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  3. Darwin and Lincoln Are Strangely Fit Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were born in the same year, on the same day: Feb. 12

Darwin and Lincoln Are Strangely Fit Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were born in the same year, on the same day: Feb. 12

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问题                     Darwin and Lincoln Are Strangely Fit
    Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were born in the same year, on the same day: Feb. 12, 1809. How’s this for a coincidence? Instinctively, we want to say that they belong together. It’s not just because they were both great men, and not because they happen to be exactly at the same age. Rather, it’s because the scientist and the politician each touched off a revolution that changed the world.
    Lincoln and Darwin were both revolutionaries, in the sense that both men upended realities that prevailed when they were born.They seen—and sound—modern to us, because the world they left behind them is more or less the one we still live in. So, considering the joint magnitude of their contributions—and the coincidence of their conjoined birthdays—it is hard not to wonder: who was the greater man? It’s an apples and oranges—or Superman vs Santa—comparison. But if you limit the question to influence, it bears pondering, all the more if you turn the question around and ask, what might have happened if one of these men had not been born? Very quickly the balance tips in Lincoln’s favor. Great as Darvin’s book on evolution is, it does no harm to remember that he hurried to publish "The Origin of Species" because he thought he was about to be scooped (抢先) by his fellow naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, who had independently come up with much the same idea of evolution through natural selection. In other words, there was a certain inevitability to Darwin’s theory. Ideas about evolution surfaced thoroughout the first part of the 19th century, and while none of them was as conclusive as Darwin’s, it was not as though he was the only man who had the idea.
    Lincoln, in contrast, is unique. Take him out of the picture, and there is no telling what might have happened to the country. True, his election to the presidency did provoke secession and, in turn, the war itself, but that war seems inevitable—not a question of if but when. If Darwin were not so irreplaceable as Lincoln, that should not deny his accomplishment. No one could have formulated his theory any more elegantly—or anguished more over its implications. Like Lincoln, Darwin was brave. He risked his health and his reputation to advance the idea that we are not over nature but a part of it. Lincoln prosecuted a war—and became its ultimate casualty—to ensure that no man should have dominion over another. Their identical birthdays afford us a superb opportunity to observe these men in the shared context of their time—how each was shaped by his circumstances, how each reacted to the beliefs that steered the world into which he was born and ultimately how each reshaped his corner of that world and left it irrevocably changed.
Why does the author think Lincoln is greater than Darwin?
选项 A、Because Lincoln’s influence is greater.
B、Because Lincoln was more courageous.
C、Because Lincoln was more high-minded.
D、Because Lincoln died for the nation.
答案A
解析 事实细节题。根据题干关键词Lincoln，Darwin，greater定位到原文第二段。本段第五、六句对二人进行了比较：But if you limit the question to influence，it bears pondering…．Very quickly the balance tips in Lincoln’s favor．如果把这个问题限于影响力的范围…这就确实需要认真思考一下了。天平会很快偏向林肯。由此可知，作者认为林肯更伟大是因为其影响更大，故选[A]项。[B]项“因为林肯更勇敢”，文章最后一段提到达尔文和林肯一样勇敢；[C]项“因为林肯更高尚”，作者并未提到谁更高尚的问题；[D]项“因为林肯为国牺牲”题干本身说法错误。
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