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新视野大学英语读写教程第四册unit7-c Section C Genetics and Environmental F

所属教程:新视野大学英语读写教程第四册

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Genetics and Environmental Factors in Creating Genius

Dr. Howard Gardner of Harvard University believes that geniuses are largely made. He has banned television from his home because he fears it might ruin the minds of his family. He makes time every day to listen to his seven-year-old son play the piano — even if it is no more than a few minutes during a phone call while he is away at a conference.

 

Dr. Sandra Scarr of Virginia University(弗吉尼亚大学), president of the Society for Research in Child Development(儿童发展研究会主席), believes geniuses are largely born. She says parents should not worry too much about whether to take their kids to a ball game or to a museum. Talent will out.

 

It seems experts are as divided as ever over the issue of which is more important, environment or genetics. This may, however, be about to change. A conference organized earlier this year brought to London some of the biggest names from both sides of the debate. Amazing results from unpublished work were revealed — and the beginning of agreement could be perceived.

 

The most exciting results came from those working on the biology of individual differences. Dr. Robert Plomin of Penn State University(宾夕法尼亚州立大学), hopes to announce within the next few months that he has tracked down one of the genes that plays a part in determining intelligence. A gene has been identified but the results have yet to be confirmed.

 

At present, it is believed that genes account for at least half of what researchers call "g" — the general thinking ability that IQ tests are supposed to measure — while environmental influences account for the other half. But so far the only evidence for a genetic component has been through statistics, the relationship being inferred mathematically from comparisons of twins and other such studies of close relatives. Plomin's method makes use of new gene mapping techniques and promises to provide direct evidence of the role that genes play.

 

Plomin stresses that the discovery of a first gene does not mean the puzzle of intelligence has been solved. A single gene will code for only one of the many molecules and cell proteins that are the building blocks of the brain. This means that hundreds, if not thousands, of genes must be involved in intelligence. The identification of even one gene does, however, have immense implications for the genetics/environment debate.

 

Another advance, a computer-controlled brain scanning device, has led to a second discovery by those seeking the biological component of mental abilities. Professor Camilla Benbow of Iowa State University(爱荷华州立大学) is head of a long-term study of children who are unusually good at math. For many years she has been puzzled as to why so many of the children in her study should be boys — at the top level, there are more boys than girls by a ratio of thirteen to one. In a soon-to-be-published paper, Benbow reveals that the talented boys' brains appear to process information concerning the location of objects in a very different way from those of average boys and even of talented girls.

 

The brains of children in the study were scanned while being presented with a simple visual puzzle. The boys of average ability and the gifted girls showed strong activity on both sides of their brains as they thought about the puzzle. However, the gifted boys responded very differently. There was a sudden drop in activity in the left side of the brain — the side most involved in language — and an exaggerated reaction on the right, the side strongest at thinking about the location of objects. It seems that the brains of boys with mathematical talent operate in a way that is physically unique.

 

Benbow says she was surprised that the talented girls should lack this pattern of response. The only explanation she has is that male brains have a tendency to become more divided during development, with different functions located on one side of the brain or the other. When this division is taken to an extreme, unusual mathematical abilities result.

 

Because females do not have this tendency (this brain division is known to be influenced by male sex chemicals), girls who perform well in mathematics are doing so because they are superior in their overall mental development. And because such all-round ability is less common, this would be the reason for there being fewer mathematically talented girls.

 

Benbow is quick to add, however, that cultural expectations probably exaggerate the difference. In China, where girls are more likely to get encouragement in mathematics, the number of gifted boys exceeds that of gifted girls by four to one, rather than the thirteen to one seen in the United States.

 

Both Plomin's and Benbow's findings would seem to give support to the argument that outstanding mental abilities are largely the result of genetics. But the conference heard equally strong evidence for the role that environmental factors play in creating genius. A theme repeatedly heard from the speakers was that special children invariably have special parents.

