ic learning is learning by a species as a whole, and it is achieved
by selection of those members of each generation that happen to behave in the right way. How-
ever, genetic learning depends upon a prediction that the future will more or less exactly resemble
the past. The more variable individual experience is likely to be, the less efficient is genetic
learning as a means of getting over the problems of the survival game. It is not surprising to find
that very few species indeed depend wholly upon genetic learning. In the great majority of animals, behaviour is a compound of individual experience and genetic learning to behave in particular
ways.
26. According to the first paragraph, the survival game is considered potentially very dangerous
because
A) animals are constantly threatened by attacks
B) wrong decisions will lead to the disappearance of a species
C) decisions made by an animal may turn out to be fatal
D) few animals can survive in their struggle with the environment
27. It is implied but not directly stated in the passage that most animals
A) are likely to make wrong decisions
B) have made correct decisions for their survival
C) depend entirely on their parents in learning about the world around them
D) survive by means of individual learning
28. Genetic learning is effective only if
A) the survival game is arranged in favour of the young animals
B) the animals can adapt themselves to the changing surroundings
C) circumstances remain more or less the same
D) the animals have varied individual experiences
29. The best TITLE for this passage would be
A) The Decision - Making Ability of Animals
B) Survival and Environment
C) Reward and Penalty for Animals
D) Behaviour and Survival
30. How is genetic leaning achieved?
A) It is inherited from animals with keen observation.
B) It is passed down from those animals that behave in the correct way.
C) It is taught to the young generation.
D) It is learned by the new generation through trial and error.
Passage Three
Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage:
Scientists, like other human beings, have their hopes and fears, their passions and disap-
pointments and their strong emotions may sometimes interrupt the course of clear thinking
and sound practice. But science is also self - correcting. The most fundamental principles and
conclusions may be challenged. The steps in a reasoned argument must be set out for all to see.
Experiments must be capable of being carried out by other scientists. The history of science is
full of cases where previously accepted theories have been entirely overthrown, to be replaced by
new ideas which more adequately explain the data.
While there is an understandable inertia - usually lasting about one generation - such
revolution in scientific thought are widely accepted as a necessary and desirable element of scientific progress. Indeed, the reasoned criticism of a prevailing belief is a service to the supporters of that belief; if they are incapable of defending it, they are well - advised to abandon it. This self -questioning and error- correcting aspect of the scientific method is its most striking property and sets it off from many other areas of human endeavor, such as religion and fine arts.
The idea of science as a method rather than as a body of knowledge is not widely appreciated outside of science, or indeed in some corridors inside of science. Vigorous criticism is constructive in science more than in some other areas of human endeavor because in it there are adequate standards of validity which can be agreed upon by competent scientists the world over.
The objective of such criticism is not to suppress but rather to encourage the advance of new
Ideas:those which survive a firm skeptical(怀疑的) examination have a fighting chance of being
right, or at least useful.
31. Science is self- correcting because its theories
A) have to be revised constantly to conform with ideas which explain the data better
B) have reflected the most fundamental principles of nature
C) are, more often than not, based on inadequate data
D) must be set out for all to see
32. It can be learned from the context that the word "inertia" (Para. 2, Line 1) most probably
means
A) strong resolution B) unwillingness to change
C) a period of time &n
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