2014年MBA英语阅读理解(精读精解)(22)

　　Plowing through the New York Times on a recent Sunday, I read in the Metro Section that infertile couples in the market for smart-kid genes regularly place advertisements in the newspapers of their own Ivy League alma maters offering female undergraduates $7,500 for a donated egg. Before I could get that news comfortably digested, I came across an article in the Magazine section describing SAT prep courses for which parents spend thousands in the hope of raising their child's test scores enough to make admission to an Ivy League college possible. So how can people who have found a potential egg donor at an Ivy League college tell whether the donor carries genuine smart-kid genes or just pushy-parents genes?

　　The donor herself may not even be aware that such a distinction exists. After years of expensive private schooling and math tutors and tennis camps and SAT prep courses and letters of recommendation from important family friends, she's been told that, unlike beneficiaries of affirmative action, she got into an Ivy League college on pure merit.

　　Since it is probably safe to assume that people intent on securing high-priced Ivy League eggs are carrying some pushy-parents genes themselves, their joining forces with a donor who got into an Ivy League college by dint of her family's willingness to fork over 10 grand to an SAT prep course could result in a child with somewhere between a dose and a half and 2 1/2 doses of pushy-parents genes. Apparently the egg seekers aren't troubled by the prospect of having their grandchildren raised by this sort of person.

　　If you have any doubts about whether the dosages I cite are based on a thorough grounding in genetics and statistics and advanced microbiology, rest assured that I attended an Ivy League college myself. That was in the days, I'll admit, when any number of people were admitted to such institutions without having shown any evidence of carrying smart-kid genes even in trace elements. Somehow, most of these dimmer bulbs managed to graduate--every class needs a lower third in order to have an upper two-thirds--and somehow most of them are now millionaires on Wall Street.

　　One element many of them had going for them in the admissions process was that they were identified as "legacies"--the offspring of alumni. In Ivy League colleges, alumni children are even now admitted at twice the rate of other applicants. For that reason, egg seekers may not actually need genuine smart-kid genes for their children: after all, an applicant whose mother and father and egg donor were all alumni could be considered a triple legacy.

　　But how about the college-admission prospects of the grandchildren? As methods are perfected of enhancing a college application through increasingly expensive services--one young man mentioned in the magazine article had $25,000 worth of SAT preparation--it might become more important to have a parent who's a Wall Street millionaire than to have smart-kid genes. Maybe it would be prudent to add a sentence to those ads in college papers: "Preference given to respondents in the lower third of the class."

　　1.In the author’s eyes, a female student from an Ivy League college is__________.

　　[A] an ideal egg donor

　　[B] not necessarily an intelligent person

　　[C] more influenced by her parents than by anything else

　　[D] more likely to carry smart-kid genes

　　2.According to the author, what may chiefly be the reason for the donor’s admission in an

　　Ivy League college?

　　[A] her own merits

　　[B] the affirmative action

　　[C] her smart-kid genes

　　[D] her parents’ efforts

　　3.Which of the following is true according to the author?

　　[A] American parents would send their children into an Ivy League college at any cost

　　[B] Ivy League colleges used to admit students who showed no sign of intelligence

　　[C] alumni children stand a better chance to be admitted than other applicants

　　[D]egg-seekers care nothing about the pushy-parents genes

　　4.The author’s attitude towards the issue seems to be ____________.

　　[A] approving

　　[B] objective

　　[C] indifferent

　　[D] ironic

　　5.It could be inferred from the text that____________.

　　[A] wealth is more important than intelligence in application for Ivy League colleges

　　[B] Ivy League colleges are increasingly expensive

　　[C] egg-seekers can get better genes from millionaires

　　[D] the prospects of college-admission are gloomy

　　答案：B D C D A

　　篇章剖析：

　　本文为议论文，指出不孕夫妇高价求购名校大学生卵子之事的荒谬之处以及名校门槛难进的严峻现实。本文采用的是提出问题―分析问题―解决问题的模式。在第一段，作者指出为了生下聪明宝宝而高价求购名校大学生卵子的人无法真正知道捐卵人的基因是聪明孩子的基因还是要强家长的基因。第二段着重说明这些捐卵者都是在家庭的帮助下进入名校学习的。第三段分析了了求卵者与捐卵者联合的可能结果。第四段指出智商和成功之间联系并不明显――因为很多差生也能成为百万富翁。第五段进一步分析名校学生被录取的一个原因，那就是他们的“校友子女”身份。最后一段提出一个讽刺性的解决办法：优先考虑可能成为百万富翁的差生。

　　词汇注释：

　　SAT: (美国)学术能力测验(Scholastic Aptitude Test)

　　admission: [Ed5miFEn] n. 许可入场;入学、入会

　　pushy: [5pJFI] adj. 有进取心的

　　affirmative action: 平权措施，指美国大学在录取新生和分配奖学金时，在成绩相同或相近的条件下优先考虑少数族裔的学生，如非洲裔、西班牙裔和印第安裔考生。

　　dint: [dint] n. 力量，努力;权力 by dint of 由于;凭藉

　　fork over: 花费，为…投入金钱

　　trace element: 微量元素

　　alumni: [E5lQmnai] n. 校友

　　prudent: [5pru:dEnt] adj. 谨慎的;明智的

　　难句突破：

　　1.Since it is probably safe to assume that people intent on securing high-priced Ivy League eggs are carrying some pushy-parents genes themselves, their joining forces with a donor who got into an Ivy League college by dint of her family’s willingness to fork over 10 grand to an SAT prep course could result in a child with somewhere between a dose and a half and 2 1/2 doses of push-parents genes.

　　主体句式：their joining forces…could result in a child…

　　结构分析：本句是个复杂长句，首先由since引导一个原因状语从句，在这个从句里又包含了一个宾语从句(assume后面that引导的部分)，一个较长的定语(intent on securing high-priced Ivy League eggs)，主句的主语是一个较长的动名词短语，其中包含了一个定语从句(who引导的部分)，而这个定语从句中还含有一个较长的状语(由介词词组by dint of引导)，主句的宾语里也包含有一个由介词with引导的长定语。在阅读的时候，一定要先理清主次，然后把各部发之间的修饰，限定等关系看清楚，才不至于出错。

　　句子译文：也许可以安全地假定那些想要获得高价常青藤联盟卵子的人自己身上就带有要强的家长的基因，他们和那些靠家庭心甘情愿花1万美元参加SAT考前辅导班而进入常青藤联盟学校的捐卵者联合，其结果也许就是生出的孩子身上的要强父母基因剂量介于1.5至2.5之间 。

　　2.As methods are perfected of enhancing a college application through increasingly expensive services---one young man mentioned in the magazine article had $25,000 worth of SAT preparation---it might become more important to have a parent who’s a Wall Street millionaire than to have smart-kid genes.

　　主体句式：it might become more important to have a parent…

　　结构分析：本句也是一个复杂长句。as引导一个较长的原因状语从句，其中还含有一个插入语，对increasingly expensive进行实例说明，从句中的时态为被动，主语method的定语修饰成分(of引导的部分)因为过长而被后置到谓语之后;主句是以it做形式主语，两个被比较的不定式做为真正主语的结构。

　　句子译文：由于通过日益昂贵的服务来提高大学申请成功的可能性的方法日臻完美---杂志文章里面提到的一个年轻人花了25000美元准备SAT考试---那么有个华尔街百万富翁家长也许比有聪明孩子基因更重要。