Mothers of Twins

1. Section II Store Your Bricks Mothers of Twins Mothers of twins do not just get twice the bundle of joy—they are also healthier than other mothers. Throughout history, twins have provoked mixed feelings. Sometimes they were seen as a curse‐an unwanted burden on a family's resources.

2. Section II Store Your Bricks Sometimes they were viewed as a blessing, or even as a sign of their father's superior virility. But if Shannen Robson and Ken Smith, of the University of Utah, are right, twins have more to do with their mother's sturdy constitution than their father's sexual power.

3. Section II Store Your Bricks At first blush, this sounds an odd idea. After all, bearing and raising twins is taxing, both for the mother and for the children. Any gains from having more than one offspring at a time might be expected to be in connection with higher infant and maternal mortality rates.

4. Section II Store Your Bricks Hence on this view, twins are probably an accidental by-product of a natural insurance policy against the risk of losing an embryo early in gestation. That would explain why many more twins are conceived than born, and why those born are so rare（though more common these days, with the rise of IVF）. They account for between six and 40 live births per 1,000, depending on where the mother lives.

5. Section II Store Your Bricks Dr. Robson and Dr. Smith, however, think that this account has got things the wrong way round. Although all women face a trade-off between the resources their bodies allocate to reproduction and those reserved for the maintenance of health, robust women can afford more of both than frail ones.

6. Section II Store Your Bricks And what's the surer way to signal robustness than by bearing more than one child at a time? In other words, the two researchers conjectured, the mothers of twins will not only display greater overall reproductive success, and contrast to women who give birth only to singletons, they are healthier.

7. Section II Store Your Bricks Alas, pinning down evolved relationships between fertility and health is tricky. Modern medicine and the pampering effects of economic growth mean that, these days, women everywhere give birth to fewer children than they did in the distant evolutionary past, when human bodies and physiology were forged‐even as more of the offspring they do bear survive into adulthood. In Europe and North America this demographic transition began in earnest around 1870.

8. Section II Store Your Bricks One way round this is to look at records gathered before the demographic transition began. The problem is that few authorities then kept tabs diligently enough to provide adequate fodder for statistical analysis.

9. Section II Store Your Bricks One exception was Utah, a state largely settled in its early days by Mormons, who have always taken such matters seriously. As a result, Utah's Pedigree and Population Resource, a database of which Dr. Smith is the director, contains 1.6m genealogical records for people in the state from the early 1800s to the 1970s.

10. Section II Store Your Bricks To test their theory that the bearers of twins are supermums, Dr. Robson and Dr. Smith scoured the records for women born between 1807 and 1899 who survived past the age of 50, when the menopause typically strikes. They excluded those married more than once, those widowed before they were 50 and also （this being Utah）those wives who were part of one of the polygamous marriages once legal among the state's Mormon settlers.

11. Section II Store Your Bricks （In a study published earlier this year, Dr. Smith and his colleagues found that the more wives a Mormon woman had to compete with for her husband's attentions, the fewer children she was likely to produce.） Anyway, no matter mothers of twins are supermums or not, they're great for they've given us lives.

12. Section II Store Your Bricks 双胞胎的妈妈们 拥有双胞胎的母亲不仅能得到加倍的快乐，而且她们会比其他母亲更健康。 纵观历史，人们对双胞胎有着复杂的感情。有时，双胞胎被视为祸根——家庭中不受欢迎的负担。

13. Section II Store Your Bricks 有时，双胞胎被视为祝福，或作为他们的父亲拥有更好的性能力的一个标志。如果犹他大学的夏侬·罗布森和肯·史密斯（的研究结论）是正确的，那么相比于他们父亲的性能力，生育双胞胎与他们母亲那健壮的体格更有关系。

14. Section II Store Your Bricks 乍看之下，这好像是一个奇怪的想法，毕竟对于母亲来说，生产和抚养双胞胎是很费力的。多一个孩子多一份寄予的希望，但通常会伴随着较高的婴儿死亡率和母亲死亡率。

15. Section II Store Your Bricks 根据这种观点，双胞胎很可能是人类在怀孕期间本能地为防止意外流产而产生的副产品。这样就能解释为何双胞胎怀的比生的多，而且为什么生的会这么少（虽然随着试管婴儿越来越多，现在已经很常见）。他们解释说根据母亲生活的地区不同，成活率也存在差异，每1000个中成活6到40。

