Defending the Theory of Evolution Still Seems Needed

　　Judith S. Weis, a biology professor who serves as2 president of the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) is leading a nationwide effort to “defend，，the theory of evolution. Weis leads the effort in the face of what the institute views as opposition and indifference from school boards and government entities3.

　　The Institute believes that the teaching of evolution in America is being diminished by the teaching of creationism as well as by an overall lack of teaching Darwin's4 theory in high school. "There's nothing that requires schools to teach evolution. Sometimes teachers in high schools just leave it out . However, from the point of view of biologists, evolution is the central theory of biology upon which everything is based," said Weis. "Unfortunately, teaching evolution has become a political issue in many parts of the country and AIBS, as a representative of biologists, wanted to be a major force speaking out in favor of its teaching."6

　　Weis said the institute is working together with the American Geological Institute and the National Association of Biology Teachers and its 80-plus member organizations7 to address8 the political and legislative threats to teaching evolution. In states challenging its teaching, the institute responds by sending letters to school boards and state legislatures, by providing testimony at public meetings and by notifying members and affiliated organizations. AIBS, with more than 80 member societies and 250,000 members, has established an e-mail system enabling scientists and teachers in each state, and member societies, to keep each other informed about threats to the teaching of evolution.

　　Darwin's theory of evolution holds that living things change and adapt to their environment and that present-day species (including human beings) are descended from earlier species through modification by natural selection. The theory has been accepted by scientists for nearly 100 years, Weis said, and has been refined, extended and strengthened over the years by findings in paleontology and developmental biology.

　　Discoveries in genetics, molecular biology9 and genomics — all of which provide significant benefits for human health — would not be possible without the underlying10 knowledge of evolution. And, Weis adds, "modern molecular biology and genomics have increased our understanding of how evolution works." Nonetheless, evolution remains a politically, if not scientifically, controversial issue.

　　Weis said that this year alone, seven states have had either local or statewide efforts to water down11 the teaching of evolution, or "balance" it with the teaching of creationism 一 a religious belief that different species were created separately by a higher power, such as God. "Rarely does anyone now use the word ‘creationism，，because that's too obvious," Weis said. "The current terminology is ‘intelligent design.

　　詞匯：

　　creationism /krii'eijenizam/ n.神創(chuàng)論

　　legislature /'ledgisleitja/ n.立法機關

　　affiliated organization 附屬機構

　　refine/n'fain/v.精煉，提純，改進

　　paleontology n.古生物學

　　genetics /dji'netiks/ n.遺傳

　　genomics  n.基因學

　　terminology  n.術語

　　注釋：

　　1.  the theory of evolution：進化論

　　2. serve as：擔任

　　3. Weis leads the effort in the face of what the institute views as opposition and indifference from school boards and government entities.：研究所看到了來自學校董事會和政府部門 的反對和冷漠管如此，Weis仍然帶領大家為-衛(wèi)進化論而努力。 in the face of：意為“despite the opposition of”（不管，不顧）。 entity： 實體。如，business entity：企業(yè)單位，營業(yè)單位

　　4. Darwin：達爾文（1809—1882),英國博物學家，進化論創(chuàng)始人

　　5. leave it out：忽略，遺漏

　　6. speak out in favor of its teaching：為進化論教育而疾呼

　　speak out：大膽地說，大聲地說 in favor of： in support of 支持；贊同

　　7. 80- plus member organizations： 80 多個成員組織。plus:超過的，略大的，如：

　　All the children here are 10plus.這些孩子年齡都在10歲或者10歲以上。 Her mark was B plus。她的分數(shù)是 B+。

　　8. address：意為 “to deal with”（處理，解決，對付）。如： . to address the issue of terrorist attack：對付恐怖襲擊的問題

　　9. molecular biology：分子生物學

　　10. underlying：意癡 “basic; fundamental”（基礎的；基本的）。

　　11. water down：沖淡，摻水，打折扣

　　練習：

　　1. According to the first paragraph, which of the following statements about the theory of evolution is true?

　　A) Government entities support AIBS's effort to defend the theory of evolution.

　　B) School boards oppose AIBS's effort to defend the theory of evolution.

　　C) AIBS and school boards advocate the teaching of the theory of evolution.

　　D) The theory of evolution and that of creationism co-exist peacefully in schools.

