Few scientific fields are as full of risk as that of research into human intelligence. The two questions that (1) over and over again are "is it a result of nature or nurture" and "does race make a difference"
Making (2) comments about the second question can be a (3) move, as James Watson, a co-discoverer of DNA structure, recently found. He suggested that he was " (4) about the prospect of Africa" (5) "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours (white people) (6) all the testing says not really". Such (7) by Dr. Watson are not merely (8) , they are scientifically weird. If the term (9) has any useful scientific meaning, then Africa, the continent where modern humanity began, is most racially diverse. The resulting (10) among the public forced Dr. Watson to leave his laboratory.
(11) , the study of the first question (12) between intelligence and genetics— has some wiser practitioners. One of them, Terrie Moffitt, of King’s College, has just (13) a project judging the relative importance of nature and nurture. Dr. Moffitt’s team (14) the effect on intelligence of breastfeeding, but in a genetic context. Previous studies have shown that breastfed children are more intelligent, (15) about six IQ points, than those given baby formulas.
The team, however, (16) the involvement of a gene called FADS2, which comes in two varieties, known as C and G. The researchers (17) if these two varieties interacted differently with breast milk. (18) on data from two groups of people, they found that the intelligence increase associated with breastfeeding only happened to people having (19) at least one copy of the C variety. The effect did not. (20) on the social classes or IQs of the parents.
4（）
A.gloomy
B.optimistic
C.concerned
D.alarmed
参考答案：A
解析：
[试题考点] 上下文语意关系和形容词词义辨析。
[解题思路] 本题空格所在句为引用的Dr. Watson关于种族与智商之间关联的观点，其意为“他暗示，他对非洲的前景______”。空格后的内容又提到“所有的社会政策都是基于非洲人与白人智力相同的事实而制定的，______所有的实验结果表明情况并非如此”，据此可知，Dr. Watson认为，黑人的智力不如白人，他对非洲未来并不看好。四个选项中，只有选项[A]gloomy(忧郁的；忧愁的)符合文意，gloomy与空格后的about构成搭配，表示“对……感到悲观”。
[干扰排除] 选项[B]optimistic意为“乐观的；有信心的”，“Dr. Watson对非洲的未来充满信心”与下文中他认为非洲人智力水平低这个观点相矛盾，故排除该选项。选项[C]concerned意为“担心的；不安的”，与about搭配表示“对……感到担忧”，文中Dr. Watson对非洲的未来感到悲观，并无担忧、关心之意，故可排除选项[C]。选项[D]alarmed意为“担心的；害怕的”，不符合文意，且其后不跟about搭配，常用alarmed at/by sth表示“对……感到担忧”。