首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Man, so the truism goes, lives increasingly in a man-made environment. This places a special burden on human immaturity, for it
Man, so the truism goes, lives increasingly in a man-made environment. This places a special burden on human immaturity, for it
admin
2010-05-14
46
问题
Man, so the truism goes, lives increasingly in a man-made environment. This places a special burden on human immaturity, for it is plain that adapting to such variable conditions must depend very heavily on opportunities for learning, or whatever the processes are that are operative (luring immaturity. It must also mean that during immaturity man must master knowledge and skills that are either stored in the gene pool or learned by direct encounter, but which are contained in the culture pool-- knowledge about values and history, skills as varied as an obligatory natural language or an optional mathematical one, as mute as levers or as articulate as myth telling.
Yet, it would be a mistake to leap to the conclusion that because human immaturity makes possible high flexibility, therefore anything is possible for the species. Human traits were selected for their survival value over a four--to five-million-year period with a great acceleration of the selection process during the last half of that period. There were crucial, irreversible changes during that final man-making period: recession of formidable dentition, 50 percent increase in brain volume, the obstetrical paradox--bipedalism and strong pelvic girdle, larger brain through a smaller birth canal immature brain at birth, and creation of what Washburn has called a "technical-social way of life, involving tool and symbol use.
Note, however, that hominidization consisted principally of adaptations to conditions in the Pleistocene. These preadaptations, shaped in response to earlier habitat demands, are part of man’s evolutionary inheritance. This is not to say that close beneath the skin of man is a naked ape, that civilization is only a veneer. The technical-social way of life is a deep feature of the species adaptation. But we would .err if we assumed a priori that man’s inheritance placed no constraint on his power to adapt. Some of the preadaptations can be shown to be presently maladaptive. Man’s inordinate fondness for fats and sweets no longer serves his individual survival well. And the human obsession with sexuality is plainly not fitted for survival of the species now, however well it might have served to population the upper Pliocene and the Pleistocene. Nevertheless, note that the species responds typically to these challenges by technical innovation rather than by morphological or behavioral change. Contraception dissociates sexuality from reproduction. We do not, of course, know what kinds and what range of stresses are produced by successive rounds of such technical innovation. Dissociating sexuality and reproduction, for example, surely produces changes in the structure of the family, which in turn redefine the role of women, which in turn alters the authority pattern affecting the child, etc. continuing and possible acceleration change seems inherent in such adaptation. And this, of course, places and enormous pressure on man’s uses of immaturity, preparing the young for unforeseeable change--the more so if there are severe restraints imposed by human preadaptations to earlier conditions of life.
It can be inferred that the obstetrical paradox is puzzling because______.
选项
A、it occurred very late during the evolution of the species
B、evolutionary forces seemed to work at cross purposes to each other
C、technological innovations have made the process of birth easier
D、an increase in brain size is not an ordinary evolutionary event
答案
B
解析
推论题。问题的关键词是paradox。这个单词的含义为某个“似是而非令人费解的问题”。正确的选择就是要说明这种现象为什么会令人费解。B的内容做到了这点。paradox的焦点所在就是人类朝着两个不同的方向在改变自己。一方面脑子在变大,另一方面生殖道变窄小,这样一来,造成生育困难。这让人迷惑不解,因为我们认为进化的结果会消除这种困难,结果却相反。A的内容,文章中确实提到过,说这种变化比较晚,但并没有说这让人感到吃惊。D也是一样,提到了脑子变大的事实,但并未让人感到 puzzling。至于C的内容,文中无法找到。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/TBlO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
TotheoneBritishcoupleinseventhathasproblemsconceiving,twinssoundlikeadreamcometrue.Sowhenwould-beparentstu
A、SouthAfricahasspentquitesometimeinquestioningthedrugs’efficacyandsafety.B、Thenationisfinallyembracingallap
SincetheendofWorldWarII,abroadconsensusinsupportofglobaleconomicintegrationasaforceforpeaceandprosperityh
A、AKoreanAmericanboy.B、A16-yearoldgirlinNewYork.C、AVietnameseyoungman.D、AJapanesecollegestudent.A
A、AwaveoftoxicmudtravelsdowntheRioDoceRiverinBrazil.B、Manyspeciesofmarinelifesuchasthedolphinsandwhalesf
Thecollegeboard’srecentlyannouncedchangestoitsSATcollegeentranceexambringtomindthefamiliarphrasetoolittle,to
InJapanesetheworddepatoreferstoDuringtheMeijieradepatowasregardedbyJapanesecustomersasa(n)______shoppingp
isawayinwhichthemeaningofawordcanbedissectedintomeaningcomponentscalledsemanticfeatures.
A、BecauseofthewarningaboutsalesB、BecausethecustomersarereluctanttotradeuptonewhandsetsC、Becauseofcuttinginto
A、Microsoftdidnottakeitseriously.B、Microsoftwasopposedtothedecision.C、MicrosoftdecidedtodoasE.U.required.D、M
随机试题
上消化道造影禁忌证不包括
针对隧道工程防水层施工质量检测,请回答下列问题。复合式衬砌防水层实测项目主要有()。
在国际贸易货物海洋运输方式中,适用于小批量、多批次且交货港口分散的货物运输方式是()
犯罪构成亦称()。
管理组织设计程序包括( )。
【背景资料】某施工单位承接了一座80m+160m+80m预应力混凝土连续刚构桥。其中2号墩位于水中,河流平均水深达6m。施工期河流不通航,水面宽度240m。地质钻探资料揭示,有厚8~12m的粉质黏土覆盖层,覆盖层以下为黏土和砂性土,桩基设计采用钻
随着年龄的增长,人体对热量的日需求量逐渐减少,而对维生素和微量元素的需求却日趋增多。因此,为了摄取足够的维生素和微量元素,老年人应当服用一些补充维生素和微量元素的保健品,或者应当注意比年轻时食用更多的含有维生素和微量元素的食物。为了对上述断定做出评价,回答
软件系统的测试包括:Ⅰ.验收测试Ⅱ.系统测试Ⅲ.模块测试Ⅳ.集成测试Ⅴ.有效性测试它们的测试顺序为______。
______,他说的是什么意思。
很高兴在这次教育国际论坛上与大家交流我对21世纪教育的看法。21世纪,我们看到知识成了创造力和财富的源泉。知识能通过网络分享,我们生活在一个由网络连通的智慧时代。我们分享资源并形成各种伙伴关系。知识与经验的交流和分享创造了一个互惠互利的共同进步的环境。
最新回复
(
0
)