单选题 In 2010, Pamela Fink, an employee of a Connecticut energy company, made a new kind of discrimination claim: she charged that she had been fired because she carries genes that predispose her to cancer. Fink quickly became the public face for the cutting edge of civil rights: genetic discrimination.
The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, which was passed out of concern for just such cases in the wake of huge advances in genetics testing, took effect in late 2009. GINA, as it is known, makes it illegal for employers to fire or refuse to hire workers based on their "genetic information"— including genetic tests and family history of disease. GINA doesn"t just apply to employers: health-insurance companies can be sued for using genetic information to set rates or even just for investigating people"s genes.
The numbers of genetic-discrimination complaints will almost certainly increase greatly in coming years, for the reason that, as biological science advances, there is likely to be even more genetic information available about people. Even though this sort of medical information should remain private, employers and insurance companies will have strong financial incentives to get access to it—and to use it to avoid people who are most likely to get sick.
When genetic-discrimination claims start showing up in the courts in significant numbers, they are likely to get a sympathetic hearing. There are two major reasons that so many people—even congressional Republicans who are highly skeptical of civil rights laws—like GINA. First, there is the kind of discrimination it is aimed at: penalizing people for strands of DNA and RNA that they inherited from their parents through no fault of their own. In general, our society has decided to protect people for qualities that are " immutable "—that is, something about them that is impossible or, at least, very difficult to change.
So we make it illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, skin color and sex. On the other hand, we generally do not protect people who are not hired because they lack a high school diploma or because they wear a beard. Our response to those people is that if you want the job you should get more education or shave. Genes are a classic immutable characteristic: outside of some complicated medical procedures, we"re pretty much stuck with the genes we were born with.
The second major reason genetic-discrimination laws are popular is that this is a kind of bias everyone feels they could be exposed to. None of us has perfect genes—and for the most part, we have no idea what is lurking in our DNA and RNA. Our genes are complex enough that we all have some negative information encoded in there—and none of us wants to lose a job or be denied insurance over it. When juries begin to hear these cases, they are far more likely to identify with the plaintiffs than with the companies that discriminate. That doesn"t mean that there won"t be plenty of companies looking to benefit from genetic information, but if they use it, they may well have to pay.