16. Section II Store Your Bricks 然而，罗布森博士和史密斯博士认为这个解释是错误的。尽管所有女人都面临着一个权衡：身体该把资源分配给生育还是自己保留以维持自身健康？强健的母亲可能比瘦弱的母亲提供、付出得更多。

17. Section II Store Your Bricks 而且能有什么比健壮的母亲能多孕育一个孩子这个事实更有说服力呢？换言之，这两位调查者推论，双胞胎的母亲不仅更好地展示了整体的生育成功，也说明她们更健康。

18. Section II Store Your Bricks 唉，生育和保持健康之间的关系是很难把控的。现代医学和经济发展双管齐下的结果是，在很久以前人类进化时代，人体及其生理机能刚刚形成，女性生孩子数量多。而现在女性生孩子的数量明显减少，并且孩子活到成年的概率增加了。在1870年左右，欧洲和北美这种人口特征转变就开始了。

19. Section II Store Your Bricks 一个验证的方法就是去查阅特征转变前的人口统计记录。问题是很少有政府当局会孜孜不倦地为统计分析提供足够的材料支撑。

20. Section II Store Your Bricks 犹他州是一个例外，早期有摩门教徒在该地区定居，他们对待血统记录很认真。结果，在史密斯博士负责的一个数据库中，包含了犹他州血统的人口资源，其中包括160万份19世纪初期到20世纪70年代居住于此的居民家谱记录。

21. Section II Store Your Bricks 为了检验他们关于双胞胎母亲是超级妈妈的说法，罗伯森博士和史密斯博士搜集了50岁之后更年期正常来临，并在1807—1899年间出生的女性的资料。她们不只结过一次婚，在50岁以前就守寡，并且是一夫多妻制婚姻，一夫多妻制婚姻在这一地区的摩门教徒中是合法的。

22. Section II Store Your Bricks （在今年早期发布的一项研究中，史密斯博士和他的同事发现，在一夫多妻制中，摩门妇女的丈夫其妻子越多，她就不得不为了吸引丈夫的关注而竞争，这样很可能她生的孩子会越少。） 无论双胞胎母亲是否是超级妈妈，妈妈们都是伟大的，她们赐予了我们生命。

23. Section II Store Your Bricks Practice What You Learnt Task 1 Comprehension Check Choose the best answer according to the text.

24. Section II Store Your Bricks Which of the following statements is NOT true? Bearing and raising twins is laborious. No matter in which countries and regions, twins are always viewed as a blessing. Twins contribute greatly to their mother's sturdy constitution. Higher infant and maternal mortality rates might related to the number of baby at a time. Click me B

25. Section II Store Your Bricks In the fifth paragraph, “this demographic transition” refers to .____________. women everywhere give birth to more children than they did in the distant evolutionary past B. women everywhere give birth to fewer children than they did in the distant evolutionary past

26. Section II Store Your Bricks women everywhere prefer to have twins when human bodies and physiology were forged D. women everywhere prefer not to have twins when human bodies and physiology were forged B Click me

27. Section II Store Your Bricks Utah is a state _______________ . A. where Shannen Robson and Ken Smith working as educators B. where was largely settled in its later days by Mormons C. where the twins are common D. where people always take matters seriously A Click me

28. Section II Store Your Bricks _____________ marriages were once legal among the state's Mormon settlers. Polygamous B. Inbreeding C. Status-gap D. Transnational A Click me

29. Section II Store Your Bricks According to Shannen Robson and Ken Smith's theory, the bearers of twins are supermums because _____________ . A. all of them have strong will and body B. giving birth to twins is a very painful process

30. Section II Store Your Bricks C. they display greater overall reproductive success, and are healthier than those who give birth only to singletons D. they are proved to be kind and caring towards infant, and what’s the most important is that they've made a contribution to increase the world’s population C Click me

31. Section II Store Your Bricks Task 2 Vocabulary and Sentences （1）Match the words on the left with their meanings on the right.

32. Section II Store Your Bricks A. needing a lot of effort ① curse B. a very young child（birth to 1 year）who has not yet begun to walk or talk ②polygamous ③ embryo C. allot or assign sth. for a special purpose ④ infant D. make a thorough search ⑤ allocate E. the young of any creature in its state before it is born ⑥ mortality F. a cause of trouble, harm, etc. ⑦ provoke G. To be married to more than one person ⑧ scour H. a secondary and sometimes unexpected consequence ⑨ sturdy I. the quality or state of being mortal ⑩ bundle J. strong and healthy by-product K. rouse or incite; make angry taxing L. a number of articles tied, fastened, or held together

33. Section II Store Your Bricks （2）Complete the sentences with the words from above . Change the form if necessary. bundle On the table there is a___________ of flower. Click me by product Click me The raw material for the tire is a____________ of petrol refining. scour I known he's not here; go and ________around in the garden. Click me

