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  3. Charles Darwin wed his cousin Emma and spawned 10 children, including four brilliant scientists. Albert Einstein’s second wife E

Charles Darwin wed his cousin Emma and spawned 10 children, including four brilliant scientists. Albert Einstein’s second wife E

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问题     Charles Darwin wed his cousin Emma and spawned 10 children, including four brilliant scientists. Albert Einstein’s second wife Elsa was his first cousin. Queen Victoria said “I do” to hers. So have millions worldwide. In parts of Saudi Arabia, 39% of all marriages are between first cousins.
    In the U. S., though, the practice bears a stigma of inbreeding just this side of incest. The taboo is not only social hut legislative; 24 states ban the marriage of first cousins: five others allow it only if the couple is unable to bear children. A major reason for this ban is the belief that kids of first cousins are tragically susceptible to serious congenital illnesses.
    That view may have to change. A comprehensive study published recently in the Journal of Genetic Counseling indicates such children run an only slightly higher risk of significant genetic disorders like congenital heart defects — about two percentage points above the average 3% to 4%. Says the study’s lead author, Robin Bennett, president-elect of the National Society of Genetic Counselors, which funded the study: “Aside from a thorough medical family history, there is no need to offer any genetic testing on the basis of consanguinity alone”.
    Publication of the study will do more than tweak public awareness; it will enlighten doctors who have urged cousin couples not to have children. “Just this week,” says Bennett, “I saw a 23-year-old woman who had had a tubal ligation because her parents were cousins and her doctor told her she shouldn’t have children.”
    The American proscription against cousin marriages grew in the 19th century as wilderness settlers tried to distinguish themselves from the “savage” Indians, says Martin, author of the book Forbidden Relatives: The American Myth of Cousin Marriage. “The truth is that Europeans were marrying their cousins and Native Americans were not.”
    And doesn’t God have stern words on the subject? Christie Smith, 37, a Nevada writer, says she felt guilty when she fell in love with her first cousin’s son Mark. “I was trying so hard to convince myself not to have these feelings,” she recalls, “that I went to the Bible looking for confirmation that it was wrong. And what I found was the exact opposite: support for cousin marriages.” The patriarch Jacob married two of his first cousins, Rachel and Leah. Smith married Mark in 1999.
    The medical ban is lifted; the social stain may take longer to disappear.
It is suggested in Paragraph 1 and 2 that the cousin marriage
选项 A、resembles incest in nature.
B、puts cousin couples to shame.
C、always causes serious genetic disorders.
D、is a common phenomenon across the world.
答案D
解析 推理判断题。文章一开始就列举了达尔文、爱因斯坦、维多利亚女王的婚姻，又指出全世界数以百万计的人近亲结婚；在沙特阿拉伯的某些地区，近亲结婚占39%，由此可以看出，近亲结婚现象很普遍， [D]项正确。[A]、[B]两项是根据第二段首句进行的推理，但去掉地点状语In the U．S．就是以偏概全，为错误选项；[C]错误，always说法太绝对。
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