Read the excerpt from the namesake. welcome to elementary school, nikhil. i am your principal, mrs. lapidus. gogol looks down at his sneakers. the way the principal pronounces his new name is different from the way his parents say it, the second part of it longer, sounding like heel. she bends down so that her face is level with his, and extends a hand to his shoulder. can you tell me how old you are, nikhil? when the question is repeated and there is still no response, mrs. lapidus asks, mr. ganguli, does nikhil follow english? of course he follows, ashoke says. my son is perfectly bilingual. in order to prove that gogol knows english, ashoke does something he has never done before, and addresses his son in careful, accented english. go on, gogol, he says, patting him on the head. tell mrs. lapidus how old you are. which line from this excerpt reflects the central idea that immigrants sometimes face discrimination and prejudice in their new culture? the way the principal pronounces his new name is different from the way his parents say it, the second part of it longer, sounding like heel. can you tell me how old you are, nikhil? when the question is repeated and there is still no response, mrs. lapidus asks, mr. ganguli, does nikhil follow english? in order to prove that gogol knows english, ashoke does something he has never done before, and addresses his son in careful, accented english.

The answer is C. "

When the question is repeated and there is still no response, Mrs. Lapidus asks, “Mr. Ganguli, does Nikhil follow English?”  

as university of miami psychologists debra lieberman and adam smith pointed out in a recent article in the journal current directions in psychological science, humans have social and psychological mechanisms to deter incest. with very few exceptions, marriages between brothers and sisters and between parents and their children are verboten in every human culture. the primary psychological anti-incest mechanism is the yuck response. even the idea of sex with their mom or dad, bro or sis is upsetting to most people. the psychologist jonathan haidt has found that nearly everyone is repelled by the prospect of brother-sister sex, even in hypothetical situations in which there is no chance of pregnancy).

the biological cost of incest

this raises an interesting question: just what’s so bad about incest? sure, having sex with your dad or your sister seems gross — but why? some anthropologists have argued that incest taboos are learned social conventions. this explanation, however, doesn’t make sense to me as it does not explain the widespread existence of anti-incest mechanisms in creatures ranging from cockroaches to chimpanzees. second, the incest taboo is about as close to a universal law as human moral rules get.

why should mechanisms to avoid incest be so widespread both in nature and across human societies? the answer is simple. the problem with having sex close with relatives is that there is an astonishingly high chance that your offspring will be born with a serious birth defect.