great universal ofmale mortality is being changed. Now, boy babies survive almost as well as girlsdo. This means that, for the first time, there will be an excess of boys inthose crucial years when they are searching for a mate. More important, anotherchance for natural selection has been removed. Fifty years ago, the chance of ababy surviving depended on its weight. A kilogram toolight or too heavy meant almost certain death. Today it makes almost nodifference. Since much of the variation is due to genes, one more agent ofevolution has gone。

　　There is another way to commit evolutionary : stay alive,but have fewer children. Few people are as fertile as in the past. Except insome religious communities, very few women have 15 children. Nowadays thenumber of births, like the age of death, has become average. Most of us haveroughly the same number of offspring. Again, differences between people and theopportunity for natural selection to take advantage of it have diminished.India shows what is happening. The country offers wealth for a few in the greatcities and poverty for the remaining tribal peoples. The grand mediocrity oftoday―everyone being the same in survival and number of offspring meansthat natural selection has lost 80% of its power in upper-middle-class Indiacompared to the tribes。

　　For us, this means that evolution is over; the biological Utopiahas arrived. Strangely, it has involved little physical change. No otherspecies fills so many places in nature. But in the past 100,000 yearseven thepast 100 yearsour lives have been transformed but our bodies have not. We did notevolve, because machines and society did it for us. Darwin had a phrase todescribe those ignorant of evolution: they look at anorganic being as average looks at a ship, as at something wholly beyond hiscomprehension。 No doubt we will remember a 20th century way of life beyondcomprehension for its ugliness. But however amazed our descendants may be athow far from Utopia we were, they will look just like us。

　　15. What used to be the danger in being a man according to thefirst paragraph?

　　[A]A lack of mates。

　　[B]A fierce competition。

　　[C]A lower survival rate。

　　[D]A defective gene。

　　16. What does the example of India illustrate?

　　[A]Wealthy people tend to have fewer children than poor people。

　　[B]Natural selection hardly works among the rich and the poor。

　　[C]The middle class population is 80% smaller than that of thetribes。

　　[D]India is one of the countries with a very high birth rate。

　　17. The author argues that our bodies have stopped evolving because____。

　　[A]life has been improved by technological advance

　　[B]the number of female babies has been declining

　　[C]our species has reached the highest stage of evolution

　　[D]the difference between wealth and poverty is disappearing

　　18. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

　　[A]Sex Ration Changes in Human Evolution

　　[B]Ways of Continuing Man s Evolution

　　[C]The Evolutionary Future of Nature

　　名師解析

　　15. What used to be the danger in being a man according to the firstparagraph?

　　根據(jù)第一段，做男人以前有什么危險(xiǎn)?

　　[A]A lack of mates. 缺少配偶。

　　[B]A fierce competition. 激烈競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。

　　[C]A lower survival rate. 低存活率。

　　[D]A defective gene. 有缺陷的基因。

　　【答案】 C

　　【考點(diǎn)】 事實(shí)細(xì)節(jié)題。

　　【分析】 文中第一段提到做男人從來都充滿危險(xiǎn)，新生兒男女比例大約是105:100，但到了成年，這一比例基本持平，而在70歲的老人中女性是男性的兩倍，但是男性死亡率高這種普遍情況正在改變，現(xiàn)在男嬰存活率同女嬰的基本一樣高這說明男人的存活率相對(duì)是比較低的。

　　16. What does the example of India illustrate?

　　印度的例子證明了什么?

