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七基因While not exactly a top selling book, The History and Geography of Human Genes is a remarkable collection of more than 50 years of research in population genetics. It stands as the most extensive survey to date on how humans vary at the level of their genes. The book's firm conclusion: once the genes for surface features such as skin color and height are discounted, the "races" are remarkably alike under the skin. The variation among individuals is much greater than the differences among groups. In fact, there is no scientific basis for theories pushing the genetic superiority of any one population over another.The book, however, is much more than an argument against the latest racially biased theory. The prime mover behind the project, Luca Cavalli-Sforza, a Stanford professor, labored with his colleagues for 16 years to create nothing less than the first genetic map of the world. The book features more than 500 maps that show areas of genetic similarity — much as places of equal altitude are shown by the same color on other maps. By measuring how closely current populations are related, the authors trace the routes by which early humans migrated around the earth. Result: the closest thing we have to a global family tree.The information needed to draw that tree is found in human blood: various proteins that serve as markers to reveal a person's genetic makeup. Using data collected by scientists over decades, the authors assembled profiles of hundreds of thousands of individuals from almost 2,000 groups. And to ensure the populations were "pure", the study was confined to groups that were in their present locations as of 1492, before the first major movements fromEurope began — in effect, a genetic photo of the world when Columbus sailed for America.Collecting blood, particularly from ancient populations in remote areas, was not always easy; potential donors were often afraid to cooperate, or raised religious concerns. On one occasion, when Cavalli-Sforza was taking blood samples from children in a rural region of Africa, he was confronted by an angry farmer waving an axe. Recalls the scientist: "I remember him saying, ’If you take the blood of the children, I'll take yours.’ He was worried that we might want to do some magic with the blood."Despite the difficulties, the scientists made some remarkable discoveries. One of them jumps right off the book's cover: a color map of the world's genetic variation has Africa at one end of the range and Australia at the other. Because Australia's native people and black Africans share such superficial characteristics as skin color and body shape, they were widely assumed to be closely related. But their genes tell a different story. Of all humans, Australians are most distant from the Africans and most closely resemble their neighbors, the Southeast Asians. What the eye sees as racial differences —between Europeans and Africans, for example — are mainly a way to adapt to climate as humans move from one continent to anotherAfrican branch is the oldest on the human family tree.The genetic maps also shed new light on the origins of populations that have long puzzled scientists. Example: the Khoisan people of southern Africa. Many scientists consider the Khoisan a distinct race of very ancient origin. The unique character of the clicking sounds in their language has persuaded some researchers that the Khoisan people are directly descended from the most primitive human ancestors. But their genes beg to differ. They show that the Khoisan may be a very ancient mix of west Asians and black Africans. A genetic trail visible on the maps shows that the breeding ground for this mixed population probably lies in Ethiopia or the Middle East.The most distinctive members of the European branch of the human tree are the Basques of France and Spain. They show unusual patterns for several genes, including the highest rate of a rare blood type. Their language is of unknown origin and cannot be placed within any standard classification. And the fact that they live in a region next to famous caves which contain vivid paintings from Europe's early humans, leads Cavalli-Sforza to the following conclusion: "The Basques are extremely likely to be the most direct relatives of the Cro-Magnon people, among the first modern humans in Europe." All Europeans are thought to be a mixed population, with 65% Asian and 35% African genes.In addition to telling us about our origins, genetic information is also the latest raw material of the medical industry, which hopes to use human DNA to build specialized proteins that may have some value as disease-fighting drugs. Activists for native populations fear that the scientists could exploit these peoples:genetic material taken from blood samples could be used for commercial purposes without adequate payment made to the groups that provide the DNA.Cavalli-Sforza stresses that his mission is not just scientific but social as well. The study's ultimate aim, he says, is to "weaken conventional notions of race" that cause racial prejudice. It is a goal that he hopes will be welcomed among native peoples who have long struggled for the same end.