问题 阅读理解与欣赏

阅读下面的文字,完成下面问题。

绝妙的错误

[美]刘易斯·托马斯

  大自然迄今取得的唯一最伟大的成就,当然要数DNA分子的发明。我们从一开始就有了它。它装在第一个细胞之中,那个细胞带着膜和其他东西,在大约30亿年前这个行星渐渐冷却时出现在某个地方的浓汤似的水中。今天贯穿地球上所有细胞的DNA,只不过是那第一个DNA扩展和惨淡经营的结果。从某种本质意义上说,我们不能声称自己取得了什么进步,因为生长和繁衍的技术基本没有变。

  可是,我们在其他方面却取得了进步。尽管今天再来谈论进化方面的进步已经不时髦了,因为如果你用那个词去指称任何类似改进的东西,会隐含某种让科学无能为力的价值判断,可我还是想不出一个更好的术语来描述已经发生的事情。毕竟,从一个仅仅拥有一种原始微生物细胞的生命系统中一路走来,从沼地藻丛的无色生涯中脱颖而出,演进到今天我们周围所见的:一切——巴黎城,依阿华州,剑桥大学……我后院里的马栗树,还有脊椎动物大脑皮层模块中那一排排的神经原——从那一个古老的分子至今,我们真的已经走得很远了。我们绝不可能通过人类智慧做到这一点。即使有分子生物学家从一开始就乘卫星飞来,带着实验室等等一切,从另外某个大阳系来到这里,也是白搭;没错!我们进化出了科学家,因此知道了许多关于DNA的事,但假如我们这种心智遇到挑战,要我们从零开始,设计一个类似的会繁殖的分子,我们是绝不会成功的。我们会犯一个致命的错误:我们设计的分子会过于完美。假以时日,我们终于会想出怎样做这事,核苷酸啦,酶啦等等一切,做成完美无瑕的一模一样的复本,可我们怎么想也不会想到,那玩意儿还必须能出差错。

  能够稍微有些失误,乃是DNA的真正奇迹。没有这个特有的品性,我们将至今还只是厌气菌,也绝不会有音乐。一个个地加以单独观察,把我们一路带过来的每一个突变,都是某种随机的全然自发的意外。然而,突变的发生又绝不是意外,因为DNA分子从一开始就命中注定要犯些小小的错误。

  假如由我们来干这事,我们会寻求某种途径去改正这些错误,那样,进化就会半路停止了。试想,一些科学家正在专注地从事于繁殖丈本完全正确的、像细菌一样的无核原生细胞,而有核细胞却突然出现,那时,他们会怎样地惊慌失措。

  我们讲,犯错误的是人,可我们并不怎么喜欢这个想法。而让我们去接受这样一个事实——犯错误也是所有生物的本性,那就更难了。我们更喜欢立场坚定,确保不变。可事情还是这样的:我们来到这儿,就是由于纯粹的机遇,也可以说是由于错误。在进化路上的某处,核苷酸旁移,让进了新成员;也可能还有病毒迁移进来,随身带来一些小小的异己的基因组;还有来自太阳或外层空间的辐射在分子中引起了小小的裂缝,于是就孕育出人类。

  不管怎样,只要DNA分子有这种根本的不稳定性,事情的结果大概只能如此。说到底,假如你有个机制,按其设计是用来不断改变生活方式的;假如所有新的形式都必须像它们先前那样互相适配,结成一体;假如每一个即兴生成的、能对个体进行修饰润色的新基因,很有可能为这一物种所选择;假如你也有足够的时间,那么,这个系统注定要迟早发育出大脑,还有知觉。

  生物学实在需要有一个比“错误”更好的词来指称这种进化的推动力。或者,“错误”一词也毕竟用得。只要你记住,它来自一个古老的词根,那词根意为四处游荡,寻寻觅觅。(选自《水母与蜗牛——一个生物学观察者的手记(续)》,有删改)

1、作者在第一段里说“从某种本质意义上说,我们不能声称自己取得了什么进步”,但在第二段里又说“我们在其他方面却取得了进步”,如何理解这两句话?

