People have wondered for a long time how their personalities and behaviors are formed. It is noteasy to explain why one person is intelligent and another is not, or why one is cooperative andanother is competitive.
Social scientists are, of course, extremely interested in these types of questions. They want toexplain why we possess certain characteristics and exhibit certain behaviors. There are no clearanswers yet, but two distinct schools of thought on the matter have developed. As one might expect,the two approaches are very different from one another, and there is a great deal of debate betweenproponents of each theory. The controversy is often referred to as“nature/nurture”.
Two who support the “nature” side of the conflict believe that our personalities and behaviorpatterns are largely determined by biological and genetic factors. That our environment has little, ifanything, to do with our abilities, characteristics, and behavior is central to this theory. Taken toextremes, this theory maintains that our behavior is predetermined to such a degree that we arealmost completely governed by our instincts.
Proponents of the"nurture" theory, or as they are often called, behaviorists, claimed that ourenvironment is more important than our biologically based instincts in determining how we will act.A behaviorist, B.F. Skinner, sees humans as beings whose behavior is almost completely shaped bytheir surroundings. The behaviorists'view of the human being is quite mechanistic; they maintainthat, like machines, humans respond to environmental stimuli as the basis of their behavior.
Neither of these theories can yet fully explain human behavior. In fact, it is quite likely that thekey to our behavior lies somewhere between these two extremes. That the controversy will continuefor a long time is certain.
Which of the following statements would the supporters of the "nature"theory agree with?
根据第三段第一句“…and behavior patterns are largely determined by biological andgenetic factors.”可知，支持先天理论的人认为生物和基因因素影响人的行为，所以C项正确。根据第三段第二、三句"That our environment has little.to do with our abilities..our behavior is predeterminedto such a degree that we are almost completely governed by our instincts.”可知，A、B两项均不正确；D项不属于先天理论。故选C。
Which of the following statements would the proponents of the "nurture"theory agree with?
根据第四段第一句"Proponents of the ^nurture'theory, or as they are often called,behaviorists, claimed that our environment is more important than our biologically based instincts indetermining how we will act.”可知，“培养”理论的支持者认为在决定人类行为上，环境的作用更重要，所以D项正确。A、C两项属于先天理论，所以他们不可能同意；行为主义理论(behaviorist theory)是这派人的主要理论，他们不可能同意自己的理论错误，所以排除B项。故选D。
B.F. Skinner________.
根据第四段第二句“..B.F. Skinner, sees humans as beings whose behavior is almost completely shaped by their surroundings.”可知，B.F.Skinner认为人们的行为几乎是由环境塑造的。
Concerning the nature/nurture controversy, the writer of this article_______.
根据最后一段第二句"In fact, it is quite likely that the key to our behavior lies somewherebetween these two extremes.”可知，作者认为，人类行为的关键很可能会在这两个极端中间。由此可推知，作者认为正确的解释应是两种理论的融合。故选D。
In the U.S.,black people often score below white people on intelligence tests. With thisin mind, which one of the following statements is not true?
根据文中对先天理论和行为主义理论的描述可知，先天理论认为人们的个性和行为方式主要受生物和基因因素影响，而行为主义理论则认为主要的影响因素是环境。由此可推知，选项A、B、D均正确。C项(先天理论的支持者会说白人得分高是因为他们有一个更好的环境)的说法显然是错误的。故选C。