Passage Two
Questions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.
More than 100 years ago, American sociologist W. E. B. Du Bois was concerned that race was being used as a biological explanation for what he understood to be social and cultural differences between different populations of people. He spoke out against the idea of "white" and "black" as distinct groups, claiming that these distinctions ignored the scope of human diversity.
Science would favor Du Bois. Today, the mainstream belief among scientists is that race is a social construct without biological meaning. In an article published in the journal Science, four scholars say racial categories need to be phased out. "Essentially, I could not agree more with the authors," said Svante Pääbo, a biologist and director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany. In one example that demonstrated genetic differences were not fixed along racial lines, the full genomes (基因组) of James Watson and Craig Venter, two famous American scientists of European ancestry, were compared to that of a Korean scientist, Seong-Jin Kim. It turned out that Watson and Venter shared fewer variations in their genetic sequences than they each shared with Kim.
Michael Yudell, a professor of public health at Drexel university in Philadelphia, said that modem genetics research is operating in a paradox: on the one hand, race is understood to be a useful tool to illuminate human genetic diversity, but on the other hand, race is also understood to be a poorly defined marker of that diversity.
Assumptions about genetic differences between people of different races could be particularly dangerous in a medical setting. "If you make clinical predictions based on somebody's race, you're going to be wrong a good chunk of the time," Yudell told Live Science. In the paper, he and his colleagues used the example of cystic fibrosis, which is underdiagnosed in people of African ancestry because it is thought of as a "white" disease.
So what other variables could be used if the racial concept is thrown out? Yudell said scientists need to get more specific with their language, perhaps using terms like "ancestry" or "population" that might more precisely reflect the relationship between humans and their genes, on both the individual and population level. The researchers also acknowledged that there are a few areas where race as a construct might still be useful in scientific research: as a political and social, but not biological, variable.
"While we argue phasing out racial terminology (术语) in the biological sciences, we also acknowledge that using race as a political or social category to study racism, although filled with lots of challenges, remains necessary given our need to understand how structural inequities and discrimination produce health disparities (差异) between groups. " Yudell said.
51. Du Bois was opposed to the use of race as ________.
A. a basis for explaining human genetic diversity
B. an aid to understanding different populations
C. an explanation for social and cultural differences
D. a term to describe individual human characteristics
52. The study by Svante Pääbo served as an example to show ________.
A. modern genetics research is likely to fuel racial conflicts
B. race is a poorly defined marker of human genetic diversity
C. race as a biological term can explain human genetic diversity
D. genetics research should consider social and cultural variables
53. The example of the disease cystic fibrosis underdiagnosed in people of African ancestry demonstrates that ________.
A. it is absolutely necessary to put race aside in making diagnosis
B. it is important to include social variables in genetics research
C. racial categories for genetic diversity could lead to wrong clinical predictions
D. discrimination against black people may cause negligence in clinical treatment
54. What is Yudell's suggestion to scientists?
A. They be more precise with the language they use.
B. They refrain from using politically sensitive terms.
C. They throw out irrelevant concepts in their research.
D. They examine all possible variables in their research.
55. What can be inferred from Yudell's remark in the last paragraph?
A. Clinging to racism prolongs inequity and discrimination.
B. Physiological disparities are quite striking among races.
C. Doing away with racial discrimination is challenging.
D. Racial terms are still useful in certain fields of study.
答案解析：
51. 由题干中的关键词“Du Bois was opposed to”定位到第一段“American sociologist W. E. B. Du Bois was concerned that race was being used as a biological explanation for what he understood to be social and cultural differences between different populations of people. He spoke out against the idea...”，意思是“美国社会学家W. E. B. 杜波依斯担心种族被用作生物学解释，来解释他所理解的不同人群之间的社会和文化差异。他公开反对这种观点……”，说明杜波依斯反对将种族作为社会和文化差异的解释，所以选C。
52. 由题干中的关键词“The study by Svante Pääbo served as an example to show”定位到第三段“Michael Yudell...said that modem genetics research is operating in a paradox: on the one hand, race is understood to be a useful tool to illuminate human genetic diversity, but on the other hand, race is also understood to be a poorly defined marker of that diversity.”以及前文提到的Svante Pääbo认同文章中种族类别需要被逐步淘汰这一观点，且后文举例说明不同种族的人基因差异并非固定，说明种族是人类遗传多样性一个定义不明确的标志，所以选B。
53. 由题干定位到第五段“Assumptions about genetic differences between people of different races could be particularly dangerous in a medical setting...In the paper, he and his colleagues used the example of cystic fibrosis, which is underdiagnosed in people of African ancestry because it is thought of as a 'white' disease.”，意思是“在医疗环境中，对不同种族人群之间基因差异的假设可能尤其危险……在论文中，他和他的同事们以囊性纤维化为例，这种疾病在非洲裔人群中诊断不足，因为它被认为是一种‘白人’疾病”，说明种族分类可能导致错误的临床预测，所以选C。
54. 由题干中的关键词“Yudell's suggestion to scientists”定位到第六段“Yudell said scientists need to get more specific with their language, perhaps using terms like 'ancestry' or 'population' that might more precisely reflect the relationship between humans and their genes, on both the individual and population level.”，意思是“尤德尔说，科学家需要更精确地使用语言，也许可以使用‘祖先’或‘群体’等术语，这些术语可能更准确地反映人类与其基因之间的关系，无论是在个人还是群体层面”，说明尤德尔建议科学家使用语言时要更精确，所以选A。
55. 由题干中的关键词“Yudell's remark in the last paragraph”定位到最后一段“While we argue phasing out racial terminology (术语) in the biological sciences, we also acknowledge that using race as a political or social category to study racism, although filled with lots of challenges, remains necessary given our need to understand how structural inequities and discrimination produce health disparities (差异) between groups.”，意思是“虽然我们主张在生物科学中逐步淘汰种族术语，但我们也承认，鉴于我们需要了解结构性不平等和歧视如何在群体之间造成健康差异，将种族作为政治或社会类别来研究种族主义，尽管充满挑战，但仍然是必要的”，说明在某些研究领域，种族术语仍然有用，所以选D。
