Scientist Says ‘No’ to Human Cloning

“I’ve never met a human worth cloning,” says cloning expert Mark Westhusin from his lab at Texas A&M University. “It’s a stupid endeavor.”

That’s an interesting choice of adjective, coming from a man who has spent millions of dollars trying to clone a 13-year-old dog named Missy. So far, he and his team have not succeeded, though they have cloned two cows and a cat.

They just might succeed in cloning Missy soon — or perhaps not for another five years.

Westhusin's experience with cloning animals leaves him upset by all this talk of human cloning. In three years of work on the Missy project, using hundreds upon hundreds of dog's eggs, the A&M team has produced only a dozen or so embryos carrying Missy's DNA. None have survived the transfer to a surrogate（代孕的）mother. The wastage of eggs and the many spontaneously aborted(流产，发育不全) fetuses（胎）may be acceptable when you're dealing with cats or bulls, he argues, but not with humans. “Cloning is incredibly inefficient, and also dangerous,” he says.

Even so, dog cloning is a commercial opportunity, with a nice research payoff. Ever since Dolly the sheep was cloned in 1997, Westhusin's phone has been ringing with people calling in hopes of duplicating their cats and dogs, cattle and horses. “A lot of people want to clone pets, especially if the price is right,” says Westhusin. Cost is no obstacle for Missy's mysterious billionaire owner; he's put up $3.7 million so far to fund A&M's research.

Contrary to some media reports, Missy is not dead. The owner wants a twin to carry on Missy's fine qualities after she does die. The prototype（原型；雏形）is, by all accounts, athletic, good-natured and supersmart. Missy's master does not expect an exact copy of her. He knows her clone may not have her temperament（气质、性情）. In a statement of purpose, Missy's owner and the A&M team say they are “both looking forward to studying the ways that her clones differ from Missy.”

Besides cloning a great dog, the project may contribute insight into the old question of nature vs. nurture. It could also lead to the cloning of special rescue dogs and many endangered animals.

However, Westhusin is cautious about his work. He knows that even if he gets a dog pregnant, the offspring, should they survive, will face the problems shown at birth by other cloned animals: abnormalities like immature lungs and heart and weight problems~ “Why would you ever want to clone humans,” Westhusin asks, “when we're not even close to getting it worked out in animals yet?”

1.By “stupid endeavor”, Westhusin means to say that ________.

2.What does the first paragraph tell us about Westhusin's dog cloning project?

3.By cloning Missy, Mark Westhusin hopes to ________.

4.We learn from the passage that animal clones are likely to have ________.

Anyone who ever wondered why a dying plant, say, a freshly-cut red rose may appeal to a lady friend, might take some comfort in science, which once again offers us a reasonable answer to one of the world’ s great mysteries.
Beyond a common preference in people for blue, “the long history of color preference studies has been described as ‘confusing and contradictory(矛盾的)’,” write scientists Anya Hurlbert and Yazhu Ling of England’ s Newcastle University, authors of a new study in the journal Current Biology. “This fact is perhaps surprising,” they said, “though the popularity of the concept that little girls differ from boys in preferring pink.”
But the scientists believe they have an answer to this scientific mystery, discovering women’s preference for red, hidden above the average liking for blue.
In their study, the pair quickly flashed color cards, displaying many different aspects, at 208 volunteers, mostly Britishers but with a number of Han Chinese, who moved to the United Kingdom recently. Tested in three different experiments, the researchers found out a small but significant preference for reddish colors in the female volunteers.
Puzzled, the authors realized that most of the difference between men and women came in the form of a preference for green VS red in the color cards, regardless of the other slight differences such as the slightly blue ones that everyone liked. Why might this be?
Evolution might offer an answer, they reason. Human color perception(感知), the assessment of three separate color types — red — green — blue— in our vision (视觉) is a relatively recent addition to our line of mammals(脯乳动物)
Adding weight to their argument, they found the women who are most typically feminine(女性的) on a psychological survey also had the biggest preference for reddish colors. “My love is like a red, red rose,” wrote the Scottish poet Rober Burns in 1794.
【小题1】What does the first paragraph probably tell us ?