八Slavery Gave Me Nothing to LoseI remember the very day that I became black. Up to my thirteenth year I lived in the little Negro town of Eatonville, Florida. It is exclusively a black town. The only white people I knew passed through the town going to or coming from Orlando, Florida. The native whites rode dusty horses, and the northern tourists traveled down the sandy village road in automobiles. The town knew the Southerners and never stopped chewing sugar cane when they passed. But the Northerners were something else again. They were peered at cautiously from behind curtains by the timid. The bold would come outside to watch them go past and got just as much pleasure out of the tourists as the tourists got out of the village. The front deck might seem a frightening place for the rest of the town, but it was a front row seat for me. My favorite place was on top of the gatepost. Not only did I enjoy the show, but I didn't mind the actors knowing that I liked it. I usually spoke to them in passing. I'd wave at them and when they returned my wave, I would say a few words of greeting. Usually the automobile or the horse paused at this, and after a strange exchange of greetings, I would probably "go a piece of the way" with them, as we say in farthest Florida, and follow them down the road a bit. If one of my family happened to come to the front of the house in time to see me, of course the conversation would be rudely broken off.During this period, white people differed from black to me only in that they rode through town and never lived there. They liked to hear me "speak pieces" and sing and wanted to see me dance, and gave me generously of their small silver for doing these things, which seemed strange to me for I wanted to do them so much that I needed bribing to stop. Only they didn't know it. The colored people gave no coins. They disapproved of any joyful tendencies in me, but I was their Zora nevertheless. I belonged to them, to the nearby hotels, to the country — everybody's ZoraBut changes came to the family when I was thirteen, and I was sent to school in Jacksonville. I left Eatonville as Zora. When I got off the riverboat at Jacksonville, she was no more. It seemed that I had suffered a huge change. I was not Zora of Eatonville any more; I was now a little black girl. I found it out in certain ways. In my heart as well as in the mirror, I became a permanent brown — like the best shoe polish, guaranteed not to rub nor run.Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the granddaughter of slaves. It fails to register depression with me. Slavery is something sixty years in the past. The operation was successful and the patient is doing well, thank you. The terrible war that made me an American instead of a slave said "On the line!" The period following the Civil War said "Get set!"; and the generation before me said "Go!" Like a foot race, I am off to a flying start and I must not halt in the middle to look behind and weep. Slavery is the price I paid for civilization, and the choice was not with me. No one on earth ever had a greater chance for glory. The world to be won and nothing to be lost. It is thrilling to think, to know, that for any act of mine, I shall get twice as much praise or twice as much blame. It is quite exciting to hold the center of the national stage, with the audience not knowing whether to laugh or to weep.I do not always feel colored. Even now I often achieve the unconscious Zora of that small village, Eatonville. For instance, I can sit in a restaurant with a white person. We enter chatting about any little things that we have in common and the white man would sit calmly in his seat, listening to me with interest.At certain times I have no race, I am me. But in the main, I feel like a brown bag of mixed items propped up against a wall. Against a wall in company with other bags, white, red and yellow. Pour out the contents, and there is discovered a pile of small things both valuable and worthless. Bits of broken glass, lengths of string, a key to a door long since decayed away, a rusty knife-blade, old shoes saved for a road that never was and never will be, a nail bent under the weight of things too heavy for any nail, a dried flower or two still with a little smell. In your hand is the brown bag. On the ground before you is the pile it held — so much like the piles in the other bags, could they be emptied, that all might be combined and mixed in a single heap and the bags refilled without altering the content of any greatly. A bit of colored glass more or less would not matter. Perhaps that is how the Great Stuffer of Bags filled them in the first place — who knows?九Does this mean that French men seeking work with the Disney organization must shave offtheir moustaches too?A labor inspector took the Disney organization to court this week, contending that thecompany's dress and appearance code — which bans moustaches, beards, excess weight,short skirts and fancy stockings — offends individual liberty and violates French labor law.The case is an illustration of some of the delicate cultural issues the company faces as itgets ready to open its theme park 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of Paris in five months' time.The Disney management, which is assembling what it calls a "cast" of 12,000 to run thetheme park, argues that all employees, from bottle washers to the president, are similar toactors who have to obey rules about appearance. Anyway, a company spokesman says, noone has yet put his moustache before a job. As one new "cast member" put it: "You mustbelieve in what you are doing, or you would have a terrible time here."But what do people think of Euro Disney? People everywhere are wondering whetherEuropeans would like the American recreation.For all its concern about foreign cultural invasion and its defense against the pollution ofthe French language by English words, France's Socialist government has been untroubledabout putting such a huge American symbol on the doorstep of the capital and has been moreconcerned about its social effect. It made an extraordinary series of tax and financialconcessions to attract the theme park here rather than let it go to sunny Spain.The theme park itself will be only part of a giant complex of housing, office, and resortdevelopments stretching far into the next century, including movie and television productionfacilities. As part of its deal with the Disney organization, the government is laying on andpaying for new highways, an extension of Paris's regional express railway and even a directconnection for the high speed TGV railway to the Channel Tunnel. The TGV station is being builtin front of the main entrance of Euro Disneyland, and is scheduled to come into service in 1994.If Euro Disneyland succeeds — where theme parks already in France have so far failed — asecond and even a third park is likely to be built by the end of the century. Financial experts saythat Euro Disneyland, the first phase of which is costing an estimated $3.6 billion, is essentialto Disney's overall fortunes, which have been hit by competition and declining attendance inthe United States.French intellectuals have not found many kind things to say about the project. The kids,however, will probably never notice. Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Peter Pan, and Pinocchio allcome from European fairy tales or stories and are as familiar to children here as they are in theUnited States. To a French child Mickey is French. To an Italian kid he is Italian.The Disney management is stressing this tradition in an apparent response tosuggestions that it is culturally insensitive. Although the concept of the theme park is closelybased on the original Magic Kingdom in California and Walt Disney World in Florida, "EuroDisneyland will be unique in a manner appropriate to its European home," the company says. "The legends and fairy tales which come from Europe figure prominently in the creativedevelopment of the theme park." Officials point out, for example, that Sleeping Beauty's castle,the central feature of the theme park, is based not on Hollywood, as some might think, but onthe illustrations in a medieval European book. Also, a 360-degree movie, based on theadventures of Jules Verne, features well-known European actors.Asked to describe other aspects of the effort to make the park more European, aspokesman mentioned that direction signs in the theme park will be in French as well asEnglish, and that some performers will chat in French, Spanish and English. "The challenge istelling things people already know — and at the same time making it different," the spokesmansaid.On the other hand, this effort is not being taken too far. Another Disney spokesman saidearlier that the aim of the theme park is to provide a basically American experience for thosewho seek it. In this way, he said, people who might otherwise have contemplated a vacation inthe United States will be happy to stay on this side of the Atlantic.The Disney organization does seem to focus a bit too much on hair. "Main Street, USA", theheart of Euro Disneyland, it promises, will feature an old time "Harmony Barber Shop" to dealwith "messy hair and hairy chins" — and perhaps even offending mustaches. One differencefrom California or Florida: Parts of Main Street and waiting areas to get into the attractions willbe covered over as a concession to Paris's rainy weather.Euro Disneyland's short distance to Paris is a definite attraction. Anyone tiring of Americanor fake European culture can reach the Louvre art museum by express railway in less than anhour — from Minnie Mouse to Mona Lisa in a flash.Communications figured largely in the Disney organization's decision to site its fourththeme park near Paris. The site is within a two-hour flight of 320 million Europeans. Theopening of Eastern Europe is another prize for the company, which一An artist who seeks fame is like a dog chasing his own tail who, when he captures it, does not know what else to do but to continue chasing it. the cruelty of success is that it often leads those who seek such success to participate in their own destruction."Don't quit your day job!" is advice frequently given by understandably essimisticfamily members and friends to a budding artist who is trying hard to succeed. The conquestof fame is difficult at best, and many end up emotionally if not financiallybankrupttill, impure motivessuch as the desire forworshipping fans and praise from peers may spur the artist on. Thelureof drowningin fame's imperial glory is not easily resisted.hose who gain fame most often gain it as a result of exploiting their talent for singing, dancing, painting, or writing, etc. They develop a style that agentsmarket aggressively to hasten popularity, and their ride on the express elevatorto the top is a blurMost would be hard-pressed to tell you how they even got there. Artists cannot remain idle, though.When the performer, painter or writer becomes bored their work begins to show a lack of continuityin its appeal and it becomes difficult tosustain the attention of the public.After their enthusiasm has dissolved, the public simply moves on to the next flavor of the month.Artists who do attempt to remain current by making even minutechanges to their style of writing, dancing or singing, run a significant risk of losing the audience's favor.The public simply discounts styles other than those for which the artist has become famous.Famous authors' styles—a Tennessee Williams play or a plot by Ernest Hemingway or a poem by Robert Frost or T.S. Eliot—are easily recognizable.The same is true of painters like Monet, Renoir, or Dali and moviemakers like Hitchcock, Fellini, Spielberg, Chen Kaige or Zhang Yimou. Their distinctstyles marked a significant change in form from others and gained them fame and fortune. However, they paid for it by giving up the freedom to express themselves with other styles or forms.Fame's spotlight can be hotter than a tropical ungle—a fraud is quickly exposed, and the pressure of so much attention is too much for most to endure. It takes you out of yourself: You must be what the public thinks you are, not what you really are or could be. The performer, like the politician, must often please his or her audiences by saying things he or she does not mean or fully believe.One drop of fame will likely contaminatethe entire well of a man's soul, and so an artist who remains true to himself or herself is particularly amazing. You would be hard-pressed to <30>underline</30> many names of those who have not compromised and still succeeded in the fame game.An example, the famous Irish writer Oscar Wilde, known for his <31>uncompromising</31> behavior, both social and sexual, to which the public <32>objected</32>, paid heavily for remaining true to himself.The mother of a young man Oscar was intimate with <33>accused</33> him at a <34>banquet</34> in front of his friends and fans of sexually