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2、科普文的语言除准确严谨外,还具有不同于一般说明文的语言特色。请在文中加点词任选两个,结合文章简要分析这些不同的语言特色。

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3、作者为什么将标题取名为“绝妙的错误”,请结合全文分析。

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答案

1、“从某种本质意义上说,我们不能声称自己取得了什么进步”指的是生长和繁衍的技术基本没有变。“我们在其他方面却取得了进步”指的是我们从那一个古老的分子至今,我们真的已经走得很远了。(意对即可)

2、“惨淡经营”移用手法,把用于人的词语用到细胞的演变上,生动形象。“让进”一词把分子演进过程用拟人化的手法表达出来,形象生动。“白搭”是口语化的语言,明白自然地把某些科学家的不出错误的研究加以讽刺。“玩意儿”也是口语化的语言,同样清楚明白地说明了“完美无瑕的一模一样的复本”的分子。(意对即可)

3、“绝妙的错误”指的是DNA的演变过程,在不断的“错误”中由单细胞生物逐渐形成不同的生物。之所以称为“错误”是指演变过程中“每一个突变都是某种随机的全然自发的意外”,比如“在进化路上的某处,核苷酸旁移,让进了新成员;也可能还有病毒迁移进来,随身带来一些小小的异己的基因组;还有来自太阳或外层空间的辐射在分子中引起了小小的裂缝,于是就孕育出人类”这些错误。说错误是“绝妙”的主要是说这一个个的意外错误,才成就了今天的生物。所以标题取名为“绝妙的错误”。(意对即可)

阅读理解

阅读理解。

     Driving to a friend's house on a recent evening, I was attracted by the sight of the full moon rising just

above my friend's rooftops. I stopped to watch it for a few moments, thinking about what a pity it was that

most city people, myself included, usually miss sights like this because we spend most of our lives indoors.

     My friend had also seen it. He grew up living-in a forest in Europe, and the moon meant a lot to him then.

It had touched much of his life.

     I know the feeling. Last December I took my seven-year-old daughter to the mountainous jungle of

northern India with some friends. We stayed in a forest rest-house with no electricity or running hot water.

Our group had campfires outside every night, and indoors when it was too cold outside. The moon grew to

its fullest during our trip. Between me and the high mountains lay three or four valleys. Not a light shone in

them and not a sound could be heard. It was one of the quietest places I have ever known, a bottomless well

of silence. And above me was the full moon, which struck me deeply.

     Today our lives are filled with glass, metal, plastic and fibreglass. We have televisions, cell phones, pagers,

electricity, heaters and ovens and air-conditioners, cars, computers.

     Struggling through traffic that evening at the end of a tiring day, most of it spent indoors, I thought: before

long, I would like to live in a small cottage. There I will grow vegetables and read books and walk in the

mountains and perhaps write, but not in anger. I may become an old man there, and wear the bottoms of my

trousers rolled and measure out my life in coffee spoons. But I will be able to walk outside on a cold silent night

and touch the moon.

1. The best title for the passage would be _____.

A. Touched by the moon

B. The pleasures of modern life

C. A bottomless well of silence

D. Break away from modem life

2. The writer felt sorry for himself because _____.

A. there was too many pollution

B. he failed to see the fullest moon

C. he didn't adapt to modern inventions

D. there were many accidents on the road

3. What impressed the writer most in the mountainous jungle of northern India?

A. No modem equipment.

B. Complete silence.

C. The nice moonlight.

D. The high mountains.

4. Modern things( Paragraph 4) are mentioned mainly to _____.

A. show that the writer likes city life very much

B. tell us that people greatly benefit from modem life

C. explain that people have less chances to enjoy nature

D. show that we can also enjoy nature at home through them

5. The author wrote the passage to _____.

A. express the feeling of returning to nature

B. show the love for the moonlight

C. advise modem people to learn to live

D. want to communicate longing for modern life

单项选择题