Passage Nineteen (TV’s Harmfulness)
Yes, but what did we use to do before there was television? How often we hear statements like this! Television hasn’t been with us all that long, but we are already beginning to forget what the world was like without it. Before we admitted the one-eyed monster into our homes, we never fond it difficult to occupy our spare time. We used to enjoy civilized pleasures. For instance, we used to have hobbies, we used to entertain our friends and be entertained by them, we used to go outside for our amusements to theatres, cinemas, restaurants and sporting events. We even used to read books and listen to music and broadcast talks occasionally. All that belongs to the past. Now all our free time is regulated by the goggle box. We rush home or gulp down our meals to be in time for this or that programme. We have even given up sitting at table and having a leisurely evening meal, exchanging the news of the day. A sandwich and a glass of beer will do – anything, providing it doesn’t interfere with the programme. The monster demands and obtains absolute silence and attention. If any member of the family dares to open his mouth during a programme, he is quickly silenced.
Whole generations are growing up addicted to the telly. Food is left uneaten, homework undone and sleep is lost. The telly is a universal pacifier. It is now standard practice for mother to keep the children quiet by putting them in the living-room and turning on the set. It doesn’t matter that the children will watch rubbishy commercials or spectacles of sadism and violence – so long as they are quiet.
There is a limit to the amount of creative talent available in the world. Every day, television consumes vast quantities of creative work. That is why most of the programmes are so bad: it is impossible to keep pace with the demand and maintain high standards as well. When millions watch the same programmes, the whole world becomes a village, and society is reduced to the conditions which obtain in preliterate communities. We become utterly dependent on the two most primitive media of communication: pictures and the spoken word.
Television encourages passive enjoyment. We become content with second-hand experiences. It is so easy to sit in our armchairs watching others working. Little by little, television cuts us off from the real world. We get so lazy, we choose to spend a fine day in semi-darkness, glued to our sets, rather than go out into the world itself. Television may be s splendid medium of communication, but it prevents us from communicating with each other. We only become aware how totally irrelevant television is to real living when we spend a holiday by the sea or in the mountains, far away from civilization. In quiet, natural surroundings, we quickly discover how little we miss the hypnotic tyranny of King Telly.
1.What is the biggest harm of TV?
A.It deprives people of communication with the real world.
B.People become lazy.
C.People become dependent on second-hand experience.
D.TV consumes a large part of one’s life.
2.In what way can people forget TV?
A.Far away from civilization.
B.To a mountain.
C.By the sea.
D.In quiet natural surroundings.
3.What does a mother usually do to keep her children quiet?
A.Let them watch the set.
B.Put them in the living room.
C.Let them watch the rubbish.
D.Let them alone.
4.What does the first sentence in the first paragraph mean?
A.We found it difficult to occupy our spare time.
B.We become addicted to TV.
C.What we used to do is different from now.
D.We used to enjoy civilized pleasures.

阅读下面的短文，并根据短文后的要求答题（请注意问题后的字数要求）。

[1] Many people spend a lot of time making money because they believe the money itself will make them happy, or will guard them against things that will make them unhappy．They make great efforts to achieve that perfect relationship, the perfect house, the beautiful body, the approval of others, all in an attempt to be happy.

[2] Sometimes these things make people happy; other times, people stress over not having reached the goals, or reach them and find they’re still unhappy．Other times, people focus on just one goal and don’t have time for other things that will make them truly happy.

[3] Some experts studying human happiness and the factors that contribute to it have identified several key areas of life that seem to be more related to personal happiness．Some of them are the things like money, friends, health and living conditions; others are things you may not think of in your daily life, such as your neighborhood and sense of meaning in life.

[4] So while setting your goals, remember all of the areas of life that are important to you and find a balanced lifestyle including social support, personal development, physical health and meaningful pursuits(追求) besides career success and financial security．_____________, your attitude about life and the things that happen to you each day can also have a great effect on your level of happiness and life satisfaction．In addition to being optimistic, happy people tend to believe they are the masters of their fate, rather than the victims of circumstance．

[5] Explore the state of your life, assess how truly happy you are, and find a direction to work toward that will likely bring more happiness．Reach your goals, set new ones and live a life that truly makes you happy.

What does the first paragraph mainly talk about? (Please answer within 15 words.)

Which sentence in the text is closest in meaning to the following one?

It’s impossible for those that stick to one thing only to experience happiness from other things.

Fill in the blank in Paragraph 4 with proper words．(Please answer within 5 words.)

Do you think money could bring true happiness? Why? (Please answer within 30 words.)

Translate the underlined sentence in Paragraph 5 into Chinese.

第II 卷（共45分）

第四部分 书面表达（共两节，满分45分）

第一节阅读表达（共5小题；每小题3分，满分15分）

阅读下面的短文，并根据短文后的要求答题（请注意问题后的字数要求）。

[1] Many people spend a lot of time making money because they believe the money itself will make them happy, or will guard them against things that will make them unhappy. They make great efforts to achieve that perfect relationship, the perfect house, the beautiful body, the approval of others, all in an attempt to be happy.

[2] Sometimes these things make people happy; other times, people stress over not having reached the goals, or reach them and find they’re still unhappy. Other times, people focus on just one goal and don’t have time for other things that will make them truly happy.

[3] Some experts studying human happiness and the factors that contribute to it have identified several key areas of life that seem to be more related to personal happiness. Some of them are the things like money, friends, health and living conditions; others are things you may not think of in your daily life, such as your neighborhood and sense of meaning in life.

[4] So while setting your goals, remember all of the areas of life that are important to you and find a balanced lifestyle including social support, personal development, physical health and meaningful pursuits(追求) besides career success and financial security. _____________, your attitude about life and the things that happen to you each day can also have a great effect on your level of happiness and life satisfaction. In addition to being optimistic, happy people tend to believe they are the masters of their fate, rather than the victims of circumstance.

[5] Explore the state of your life, assess how truly happy you are, and find a direction to work toward that will likely bring more happiness. Reach your goals, set new ones and live a life that truly makes you happy.

76. What does the first paragraph mainly talk about? (Please answer within 15 words.)

______________________________________________________________________

77. Which sentence in the text is closest in meaning to the following one?

It’s impossible for those that stick to one thing only to experience happiness from other things.

______________________________________________________________________

78. Fill in the blank in Paragraph 4 with proper words. (Please answer within 5 words.)

______________________________________________________________________

79. Do you think money could bring true happiness? Why? (Please answer within 30 words.)

______________________________________________________________________

80. Translate the underlined sentence in Paragraph 5 into Chinese.

______________________________________________________________________