2000年阅读理解Passage Two第一段精讲

屠儿们，考研倒计时148天，你们准备得怎么样了？...

Being a man has always been dangerous. There are about 105 malesborn for every 100 females, but this ratio drops to near balance at the age of maturity, and among 70-year-olds there are twice asmany 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 theyare searching for a mate. More important, another chance for natural selectionhas been removed. Fifty years ago, the chance of a baby (particularly a boybaby) surviving depended on its weight. A kilogram too light or too heavy meantalmost certain death. Today it makes almost no difference. Since much of thevariation is due to genes, one more agent of evolution has gone.

15. What used to be the danger in being a man according to the firstparagraph?

[A] A lack of mates.

A fierce competition.

[C] A lower survival rate.

[D] A defective gene.

[b]
Being a man has always been dangerous. There are about 105 malesborn for every 100 females, but this ratio drops to near balance at the age ofmaturity, and among 70-year-olds there are twice asmany women as men. But the great universal of malemortality is being changed. Now, boy babiessurvive 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 theyare searching for a mate. More important, another chance for natural selectionhas been removed. Fifty years ago, the chance of a baby (particularly a boybaby) surviving depended on its weight. A kilogram too light or too heavy meantalmost certain death. Today it makes almost no difference. Since much of thevariation is due to genes, one more agent of evolution has gone.

做男人总是充满危险，出生时男女比例大约是105:100，但到了成熟期，这一比例几乎持平，而在70岁的老人中女性是男性的两倍，但是男性死亡率普遍偏高这种情况正在改变，现在男婴存活率几乎同女婴一样高。这就意味着男孩到了寻找伴侣的关键年龄将首次出现男孩过剩现象。更重要的是，又一次自然选择的机会不复存在了。50年前，婴儿（尤其是男婴）存活的机会取决于体重，过轻或过重几乎意味着必死无疑。今日体重几乎不起什么作用，因为大部分差异是由基因引起的，又一个进化的因素消失了。

核心词汇：

1. maturity n. 成熟

mature adj.成熟的；v.成熟）

Love is quiet understanding and the mature acceptance of imperfection.

爱情是静静的理解和对不足之处的成熟接受。

2. mortality n. 死亡率

mortal 致命的；凡人

3. survive v.幸存；比……活的长；战胜

survival n.幸存；幸存者

同根词：revive v.恢复；复苏

难句突破：

There are about 105 malesborn for every 100 females, but this ratio drops to near balance at the age ofmaturity, and among 70-year-olds there are twice as many women as men.

该句是由三个递进关系的简单句组成的并列句，句法结构比较清晰。

第一个分句的关键词在born，表明该比数是婴儿出生时的性别比例；第二个分句的关键词在near balance（接近持平）和atthe age of maturity，表示性别比例的持平状态发生在成年时期；第三个分句的70-year-olds指代的是“70岁的人们”，作名词。

[C] 意为：较低的存活率。

第一段第一、二句指出，做男人总是有危险的。出生时男孩比例高于女孩，到成熟期时男女比例已持平，到70岁时男人仅剩女人数量的一半了。

[A] 意为：配偶的缺乏。第一段第四、五句提到，现在，男孩的存活率几乎与女孩一样了，这意味着，到寻找配偶的关键年龄时，就会有多余的男孩（找不到配偶）。这两句话仅是论据，说明本段第三句指出的现象：过去普遍存在的男人死亡率高的现象正在改变。

[B] 意为：激烈的竞争。
[D] 意为：有缺陷的基因。第一段最后一句指出，既然其中的差别都是由基因造成的，另一个进化因素不复存在了。这里并未提到基因的缺陷造成男人的高死亡率。

屠儿们，综上所述答案是C，你们选对了吗？

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