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.
8（）
A.offensive
B.confusing
C.promising
D.objective
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] 本题空格所在句句意为“这些言论不仅仅______，且从科学上讲也是不合情理的”，空格所在处为前一分句的表语，且前后两个分句之间为并列关系。根据后一分句中的scientifically weird可知，空格处也应填入表示反面意义的词，且从下义可以看出，这番言论导致的后果是Dr. Watson被迫离开实验室(The resulting...forced...)。四个选项中选项[A]offensive表达反面意义，意为“冒犯的；无礼的；使人反感的”，代入文中表示Dr. Watson关于种族与智力的言论冒犯了某些人群，符合上下文。
[干扰排除] 选项[B]confusing意为“令人困惑的；难以理解的”，选项[C]promising意为“有前途的；有希望的”，选项[D]objective意为“客观的；真实的”，这三项都与后文中的scientifically weird以及Dr. Watson因为其言论受到指责并被迫离开实验室不符，故排除。