　　2. Which one of the following is NOT the reason for an overall lack of teaching Darwin's theory?

　　A) Teaching of creationism diminishes teaching of evolution.

　　B) Teachers are not required to teach Darwin's theory.

　　C) Teachers often leave out the teaching of evolution.

　　D) Darwin's theory is denied as the central theory of biology.

　　3. AIBS is composed of ?

　　A) more than 80 societies and 250,000 members.

　　B) 250,000 biologists.

　　C) 80 member organizations.

　　D) more than 250,000 members and 80 member societies.

　　4. According to Weis in the 5th paragraph, the theory of evolution

　　A) is fundamental to the development of modern genetics, molecular biology and genomics.

　　B) is a political issue.

　　C) is based on genetics, molecular biology and genomics.

　　D) has increased our understanding of human health.

　　E) Because "intelligent design" represents the modified theory of evolution. 1

　　F) Because they believe God created different species.

　　G) Because the term creationism is unscientific.

　　H) Because the term creationism is too direct.

　　答案與題解：

　　1. B 選項A與原意不符。C和D第一段沒有涉及。只有B是正確的答案。

　　2. D 根據(jù)文章第二段的內容，除了 D以外，A、B、C明顯都是學校缺少達爾文進 化論教育的原因。

　　3. A 第三段的最后一個句子提供了答案。

　　4. A 該段第一句告訴我們，沒有進化論作為基礎知識不可能有遺傳學、分子生物學 和基因學上的發(fā)現(xiàn)。所以A是正確選項。

　　5. D 人們使用“intelligent design”不僅因為這個詞語更帶有科學性，而且因為 creationism帶有過于明顯的宗教色彩。that's too obvious即表達了這層意思。

　　譯文：

捍衛(wèi)進化論仍必要

　　美國生物科學研究所主席JudithS. Weis正發(fā)動全國的力量來“捍衛(wèi)”進化論。研究所 看到了來自學校董事會和政府部門的反對和冷漠,盡管如此，Weis仍帶領大家為捍衛(wèi)進化 論而努力。

　　研究^f認為美國的進化論教育由于神創(chuàng)論教育和高中完全缺少達爾文理論的講授而減 少。“沒有命令要求學校教授進化論。高中老師有肘就忽略了它。然而，從生物學家的角度 來看，進化論是生物學的中心理論，是萬物存在的基礎，” Weis說。“不幸的是，在美國許 多地方和美國生物科學院，講授進化論成了一個政治事件，作為生物學家的代表，我想為 進化論教育而疾呼。”

　　Weis說生物學院正和美國的地質研究所和國家生物教師聯(lián)合會及其80多個成員組 織合作來對抗來自政治上和法律上的關于教授進化論的威脅。在國內，面對進化論教育的 挑戰(zhàn)，生物科學院寄信給學校董事會和國家立法機關，在公眾會議上展示證據(jù)，通知其成 員及聯(lián)合組織。生物科學院擁有80多個成員社團和250000個成員，它建立了一個電子郵 件系統(tǒng)使各州的科學家和成員社團能相互聯(lián)合，告知進化論教育面臨的威脅。

　　達爾文的進化論主張生物變化以適應它們的環(huán)境，并且現(xiàn)有物種（包括人類）是由早 期物種經過自然選擇的改造遺傳下來的。這個理論已經被科學家接受了近100年，Weis說， 并且由于古生物學的發(fā)現(xiàn)和生物學的發(fā)展而被完善、拓展、加強。

　　基因、分子生物學和整組遺傳因子方面的發(fā)現(xiàn)——這些都對人類健康大有好處——如 果離開進化論是不可能實現(xiàn)的。而且，Weis補充說，“現(xiàn)代分子生物學和基因學加深了我 們對進化論的認識。”然而，進化論仍是政治性而非科學性的爭議問題。

　　Weis說僅今天，七個州的地方性或全州性地減少了進化論教育或使其處于和神創(chuàng)論教 育同等的地位。神創(chuàng)論是指從宗教上相信物種是由一種更高級的力量，例如上帝分別創(chuàng)造。 “極少有人使用‘神創(chuàng)論’這個詞，因為它太明顯了，” Weis說：“目前使用的術語是‘天才的設計”。

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