EigoPro 1級読解 — Resurrecting Eden: The Conceit of De-Extinction

The prospect of restoring vanished species, once the exclusive province of fable and lament, has migrated decisively into the laboratory. Proponents of de-extinction invoke a language of redemption: by reconstituting the woolly mammoth from elephant cells edited to carry cold-adapted genes, they propose to repair the wounded Pleistocene, repopulate the silent tundra, and even retard the catastrophic thaw of permafrost. The rhetoric is seductive precisely because it quietly converts a catastrophe of our own making into a flattering project of our own salvation, recasting penitence as progress. Yet the logic conceals far more than it reveals. What emerges from such laboratories is not a mammoth but a chimera—an elephant retrofitted with a handful of borrowed traits, its behaviour, microbiome, migratory instinct, and learned culture irretrievably lost. The creature that perished took with it an intricate ecological web that no genome, however meticulously sequenced, can ever encode. To call its facsimile a restoration is to mistake resemblance for resurrection, and to flatter ourselves that extinction is somehow reversible rather than irrevocably absolute. The deeper hazard, however, is moral rather than technical. If lost species can ostensibly be summoned back at will, the urgency of preserving the living is quietly eroded; conservation becomes negotiable, extinction a mere temporary inconvenience to be undone at leisure. De-extinction thus risks furnishing a comforting technological alibi for continued destruction, licensing the very negligence it ostentatiously purports to remedy. None of this is to deny the genuine ingenuity involved. But the mammoth's peculiar allure betrays a telling vanity: we are less captivated by the barren tundra it might one day inhabit than by the dazzling mastery its rebirth would proclaim to the world. The enterprise speaks, in the end, to a craving for dominion over death itself—an appetite that ecology neither requires nor rewards. To resurrect the dead while the living perish unmourned is not stewardship but spectacle, and the spectacle, however dazzling, illuminates chiefly the hubris of its authors.

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この単元の問題を3問、解説つきで公開しています

1級 · 読解 · 全5問

問 1

What is the central argument advanced by the passage?

Conservationists and geneticists should collaborate to prioritise which species to resurrect first.
De-extinction is less an ecological remedy than an expression of human vanity that may undermine real conservation.
De-extinction will successfully restore the Pleistocene tundra once genetic engineering matures.
The chief obstacle to reviving the mammoth is the prohibitive cost of editing elephant cells.

Phrase

the spectacle, however dazzling, illuminates chiefly the hubris of its authors

1級読解主旨把握論旨

⚡ひとことで

筆者は脱絶滅を生態学的修復ではなく人間の虚栄と断じ、保全を損なう危険を説く。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「De-extinction is less an ecological remedy than an expression of human vanity that may undermine real conservation.」

正解

本文は脱絶滅を称賛する修辞を「seductive」と認めつつ、その論理が隠すものを暴く構成をとる。最終段で「a craving for dominion over death itself」「not stewardship but spectacle」と述べ、生態学的意義より人間の支配欲・虚栄を主題化する。よって中心主張は脱絶滅が修復より虚栄の表れであり、現実の保全を損なう危険を孕むという点。

「De-extinction will successfully restore the Pleistocene tundra once genetic engineering matures.」
= 遺伝子工学が成熟すれば更新世のツンドラ復元は成功するという見方 ━ 本文はマンモスではなく「a chimera」しか生まれず生態網は復元不能だと否定しており、成功を肯定していない。。
「The chief obstacle to reviving the mammoth is the prohibitive cost of editing elephant cells.」
= 細胞編集の費用が復活の主たる障害だとする説明 ━ 本文は費用に一切言及せず、障害は道徳的・生態学的なものとして論じている。。
「Conservationists and geneticists should collaborate to prioritise which species to resurrect first.」
= 遺伝学者と保全家が復活種の優先順位を協議すべきという提案 ━ 本文は脱絶滅自体を批判しており、復活の優先順位を整理する協働など提唱していない。。

▦Collocation

パターン	意味	例
an expression of vanity	虚栄の表れ	The monument was an expression of vanity rather than civic pride.
undermine conservation	保全を損なう	Cheap substitutes can undermine conservation efforts worldwide.
less...than...	～というより…	It was less a rescue than a publicity stunt.
ecological remedy	生態学的な救済策	No single ecological remedy can offset decades of deforestation.
human vanity	人間の虚栄	The skyscraper became a symbol of human vanity.

❝例文

The campaign was less about welfare than about reputation.
その運動は福祉というより評判のためだった。
Such technologies can quietly undermine conservation.
そうした技術は静かに保全を損ないかねない。
His speech was an expression of vanity, not vision.
彼の演説は理念ではなく虚栄の表れだった。
No ecological remedy will reverse what was lost.
失われたものを覆す生態学的救済策は存在しない。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

主旨設問は最終段の評価語(spectacle, hubris, vanity)が論旨の重心。称賛の修辞は前置きで、筆者の立場はそれを覆す側にある。

問 2

According to the passage, what does the laboratory actually produce when it attempts to revive the mammoth?

A herd of cold-adapted elephants already thriving across the tundra.
A sterile hybrid incapable of surviving outside controlled laboratory conditions.
A genetically perfect mammoth indistinguishable from those of the Pleistocene.
An elephant fitted with a few borrowed traits, lacking the original's behaviour, microbiome, and learned culture.