　　[A] Wealthy people tend to have fewer children than poor people。

　　富人往往孩子比窮人少。

　　[B] Natural selection hardly works among the rich and the poor。

　　自然選擇在窮人和富人之間幾乎不起作用。

　　[C] The middle class population is 80% smaller than that of thetribes。

　　中產(chǎn)階級(jí)的人口比部落人口少80%。

　　[D] India is one of the countries with a very high birth rate。

　　印度是出生率很高的國(guó)家之一。

　　【答案】 B

　　【考點(diǎn)】 推斷題。

　　【分析】 使用事例來證明是常見的邏輯思維模式。既然有事例，我們就需要看到它的論點(diǎn)是什么。本文中提到，進(jìn)化意義上的自殺還有一種方法：存活，但少生孩子。首先現(xiàn)在幾乎沒有人像過去那樣多育。除了在一些宗教社區(qū)，幾乎沒有幾名婦女會(huì)生15個(gè)孩子表明了當(dāng)今出生的數(shù)量同死亡年齡一樣變得平均化，我們大多數(shù)人的子女?dāng)?shù)量大致相當(dāng)，再一次，人與人之間的差異和利用差異進(jìn)行自然選擇的機(jī)會(huì)降低了。其次，印度證明了這種情況。這個(gè)國(guó)家給大城市里的少數(shù)人提供財(cái)富，而給其余的各部落居民造成了貧困。今天這種每個(gè)人的生存機(jī)會(huì)和子女?dāng)?shù)量都相同的極其顯著的平均化意味著與部落相比，自然選擇在印度社會(huì)中、上層人群中，已經(jīng)失去了80%的效力是為了證明人與人之間的差異和利用差異進(jìn)行自然選擇的機(jī)會(huì)降低了，換言之，自然選擇在窮人和富人之間幾乎不起作用。答案應(yīng)該是[B]選項(xiàng)。

　　17. The author argues that our bodies have stopped evolvingbecause____。

　　作者認(rèn)為我們的身體已經(jīng)停止進(jìn)化，因?yàn)開___。

　　[A] life has been improved by technological advance

　　技術(shù)進(jìn)步改善了人的生活

　　[B] the number of female babies has been declining

　　女嬰的數(shù)量一直在減少

　　[C] our species has reached the highest stage of evolution

　　我們?nèi)朔N已經(jīng)到達(dá)進(jìn)化最高階段

　　[D] the difference between wealth and poverty is disappearing

　　貧富差距間的區(qū)別正在消失

　　【答案】 A

　　【考點(diǎn)】 邏輯關(guān)系題。

　　【分析】 文中提到停止進(jìn)化是在第三段第一句對(duì)我們來說，這意味著進(jìn)化已經(jīng)結(jié)束。第三段中指出，在過去的10萬年甚至過去的100年中，我們的生活發(fā)生了變化，但我們的身體卻沒變。我們沒有進(jìn)化。因?yàn)闄C(jī)器和社會(huì)替我們辦了這一切，機(jī)器代表的就是技術(shù)，因此我們可以判定[A]是正確答案。

　　18. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

　　以下哪一個(gè)最合適做本文標(biāo)題?

　　[A]Sex Ration Changes in Human Evolution 人類進(jìn)化中的性別比例變化

　　[B]Ways of Continuing Man s Evolution 繼續(xù)人類進(jìn)化的方式

　　[C]The Evolutionary Future of Nature 自然進(jìn)化的未來

　　[D]Human Evolution Going Nowhere 人類進(jìn)化無路可走

　　【答案】 D

　　【考點(diǎn)】 文章主旨題。

　　【分析】 文章中在第一段結(jié)尾提到由于大部分差異是由基因引起的，又一個(gè)進(jìn)化的因素消失了。第二段中說再一次，人與人之間的差異和利用差異進(jìn)行自然選擇的機(jī)會(huì)降低了。第三段提到但我們的身體卻沒變。我們沒有進(jìn)化，因?yàn)闄C(jī)器和社會(huì)替我們辦了這一切。這些都表明作者認(rèn)為進(jìn)化機(jī)制已不再起作用，認(rèn)為自然進(jìn)化機(jī)制已不能再左右人口的出生率。在總結(jié)全文的第三段時(shí)，作者直截了當(dāng)?shù)刂赋�，進(jìn)化已經(jīng)結(jié)束。因此可以認(rèn)為人類的進(jìn)化是無路可走的。另外三個(gè)選項(xiàng)都不全面或者不對(duì)題。 [D]Human Evolution Going Nowhere

