Some modern anthropologistshold that biological evolution has shaped not only human morphology but alsohuman behavior. The role those anthropologists ascribe to evolution is not ofdictating the details of human behavior but one of imposing constraints— waysof feeling, thinking, and acting that “come naturally” in archetypal situationsin any culture. Our frailties—emotions and motives such as rage, fear, greed,gluttony, joy, lust, love—may be a very mixed assortment, but they share atleast one immediate quality: we are, as we say, “in the grip of them”. And thusthey give us our sense of constraints. Unhappily, some of those frailties—ourneed for ever-increasing security among them—are presently maladaptive. Yetbeneath the overlay of cultural detail, they, too, are said to be biological indirection, and therefore as natural to us as are our appendixes. We would needto comprehend thoroughly their adaptive origins in order to understand howbadly they guide us now. And we might then begin to resist their pressure.

这是北美No.题中难度比较大的一篇短阅读，其内容抽象晦涩，表达方式曲折迂回，而且文后的问题难度也不小。我们来看一下这种阅读该如何攻克吧！

首先，对于文章内容，一定要学会看穿本质、列好相互关系。略读的时候注意把句子核心挑选出来，自己在脑子里总结简短版本。

我们先把简短版本写出来，看一看这样是不是更有助于理解：

Biological evolution has shapedhuman behavior. The role of evolution is of imposing constraints. We are “inthe grip of our frailties”. And thus these frailties give us our sense ofconstraints. Unhappily, some of those frailties are presently maladaptive. Yet theyare said to be biological in direction, and therefore natural to us. We wouldneed to comprehend their adaptive origins in order to understand how badly theyguide us now. And we might then begin to resist their pressure.

文章的主题句是第*句，简单地说就是“生物进化会影响人类行为”。这是一篇Plainfact类型文章，并没有大的转折和观点强烈对比的内容出现，当然这里面所叙述的理论相对来说还是比较新鲜的观点。

文章花了一半的篇幅来描述frailties给我们带来的限制，以及它们不适应环境的状况，以及我们不得不将它们作为正常的生理进化阶段来接受的事实。最终点出，如果想要抵抗这些frailties带来的限制和压力，我们必须要深刻了解它们的适应进化之源。其实还是回到了主题句中的内容，也就是说我们无法离开生物性进化来单独讨论人类行为的弱点。

这篇文章难度确实比较大，大部分同学第*遍略读的时候可能无法理解到这个程度，但是至少要知道文章的主线是怎样的。

接下来，看一下文后题目吧！

1.      The primary purpose of the passage is to present

A. a position on the foundations of human behavior and on what those foundationsimply

B. a theory outlining the parallel development of human morphology and ofhuman behavior

C. a diagnostic test for separating biologically determined behaviorpatterns from culture-specific detail

D. a practical method for resisting the pressures of biologicallydetermined drives

E. an overview of those human emotions and motives that impose constraintson human behavior

主旨题：全文都是在讲人类行为是由生理性进化决定的，其实换一句话来说就是在描述人类行为的基础和这一基础的意义所在。比较容易地就能判断出选A。

2.      The author implies that control to any extent over the"frailties" that constrain our behavior is thought to presuppose

A. that those frailties are recognized as currently beneficial andadaptive

B. that there is little or no overlay of cultural detail that masks theirtrue nature

C. that there are cultures in which those frailties do not "comenaturally" and from which such control can be learned

D. a full understanding of why those frailties evolved and of how theyfunction now

E. a thorough grasp of the principle that cultural detail in humanbehavior can differ arbitrarily from society to society

细节题：注意题干的意思。题目问的是想要控制frailties带来的限制，前提（presuppose）是什么，也就是说作者表示应通过何种方式来抵抗其限制。定位到原文最后两句，We would need to comprehend thoroughly their adaptiveorigins in order to understand how badly they guide us now. And we might thenbegin to resist their pressure.可以看到，必须先彻底地comprehend这些弱点的适应进化之来源方能理解从而抵御其不良影响。同义改写，答案为D。

3.      Which of the following most probably provides an appropriate analogyfrom human morphology for the "details" versus "constraints"distinction made in the passage in relation to human behavior?

A. The ability of most people to see all the colors of the visiblespectrum as against most people's inability to name any but the primary colors

B. The ability of even the least fortunate people to show compassion asagainst people's inability to mask their feelings completely

C. The ability of some people to dive to great depths as against mostpeople's inability to swim long distances

D. The psychological profile of those people who are able to delaygratification as against people's inability to control their lives completely

E. The greater lung capacity of mountain peoples that helps them live inoxygen-poor air as against people's inability to fly without special apparatus

这道题有很强的迷惑性，在做题前还是要注意阅读题干。题目中要求提出human morphology的一对例子，所以并非形态学上的选项（B,D）就可以直接排除掉了。至于原文中关于details和constraints的对比，其实只提出了constraints的特点，也就是先天性地、天然地限制人类，那么意味着details并不带有这种含义。从后文对frailties的描述可以看出，constraints的基础是生理进化，也就是说人类现阶段无论如何也无法通过个人努力摆脱这些限制。A和C选项中对constraints的同位比较并未体现出这种根本特点，因此只有E选项是符合要求的。

4.      It can be inferred that in his discussion of maladaptive frailties theauthor assumes that

A. evolution does not favor the emergence of adaptive characteristics overthe emergence of maladaptive ones

B. any structure or behavior not positively adaptive is regarded astransitory in evolutionary theory

C. maladaptive characteristics, once fixed, make the emergence of othermaladaptive characteristics more likely

D. the designation of a characteristic as being maladaptive must always remainhighly tentative

E. changes in the total human environment can outpace evolutionary change

小逻辑题：作者对maladaptive frailties的描述基于何种假设？

原文的描述为：Unhappily, some of those frailties—our need for ever-increasingsecurity among them—are presently maladaptive. Yet beneath the overlay ofcultural detail, they, too, are said to be biological in direction, andtherefore as natural to us as are our appendixes.首先这些frailties目前来讲不适应环境，但是它们是与生物（进化）方向一致、并且天然存在的。这里在读原文的时候在biological后面需要补充上evolution，因为全文通篇都在说生物性进化的问题，这里的biological其实是对它的省略。理解了这一点就比较好做题了，因为frailties和biological evolution进化一致，而frailties是不适应环境的，也就是说它是跟不上environment的变化的，想要填补上这里的逻辑链gap就必须接受E选项的假设。