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
Being a man has always been dangerous. There are about 105 males born for every 100 females, but this ratio drops to near balanc
Being a man has always been dangerous. There are about 105 males born for every 100 females, but this ratio drops to near balanc
admin
2019-05-09
68
问题
Being a man has always been dangerous. There 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. But the great universal of male mortality is being changed. Now, boy babies survive almost as well as girls do. This means that, for the first time, there will be an excess of boys in those crucial years when they are searching for a mate. More important, another chance for natural selection has been removed. Fifty 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. Today it makes almost no difference. Since much of the variation is due to genes, one more agent of evolution has gone.
There is another way to commit evolutionary suicide: stay alive, but have fewer children. Few people are as fertile as in the past. Except in some religious communities, very few women have 15 children. Nowadays the number of births, like the age of death, has become average. Most of us have roughly the same number of offspring. Again, differences between people and the opportunity for natural selection to take advantage of it have diminished. India shows what is happening. The country offers wealth for a few in the great cities and poverty for the remaining tribal peoples. The 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.
For us, this means that evolution is over: the biological Utopia has arrived. Strangely, it has involved little physical change. No other species fills so many places in nature. But in the past 100, 000 years—even the past 100 years—our lives have been transformed but our bodies have not. We did not evolve, because machines and society did it for us. Darwin had a phrase to describe those ignorant of evolution: " they look at an organic being as a savage looks at a ship, as at something wholly beyond his comprehension". No doubt we will remember a 20th century way of life beyond comprehension for its ugliness. But however amazed our descendants may be at how far from Utopia we were, they will look just like us.
What used to be the danger in being a man according to the first paragraph?
选项
A、A lack of mates.
B、A fierce competition.
C、A lower survival rate.
D、A defective gene.
答案
C
解析
文章第一段开头是答题的关键:Being a man has always been dangerous…But the great universal of male mortality is being changed. 可见,男性的出生率高于女性,但是随着年龄增加,男女比例呈明显下降趋势。作者试图用这些数据表明,生为男人的危险并不是在于寻找配偶的困难,而是男性的死亡率远远高于女性。故选C。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/g2Cd777K
本试题收录于:
公共英语四级笔试题库公共英语(PETS)分类
0
公共英语四级笔试
公共英语(PETS)
相关试题推荐
Leadersof16nationspaidapoignanttributetosurvivingveteransandthosewhodiedduringtheD-Daylandings60yearsagoth
Leadersof16nationspaidapoignanttributetosurvivingveteransandthosewhodiedduringtheD-Daylandings60yearsagoth
Awisemanoncesaidthattheonlythingnecessaryforthetriumphofevilisforgoodmentodonothing.So,asapoliceoffice
KarenRusawasa30-year-oldwomanandthemotheroffourchildren.ForthepastseveralmonthsKarenhadbeenexperiencingrepe
Giventhelackoffitbetweengiftedstudentsandtheirschools,itisnotsurprisingthatsuchstudentsoftenhavelittlegood
Manyayoungpersontellsmehewantstobeawriter.Ialwaysencouragesuchpeople,butIalsoexplainthatthere’sabigdiff
Sailorsandfishermeninparticular,havealwaysbeenextremelysuperstitious.Thisishardlysurprisingwhenoneconsidersthe
ProperstreetbehaviorintheUnitedStatesrequiresanicebalanceofattentionandinattention.Youaresupposedtolookata
随机试题
不属于细菌基本结构的是
关于慢性肺源性心脏病主要并发症下列错误的是()
某涂料厂系增值税一般纳税人,2005年8月份发生下列经济业务:1.购进化工原料一批,取得增值税专用发票,价款100000元,增值税税额17000元;化工原料已验收入库并部分已投入使用。在购货过程中支付运输费用2400元,其中,运费1950元,建设基
《基金法》规定,基金财产可以用于买卖其他基金份额。()
某工业企业为增值税小规模纳税人,2012年10月9日购人材料—批,取得的增值税专用发票上注明的价款为10000元,增值税税额为1700元。材料入库前的挑选整理费为100元,材料已验收入库。则该企业取得的该材料的人账价值应为()元。
甲股份有限公司(下称甲公司)是一家在上海证券交易所上市的公司,股本总额为8亿元,最近一期期末经审计的净资产为6亿元。2021年3月5日,甲公司董事会对下列融资方案进行了讨论。(1)优先股发行方案。该方案主要内容为:①公开发行优先股3亿股
员工满意度调查应围绕()等方面进行全面评估。
一个人在用餐之后是昏昏欲睡还是精神饱满与所吃食物中的蛋白有关。多数蛋白中都含一种叫酪氨酸的氨基酸,它进入大脑,促使多巴胺和新肾上腺素的形成,从而使人易兴奋。禽类和鱼类含酪氨酸最多。不过并非所有含酪氨酸的食品都能使大脑兴奋。猪肉中含酪氨酸,但脂肪妨碍了它的吸
人民群众是由个人组成的,因此社会上每个人都是历史的创造者。()
常举
最新回复
(
0
)