2012届高考英语二轮专题精品复习资料阅读理解36.docVIP

2012届高考英语二轮专题精品复习资料阅读理解（三十六） 1 Mankind is still evolving(进化), according to a recent study by a team of scientists led by a Yale University evolutionary biologist. But research suggests that the natural selection process is no longer driven by survival, perhaps because of differences in women’s fertility(能生育性)． The team examined 2,238 women in Framingham, Massachusetts, the US and studied the medical histories of some 14,000 residents since 1948. They found that strong，slightly fat women tend to have more children. And if this trend were to continue for the next 10 generations, by 2409 the average woman would be 2 cm shorter,1 kg heavier, and have a healthier heart. That rate of evolution is pretty similar to what we see in plants and animals. Humans_don’_t_seem_to_be_any_exception,_the team said. Other recent genetic research backs up that belief. One study by John Hawks, an anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, found that some 1,800 human gene variations (变异) are common in recent generations because of evolution. Among the changes are mutations (突变) that allow people to digest milk or resist malaria(疟疾) and others that govern brain development. Since the Industrial Revolution, modern humans have grown taller and stronger. It’ s easy to assume that evolution is making humans fitter. But according to anthropologist Peter McAllister, the contemporary male has evolved physically into “the sorriest example of male ever on the planet”. An average Neanderthal woman, McAllister notes, could have beat Arnold Schwarzenegger in an armwrestling (腕力) match. And early Australian Aborigines could easily defeat Usain Bolt in a 100-m dash. However, Douglas Ewbank, of the University of Pennsylvania, says that cultural factors tend to have a much greater impact than natural selection on future generations, so people tend to ignore evolution’ s effects. And, despite evidence indicating evolution still works, Steve Jones, an evolutionary biologist at University Coll