EigoPro 準1級 読解 — Bringing Back the Dead

In a laboratory outside Dallas, biologists are editing the genome of the Asian elephant in the hope of producing, within a few years, a calf that looks and behaves much like a woolly mammoth. The project is the most visible face of "de-extinction," an emerging discipline that promises to resurrect creatures the planet lost centuries or millennia ago. To its champions, the prospect is irresistible: a chance to undo some of the damage humanity has inflicted and to repopulate ecosystems that have been impoverished by our excesses. The scientific case rests on more than nostalgia. Advocates argue that lost species often performed functions no surviving animal can replicate. Mammoths, for instance, are thought to have trampled shrubs and compacted snow, helping to preserve the frozen tundra that today stores vast quantities of carbon. Reintroducing such "ecological engineers," the argument goes, could slow climate change while restoring habitats to a richer, pre-human state. Framed this way, de-extinction sounds less like a vanity project than a tool of planetary repair. Critics are unconvinced. They point out that what emerges from the laboratory will never be a true mammoth but a genetically modified elephant—a facsimile shaped to human expectations. More troubling, they warn, is the moral hazard the technology creates. If the public comes to believe that extinction is reversible, the urgency of protecting endangered species today may quietly evaporate. Conservation budgets are already stretched thin; diverting them toward spectacular resurrections risks neglecting the unglamorous work of saving species that still cling to existence. The deepest question, however, is not technical but philosophical: whether the power to revive the dead obliges us to wield it, or whether some losses are better mourned than reversed.

5問合格 60%以上普通

新規登録 または ログイン が必要です

この単元の問題を3問、解説つきで公開しています

準1級 · 読解 · 全5問

問 1

What is the main idea of the passage?

  • Scientists have already succeeded in bringing a woolly mammoth back to life.
  • Conservation budgets should be redirected entirely toward reviving extinct species.
  • The Asian elephant is the only animal capable of restoring the frozen tundra.
  • De-extinction offers tempting ecological promise but raises serious scientific and ethical doubts.
Phrase

de-extinction sounds less like a vanity project than a tool of planetary repair ... Critics are unconvinced.

準1級読解バイオ倫理主旨把握
⚡ひとことで

本文は脱絶滅の『魅力的な生態的可能性』と『科学的・倫理的疑念』を対比する論説。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「De-extinction offers tempting ecological promise but raises serious scientific and ethical doubts.」

正解

本文は (1) マンモス復活計画の紹介→ (2) 推進派の生態系修復という魅力的論拠→ (3) 批判派の科学的・倫理的反論、という賛否対比構成で進む。最終段は『最も深い問いは技術的ではなく哲学的』と結ぶ。したがって『脱絶滅は魅力的な生態的可能性を示す一方、深刻な科学的・倫理的疑念を生む』が主旨。

  • 「Scientists have already succeeded in bringing a woolly mammoth back to life.」

    = 既にマンモス復活に成功した ━ 本文は within a few years（数年以内）の目標段階であり、成功済みとは述べていない。

  • 「Conservation budgets should be redirected entirely toward reviving extinct species.」

    = 保全予算を全て復活に振り向けるべき ━ 本文はむしろ予算を復活へ回すことのリスクを警告しており、正反対の主張。

  • 「The Asian elephant is the only animal capable of restoring the frozen tundra.」

    = アジア象だけがツンドラを回復できる ━ アジア象はゲノム編集の母体として挙げられただけで『唯一回復できる動物』という記述はない。

▦Collocation
パターン意味例
undo the damage損害を取り消すa chance to undo the damage we inflicted
rest on more than ~~以上のものに基づくThe case rests on more than nostalgia.
frame A as BAをBとして提示するFramed this way, it sounds like repair.
less like A than BAというよりむしろBless a vanity project than a tool of repair
be unconvinced納得していないCritics are unconvinced.
❝例文

  • De

    extinction promises to undo the damage humanity has inflicted. — 脱絶滅は人類が与えた損害を取り消すと約束する。

  • The case rests on more than nostalgia.

    その主張は郷愁以上のものに基づく。

  • Critics remain unconvinced by the proposal.

    批判派はその提案に納得していない。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

賛否対比の論説では『To its champions ... Critics ...』のような立場の転換語を探すと主旨がつかめる。主旨肢は両側面 (promise + doubts) を含むものが正解になりやすい。

問 2

According to the passage, why do advocates believe reviving mammoths could help the environment?

