英语一二通用阅读2000-1 Text 2

1、2000-1 Text 21-Being aman hasalways been dangerous.There are about 105 males bornfor every 100 females, but thisratio drops tonear balance at the age ofmaturity, andamong 70-year-olds there are twice as many womenas men.But the great universalof male mortality isbeing changed.Now, boy babiessurvive

2、almostas well as girls do.This meansthat, for the first time, there willbe anexcess of boysin those crucial years when they aresearching for amate.More important, anotherchance for naturalselection hasbeen removed.Fifty years ago,the chance ofa baby(particularly aboy baby) surviving depended on itsw

3、eight.A kilogramtoo light ortoo heavy meant almostcertain death.Today itmakes almostno difference.Since much ofthe variation is due togenes, onemore agentof evolution hasgone.2-There isanother way to commit evolutionary suicide: stay alive, but have fewerchildren.Few peopleare as fertile as in the p

4、ast.Except in some religious communities, very few womenhave 15 children.Nowadays the numberofbirths, like the age ofdeath, hasbecome average.Most ofus have roughly the samenumber ofoffspring.Again, differences between peopleand the opportunity fornatural selection to take advantage ofit havediminis

5、hed.India shows whatis happening.The countryoffers wealth for afew in the great cities andpoverty forthe remaining tribal peoples.The grandmediocrity oftoday -everyone being the same in survival andnumberof offspring- meansthatnatural selection has lost80%of itspower in upper-middle-class India comp

6、ared to the tribes.3-For us,this meansthat evolution is over;the biological Utopia has arrived.Strangely, it has involvedlittle physical change.No otherspecies fillsso many places in nature.But in the pass 100,000 years -even the pass 100 years - ourlives have beentransformed but our bodieshave not.

7、We did not evolve,because machinesand society didit for us.Darwin had aphrase to describe those ignorant ofevolution: they “look at an organic being as a savagelooks at aship, as at somethingwholly beyond hiscomprehension.”No doubtwe will remember a20th century wayof life beyondcomprehension for its

8、ugliness.But however amazed our descendants may be at howfar fromUtopia we were, they will look justlike us.15. What used tobe thedanger in beinga man according tothe first paragraph?A Alack ofmates.BA fiercecompetition.CA lowersurvival rate.D Adefective gene.16. What does theexample ofIndia illustr

9、ate?A Wealthy peopletend tohave fewerchildren than poor people.BNatural selection hardlyworks among the richand the poor.CThe middle class population is80% smaller than that of the tribes.D India isoneof the countries witha very highbirth rate.17. The author argues thatour bodies have stoppedevolving because _.A life hasbeen improved by technological advanceBthe numberof female babieshasbeen decliningCour specieshas reached the highest stageof evolutionD the difference between wealth andpoverty is disappearing18. Which ofthefollowing would be thebest