医学博士英语阅读理解讲解【9】

 

 

Women do not avoid fighting because they are dainty or scared, but because they have a greater stake than men in staying alive to rear their offspring. Women compote with each other just as tenaciously as men, but with a stealth and subtlety that reduces their chances of being killed or injured, says Anne Campbell of the department of psychology at the University of Durham,

 

Across almost all cultures and nationalities, men have a much smaller role than women in rearing children. "Males go for quantity of children rather than quality of care for offspring, which means that the parental investment of women is much greater, " says Campbell. And unlike men, who can't be sure that their children have not been fathered on the sly by other men, women can always be certain that half an offspring's genes are theirs.

 

Women have therefore evolved a strong impulse than men to see their children grow up into adults. Men' psychological approach is geared to fathering as many children as possible.

 

To make this strategy work and to attract partners, men need to establish and advertise their dominance over rival males. Throughout evolution this has translated into displays of male aggression, ranging in scale from playground fights to world wars.

 

Men can afford to take more risks because as parents they are more expendable. Women, meanwhile, can only ensure reproductive success by overseeing the development of their children, which means avoiding death.

 

"The scale of parental investment drives everything, " says Campbell. "It's not that women are too scared to fight, " she says. "It's more to do with the positive value of staying alive, and women have an awfully big stake not just in offspring themselves but in offspring they might have in the future, " she says.

 

This means that if women do need to compete — perhaps for a partner — they choose low-risk rules of engagement. They use indirect tactics, such as discrediting rivals by spreading malicious rumors. And unlike men who glory in feats of dominance, women do better by concealing their actions and their "victories".

 

But there is no doubt, says Campbell, that the universal domination of culture by males has exaggerated these differences in attitudes to physical aggression. "The story we've always been told is that females are not aggressive, " says Campbell. And when they are aggressive; women are told that their behavior is "odd or abnormal".

 

66. For the sake of their children, according to Campbell, women ________ .

A. are reluctant to start wars

B. cannot avoid being dainty or scared

C. would rather get killed or injured in fighting

D. do not fight with men under any circumstances

67. It can be learned from the passage that men and women ________ .

A. present different family values in the world

B. show definite differences in parenting skills

C. are genetically conditioned in educating their children

D. take different psychological approaches to their children

68. Which of the following would men most probably be concerned about according to the passage?

A. Life. B. Parenting. C. Dominance. D. Reproduction.

69. To avoid death, women ________ .

A. cannot afford to confront risks B. choose to fight in a violent way

C. try to seek protection from men D. would resort to the "odd or abnormal" tactics

70. What is the main idea of the passage?

A. Why men and women possess different parenting skills.

B. Why men are more aggressive than women.

C. Why women evolve in their own way.

D. Why women do not start fights.

66. A  要想正确回答这个问题，必须看懂第一段第一句的句子结构：关于全文的大意。关于这个问题，第一段第一句作为本文的主题句就do not avoid fighting because…，“do not avoid fighting”的原因不是dainty或scared，而是……，意思是：女性并不是因为矜持或害怕而避免战斗，而是因为她们下了更大的赌注：要活着养活她们后代。因此，选项A是正确答案。

67. D  男性和女性对于养育后代心态完全不同。根据第三段，女性要让已有的后代长大成人，男性注重后代的数量；他们的心态是尽可能多生；根据第五段，男性不惜生命愿意冒更大危险，因为他们认为作为父母，他们可以被牺牲掉的。女性则不同，她们要呵护后代成长以确保生育的成功，这就意味着要避免死亡；根据第六段，女性要避免战争更多是基于对生命的积极态度，因为女性更大的赌注不仅是已经出牛的后代，而且还有未来可能出生的后代。因此，选项D是正确答案。

68. D  根据第三段第二句，男性心态是尽可能地多生。

69. A  选项A的意思是：女性没有对抗危险的本钱。根据第六段，女性为了后代长大成人，更注重活着的价值：第七段也提到，如果不得不战的话，女性也选择危险低的冲突。

70. D  本文主题句第一段第一句说，女性避免争斗并不是因为她们矜持或害怕，而是因为她们有活着的更大支撑，这就是养育后代。全篇都说明女性由于各种为了养育后代选择不战的策略。选项D的意思是：女性为什么不去争斗，应为正确答案。