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    创造天才的遗传和环境因素


    哈佛大学的霍华德·加德纳博士认为天才主要是后天造成的。 他的家里不看电视,因为他担心电视会破坏家人的思考能力。 他每天都挤出时间来听7岁的儿子弹钢琴,既使在他外出开会时,也要通过电话听几分钟。
    弗吉尼亚大学的桑德拉·斯卡博士,儿童发展研究会主席,认为天才主要是天生的。 她说该带孩子去看球赛还是参观博物馆,对此家长不必过多担心。 才华终将显示出来。
    哪个更重要,环境还是遗传?对这个问题似乎专家们一向都有分歧。 然而,这一情况可能会有所改变。 在今年早些时候组织的一次会议上,论战双方的知名人物聚于伦敦, 一些未曾公开发表的令人惊讶的结果被公之于众--双方的趋同已初见端倪。
    研究个体生理差异的科学家带来了最令人兴奋的结果。 宾夕法尼亚州立大学的罗伯特·普罗明博士已经找到了影响智力的一种基因的踪迹,他希望能在几个月内公布结果。 这样一种基因已经被发现,但结论还有待证实。
    人们目前认为,对于研究人员称为"g"的能力 -- 即智力测验所要衡量的综合思维能力 -- 基因至少起了一半的作用,而环境影响则起到了另一半作用。 但迄今为止,遗传基因所占比重的仅有的证据只是一些统计数据,即,从对双胞胎的比较,以及对其他血缘接近者的研究中得出的数学统计关系。 普罗明的方法利用新的基因图谱技术,有望对基因所起的作用提供直接证据。
    普罗明强调,发现第一个基因并不意味着解开了智力之迷。 一个基因仅仅为构成大脑的众多分子和细胞蛋白中的一个指定遗传密码。 这就是说,智力涉及的基因没有几千也有几百个。 不过,哪怕辩出一个基因对于遗传与环境之争也是意义重大的。
    另一进展,一台计算机控制的脑部扫描仪,使得寻找思维能力的生理因素的研究人员有了第二个发现。 爱荷华州立大学的卡米拉·班博教授领导着一项对具有数学特长的儿童的长期研究。 多年来,她对为何她的研究中有那么多的男孩感到困惑 -- 高级组中男孩女孩之比为13比1。 在即将发表的论文中,班博表明,天资好的男孩的脑子处理物体方位信息的过程好像与一般的男孩非常不同,甚至与天资好的女孩也不同。
    研究中,给孩子们看一道简单的视觉难题,同时对其脑部进行扫描。 智力一般的男孩与天资好的女孩在解题时脑子的两半球都活跃。 但是天资好的男孩却表现出极大的不同。 他们的左半脑 -- 与语言能力相关的那一半 -- 的活动急剧下降,而右半脑,擅长思考物体方位的那一半,却做出强烈的反应。 看来,具有数学天赋的男孩的大脑在生理方面的活动相当独特。
    班博说,天资好的女孩居然没有这种反应模式,这使她很吃惊。 惟一的解释就是:男性的大脑在发育过程中有分工更明确的趋势,大脑的两半球各有不同的功能。 这种分工到了极致,就产生了不寻常的数学能力。
    因为女性不具备这种趋势(人脑的这种分工已知是男性激素影响的结果),数学好的女孩是因为她们的整体智力发育很好。 又因为这样全面的能力并不常见,这就解释了为何有数学天赋的女孩较为少见。
    不过,班博又迅速补充说,文化传统上人们对孩子的期望可能更扩大了这一差别。 在中国,人们往往更鼓励女孩学数学,那儿有天赋的男孩与女孩的数量之比为4比1,而不像美国是13比1。
    普罗明和班博的研究结果似乎都支持了出众的智力主要是遗传的结果这一论断。 但是那次会议也提出了同样充分的证据支持环境因素在创造天才上的作用。 发言者们多次提到的一个主题就是不同寻常的孩子身后一定有不同寻常的家长。
 

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