U10  Population and Racial Problems

人口与种族问题

The Myth of Racial Superiority Examined

       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”)

The Myth of Racial Superiority Examined

With its almost six billion people, the world offers a fascinating variety of human shapes and colors. As humans spread throughout the world, their adaptations to diverse climate and other living conditions resulted in this fascinating variety of complexions, colors, and shapes. Genetic mutations added distinct characteristics to the peoples of the globe. In this sense the concept of race, a group with inherited physical characteristics that distinguish it from another group, is a reality. Humans do indeed come in a variety of colors and shapes.

In two senses, however, race is a myth, a fabrication of the human mind. The first fabrication is the idea that any one race is superior to another. All races have their geniuses—and their idiots. Like language, no race is superior to another. Adolf Hitler’s ideas were extreme. He believed that a superior race, called the Aryans, was responsible for the cultural achievements of Europe. They possessed the genetic stuff that made them inherently superior. Even many scientists of the time—not only Germany but throughout Europe and the United States—espoused the idea of racial superiority. Not surprisingly, they considered themselves members of the supposedly superior race!

In addition to the myth of racial superiority, there is a second myth—that of the existence of a “pure” race. From the perspective of contemporary biology, humans show such a mixture of physical characteristics, that the “pure” races do not exist. Instead of falling into distinct types clearly separate from one another, human characteristics flow endlessly together. These minute gradations made arbitrary any attempt to draw definite lines.

Large groupings of people, however, can be classified by blood type and gene frequencies. Yet even this arrangement does not uncover “race”. Rather, such classifications are so arbitrary that biologists and anthropologists can draw up listings showing any number of “race”. Ashley Montagu, a physical anthropologist, pointed out that some scientists have classified humans into only two “races” while others have found as many as two thousand. Montagu himself classified humans into forty “racial” groups.

This is not meant to imply that the idea of race is a myth. That idea is definitely very much alive. It is firmly embedded in our culture, a social reality that we confront daily. Sociologist W. I. Thomas observed that “if people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences”. The fact that no race is superior or that biologically we cannot even decide how people should be classified into races is not what counts. What makes a difference for social life, rather, is that people believe these ideas, for people act on beliefs, not facts. As a result, we always have people like Hitler. Most people, fortunately, do not believe in such extremes, yet most people also appear to be ethnocentric enough to believe, at least just a little, that their own race is superior to others.

1. It can be inferred from the first paragraph that the diversification of human race resulted from            .

 ［A］ both genetic inheritance and environmental influences  

 ［B］ the differentiation of the inherited physical characteristics

 ［C］ humans’adaptations to diverse climate and other living conditions

 ［D］ genetic mutations alone

2. The word “fabrication” (in the first sentence of the second paragraph) probably means           .

 ［A］ mystery

 ［B］ invention 

 ［C］ exaggeration

 ［D］ perspective

3. Why is there no “pure” race according to the passage?

 ［A］ Because people of different races often get married.

 ［B］ Because people have different blood types.

 ［C］ Because racial characteristics overlap.  

 ［D］ Because there are so many races in the world.

4. Any attempt at classifying races           .

 ［A］ is at best arbitrary

 ［B］ is bound to be biased

 ［C］ tends to pick out one race as superior

 ［D］ takes culture into account

5. The author concludes the passage by pointing out that            .

 ［A］ it is hardly possible to classify humans into racial groups

 ［B］ we should be on our guard against any idea of racial superiority

 ［C］ race is indeed a mystery to be explored and uncovered

 ［D］ it is not important how people should be classified

答案与题解

1.［A］  

  第一段第二句强调了环境因素的影响，第三句提到了基因变异的作用。

2.［B］  

  该词此处意为：臆造，捏造。

3.［C］  

  根据第三、第四段，不存在“纯的”种族，这是因为人的身体特征是无法划归清楚的(flow endlessly together)，任何想划一个清晰界限的做法都会证明是武断的。第四段还谈到不同的研究者对种族分类的多寡，这也是为了证明难以做到对种族进行清晰的分类。

4.［A］   意为：至多是武断的。

参阅第四段，尤其是该段第三句。

5.［B］  

  最后一段作者指出种族歧视存在的现实性，人们的错误观念与现实一样可怕，因此我们应该和反对种族歧视的做法一样防止种族歧视思想的产生。

Notes

第五段第五句是一个简单主从复合句。句架是The fact that...or that...is not what counts。句中主语后跟两个同位语从句，由or连接；在第二个同位语从句中how people should be classified into races是名词从句，作decide的宾语。本句的表语是名词从句what counts。

考察种族优越的神话

世界上差不多有60亿人口，且有着迷人的多种外形和肤色。人类遍布全世界，他们能适应多种气候和生活条件，结果产生了这些迷人的多种面孔、肤色和外形。遗传方面的变化使地球上各国人民明显的特征增多了。在这个意义上，种族的概念是一个现实，一个种族就是他们所继承的体质特征而使他们区别于另一群人的人群。人类的确具有多种肤色和外形。

但是，在两种意义上，种族是一个神话，是人心中虚构的东西。第一个虚构是，一个种族比另一个种族优越。所有种族都有他们的天才——和他们的白痴。像语言一样，任何种族都不比另一个种族优越。阿道夫·希特勒的思想是极端的。他认为，欧洲的文化成就是一个叫雅利安族的优越种族取得的。他们具有使其天生优越的遗传素质。甚至当时的许多科学家——不仅德国的，而且整个欧洲和美国的科学家——也拥护种族优越的想法。他们认为他们自己就是这个据称优越的种族的成员，这并不奇怪！

除了这个种族优越的神话之外，还有第二个神话，即存在一个“纯”种族的神话。从当代生物学角度看，人类展现的是体质特征的混合，因此“纯”种族并不存在。人类特征不是分为明显相互区别的截然不同的类别，而是无穷尽地融合在一起。这些细微的逐步变化使得任何划出明显界限的尝试都是武断的。

但是，人类的大分组是能用血型和基因频率来划分的。然而甚至这种分类也无法显示“种族”的存在。恰恰相反，这样的分类是如此武断，以致生物学家和人类学家都能画出表示任何数量的“种族”的列表。自然人类学家阿什利·蒙塔古指出，有些科学家只把人类分为两个“种族”，而其他科学家发现的“种族”已多达两千个。蒙塔古本人把人类分为40个“种族”群。

这不是为了暗示有关种族的想法只是神话。那种想法肯定是存在的。它已牢牢地扎根于我们的文化，这是我们天天面对的社会现实。社会学家W.I.托马斯说：“如果人认定这些情况是真实的，那么在这些情况下产生的结果也是真实的。”没有任何种族是优越的，从生物学来看，我们甚至不能决定人是如何划分为种族的。这个事实并不重要。确切来说，在社会生活中起重要作用的是，人们相信这些想法，因为人根据信仰采取行动，而不是根据事实采取行动。结果，我们总是有像希特勒这样的人。幸运的是，大多数人并不相信这些极端的思想，然而看来大多数人也具有足够的种族优越感，因而相信——至少只是有一点相信——他们自己的种族比其他种族优越。