单选题 Lately I got a chance to read People magazine"s most recent compilation of "The 50 Most Beautiful People in the World." It was fabulous. In addition to offering helpful grooming tips, the issue involves an attempt to answer one of the most difficult questions of our time: Which is ultimately more influential, nature or nurture?
Consider first the extreme nurturists, who abstain from the notion that anything is biologically fixed. There"s John Watson, famous for the statement: "Give me a child and let me control the total environment in which he is raised, and I will turn him into whatever I wish."
A nurture viewpoint is also advanced by TV star Jenna Elfman, who attributes her beauty to drinking 100 ounces of water a day, and using a moisturizer that costs $1,000 a pound. However, even a beginner in the study of human developmental biology might easily note that no degree of expensive moisturizers would get, say, me on People"s beauty list.
Naturally, similarly strong opinions come from the opposing, nature faction—the genetic determinists among the Most Beautiful. Perhaps the cockiest of this school is Josh Brolin, an actor whose statement could readily serve as a manifesto for those in his profession: "I was given my dad"s good genes."
One searches the pages for a middle ground, for the interdisciplinary synthesizer who perceives the contributions of both nature and nurture. At last, we find Monica, a singer, who has an absolutely wondrous skill for applying makeup. This, at first, seems like just more nurture propaganda. But where does she get this cosmetic aptitude? Her mother supplies the answer: it"s something that"s inborn. One gasps at the insight: There is a genetic influence on how one interacts with the environment. Too bad a few more people can"t think this way when figuring out what genes have to do with intelligence, substance abuse, or violence.
In matters of human beauty, hardwired preferences matter but can be overcome. Novelist George Eliot was strikingly homely, but her magnetic character inspired Henry James to write in a letter: "She is magnificently ugly—deliciously hideous. She has a dull grey eye, a vast pendulous nose, a huge mouth, and full of uneven teeth... Now in this vast ugliness resides a most powerful beauty which, in a very few minutes, steals forth and charms the mind, so that you end as I ended, in falling in love with her."
单选题 The article suggests that People magazine regularly ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 此题细节信息定位到首段首句“Lately I got a chance to read People magazine"s most recent compilation of "The 50 Most Beautiful People in the World".”,关键信息为“Beautiful People in the World”,因此选择A。
单选题 What John Watson said can best be interpreted as ______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 此题要在理解第2段之后进行推断,第2段中有说到“Give me a child and let me control the total environment in which he is raised. and I will turn him into whatever I wish.”,所以,John Watson所说的应与B项表述相符,因此选择B。
单选题 According to Paragraph 3, the author believes ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 根据第3段最后一句所说的“However, even a beginner in the study of human developmental biology might easily note that no degree of expensive moisturizers would get, say, me on People"s beauty list.”,可知作者的观点是美丽必须建立在超过两个因素的基础之上,因此选择D。
单选题 According to the author, Josh Brolin"s statement shows that the actor is ______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 第4段中,“Josh Brolin"s statement”说的是“I was given my dad"s good genes.”,而前一句又说到“the cockiest of this school is Josh Brolin...”,所以,over-confident“过度自信,狂妄”的表达符合此形象,因此选择C。
单选题 As an example in favor of both nature and nurture, the author feels that Monica"s mother is rather ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 此细节信息可定位到第5段第6句“One gasps at the insight: There is a genetic influence on how one interacts with the environment.”,所以作者认为Monica"s mother应该是富有洞察力的,“insightful”即为此意,因此选择A。
单选题 As he wrote, Henry James fell in love with George Eliot because of ______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 根据第6段第2句话“Novelist George Eliot was strikingly homely, but her magnetic character inspired Henry James to write in a Letter...”,可知,Henry James爱上George Eliot的原因就是“her magnetic character”,也就是B项所说的“her attractive character”,因此选择B。