——摘自《考研英語三層遞進(jìn)攻破閱讀理解》
Text 2
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 70yearolds 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 uppermiddleclass 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 “l(fā)ook 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
核心詞匯：
crucial［5kru:FiEl, 5kru:FEl］a.至關(guān)重要的,決定性的
descendant［di5sendEnt］n.子孫，后代（descend遺傳+ant人→遺傳給后代）
descendant［di5sendEnt］n.子孫,后代v.遺傳（指財產(chǎn),氣質(zhì),權(quán)利）; 下來,下降(descend傳下+ant人→傳下的人→后代)
describe［dis5kraib］v.描寫，敘述（de著重+scribe→著重寫→描寫）
diminish［di5miniF］v.縮小,減少,遞減(di向下+min小+ish→小下去→縮小)
fertile［5fE:tail］a.肥沃的,富饒的;能繁殖的(fer帶來，拿來+ile形容詞后綴→能帶來糧食→肥沃的)
gene［dVi:n］n.基因
ignorant［5ignErEnt］a.1無知的; 愚昧的; 沒有學(xué)識的; 不知道的 ;不識禮的; 粗野的; 沒有禮貌的(i不+gnore知道→不知道+ant形容詞后綴→不知道的；無知的)
involve［in5vClv］v.卷入,陷入,連累;包含,含有,涉及（in 進(jìn)入+volv+e→轉(zhuǎn)進(jìn)去→卷入）
involve［in5vClv］v.卷入,陷入,連累;包含,含有,涉及（in 進(jìn)入+volv+e→轉(zhuǎn)進(jìn)去→卷入）
maturity［mE5tjuEriti］n.成熱, 完備, (票據(jù))到期, 成熟(matur（e）+ity)，mature（成熟的v.成熟），ity名詞后綴
mediocrity［9mi:di5Ckriti］n.平常, 平庸之才(medi+ocr+ity)，medi前綴“中間”（如medium→medi+um后綴→中間的；媒介），ocr看作Optical Character Recognition（光學(xué)字符識別），ity名詞后綴，用中等（medi）識別率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名詞后綴。
offspring［5C(:)fspriN］n.子孫,后代;結(jié)果,產(chǎn)物
organic［C:5gAnik］a.器官的; 器質(zhì)性的 ;.生物的; 有機(jī)體的; 有機(jī)物的;有機(jī)的;建制的; 有組織的; 有系統(tǒng)的(organ機(jī)構(gòu)+ic形容詞后綴→有機(jī)體的)
ratio［5reiFiEu］n.比; 比率 (rat（e→i）比率，o名詞后綴)
savage［5sAvidV］a.野蠻的;兇惡的n.野人,未開化的人
survive［sE5vaiv］v.幸免于,幸存;比……長命（sur在下面+viv+e→在下面或下來→幸存）
tribe［traib］n.種族，部落；(植物，動物)族，類
Utopia （烏托邦）是英國空想社會主義者托馬斯·莫爾（Thomas More）所著書名的簡稱，書中描寫了作者所想象的沒有階級的幸福社會——烏托邦，意即“沒有的地方”。