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 have 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 past 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 average 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。

　　15. 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。

　　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 the tribes。

　　[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

　　[D]Human Evolution Going Nowhere

　　名師解析

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

　　根據第一段，做男人以前有什么危險？

　　[A]A lack of mates.   缺少配偶。

　　[B]A fierce competition.  激烈競爭。

　　[C]A lower survival rate.  低存活率。

　　[D]A defective gene.  有缺陷的基因。

　　【答案】 C

　　【考點】 事實細節(jié)題。

　　【分析】 文中第一段提到“做男人從來都充滿危險，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 the tribes。

　　中產階級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家之一。

　　【答案】 B

　　【考點】 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是什么。本文中提到，“進化意義上的自殺還有一種方法：存活，但少生孩子”。首先“現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生15個孩子”表明了“當今出生的數量同死亡年齡一樣變得平均化，我們大多數人的子女數量大致相當”，再一次，人與人之間的差異和利用差異進行自然選擇的機會降低了。其次，“印度證明了這種情況。這個國家給大城市里的少數人提供財富，而給其余的各部落居民造成了貧困。今天這種每個人的生存機會和子女數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中、上層人群中，已經失去了80%的效力”是為了證明“人與人之間的差異和利用差異進行自然選擇的機會降低了”，換言之，“自然選擇在窮人和富人之間幾乎不起作用”。答案應該是[B]選項。

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

　　作者認為我們的身體已經停止進化，因為____。

　　[A] life has been improved by technological advance 

　　技術進步改善了人的生活

　　[B] the number of female babies has been declining

　　女嬰的數量一直在減少

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

　　我們人種已經到達進化比較高階段

　　[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】 邏輯關系題。

　　【分析】 文中提到停止進化是在第三段第一句“對我們來說，這意味著進化已經結束”。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。我們沒有進化。因為機器和社會替我們辦了這一切”，“機器”代表的就是“技術”，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?

　　以下哪一個比較合適做本文標題？

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

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

　　[C]The Evolutionary Future of Nature  自然進化的未來

　　[D]Human Evolution Going Nowhere  人類進化無路可走

　　【答案】 D

　　【考點】 文章主旨題。

　　【分析】 文章中在第一段結尾提到“由于大部分差異是由基因引起的，又一個進化的因素消失了�！钡诙�段中說“再一次，人與人之間的差異和利用差異進行自然選擇的機會降低了�！钡谌�段提到“但我們的身體卻沒變。我們沒有進化，因為機器和社會替我們辦了這一切�！边@些都表明作者認為進化機制已不再起作用，認為自然進化機制已不能再左右人口的出生率。在總結全文的第三段時，作者直截了當地指出，進化已經結束。因此可以認為人類的進化是無路可走的。另外三個選項都不全面或者不對題。

　　難句解析：

　　1. 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。

　　【結構分析】 本句由三個分句構成。第一個分句是“There are about 105 males born for every 100 females”，一個“there be”句型；第二個分句“but this ratio drops to near balance at the age of maturity”是一個簡單句；第三個分句是一個“there be”結構。

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

　　【結構分析】 本句要注意的是有兩個主語，分別是“differences between people”和“the opportunity for natural selection to take advantage of it”。

　　3. 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。

　　【結構分析】 本句的主干是“The grand mediocrity means that＋賓語從句”。其中“compared to the tribes”是分詞結構作狀語。破折號中間“everyone being the same in survival and number of offspring”是典型獨立主格結構做插入語，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，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鍵年齡將首次出現男孩過剩。更重要的是，又一次自然選擇的機會消失了。50年前，嬰兒，尤其是男嬰，存活的機會取決于體重，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，又一個進化的因素消失了。

　　進化意義上的自殺還有一種方法：存活，但少生孩子。現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生15個孩子。當今出生的數量同死亡年齡一樣變得平均化，我們大多數人的子女數量大致相當。再一次，人與人之間的差異和利用差異進行自然選擇的機會降低了。印度證明了這種情況。這個國家給大城市里的少數人提供財富，而給其余的各部落居民造成了貧困。今天這種每個人的生存機會和子女數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中、上層中已經失去了80%的效力。

　　對我們來說，這意味著進化已經結束；生物學上的烏托邦已經形成。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。我們沒有進化。因為機器和社會替我們辦了這一切。達爾文有一句話描述那些對進化一無所知的人，他們“看有機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世紀的生活方式，盡管對其丑陋之處不得其解，但是，不管我們的子孫后代對我們離烏托邦的理想境界還差多遠，感到有多么驚訝，他們的樣子會同我們差不了多少。