　　難句解析：

　　1. There are about 105 males born for every 100 females, but thisratio drops to near balance at the age of maturity, and among 70-year-oldsthere are twice as many women as men。

　　【結(jié)構(gòu)分析】本句由三個(gè)分句構(gòu)成。第一個(gè)分句是There are about 105 males born for every 100 females，一個(gè)there be句型;第二個(gè)分句butthis ratio drops to near balance at the age of maturity是一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單句;第三個(gè)分句是一個(gè)therebe結(jié)構(gòu)。

　　2. Again, differences between people and the opportunity for naturalselection to take advantage of it have diminished。

　　【結(jié)構(gòu)分析】本句要注意的是有兩個(gè)主語，分別是differences between people和the opportunityfor natural selection to take advantage of it。

　　3. The grand mediocrity of todayeveryone being thesame in survival and number of offspringmeans that naturalselection has lost 80% of its power in upper-middle-class India compared to thetribes。

　　【結(jié)構(gòu)分析】本句的主干是The grand mediocrity means that+賓語從句。其中compared tothe tribes是分詞結(jié)構(gòu)作狀語。破折號(hào)中間everyone being the same in survival and number of offspring是典型獨(dú)立主格結(jié)構(gòu)做插入語，其中survival和number of offspring都是介詞in的賓語。

　　全文翻譯：

　　做男人從來都充滿危險(xiǎn)，新生兒男女比例大約是105:100，但到了成年，這一比例基本持平，而在70歲的老人中女性是男性的兩倍，但是男性死亡率高這種普遍情況正在改變，現(xiàn)在男嬰存活率同女嬰的基本一樣高。這就意味著男孩到了尋找伴侶的關(guān)鍵年齡將首次出現(xiàn)男孩過剩。更重要的是，又一次自然選擇的機(jī)會(huì)消失了。50年前，嬰兒，尤其是男嬰，存活的機(jī)會(huì)取決于體重，過輕一公斤或過重一公斤幾乎意味著必死無疑。今日體重幾乎沒有什么區(qū)別。由于大部分差異是由基因引起的，又一個(gè)進(jìn)化的因素消失了。

　　進(jìn)化意義上的自殺還有一種方法：存活，但少生孩子�，F(xiàn)在幾乎沒有人像過去那樣多育。除了在一些宗教社區(qū)，幾乎沒有幾名婦女會(huì)生15個(gè)孩子。當(dāng)今出生的數(shù)量同死亡年齡一樣變得平均化，我們大多數(shù)人的子女?dāng)?shù)量大致相當(dāng)。再一次，人與人之間的差異和利用差異進(jìn)行自然選擇的機(jī)會(huì)降低了。印度證明了這種情況。這個(gè)國(guó)家給大城市里的少數(shù)人提供財(cái)富，而給其余的各部落居民造成了貧困。今天這種每個(gè)人的生存機(jī)會(huì)和子女?dāng)?shù)量都相同的極其顯著的平均化意味著與部落相比，自然選擇在印度社會(huì)中、上層中已經(jīng)失去了80%的效力。

　　對(duì)我們來說，這意味著進(jìn)化已經(jīng)結(jié)束;生物學(xué)上的烏托邦已經(jīng)形成。奇怪的是，這一過程幾乎絲毫沒有造成身體上的改變，而且沒有其他物種充斥著自然中如此多的空間。但在過去的10萬年甚至過去的100年中，我們的生活發(fā)生了變化，但我們的身體卻沒變。我們沒有進(jìn)化。因?yàn)闄C(jī)器和社會(huì)替我們辦了這一切。達(dá)爾文有一句話描述那些對(duì)進(jìn)化一無所知的人，他們看有機(jī)的生命如同野人看船，好像看某種完全不能理解的東西。毫無疑問，我們將記住20世紀(jì)的生活方式，盡管對(duì)其丑陋之處不得其解，但是，不管我們的子孫后代對(duì)我們離烏托邦的理想境界還差多遠(yuǎn)，感到有多么驚訝，他們的樣子會(huì)同我們差不了多少。

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