眾所周知,英語幾乎是所有考生最頭疼、難度最大的科目,而閱讀理解又是英語各題型中的重中之中。下面是小編給大家準備的考研英語閱讀的真題及全文翻譯，歡迎大家閱讀練習!
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, by 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 has 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 pass 100,000 years--- even the past 100year ---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.
5. What used to be the danger in being a man according to the first paragraph?
[A]A lack of mates. [B]A fierce competition.
[C]A lower survival rate. [D]A defective gene.
6. What does the example of India illustrate?
[A]Wealthy people tend to have fewer children than poor people.
[B]Natural selection hardly works among the rich and the poor.
[C]The middle class population is 80% smaller than that of the tribes.
[D]India is one of the countries with a very high birth rate.
7. The author argues that our bodies have stopped evolving because____ .
[A]life has been improved by technological advance
[B]the number of female babies has been declining
[C]our species has reached the highest stage of evolution
[D]the difference between wealth and poverty is disappearing
8. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
[A]Sex Ration Changes in Human Evolution [B]Ways of Continuing Man's Evolution
[C]The Evolutionary Future of Nature [D]Human Evolution Going Nowhere
>>>>>>答案解析<<<<<<
重點詞彙：
rity (成熟)←matur(e)+ity，mature(成熟的v.成熟)，-ity名詞字尾。Love is quiet understanding and the mature acceptance of imperfection.愛情是靜靜的理解和對不足之處的成熟接受。
ality(死亡率)←mortal+ity，mortal(致命的;凡人)，-ity名詞字尾。
ive(v.倖存;比……活的長)即sur+vive，sur-(=super-)字首“超”，vive詞根“活的”，於是“超過別人活的長度”→比別人活得長→倖存;survival(n.倖存;倖存者)←surviv(e)+al名詞字尾。同根詞：revive(v.恢復;復甦)。evolution? (n.進化;發展)，動詞形式為evolve
nish(v.縮小，減少)即di+min+ish，di-字首“使”，min詞根“小”=mini，-ish動詞字尾。
ocrity(平常)可看作medi+ocr+ity，medi-字首“中間”(如medium→medi+um字尾→中間的;媒介)，ocr看作Optical Character Recognition(光學字元識別)，-ity名詞字尾，用中等(medi)識別率OCR的效果是平常(medicocrity)的。
r-middle-class 上中階層。
ia ?(烏托邦)是英國空想社會主義者托馬斯?莫爾(Thomas More)所著書名的簡稱，書中描寫了作者所想象的沒有階級的幸福社會——烏托邦，意即“沒有的地方”。
lve (v.陷入;涉及)←in+volve，in-字首=into，volve詞根“卷”，“把東西捲到裡面”
sform (v.轉變;改造)即trans+form，trans-字首“改變”，form詞根“形狀”。Marriage is the miracle that transform a kiss from a pleasure into a duty, and a life from a luxury into a necessity.婚姻是個奇蹟，它把接吻從快樂化為義務，把生活從享樂化為必需。
ribe(v.描述，形容)←de向下+scribe寫，“寫下來”，名詞為description。A man never discloses his own character so clearly as when he describes another's.在描述另一個人的性格時，人最清楚地顯露自己的性格。
endant (後裔)即de+scend+ant，de-向下，scend詞根“爬”，-ant名詞字尾表“人”。同根詞：descend→de+scend→“向下爬”→下降;ascend→a+scend→“向上爬”→攀登。One of the best things people could do for their descendants would be to sharply limit the number of them.人們能為後代做的最好的事情之一大概就是嚴格限制自己的數量。
難句解析：
① 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.
該句是由三個遞進關係的簡單句組成的並列句，句法結構比較清晰。
第一個分句的關鍵詞在born，表明該比數是嬰兒出生時的性別比例;第二個分句的關鍵詞在near balance(接近持平)和at the age of maturity，表示性別比例的持平狀態發生在成年時期;第三個分句的70-year-olds指代的是“70歲的人們”，作名詞。
② Again, differences between people and the opportUnity for natural selection to take advantage of it have diminished.
注意differences between people和the opportUnity for natural selection to take advantage of it是兩個並列的主語，千萬不要理解成people與the opportUnity是between的並列賓語。
and連線的兩個並列部分是differences between people和the opportUnity for natural selection to take advantage of it，而不是people和the opportUnity。另外注意句中的it指代的是differences between people。
③ 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.
該句的主語是The grand mediocrity，謂語是means，其後跟著that引導的賓語從句that natural selection has lost 80% of its power in upper-middle-class India compared to the tribes，其中compared to the tribes是分詞結構作狀語，省略了if/when being。破折號中間everyone being the same in survival and number of offspring是典型的插入語，其中survival和number of offspring都是介詞in的賓語。
grand在此處不是“巨集偉，壯麗”的意思，而是“程度很深”;mediocrity也非“平庸，平常”，而是“平均化”或“折衷”;offspring是“後代”。另外要理解natural selection has lost 80% of its power in upper-middle-class India的意思，這裡是指在原來的社會不平等的情況下，印度中上層階級擁有一些能使自己在自然選擇中處於優勢的特權，而隨著醫療和衛生條件的改變，下層人民也擁有同樣的生存條件，因此中上層階級就喪失了80%的自然選擇中的優勢。
④ 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."
