单选题 Charles Darwin wed his cousin Emma and spawned 10 children, including four brilliant scientists. Albert Einstein’s second wife Elsa was his first cousin. Queen Victoria said “I do” to hers. So have millions worldwide. In parts of Saudi Arabia, 39% of all marriages are between first cousins.
In the U. S., though, the practice bears a stigma of inbreeding just this side of incest. The taboo is not only social hut legislative; 24 states ban the marriage of first cousins: five others allow it only if the couple is unable to bear children. A major reason for this ban is the belief that kids of first cousins are tragically susceptible to serious congenital illnesses.
That view may have to change. A comprehensive study published recently in the Journal of Genetic Counseling indicates such children run an only slightly higher risk of significant genetic disorders like congenital heart defects — about two percentage points above the average 3% to 4%. Says the study’s lead author, Robin Bennett, president-elect of the National Society of Genetic Counselors, which funded the study: “Aside from a thorough medical family history, there is no need to offer any genetic testing on the basis of consanguinity alone”.
Publication of the study will do more than tweak public awareness; it will enlighten doctors who have urged cousin couples not to have children. “Just this week,” says Bennett, “I saw a 23-year-old woman who had had a tubal ligation because her parents were cousins and her doctor told her she shouldn’t have children.”
The American proscription against cousin marriages grew in the 19th century as wilderness settlers tried to distinguish themselves from the “savage” Indians, says Martin, author of the book Forbidden Relatives: The American Myth of Cousin Marriage. “The truth is that Europeans were marrying their cousins and Native Americans were not.”
And doesn’t God have stern words on the subject? Christie Smith, 37, a Nevada writer, says she felt guilty when she fell in love with her first cousin’s son Mark. “I was trying so hard to convince myself not to have these feelings,” she recalls, “that I went to the Bible looking for confirmation that it was wrong. And what I found was the exact opposite: support for cousin marriages.” The patriarch Jacob married two of his first cousins, Rachel and Leah. Smith married Mark in 1999.
The medical ban is lifted; the social stain may take longer to disappear.

单选题 It is suggested in Paragraph 1 and 2 that the cousin marriage
[A] resembles incest in nature.
[B] puts cousin couples to shame.
[C] always causes serious genetic disorders.
[D] is a common phenomenon across the world.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[设题点] 篇首处、例证处
[解析] 推理判断题。文章一开始就列举了达尔文、爱因斯坦、维多利亚女王的婚姻，又指出全世界数以百万计的人近亲结婚；在沙特阿拉伯的某些地区，近亲结婚占39%，由此可以看出，近亲结婚现象很普遍， [D]项正确。[A]、[B]两项是根据第二段首句进行的推理，但去掉地点状语In the U．S．就是以偏概全，为错误选项；[C]错误，always说法太绝对。
单选题 Which of the following is true of the study published in the Journal of Genetic Counseling?
[A] It suggests kids of first cousins suffer from heart defects.
[B] It was funded by its lead author Robin Bennett.
[C] It will change people’s opinion of cousin marriages.
[D] It has lifted the medical ban and removed the social stain.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[设题点] 例证处
[解析] 事实细节题。发表在《遗传学咨询》上的研究从第三段开始出现。由第三段第二句话可推出，近亲结婚所生的小孩患上先天性心脏缺陷的可能性为 5%至6%，而不是[A]所说的“近亲结婚所生的小孩患有心脏缺陷”，故[A]错误；[B]也错误，这项研究是由全国遗传学顾问协会资助的；[C]正确，推断依据是第四段第一句话；[D]错误，尾段提到social stain的消失还有待时日。
单选题 The word “consanguinity” (Line 6, Para. 3) is closest in meaning to
[A] cousin. [B] kinship. [C] congenital. [D] genetic disorders.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[设题点] 引言处
[解析] 语义理解题。consanguinity出现在第三段最后一句话。我们可以分别把选项代入再结合上文中提到的有关近亲结婚的研究看哪个选项合适。“除了需要一份详尽的家庭病史，不需要仅根据…就进行任何的基因测试”，四个选项中只有[B]“血缘关系”代入句子通顺合理，故为答案。另外，从构词法上也可得出答案。con-为前缀，表示“共同”；sangui-为词根，表示“血”；-ity为名词后缀，表示“性质”或“状态”。因此consanguinity意为“同族，血缘关系”，[B]为答案。
单选题 Why did Christie Smith resort to the Bible?
[A] Because God has stern words on cousin marriages.
[B] Because the Bible supports cousin marriages.
[C] Because she felt guilty falling in love with her cousin’s son.
[D] Because she wanted to know God’s words on cousin marriages.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[设题点] 因果关系处
[解析] 事实细节题。第六段中Christie Smith提到，当她爱上表兄的儿子时她深感有罪，她试图说服自己不要有这种感觉，于是她查证《圣经》，希望证实这种感情是错误的，但却发现《圣经》支持表亲结婚。因此 Christie Smith求助于《圣经》的原因是[D]“她想知道上帝关于近亲结婚的话语”。[C]是强干扰项，但因为[C]不是最终的原因，所以排除。
单选题 It can be inferred from the last paragraph that
[A] the ban on cousin marriages is lifted.
[B] cousin marriages are permitted again.
[C] the prejudice against cousin marriages dies hard.
[D] cousin marriages may not be as bad as people think.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[设题点] 尾段
[解析] 推理判断题。[A]错误，ban不等同于 medical ban，它单独出现时一般指颁布法律条文禁止，而文中并未提及世界各地取消了对近亲结婚的禁令；[B]错误，permitted again隐含的意思是“曾经允许过，后来禁止，再后来又开禁”，很明显不合文意；[C]正确，social stain即指“对近亲结婚的偏见”，take longer to disappear意味着消除这种偏见还有待时日；[D]推理无依据，予以排除。