U16   History and Culture

历史与文化

Sociobiology—a Controversial Subject

       Reading Comprehension

       (包括“答案与题解”)

       Notes

       课文参考译文

       练习

         ●Cloze

●Reading Passages(包括“疑难长句翻译与注解”)

         ●Translation

●Writing(包括“审题指导”)

Sociobiology—a Controversial Subject

Instead of looking at human behavior as shaped by culture, sociobiology stresses natural selection as responsible for human’s particular biological characteristics, which shape human behavior.

According to Charles Darwin, natural selection is based on four principles. First, reproduction occurs within a natural environment. Second, the genes of a species, the basic units of life that contain the individual’s traits, are passed on to offspring. These genes have a degree of random variability; that is, different characteristics are distributed among the members of a species. Third, because the members of a species possess different characteristics, some members have a better chance of surviving in the natural environment than do others—and of passing their particular genetic traits to the next generation. Fourth, over thousands of generations, those genetic traits that aid survival in the natural environment tend to become common in a species, while those that do not tend to disappear.

Natural selection is used to explain the physical characteristics of plants and animals. It is also used to explain the behavior of animals: over countless generations instincts emerged. Edward Wilson, an insect specialist, claimed that the principles of natural selection that led to human physical characteristics also led to human behavior as well. Human behavior, he said, is no different from the behavior of cats, rats, bees, or mosquitoes—it has been bred into Homo sapiens through evolutionary principles.

Wilson deliberately set out to create a storm of protest, and he succeeded. He claimed that religion, competition and cooperation, slavery and genocide, war and peace, envy and altruism—all can be explained in terms of genetic programming. The new discipline of sociobiology will eventually absorb sociology, as well as anthropology and psychology.

Obviously, most sociologists find Wilson’s position totally unacceptable. Not only is its direct attack on their discipline, it bypasses the essence of what sociologists focus on: humans designing their own cultures, developing their own unique ways of life. Sociologists do not deny that genetic principles underlie human behavior, at least not in the sense that it takes a highly developed brain to develop human culture, that abstract thought could not exist if we did not have a highly developed cerebral cortex.

But sociologists find the claim that human behavior is due to genetic programming to be quite another matter. Pigs act alike because they don’t have a cerebral cortex, and instincts control their behavior. So it is for fleas, spiders, deer, elephants, and so on. But humans are far from being driven simply by instincts. Humans have abstract thought. They communicate symbolically. They discuss principles that underlie what they do. They decide on rational courses of action. They develop reasons and purposes and goals. They consider, reflect, and make choices. In short, sociologists stress that we are not pri-soners of our genes, and that is precisely why around the world we have developed so many fascinating, contrasting ways of life.

1. In the passage the author is primarily concerned with               .

 ［A］ supporting a position

 ［B］ analyzing a problem objectively

 ［C］ arguing against a view on human society

 ［D］ introducing a perspective on human behavior  

2. Which of the following is NOT true according to Darwin?

 ［A］ Evolution follows its own natural law.

 ［B］ Members in a species possess different genetic traits.

 ［C］ It takes quite a long time for favorable genetic traits to spread in a species.

 ［D］ Human behavior is no different from that of animals in nature.

3. Wilson’s position is that               .

 ［A］ human behavior can not be explained by the principles of natural selection

 ［B］ the essence of human evolution is best shown in human culture

 ［C］ the behavior of other animals is not comparable to human behavior

 ［D］ natural selection is a determinant force behind human evolution

4. According to most sociologists, the sociobiological position is wrong in that               .

 ［A］ it misunderstands the theory of natural selection

 ［B］ it fails to recognize the fact that humans are creators of their own culture 

 ［C］ it ignores the role of the cerebral cortex in evolving the human society

 ［D］ it ignores the fact that even animals communicate with each other

5. The sociologists seem to agree that               .

 ［A］ human evolution is independent of genetic programming

 ［B］ animal behavior is not reasonable and purposeful

 ［C］ human behavior is not solely determined by instinct 

 ［D］ environmental rather than genetic factors shape human beings

答案与题解

1.［D］  

  本文介绍了一门颇具争议的学科——社会生物学。

2.［D］  

［D］表达的是Wilson的观点，不是达尔文的。

3.［D］   意为：自然选择是人类进化的一个决定性力量。

有关Wilson的观点参阅第三、四段和第五段对他的批评。

4.［B］  

  根据第五段，在社会学家看来，Wilson之所以错，是因为他忽视了社会学家研究的一个根本问题：人设计自己的文化，创造出一套自己的生活方式。另请参阅全文最后一句。

5.［C］  

  参阅最后一段。最后一段最后一句是全文的总结，也是该段的总结。这句话的意思是：人并不受其基因结构的禁锢，这就是为什么全世界的人创造了自己独特的生活方式的原因。

Notes

1.第二段第五句是一个简单主从复合句。句架是...， because..., some members have a better chance of  surviving...and of passing...to...。句中some members have a better chance是主句；than do others是比较从句；because引导原因状语从句。

2.第五段第三句是一个简单主从复合句。句架是Sociologists do not deny that genetic principles underlie...， at least not...that..., that...。句中第一个that引导名词从句，作deny的宾语；后两个that引导的名词从句都是sense的同位语；在第二个同位语从句中if引导条件状语从句。underlie在句中作“构成……的基础”讲。

课文参考译文

社会生物学——一个引起争议的学科

社会生物学并不认为人类行为是由文化决定的，而是强调自然选择决定人类特定的生物特征，这些特征塑造人类行为。

根据查理·达尔文的观点，自然选择基于四个原则：第一，繁殖是在自然环境内发生的。第二，一个物种的基因——包含个人特征在内的生命基本单位——传给后代。这些基因具有一定程度的任意多变性；也就是说，不同的特征分散到一个物种的各个成员。第三，由于一个物种的成员具有不同的特征，一些成员在自然环境中的生存机会比其他成员多一些，把遗传特征传给下一代的机会也多一些。第四，世世代代以来，在自然环境中有助于生存的那些遗传特征往往会在一个物种中变成共同的特征，而无助于帮助生存的那些遗传特征往往会消失。

自然选择被用来解释植物和动物的体质特征。它还用来解释动物的行为：经过数不清的世世代代之后，本能出现了。昆虫专家爱德华·威尔逊声称，导致出现人类体质特征的自然选择原则也导致人类的行为。他说，人类行为与猫、鼠、蜂或蚊子的行为没有什么区别——人类行为通过进化原则被培育为智人。

威尔逊故意试图引起一片抗议声，他成功了。他声称，宗教、竞争与合作、奴役与种族灭绝、战争与和平、嫉妒与利他主义——所有这些都能从遗传编码角度加以解释。社会生物学这个新学科最终将吸收社会学以及人类学和心理学。

显然，大多数社会学家发现威尔逊的立场是完全不能接受的。威尔逊的立场不仅直接攻击他们(社会学家)的学科，而且还绕开社会学家所集中关注的本质问题：人类设计他们自己的文化，发展他们自己独特的生活方式。社会学家不否认遗传原则是人类行为的基础，至少不是这样的含义：发展人类文化需要高度发达的大脑；如果我们没有一个高度发达的大脑皮层，抽象的思维就不可能存在。