冒號後的句子是主句中a phrase的同位語。該同位語從句中的結構是A does something as B does something(A做某事的樣子正像B做某事的樣子)。
those ignorant of evolution指對生物進化過程一無所知的人，其後的they也指代這些人。最後的his指代前面的a savage。beyond his comprehension超出了他的理解範圍。
試題解析：
5. 【正確答案】[C]
意為;較低的存活率。第一段第一、二句指出，做男人總是有危險的。出生時男孩比例高於女孩，到成熟期時男女比例已持平，到70歲時男人僅剩女人數量的一半了。
A意為：配偶的缺乏。第一段第四、五句提到，現在，男孩的存活率幾乎與女孩一樣了，這意味著，到尋找配偶的關鍵年齡時，就會有多餘的男孩(找不到配偶)。這兩句話僅是論據，說明本段第三句指出的現象：過去普遍存在的男人死亡率高的現象正在改變。B意為：激烈的競爭。D意為：有缺陷的基因。第一段最後一句指出，既然其中的差別都是由基因造成的，另一個進化因素不復存在了。這裡並未提到基因的缺陷造成男人的高死亡率。
6. 【正確答案】 [B]
意為：自然選擇的法則基本不適用於窮富的差別。印度的例子用於說明第二段第六句指出的觀點：不同的人面對自然選擇時所可利用的優劣勢差別已經變小。根據下文.這一句應理解為：在存活率問題上，富人和窮人幾乎面臨著同樣的機會，即富人已漸失其優勢。另請參閱本段最後一句。
A意為：富人(家庭)一般比窮人孩子少。雖然這也許是事實，但文章井未提到這一點。C意為：中產階級人口數量比部落人口少80%。第二段最後一句的意思是：今天的總平均趨勢——存活率和孩子數量的平均化——意味著自然選擇在印度的中高層家庭人口中——與部落人口相比——已失去80%的控制力;即：中高階層不再擁有絕對的生存優勢。D意為：印度是出生率很高的國家之一。這是文章沒有提到的。
7. 【正確答案】[A]
意為：技術的進步改進了生命(的質量)。第三段第四、五句指出，在過去的10萬年乃至100年中，我們的生活得到了改變，但是身體卻沒有改變，我們(的身體)沒有進化的原因是機器和社會使其然。這裡所說的“機器”當指技術。
B意為：女嬰數量減少了。參閱第55、56題題解。C意為：我們這種物種(指人)已達到最高進化階段。雖然在第三段中作者的確提到了進化已經結束(evolution is over)，但是造成這種現象的原因卻只有在第五句中才提到。D意為：貧富差別正在逐漸消失。即使在第二段，文章也沒有提到貧富差別的消失，提到的只是貧富家庭在嬰孩存活率和孩子平均數量上差別正在縮小。
8. 【正確答案】[D]
意為：人的進化已窮盡。在第一段闡述男人死亡率降低的原因時，作者就指出了進化機制已不再起作用，第二段在討論每個家庭孩子平均數量減少這一現象時，作者再次指出自然進化機制已不能再左右人口的出生率，即：人不再通過多生孩子來保持人口的均衡。在總結全文的第三段時，作者直截了當地指出，進化已經結束。
A意為：人的進化過程中性別比例的改變。這一點僅在第一段提到了，所以，該選擇項不足以概括全文內容。B意為：保持人類進化的方法。C意為：大自然未來的進化。本文側重點在於探討人口的結構變化與進化過程的關係，而不是泛泛地談論大自然的進化。
全文翻譯：
做男人總是充滿危險，出生時男女比例大約是105:100，但到了成熟期，這一比例幾乎持平，而在70歲的老人中女性是男性的兩倍，但是男性死亡率普遍偏高這種情況正在改變，現在男嬰存活率幾乎同女嬰一樣高。這就意味著男孩到了尋找伴侶的'關鍵年齡將首次出現男孩過剩現象。更重要的是，又一次自然選擇的機會不復存在了。50年前，嬰兒(尤其是男嬰)存活的機會取決於體重，過輕或過重幾乎意味著必死無疑。今日體重幾乎不起什麼作用，因為大部分差異是由基因引起的，又一個進化的因素消失了。
進化自殺還有另一種方法：存活，但少生孩子。現在沒有幾個人像過去那樣具有旺盛的生育力。除了在一些宗教社群之外，沒有幾名婦女有15個孩子。當今嬰兒出生的數量同死亡年齡一樣已趨於平均化，我們多數人的子女數量大致相同。人與人之間的差異和利用差異進行自然選擇的機會再一次減少。印度可以說明正在發生的一切。這個國家給大城市裡的少數人提供財富，而給其餘的各部落民族以貧困。今天這種極其顯著的平均化——每個人的生存機會和子女數量都相同——意味著與部落相比較，自然選擇在印度中、上層已經失去了80%的效力。
對我們來說，這意味著進化已經結束;生物學上的烏托邦已經降臨。奇怪的是，這一過程幾乎絲毫沒有牽涉到身體上的變化，沒有其他物種充斥著自然中如此多的空間。但在過去的10萬年——甚至過去的100年中，我們的生活發生了變化，但我們的身體卻沒變。我們沒有進化。因為機器和社會替我們辦了這一切。達爾文有一句話描述那些對進化一無所知的人，他們“看有機的生命如同野人看船，好像看某種完全不能理解的東西”。毫無疑問，我們將記住20世紀的生活方式，儘管對其醜陋之處不得其解，但是，不管我們的子孫後代對我們離烏托邦的理想境界還差多遠感到有多麼驚訝，他們的樣子會同我們差不了多少。