  • Mammoths consume large amounts of atmospheric carbon directly through their diet.
  • Mammoths are easier to genetically engineer than any other extinct species.
  • Mammoths once performed ecological functions, such as preserving carbon-storing tundra, that no living animal replicates.
  • Reviving mammoths would automatically reduce the cost of all conservation work.
Phrase

lost species often performed functions no surviving animal can replicate ... helping to preserve the frozen tundra that today stores vast quantities of carbon

準1級読解バイオ倫理詳細把握
⚡ひとことで

推進派の論拠=マンモスは現存動物が代替できない生態機能（炭素貯蔵ツンドラの維持）を担っていた。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「Mammoths once performed ecological functions, such as preserving carbon-storing tundra, that no living animal replicates.」

正解

第2段で『失われた種は現存動物が再現できない機能を担っていた』とし、マンモスが低木を踏み・雪を固め、炭素を貯蔵する凍結ツンドラの保全に寄与したと例示する。これを言い換えた『現存動物が再現できない生態機能を担っていた』が正解。

  • 「The mammoths would consume enormous amounts of atmospheric carbon directly through their own daily diet.」

    = 餌で大気中の炭素を直接消費する ━ 本文はツンドラの保全を通じた間接的効果を述べており、餌で炭素を消費するとは言っていない。

  • 「Reviving the mammoths would automatically reduce the cost of every kind of conservation work everywhere.」

    = 復活が全保全費を自動的に下げる ━ コスト削減の記述はない。むしろ批判派は予算圧迫を懸念している。

  • 「The mammoth is a great deal easier to genetically engineer than any other extinct species that exists.」

    = 他のどの絶滅種より編集が容易 ━ 編集の容易さの比較は本文にない。

▦Collocation
パターン意味例
replicate a function機能を再現するno surviving animal can replicate it
be thought to V~したと考えられているMammoths are thought to have trampled shrubs.
store carbon炭素を蓄えるtundra that stores vast quantities of carbon
the argument goesという論法だcould slow climate change, the argument goes
restore A to BAをB（の状態）に戻すrestoring habitats to a richer state
❝例文

  • Mammoths are thought to have compacted the snow.

    マンモスは雪を固めたと考えられている。

  • The tundra stores vast quantities of carbon.

    そのツンドラは膨大な量の炭素を蓄える。

  • No surviving animal can replicate that function.

    現存するどの動物もその機能を再現できない。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

detail 設問は本文の例 (helping to preserve the frozen tundra ... stores ... carbon) を一般化した肢が正解。『directly through their diet』のような本文にない手段の付け足しは罠。

問 3

What concern do critics raise about the effect of de-extinction on conservation?

  • The technology will make every endangered species permanently impossible to save.
  • Laboratories will refuse to share their genetic techniques with conservationists.
  • Belief that extinction is reversible could weaken the urgency of protecting species still alive today.
  • Reviving species has been proven to accelerate the extinction of others.
Phrase

If the public comes to believe that extinction is reversible, the urgency of protecting endangered species today may quietly evaporate.

準1級読解バイオ倫理詳細把握
⚡ひとことで

批判の核心=『絶滅は元に戻せる』との認識が、現存危機種を守る切迫感を弱める（モラルハザード）。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「Belief that extinction is reversible could weaken the urgency of protecting species still alive today.」

正解

第3段で批判派は the moral hazard the technology creates を挙げ、『絶滅が可逆だと人々が信じれば、今日危機にある種を守る切迫感が静かに消えかねない』と警告する。これを言い換えた選択肢が正解。

  • 「This technology will make every endangered species permanently impossible ever to save.」

    = 全危機種を永久に救えなくする ━ 本文は救う『切迫感が薄れる』恐れを述べるだけで、救済が不可能になるとは言っていない。

  • 「The laboratories will refuse to share any of their genetic techniques with conservationists.」

    = 研究所が技術共有を拒む ━ 技術共有の拒否という記述はない。

  • 「Reviving lost species has already been proven to accelerate the extinction of many others.」

    = 復活が他種の絶滅を加速すると証明された ━ そうした証明は本文にない。誇張・捏造型の誤答。

▦Collocation
パターン意味例
create a moral hazardモラルハザードを生むthe moral hazard the technology creates
come to believe ~~と信じるようになるthe public comes to believe it is reversible
quietly evaporate静かに消え去るthe urgency may quietly evaporate
be stretched thin（予算などが）逼迫しているConservation budgets are stretched thin.
cling to existenceかろうじて存続するspecies that still cling to existence
❝例文

  • The public may come to believe that extinction is reversible.

    人々は絶滅が可逆だと信じるようになるかもしれない。

  • Conservation budgets are already stretched thin.

    保全予算はすでに逼迫している。

  • Many species still cling to existence.

    多くの種がかろうじて存続している。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

詳細設問で『may / could / risk』の仮定法的表現を含む本文は、断定形の極端肢 (permanently impossible / has been proven) が罠。本文の語気を超えていないか確認する。

残り2問は、解いて確かめられます

全5問すべてに、この形式の解説が付いています。 間違えた問題は記録され、あとから復習できます。

無料で登録して続きを解く

インストール不要・カード登録なし・いま全機能無料

この単元の講義を見る準1級の単元一覧準1級の用語集