考研英语阅读理解试题及名师解析(2)

考研英语阅读理解试题及名师解析

(2)

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(particularly a boy

baby) 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

suicide:

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 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

years

—

even

thepast 100 years

—

our 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

名师解析

15.

What

used

to

be

the

danger

in

being

a

man

according

to

the

firstparagraph?

根据第一段，做男人以前有什么危险

?

[A]A lack of mates.

缺少配偶。

[B]A fierce competition.

激烈竞争。

[C]A lower survival rate.

低存活率。

[D]A defective gene.

有缺陷的基因。

【答案】

C

【考点】

事实细节题。