单选题 Which of the following statements about Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) is true?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】判断题
[解析] 作者在第一段提到了美国第一起基因歧视索赔案件。案件当事人帕梅拉·菲克控诉公司因自己携带致癌基因而解雇了她。案件发生时间为2010年。这个时间晚于美国《反基因歧视法》颁布的时间，美国早在2009年就开始执行《反基因歧视法》。因此，A选项错误，说是帕梅拉·菲克的案子促使了这部法规的颁布，时间上不合逻辑。《反基因歧视法》规定禁止雇主根据员工的基因测试、家族病史等“基因信息”解雇或拒绝雇用员工。但是《反基因歧视法》并没有禁止“基因信息”的获取，也就是基因测试。B选项错误。C选项完整地表达了《反基因歧视法》的内涵，为正确答案。D选项错误，公司是《反基因歧视法》主要针对的对象，但是并不是针对公司泄露员工基因信息(本身公司也不太可能拥有员工基因信息)，而是针对公司基于员工基因信息而不录取或者解雇员工的行为。
单选题 The word " immutable " is closest in meaning to ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】词汇题
[解析] 题干中的immutable一词出现在文章的第四段。第四段提到了美国上下一致认同《反基因歧视法》的第一个原因。那就是这部法律针对的是对因从父母那里继承DNA、RNA基因链而受难的无辜人群的歧视。通常来说，美国社会会保护那些具有immutable特质的人群。immutable特质指的就是无法改变或难以改变的特质(something about them that is impossible or, at least, very difficult, to change)。四个选项中，只有A选项unalterable表示“无法变更的，不可改变的”，因此为正确答案。D选项具有一定的迷惑性，unchanged的意思不是“不可变更的”，而是指某个东西长期以来“保持不变的，依然如故的”。
单选题 Which of the following prosecutors may win a discrimination appeal?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】推理题
[解析] 本题主要考查对于discrimination一词的理解。作者在第四段中提到，认定一个案件构不构成歧视案件，一个很重要的判断标准就是是否是因为被歧视者本身无法改变的特质而对他加以区别对待。第五段中，作者具体举了例子。例如：因为种族、国籍、肤色和性别而对他人进行区别对待，这就是歧视。但是如果某个人因为留胡子或者没有获得大学文凭而被公司拒绝，这种情况下因为当事人可以通过改变自己的行为改变自己的处境，因此就不构成歧视。根据这层理解，我们对四个选项进行判断。A选项不构成歧视，虽然提到了美国黑人，但是这里他被拒绝的原因并不是因为他的肤色，而是因为他的学历问题。B选项也不构成歧视，年轻男子身体条件不符合参战，虽然身体条件本身是年轻男子无法改变的特质，男子本身不具备承担军事任务的能力，因此不被征召不属于对他的歧视。C选项也不构成歧视，虽然提到了中国籍男子，但是他被学校开除并不是因为他的国籍，而是他的学业表现。这里构成歧视的只有D选项，一个符合资格的女性却因为年龄问题而被拒之门外，这是典型的因为他人不可变更的特质而对他人进行区别对待。D为正确答案。
单选题 The last paragraph suggests that ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】推理题
[解析] 这一题主要考查对最后一段内容的理解。A选项错误，最后一段中提到反基因歧视法之所以如此受欢迎的一个重要原因就是每个人都有可能存在基因缺陷，都有可能因为这样或那样的基因缺陷而遭到歧视，因此不能说基因歧视只涉及少数一些有严重疾病倾向的人。B选项错误，虽然最后一段提到当陪审团审理和基因歧视相关案件的时候，很有可能因同情原告而判有歧视行为的公司败诉。但我们并不能就此得出这样的结论，遭到基因歧视的原告会毫无例外地胜诉，这样的说法过于绝对。另外也不能得出C选项中的结论，虽然法官和陪审团因为觉得基因缺陷人人皆有，而对基因歧视案件中的原告产生同情，从而有助于原告的胜诉，但我们不能就此得出结论说陪审团往往都会偏袒那些和他们有相似经历的人，这种说法也是过于绝对。只有D选项是正确的，最后一段中有这样的原句“Our genes are complex enough that we all have some negative information encoded in there.”“我们的基因十分复杂，在每个人的体内都多多少少潜伏着负面基因信息，没有人的基因是完美无缺的。”
单选题 According to the passage, genetic discrimination differs from traditional types of discrimination such as racial discrimination or gender discrimination in that ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】细节事实题
[解析] 这一题不能从文中直接找到答案。文中只提到了基因歧视和其他类型歧视的共同点，那就是都是基于人们无法改变的一些特征而产生的歧视。而不同点需要大家阅读完整篇文章后加以判断。文章在最后一段中提到，基因歧视之所以在美国受到如此关注，是因为这是一种人人都有可能碰到的歧视，因为没有人的基因是完美无缺的。这一点是《反基因歧视法》在美国受到大多数人欢迎的原因。而传统意义上的歧视，例如种族歧视等都只是针对少部分人。因此，A选项是正确答案。B选项错误，文中只提到法官们在审理基因歧视案件的时候，会给予原告一定的同情分，但原文并没有提到美国法庭对于种族歧视或者性别歧视等歧视案件的态度，因此我们无从比较。C选项错误，基因歧视确实是由于人的生理特征而产生的偏见，但是同样的，种族歧视或者女性歧视也和人的生理特征有一定的联系，这是它们的共同点，而不是不同点。D选项基因歧视很普遍，而传统的歧视被消除的说法没有根据。