34. Section II Store Your Bricks Studies here are truly vigorous and ____________ but certainly rewarding. taxing Click me The Ford Foundation ___________ millions of dollars for cancer research. allocated Click me The sex of the ____________ is predetermined at fertilization. embryo Click me

35. Section II Store Your Bricks After her mother's death, she became acutely aware of her own___________ . mortality Click me Don't ___________ the animal by teasing. It may bite you. provoke Click me Be aware that the________ will cough, sputter, and choke during feedings. infant Click me

36. Section II Store Your Bricks Less than 1 percent of the men in any Muslim country are _______________. polygamous Click me Money was a _________ , but also the expression of improvement. Click me curse sturdy Click me He's a very ________ child and very healthy.

37. Section II Store Your Bricks （3）Rewrite the following sentences after the model. These two men link to last Thursday's bank robbery. Click me are in connection with last Thursday's These two men __________________________________ _____________. bank robbery

38. Section II Store Your Bricks Epidemic disease often link to bad sanitary conditions. Epidemicdisease ________________________________ __________________. is often in connection with bad Click me sanitary conditions Jacky Chen always link to Chinese Kongfu. Jacky Chen_______________________________________ . Click me isalways in connection with Chinese Kongfu

39. Section II Store Your Bricks Tom is rather short, but his brothers are very tall. In contrast to his brothers __________________________ , Tom is rather short. Click me

40. Section II Store Your Bricks His white hair was very noticeably different from his dark skin. His white hair was in sharp _______________________. contrast to his dark skin Click me Today's work is totally different from what you did yesterday. Today's work is quite a ______________________________. contrast to what you did yesterday mk me

41. Section II Store Your Bricks This necklace is expensive because it is gold. This is a gold necklace, ____________________ . hence it is expensive Click me

42. Section II Store Your Bricks You must go to bed for it is very late. hence you must go to bed It is very late, _________________________ . Click me He doesn't want to get married because he is afraid of any commitments. He is afraid of any commitments, __________________ ________________________. hence he doesn't Click me want to get married

43. Section II Store Your Bricks His obesity resulted from irregular diet. The irregular diet _______________________ . brought about his obesity Click me

44. Section II Store Your Bricks Many illnesses result from lack of exercise. brings about many illnesses Click me Lack of exercise ____________________________. It's said that his lameness resulted from an accident. brought about his lameness Click me It's said that an accident ________________________.

45. Section II Store Your Bricks Task 3 Translation (1)Translate the following passage into Chinese. Nordic governments employ a range of policies designed to help couples have more children. These governments have a long history of social policies aimed at helping people balance their work and family life. This is part of what is known as the “Nordic model”.

46. Section II Store Your Bricks In Sweden, each parent is entitled to 18 months leave, which is paid for by the government. Public day care is heavily subsidized（给予补助金） and flexible work schedules are common‐women with children of pre-school age are entitled to（有权，有资格）reduce their working hours. In Norway, mothers are entitled to 12 months off work with 80% pay or 10 months with full pay. Fathers are entitled to take almost all of that leave instead of the mother. And fathers must take at least four weeks leave.

47. Section II Store Your Bricks 北欧各国政府采取了一系列旨在帮助夫妇多生孩子的政策。为帮助人们平衡工作和家庭（的关系），这些国家政府长期施行此类社会政策。这是所谓“北欧模式”的一部分。

48. Section II Store Your Bricks 在瑞典，父母分别有18个月带薪的产假，由政府支付。高额补贴的公共日间托儿所和弹性的工作安排很常见——有学龄前孩子的妈妈有权要求减少她们的工作时间。在挪威，母亲有12个月带80%薪水的假期或者10个月带全薪的假期。父亲有权替代母亲享有所有产假。且父亲必须至少休4个星期育儿假。

49. Section II Store Your Bricks 1979 年，中国实施了计划生育政策以限制人口增长确保经济稳定（economic stability）。结果随着出生率的下降、生活条件（living standard）的提高，中老年人口比例也大幅增长，而这种状况在未来几年还将持续。根据某项研究，在 20 年内，中国将有 3.5 亿 60 岁以上的公民。 Translate the following passage into English.

50. Section II Store Your Bricks In 1979, China adopted a one child policy to limit population growth and ensure economic stability. As a result, with fewer children and better living standards, the proportion of the elderly in the population has grown substantially and will continue to do so in the coming years. According to one study, within 20 years China will have 350 million citizens over the age of 60.