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  3. In 2010, Pamela Fink, an employee of a Connecticut energy company, made a new kind of discrimination claim: she charged that she

In 2010, Pamela Fink, an employee of a Connecticut energy company, made a new kind of discrimination claim: she charged that she

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问题     In 2010, Pamela Fink, an employee of a Connecticut energy company, made a new kind of discrimination claim: she charged that she had been fired because she carries genes that predispose her to cancer. Fink quickly became the public face for the cutting edge of civil rights: genetic discrimination.
    The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, which was passed out of concern for just such cases in the wake of huge advances in genetics testing, took effect in late 2009. GIN A, as it is known, makes it illegal for employers to fire or refuse to hire workers based on their "genetic information" — including genetic tests and family history of disease. GINA doesn’t just apply to employers: health-insurance companies can be sued for using genetic information to set rates or even just for investigating people’s genes.
    The numbers of genetic-discrimination complaints will almost certainly increase greatly in coming years, for the reason that, as biological science advances, there is likely to be even more genetic information available about people. Even though this sort of medical information should remain private, employers and insurance companies will have strong financial incentives to get access to it—and to use it to avoid people who are most likely to get sick.
    When genetic-discrimination claims start showing up in the courts in significant numbers, they are likely to get a sympathetic hearing. There are two major reasons that so many people—even congressional Republicans who are highly skeptical of civil rights laws—like GINA. First, there is the kind of discrimination it is aimed at: penalizing people for strands of DNA and RNA that they inherited from their parents through no fault of their own. In general, our society has decided to protect people for qualities that are " immutable" —that is, something about them that is impossible or, at least, very difficult to change.
    So we make it illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, skin color and sex. On the other hand, we generally do not protect people who are not hired because they lack a high school diploma or because they wear a beard. Our response to those people is that if you want the job you should get more education or shave. Genes are a classic immutable characteristic: outside of some complicated medical procedures, we’re pretty much stuck with the genes we were born with.
    The second major reason genetic-discrimination laws are popular is that this is a kind of bias everyone feels they could be exposed to. None of us has perfect genes—and for the most part, we have no idea what is lurking in our DNA and RNA. Our genes are complex enough that we all have some negative information encoded in there—and none of us wants to lose a job or be denied insurance over it. When juries begin to hear these cases, they are far more likely to identify with the plaintiffs than with the companies that discriminate. That doesn’t mean that there won’t be plenty of companies looking to benefit from genetic information, but if they use it, they may well have to pay.
Which of the following prosecutors may win a discrimination appeal?
选项 A、A black African with high school diploma is rejected by a company demanding at least bachelor degree.
B、A young man is refused to be enlisted because his health condition is diagnosed as unsuitable for battle.
C、A Chinese oversea student is expelled from the university because of poor academic performance.
D、A qualified young woman who is refused by a company because she is of marriageable age.
答案D
解析 本题主要考查对于discrimination一词的理解。作者在第四段中提到，认定一个案件构不构成歧视案件，一个很重要的判断标准就是是否是因为被歧视者本身无法改变的特质而对他加以区别对待。第五段中，作者具体举了例子。例如：因为种族、国籍、肤色和性别而对他人进行区别对待，这就是歧视。但是如果某个人因为留胡子或者没有获得大学文凭而被公司拒绝，这种情况下因为当事人可以通过改变自己的行为改变自己的处境，因此就不构成歧视。根据这层理解，我们对四个选项进行判断。[A]选项不构成歧视，虽然提到了美国黑人，但是这里他被拒绝的原因并不是因为他的肤色，而是因为他的学历问题。[B]选项也不构成歧视，年轻男子身体条件不符合参战，虽然身体条件本身是年轻男子无法改变的特质，男子本身不具备承担军事任务的能力，因此不被征召不属于对他的歧视。[C]选项也不构成歧视，虽然提到了中国籍男子，但是他被学校开除并不是因为他的国籍，而是他的学业表现。这里构成歧视的只有[D]选项，一个符合资格的女性却因为年龄问题而被拒之门外，这是典型的因为他人不可变更的特质而对他人进行区别对待。[D]为正确答案。
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