The reaction to Darwin

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Many people found it difficult to accept Darwin’s ideas, especially the idea that modern humans and apes are probably descended from a common ancestor. However, his theory is supported by so much evidence that the majority of biologists accept it. Evolution by natural selection has become a central theme which underpins much of modern biology. The modern theory of evolution is called neo-Darwinism because it incorporates new scientific evidence, particularly from genetics and molecular biology. For example, we know that the variations that are so important in natural selection come about by random and spontaneous changes in genes, particularly from mutations in reproductive cells. Despite modifications to Darwin’s theory in neo-Darwinism, natural selection is still the driving force behind evolution, or the theory of evolution by the natural selection of inherited characteristics.

■ Glossary of essential terms for you to know

№	English term	Russian equivalent
	to accept	принимать
	to inhabit	населять
	to descend	происходить
	to interbreed	скрещивать
	offspring	потомство
	to suggest	предполагать
	to bring about	осуществлять; вызывать
	capable of	способный
	species	вид
	to evolve	развивать
	gradual	постепенный
	to compete	соревноваться
	coast	побережье
	to obtain	получать
	to refine	совершенствовать
	pre-existing	ранее существовавший
	to develop	развивать
	to replace	заменять
	mainland	материк
	to reproduce	размножаться
	successive	последующий
	selection	отбор
	to vary	меняться
	on average	в среднем
	relatively	относительно
	observation	наблюдение
	to fail	не суметь, провалить
	struggle	борьба
	existence	существование
	to exist	существовать
	disease	болезнь
	generation	поколение
	environment	окружающая среда
	advantage	преимущество
	well-adapted	хорошо приспособленный
	evidence	свидетельство
	to describe	описывать
	to produce	производить
	to conclude	сделать вывод, заключить
	to resist	сопротивляться
	research	исследование
	by means	посредством
	to support	поддержать
	apes	приматы
	genetics	генетика
	cell	клетка
	to survive	выжить; пережить

■ Your Essential Assignments

I. Quick check:

1. Give the biological meaning of evolution.

2. How does neo-Darwinism differ from Darwin’s original theory of evolution?

II. Fill in the missing words:

Term (verb)	Noun	Adjective
exist	.......	.......
suggest	.......	.......
reproduce	.......	.......
develop	.......	.......
inherit	.......	.......
inhabit	.......	.......
evolve	.......	.......
select	…..	……

III. Use monolingual English dictionary and write down what could the words given below mean:

change, naturalist, complex, to escape, to collect, humans.

IV. Match these words with their definitions:

	generation	A.	an illness or unhealthy condition in your body
	evolution	B.	the air, water and land in which people, animals and plants live
	evidence	C.	a member of your family who lived a long time ago
	reproduce	D.	the careful choice of a particular person or thing from among a group of similar people or things
	species	E.	to continue to live or exist
	survive	F.	to change into a larger, stronger, or more advanced state
7.	ancestor	G.	to produce young animals from parents of different breeds or groups
8.	develop	H.	all the members of a group of things which have been developed from a previous group
9.	naturalist	I.	an animal’s baby or babies
	environment	J.	the state of existing
	selection	K.	the gradual change and development
12.	disease	L.	to produce young animals or plants
13.	interbreed	M.	someone who studies plants or animals, especially outdoors
14.	offspring	N.	facts that make you believe that something exist or is true
15.	existence	O.	a group of closely related organisms

V. Find English equivalents to the following word combinations:

№	Russian term	English equivalent
1.	произошедший от
2.	тесно связанный
3.	последующие поколения
4.	живущие на земле
5.	производить оплодотворенное потомство
6.	генетический состав
7.	придти к выводу
8.	относительно постоянный
9.	собирать свидетельства
10.	сопротивляться болезни
11.	генетика и молекулярная биология
12.	случайные и спонтанные изменения
13.	мутации в репродуктивных клетках
14.	большинство биологов
15.	естественный отбор

VI. Give Russian equivalents to the following English terms:

№	English term	Russian equivalent
	according to
	inhabited the world in the past
	sufficiently great
	continuous and gradual change
	widely accepted among biologists
	to develop the theory
	natural selection
	with varying characteristics
	struggle for existence
	to obtain limited resources
	best adapted to their environment
	to escape predation
	a full description of the theory of evolution
	a common ancestor

VII. Find synonyms among the pool of words:

Pool of words	Synonyms
1)1.develop/2.accept/3.change/4.alter/5.evolve/6.obtain
2)1.support /2.happen/3.exist/4.occur/5.underpin /6.live
3)1. investigation /2.selection /3.research /4. choice
4)1.escape/2.disease/3.individual/4.get away/5.illness/ 6.human being

VIII. Answer the following questions. Use all information given before:

1. How does the evolution usually take place?

2. What led Charles Darwin to develop his theory of evolution?

3. What did Darwin mean by “natural selection”?

4. What are three main observations of Darwin’s theory?

5. What does “struggle for existence” mean?

6. What book has been called the most important biology book ever written?

7. Do the majority of biologists accept Darwin’s theory?

8. What is called neo-Darwinism?

IX. Match the sentence halves. Make complete sentences:

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