July 31st, 2007[ Reading Comprehension 5]

The principle of selection solved the riddle as to how what
was purposive could conceivably be brought about without the
intervention of a directing power, the riddle which animate
nature presents to our intelligence at every turn, and in
5 face of which the mind of a Kant could find no way out, for
he regarded a solution of it as not to be hoped for. For,
even if we were to assume an evolutionary force that is
continually transforming the most primitive and the simplest
forms of life into ever higher forms, and the homogeneity of
10 primitive times into the infinite variety of the present, we
should still be unable to infer from this alone how each of
the numberless forms adapted to particular conditions of life
should have appeared precisely at the right moment in the
history of the earth to which their adaptations were
15 appropriate, and precisely at the proper place in which all
the conditions of life to which they were adapted occurred:
the humming-birds at the same time as the flowers; the
trichina at the same time as the pig; the bark-coloured moth
at the same time as the oak, and the wasp-like moth at the
20 same time as the wasp which protects it. Without processes
of selection we should be obliged to assume a
“pre-established harmony” after the famous Leibnitzian model,
by means of which the clock of the evolution of organisms
is so regulated as to strike in exact synchronism with that
25 of the history of the earth!
All forms of life are strictly adapted to the conditions
of their life, and can persist under these conditions alone.
There must therefore be an intrinsic connection between the
conditions and the structural adaptations of the organism,
30 and, since the conditions of life cannot be determined by
the animal itself, the adaptations must be called forth by
the conditions. The selection theory teaches us how this
is conceivable, since it enables us to understand that there
is a continual production of what is non-purposive as well
35 as of what is purposive, but the purposive alone survives,
while the non-purposive perishes in the very act of arising.
This is the old wisdom taught long ago by Empedocles.

QUESTIONS

1. It can be inferred that the author believes that the “Leibnitzian model” (line 22) is
A. ingenious and worthy of serious consideration
B. untenable by all rational people
C. an acceptable solution to Kant’s dilemma
D. unworthy of further consideration
E. an alternative that might still be valid


2. The author’s primary purpose in this extract is to
A. suggest that a particular theory explains otherwise puzzling phenomena
B. describe the details of the selection theory for a lay audience
C. justify a particularly controversial model of the origins of life
D. persuade the reader that Empedocles was right
E. prove that selection is the only possible way of looking at evolutionary biology


3. The examples in lines 17 - 19 are intended to
A. reinforce the author’s point that is difficult to explain adaptation
B. show that adaptations must take place only at specific times and in specific places
C. give specific illustration of organisms that are particularly well-adapted to their conditions
D. show organisms that have evolved synchronously in a predestined manner
E. demonstrate that intelligent design is needed for purposive evolution