influencing her son.Extremely angered by her remarks, he <35>sued</35> the young man's mother, asserting that she had damaged his "good" name.He should have hired a better <36>attorney</36>, though.The judge did not <37>second</37> Wilde's call to have the woman pay for damaging his name, and instead <38>fined</38> Wilde.He ended up in jail after refusing to pay, and even worse, was permanently <39>expelled</39> from the wider circle of public favor.When things were at their worst, he found that no one was willing to risk his or her name in his defense.His price for remaining true to himself was to be left alone when he needed his fans the most.Curiously enough, it is those who fail that reap the greatest reward: freedom!They enjoy the freedom to express themselves in unique and original ways without fear of losing the support of fans. Failed artists may find comfort in knowing that many great artists never found fame until well after they had passed away or in knowing that they did not sell out.They may <40>justify</40> their failure by convincing themselves their genius is too sophisticated for contemporary audiences.Single-minded artists who continue their quest for fame even after failure might also like to know that failure has motivated some famous people to work even harder to succeed.before it was finally published.Beethoven overcame his father, who did not believe that he had any potential as a musician, to become the greatest <43>musician</43> in the world. And Pestalozzi, the famous Swiss educator in the 19th century, failed at every job he ever had until he came upon the idea of teaching children and developing the fundamental theories to produce a new form of education. Thomas Edison was thrown out of school in the fourth grade, because he seemed to his teacher to be quite dull. Unfortunately for most people, however, failure is the end of their struggle, not the beginning.I say to those who <45>desperately</45> seek fame and fortune: good luck.But <46>alas</46>, you may find that it was not what you wanted.The dog who catches his tail discovers that it is only a tail.The person who achieves success often discovers that it does more harm than good.So instead of trying so hard to achieve success, try to be happy with who you are and what you do.Try to do work that you can be proud of.Maybe you won't be famous in your own lifetime, but you may create better art.二He was born in a poor area of South London. He wore his mother's old red stockings cut down for anklesocks. His mother was temporarily declared mad.P1>Dickens might have created Charlie Chaplin's childhood. But only Charlie Chaplin could have created the great <2>comic</2> character of "the Tramp", the little man in <3>rags</3> who gave his二Other countries—France, Italy, Spain, even Japan—<P2>have provided more <4>applause</4> (and profit) where Chaplin is concerned than the land of his birth.Chaplin quit Britain for good in 1913 when he journeyed to America with a group of performers to do his <5>comedy</5> act on the stage, where talent <6>scouts</6> recruited him to work for Mack Sennett, the king of Hollywood comedy films.Sad to say, many English people in the 1920s and 1930s thought Chaplin's Tramp a bit, well, Certainly middle-class audiences did; the working-class audiences were more likely to <8>clap</8> for a character who <9>revolted</9> against authority, using his wicked little cane to trip it up, or aiming the heel</10> of his boot for a well-placed kick at its broad rear. All the same, <P4>Chaplin's comic beggar didn't seem all that English or even working-class. English tramps didn't sport tiny <11>moustaches</11>, huge pants or tail coats: European leaders and Italian waiters wore things like that.Then again, <P5>the Tramp's quick eye for a pretty girl had a <12>coarse</12> way about it that was considered, well, not quite nice by English audiences—that's how foreigners behaved, wasn't it? But for over half of his screen career, Chaplin had no screen voice to confirm his British <13>nationality</13>.Indeed, it was a headache for Chaplin when he could no longer resist the talking movies and had to find "the right voice" for his Tramp. He <14>postponed</14> that day as long as possible: In <em>Modern Times</em> in 1936, the first film in which he was heard as a singing waiter, he made up a <15>nonsense</15> language which sounded like no known nationality.He later said he imagined the Tramp to be a college-educated gentleman who'd come down in the world.But if he'd been able to speak with an educated accent in those early short comedies, it's <16>doubtful</16> if he would have achieved world fame. nd the English would have been sure to find it "odd". No one was certain whether Chaplin did it on purpose but this helped to bring about his huge success.He was an <18>immensely</18> talented man, determined to a degree unusual even in the ranks of Hollywood stars.His huge fame gave him the freedom—and, more importantly, the money—to be his own master.<P7>He already had the urge to explore and extend a talent he discovered in himself as he went along. "It can't be me. Is that possible? How <19>extraordinary</19>," is how he greeted the first sight of himself as the Tramp on the screen.But that shock <20>roused</20> his imagination. Chaplin didn't have his jokes written into a <21>script</21> in advance; he was the kind of comic who used his physical senses to invent his art as he went along. Lifeless objects especially helped Chaplin make "contact" with himself as an artist. He turned them into other kinds of objects.Thus, a broken alarm clock in the movie <em>The Pawnbroker</em> became a "sick" patient undergoing surgery; boots were boiled in his film <em>The Gold Rush</em> and their soles eaten with salt and <22>pepper</22> like prime cuts of fish (the nails being removed like fish bones). This physical transformation, plus the skill with which he <23>executed</23> it again and again, is surely the secret of Chaplin's great comedy.He also had a deep need to be loved—and a corresponding fear of being betrayed。