Phrase

an elephant retrofitted with a handful of borrowed traits

1級読解詳細把握

⚡ひとことで

生まれるのはマンモスでなく借り物の形質を付した象=キメラで、行動・微生物叢・文化を欠く。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「An elephant fitted with a few borrowed traits, lacking the original's behaviour, microbiome, and learned culture.」

正解

第2段は産物を「not a mammoth but a chimera」と明示し、「an elephant retrofitted with a handful of borrowed traits」と説明する。さらに「its behaviour, microbiome, and learned culture irretrievably lost」と、復元できない要素を列挙する。したがって正解は、わずかな借り物の形質を付され元来の行動・微生物叢・学習文化を欠いた象である。

「A genetically perfect mammoth indistinguishable from those of the Pleistocene.」
= 更新世の個体と区別できない完璧なマンモスができるとする説明 ━ 本文は「not a mammoth but a chimera」と否定し、完全性を真っ向から退けている。。
「A sterile hybrid that is incapable of surviving outside strictly controlled laboratory conditions.」
= 実験室外で生存不能な不妊の雑種だとする説明 ━ 本文は生存能力や不妊性に触れておらず、欠落要素は行動・微生物叢・文化と述べている。。
「A herd of cold-adapted elephants already thriving across the tundra.」
= 寒冷適応した象の群れが既にツンドラで繁栄しているとする説明 ━ 本文に現存する群れの繁栄の記述はなく、ツンドラ再殖は将来の提案にとどまる。。

▦Collocation

パターン	意味	例
retrofitted with	～を後付けされた	The old factory was retrofitted with solar panels.
a handful of	ごく少数の	Only a handful of traits were transferred.
borrowed traits	借り物の形質	The hybrid carried a few borrowed traits.
irretrievably lost	取り返しなく失われた	Whole dialects are now irretrievably lost.
learned culture	学習された文化	Elephant herds transmit a learned culture.

❝例文

The car was retrofitted with newer brakes.
その車は新しいブレーキを後付けされた。
Only a handful of survivors remained.
ごく少数の生存者しか残らなかった。
The recording was irretrievably lost in the fire.
その録音は火災で取り返しなく失われた。
Migration routes are part of a learned culture.
渡りの経路は学習された文化の一部だ。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

detail設問は「not A but B」構文の B を取る。本文はマンモスを否定しキメラ(借り物形質の象)を肯定している。

問 3

What moral hazard does the passage identify with de-extinction?

It can supply a technological alibi that weakens the urgency of preserving living species.
It encourages the public to overestimate the speed of climate change.
It exposes laboratory workers to unregulated genetic material.
It diverts scarce funding away from elephant breeding programmes.

Phrase

a comforting technological alibi for continued destruction

1級読解詳細把握

⚡ひとことで

脱絶滅は破壊を続ける技術的言い訳となり、現存種保全の緊急性を蝕む。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「It can supply a technological alibi that weakens the urgency of preserving living species.」

正解

第3段は「The deeper hazard is moral」と道徳的危険を提示し、復活が可能なら「the urgency of preserving the living is quietly eroded」と説く。さらに「a technological alibi for continued destruction」と表現し、本来正そうとした怠慢を許可してしまうと述べる。よって正解は現存種保全の緊急性を弱める技術的言い訳になりうる点。

「It diverts scarce funding away from elephant breeding programmes.」
= 象の繁殖計画から希少な資金を奪うとする説明 ━ 本文は資金配分に言及せず、危険を道徳的なもの(保全の緊急性の浸食)と定義している。。
「It exposes laboratory workers to unregulated genetic material.」
= 実験者が未規制の遺伝物質に晒されるとする説明 ━ 本文に作業者の安全や曝露の記述は一切なく、危険は道徳的次元に限られる。。
「It encourages the general public to overestimate the sheer speed of climate change.」
= 気候変動の速度を過大評価させるとする説明 ━ 本文の危険は保全意識の浸食であり、気候速度の誤認という論点は出てこない。。

▦Collocation

パターン	意味	例
technological alibi	技術的な言い訳	Carbon offsets can become a technological alibi for pollution.
the urgency of	～の緊急性	The report stressed the urgency of reform.
quietly eroded	静かに蝕まれる	Trust was quietly eroded over the years.
license negligence	怠慢を許す	Lax rules can license negligence.
continued destruction	破壊の継続	The loophole enabled continued destruction of wetlands.

❝例文

Offsetting became an alibi for inaction.
相殺は無策の言い訳になった。
The plan eroded the urgency of repair.
その計画は修繕の緊急性を蝕んだ。
Confidence was quietly eroded.
信頼は静かに蝕まれた。
Weak fines effectively license negligence.
軽い罰金は事実上怠慢を許す。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

「The deeper/real hazard is...」は筆者が最重視する論点の合図。道徳的危険=保全の緊急性の浸食を押さえる。

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EigoPro 1級 読解 — Resurrecting Eden: The Conceit of De-Extinction

この単元の問題を3問、解説つきで公開しています

the spectacle, however dazzling, illuminates chiefly the hubris of its authors

an elephant retrofitted with a handful of borrowed traits

a comforting technological alibi for continued destruction

EigoPro 1級読解 — Resurrecting Eden: The Conceit of De-Extinction