考研英语三层递进攻克阅读理解2000年试题(二)

——摘自《考研英语三层递进攻破阅读理解》

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Being a man has always 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 among 70yearolds there are twice as many women as men. But the great universal of male mortality is being changed. Now, boy babies survive almost as well as girls do. This means that, for the first time, there will be an excess of boys in those crucial years when they are searching for a mate. More important, another chance for natural selection has been removed. Fifty years ago, the chance of a baby （particularly a boy baby）surviving depended on its weight. A kilogram too light or too heavy meant almost certain death. Today it makes almost no difference. Since much of the variation is due to genes one more agent of evolution 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 in some religious communities, very few women has 15 children. Nowadays the number of births, like the age of death, has become average. Most of us have roughly the same number of offspring. Again, differences between people and the opportunity for natural selection to take advantage of it have diminished. India shows what is happening. The country offers wealth for a few in the great cities and poverty for the remaining tribal peoples. The grand mediocrity of today—everyone being the same in survival and number of offspring—means that natural selection has lost 80% of its power in uppermiddleclass India compared to the tribes.

For us, this means that evolution is over; the biological Utopia has arrived. Strangely, it has involved little physical change. No other species fills so many places in nature. But in the pass 100,000 years—even the past 100 years—our lives have been transformed but our bodies have not. We did not evolve, because machines and society did it for us. Darwin had a phrase to describe those ignorant of evolution: they “look at an organic being as a savage looks at a ship, as at something wholly beyond his comprehension.” No doubt we will remember a 20th century way of life beyond comprehension for its ugliness. But however amazed our descendants may be at how far from Utopia we were, they will look just like us.

55. What used to be the danger in being a man according to the first paragraph?

［A］A lack of mates.［B］A fierce competition.

［C］A lower survival rate.［D］A defective gene.

56. 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 the tribes.

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

57. 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

58. 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

［D］Human Evolution Going Nowhere

核心词汇：

crucial［5kru:FiEl, 5kru:FEl］a.至关重要的,决定性的

descendant［di5sendEnt］n.子孙，后代（descend遗传+ant人→遗传给后代）

descendant［di5sendEnt］n.子孙,后代v.遗传（指财产,气质,权利）; 下来,下降(descend传下+ant人→传下的人→后代)

describe［dis5kraib］v.描写，叙述（de着重+scribe→着重写→描写）

diminish［di5miniF］v.缩小,减少,递减(di向下+min小+ish→小下去→缩小)

fertile［5fE:tail］a.肥沃的,富饶的;能繁殖的(fer带来，拿来+ile形容词后缀→能带来粮食→肥沃的)

gene［dVi:n］n.基因

ignorant［5ignErEnt］a.1无知的; 愚昧的; 没有学识的; 不知道的 ;不识礼的; 粗野的; 没有礼貌的(i不+gnore知道→不知道+ant形容词后缀→不知道的；无知的)

involve［in5vClv］v.卷入,陷入,连累;包含,含有,涉及（in 进入+volv+e→转进去→卷入）

involve［in5vClv］v.卷入,陷入,连累;包含,含有,涉及（in 进入+volv+e→转进去→卷入）

maturity［mE5tjuEriti］n.成热, 完备, (票据)到期, 成熟(matur（e）+ity)，mature（成熟的v.成熟），ity名词后缀

mediocrity［9mi:di5Ckriti］n.平常, 平庸之才(medi+ocr+ity)，medi前缀“中间”（如medium→medi+um后缀→中间的；媒介），ocr看作Optical Character Recognition（光学字符识别），ity名词后缀，用中等（medi）识别率OCR的效果是平常（medicocrity）的。

mortality［mC:5tAliti］n.死亡率(mortal+ity)，mortal（致命的；凡人），ity名词后缀。

offspring［5C(:)fspriN］n.子孙,后代;结果,产物

organic［C:5gAnik］a.器官的; 器质性的 ;.生物的; 有机体的; 有机物的;有机的;建制的; 有组织的; 有系统的(organ机构+ic形容词后缀→有机体的)

ratio［5reiFiEu］n.比; 比率 (rat（e→i）比率，o名词后缀)

savage［5sAvidV］a.野蛮的;凶恶的n.野人,未开化的人

survive［sE5vaiv］v.幸免于,幸存;比……长命（sur在下面+viv+e→在下面或下来→幸存）

tribe［traib］n.种族，部落；(植物，动物)族，类

Utopia （乌托邦）是英国空想社会主义者托马斯·莫尔（Thomas More）所著书名的简称，书中描写了作者所想象的没有阶级的幸福社会——乌托邦，意即“没有的地方”。