首页
登录
职称英语
With the constructor of the railways in the 19th century, a new sociological
With the constructor of the railways in the 19th century, a new sociological
游客
2023-12-14
25
管理
问题
With the constructor of the railways in the 19th century, a new sociological phenomenon was born: the traveling criminal. Until then, police had relied on local communities to recognize a bad apple in their midst, but now the felons were on the move, wreaking havoc in communities which had no knowledge of their past and hence no reason to be wary. For law enforcers trying to contain the problem by sharing descriptions of known recidivists, it became imperative to answer one question, what is it that identifies someone as a particular person?
This question has long troubled humanity, of course, and it is explored in all its facets in a new exhibition at the Welcome Collection in London. One practical application lies in the forensic arena. The first solution offered, branding, was simple and effective. But even in a society that preferred to believe that criminals were born and not made, this was soon deemed unacceptable. So there was a need to find something innate to human beings that remains constant from the cradle to the grave, and that is sufficiently differentiated in the population to make it useful in identifying individuals.
Alphonse Brillion, who appears in one of the identity cards he invented, came up with a system that combined photography (the profile and face-on photos that police still use today) with a range of bodily measurements. His system was widely taken up until Sir Francis Galeton, a colleague, rival and inveterate classifier, realized the individualizing potential of fingerprints. These held sway for a century until, in 1984, Sir Alec Jeffrey’s of Leicester University stumbled on an even more powerful personal barcode: DNA.
Embedded in this short history is all the elusiveness of human identity; each new advance reveals the flaws in earlier systems. Go to the website of the New York-based Innocence Project to see the latest tally of exonerations that have taken place in America, after DNA evidence showed those convictions to be unsafe. At the time of writing, the figure comes to 246. Mistaken eyewitness identification is a major culprit, but fingerprint misidentification is cited too.
Ironically, our facility for recognizing faces may be to blame. The brain has evolved to look for patterns, and when one is incomplete it will fill in the gaps, sometimes leaping to the wrong conclusion, as Brandon Mayfield, an Oregon lawyer, discovered when he was wrongly implicated in the 2004 Madrid bombings on the basis of a single, poor-quality fingerprint.
So what of DNA? Within hours of reaching a crime scene, police may now have information that helps identify suspects. In the courtroom, DNA trumps all other identifiers. But it has its limitations. With ever more minute quantities becoming detectable, contamination is a serious issue. The Phantom of Heilbronn murdered her way across Europe until, last March, she was discovered not to exist. The DNA found at each crime scene actually came from a female worker in the factory that manufactured the cotton swabs used to collect evidence.
There is another problem with DNA. When the technology allows for a person’s entire genome to be read from a single drop of blood, it may well constitute a gold standard for identification. But for now analysts work with a snapshot of that genome, represented by an arbitrary number of markers spaced along it. If there are gaps to be filled, the brain will fill them, which could make it vulnerable to the same kind of errors as its predecessors.
From the very real traveling criminal, via the Phantom of Heilbronn, the Welcome exhibition returns to the central question. Perhaps identity, like beauty, lies in the eye of the beholder, and if people want to see one and not the other, they need to invent a new way of looking. [br] Which of the following statements is INCORRECT?
选项
A、Branding was effective but impractical.
B、People still can not identify a particular person accurately.
C、Alphose Bertillon devised a system for identifying criminals.
D、Fracncis Galton was the first to apply fingerprints.
答案
D
解析
细节题。由原文第三段第二句“. . . Sir Francis Gabon,a colleague,rival and inveterate classifier,realized the individualizing potential of fingerprints.”可知,弗兰西斯?高尔顿是第一个认识到指纹个体化潜能的科学家,而文中并没有提到他是一个应用指纹识别特定人的科学家。故答案为[D]。由原文第二段可以断定烙印法很简单并且有效,但是即使在倾向于认为罪犯是天生而不是后天养成的社会,人们还是认为烙印法不能接受,故[A]说法正确,排除。由原文第二段第一句中的“This question has long troubled humanity…”可知,怎样才能辨识一个特定的人这个问题仍旧困扰着人类,故排除[B]。由原文第三段第一句“Alphonse Brillion,who appears in one of the identity cards he invented,came up with a system that combined photography(the profile and face-on photos that police still use today)with a range of bodily measurements.”可知,[C]说“阿尔丰瑟?贝迪永设计出了一套识别系统”,符合原文,排除。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3273110.html
相关试题推荐
Almostacenturyafterhisdeath,thewell-knownFrenchauthorJulesVernehas
LegendsaboutKingArthurhaveexistedsincethe6thcentury.Storiesofthem
LegendsaboutKingArthurhaveexistedsincethe6thcentury.Storiesofthem
LegendsaboutKingArthurhaveexistedsincethe6thcentury.Storiesofthem
LegendsaboutKingArthurhaveexistedsincethe6thcentury.Storiesofthem
______isthecapitalofScotlandsincethe15(上标)thcentury.A、ManchesterB、Edinb
The18acenturywitnessedanewliteraryform-themodemEnglishnovel,whichco
Thegreatestnovelistoftherealisminthe19thcenturywas______.A、JaneAusti
Almostacenturyafterhisdeath,thewell-knownFrenchauthorJulesVerneha
______isthecapitalofScotlandsincethe15thcentury.A、ManchesterB、Edinburg
随机试题
Mostmathematicianstrusttheir______insolvingproblemsandreadilyadmitthey
Thespokesmanmadeacritical___________ofthecompany’seconomicstrategyin
AstrologyA)Astrologyisthestudyofhowthesun,themoon,planets,an
[originaltext]Cellphoneshavebecomeacentralforceinthedailylifeof
《放射性同位素与放射线装置安全和防护条例》规定同位素和射线装置的许可年限是A.1
根据公路工程无机结合料稳定材料试验规程,采用石灰有效氧化钙和氧化镁简易联合测定方
A.消除贫血及黄疸 B.改善全身症状,缩小放疗范围,增强对放化疗的耐受性 C
下列病毒中引起的急性上感可出现不同形态皮疹的是A.腺病毒 B.鼻病毒 C.肠
一台变压器工作时额定电压调整率等于零,此时负载应为( )。A.电阻性负载
某建设项目采用全过程总承包EPC模式进行公开招标工作,工程建设工期定为1年,标底
最新回复
(
0
)