自考学位英语阅读理解

Being a man has always been dangerous. ②There 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.

③But the great universal of male mortality is being changed. ④Now, boy babies survive almost as well as girls do. ⑤This means that, for the first time, there will be an excess of boys in those crucial years when they are searching for a mate. ⑥More important, another chance for natural selection has been removed. ⑦Fifty 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. ⑧Today it makes almost no difference. Since much of the variation is due to genes, one more agent of evolution has gone.

①There is another way to commit evolutionary suicide: stay alive, but have fewer children. ②Few people are as fertile as in the past. ③Except in some religious communities, very few women have 15 children. ④Nowadays the number of births, like the age of death, has become average. ⑤Most of us have roughly the same number of offspring. ⑥（16）Again, differences between people and the opportunity for natural selection to take advantage of it have diminished. ⑦India shows what is happening. The country offers wealth for a few in the great cities and poverty for the remaining tribal peoples.

⑧The 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.

7、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. 全文翻译

身为男性总是有危险，男女出生时的比例大约是105∶100，但到了成年期，这一比例几乎持平，而在70岁的老年人中女性是男性的两倍。（句式1）但是男性死亡率普遍偏高的情况正在改变。如今，男婴存活率几乎同女婴一样高。这就意味着到了男孩寻找伴侣的关键年龄，将首次出现男孩过剩现象。更重要的是，自然选择的另一次机会也已不复存在了。50年前，婴儿（尤其是男婴）存活的机率取决于体重，轻一公斤或重一公斤几乎意味着必死无疑。现在，体重几乎不起什么作用。因为大部分差异是由基因引起的，所以进化的又一个因素消失了。

进化自杀还有另一种方法：活着，但少生孩子。（句式2）现在，没有几个人像过去那样具有旺盛的生育力。除了在一些宗教团体之外，几乎没有妇女能够生育15个孩子。当今出生的人数同死亡年龄一样已趋于平均化，我们多数人的子女数量大致相同。而且，人与人之间的差异和利用这种差异进行自然选择的机会都已经减少。（句式3）印度可以说明正在发生的一切。这个国家给大城市里的少数人提供财富，而给其余的各部落民族以贫困。今天这种极其显著的平均化——每个人的生存机会和子女数量都相同——意味着与部落相比，自然选择在印度中、上阶层已经失去了80%的效力

When all the animals of a species die out, the whole loses. That creature is gone forever. Many people are worried about this happening to large numbers of wild animals. They spend time complaining to help preserve wildlife. One of the best known preservationists is Joan Embery. She is a attractive young woman who works for the San Diego zoo.

Joan Embery's vast knowledge of animals makes her a frequent guest on TV talk shows. She has been on the "Johnny Carson Show" over forty times. She explains common errors in thinking about wildlife. For example, gorillas (大猩猩) aren't the ferocious beats they appear to be. They're really quite shy. Monkeys that smile aren't as happy as they may seem. In fact, a monkey's ear-to-ear grin means "watch out". Snakes really help nature by eating harmful insects. So people should try to protect them. Joan Embery hopes that once people understand animals better, they will do their best to preserve them.

Joan helped pioneer the field of zoo work for women. Before she became well known, few women were connected with this field. It was not considered a desirable profession. Now many women work in zoos.

"It's a great feeling to help keep an animal thriving on earth," says Joan. Anyone who cares about wildlife certainly agrees. How lucky animals are to have a friend like Joan Embery!