Alzheimei s disease 老年性痴呆病。
Parkinson s 帕金森氏病。
spinal-cord 脊髓。
stem cell 干细胞。
Rube Goldberg process 简事烦做, 小题大做的程序。
uterus n.子宫。
Lo and behold interj.瞧 ! 真怪啊 !
kidney n.肾,肾脏。
presumably ad.可能地。
scourge n.灾难,祸害。
countenance v.支持,认同。
blastcyst n.胚孢。
tease out (用手指)把??拿掉。
retain v.保留,保存。
pluripotentiality n.多能细胞。
tweak v.拧,捏。
inject v.注入,注射。
short circuit 短路。
circumvent v.绕过,巧妙回避。
neuron n.神经。
invoke v.援引, (作为根据)提出。
betterment n.改善,改进。
skip v.跳过,略过。
deploy v.展开,部署, 调动。
muster v.集合,聚集。
Ⅲ.Notes to the Text
1.In order to arouse readers interest the author introduces his topic by asking a question: Advocates say they will never create human fetuses.Can we believe them ?
2.This paragraph is very logical.The author employs the conjunction“As”to indicate reason , and then make a reference based on the reason: it involves cows, but tomorrow it could easily involve humans .
3.This paragraph offers readers necessary knowledge to read this article by briefly telling us a fact that will trigger the debate in this article - an amazing success made by cloning cow: taking a skin cell from Cow A, then implanting the embryo into the uterus of Cow B .
4.This paragraph is rhythmical: a three-word sentence is followed by a longer sentence, then followed by an even longer sentence.The longest sentence tends to slow the reading down, allowing readers to digest the content .
5.This is a transitional paragraph .
6.Paragraphs 6 and 7 tell readers of the attitude of cloning advocates who claim that they are against human cloning - they promise to grow human clones only to use blastocyst stage, but this is not easy.This lays the basis for the author to question them .
7.The phrase “short circuit that circumvents this entire Rube Goldberg process”means“the way that has been simplified”.
8.This paragraph further offers cloning advocates assurances (attention to the closely related parallel structure“It is one thing to...It is another thing to.. .” ) .
9.From this paragraph on, the author begins to question the cloning advocates assurances with examples .
10.This is the conclusion that the author has drawn .
Ⅳ.Text-related Practice
A.Reading comprehension:
Directions: The following are some questions and unfinished statements .
For each of them there are four choices marked a, b, c and d.You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter .
1.The word“fatal”in the title implies that the author.
a.is skeptical of the bright future of the cloning technique.
b.is aware of the seriousness of the application of cloning.
c.is afraid of the harm of cloning to humanity.
d.is distrustful of the assurance made by the advocates of cloning.
2.Which of the following statements CANNOT be true from the passage ?
a.Advocates of cloning broke their promise of never cloning human fetuses .
b.Advocates clone human embryo under the pretext of benefiting the whole human being .
c.Morality has been the most important barrier that hinders the advocates from carrying out cloning experiment on human being .
d.The practice of advocates of cloning makes the public aware of the impending danger of cloning human being .
3.In paragraph 5 the author mentions the assurance made by cloning advocates in order to.
a.relieve the public of their worries.
b.satirize the unreliability of advocates promise.
c.acclaim what cloning advocates have done for the humanity.
d.argue for the rational application of cloning for the benefit of human being.
4.As to the idea of applying cloned tissue to the treatment of disease, the author thinks.
a.advocates will choose to clone fetuses in order to make the complicated process simplerb.the relief of human suffering does justify the practice of cloning.
c.the scientists will confine the cloning research to medical treatment.
d.the scientist will not do the experiment of cloning fetuses on any person.
5.The last sentence in paragraph 10 implies all of the following statements EXCEPT .
a.cloning advocates have no intention of keeping the promise they made before.
b.cloning advocates show due respect to morality.
c.the public accuses cloning advocates of breaking the universal moral standard.
d.the practice of arguing against cloning was condemned by the advocates as ignorance of the healthcare of human being.
B.Translate the following into Chinese .
1.Today these very same advocates are campaigning hard to permit research cloning - that is, the creation of human embryos for the purpose of taking them apart for their stem cells.They justify this reversal of position by invoking the suffering of millions.And they heap scorn on opponents for letting old promises and arbitrary moral barriers stand in the way of human betterment .
2.What is to prevent“million are suffering”from allowing them to break the next barrier tomorrow, growing cloned embryos into fetuses ?
Text B
Space Shuttle: the Next Generation
There may be a growing trend for space tourists to jet off to the International Space Station, but moving men and machines from Earth into orbit remains a risky and expensive business .
At 1 in 500 the chance of a fatalaccident involving the space shuttle is like Russian roulette: the cost of reaching space is ￡15 000 for every kilo of weight it carries .
So it s hardly surprising that NASA is now actively planning to replace the shuttle with a cheaper, safer, second-generation launch system .
The resultwill be a fully reusable launch vehicle designed for ferrying people to and from the International Space Station and for launching scientific, commercial and military satellites more regularly and reliably than is currently possible .
The aim is to make a vehicle that costs just ￡1 500 for every kilo of weight onboard .
NASA isn t developing the new shuttle itself .
