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(流產(chǎn)，發(fā)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；雛形）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（氣質(zhì)、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?”
小題1:By “stupid endeavor”, Westhusin means to say that ________.

A．human cloning is a foolish undertaking

B．a(chǎn)nimal cloning is absolutely impractical

C．human cloning should be done selectively

D．a(chǎn)nimal cloning is not worth the effort at all

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

A．Its success is already in sight.

B．It is progressing smoothly.

C．It is doomed to utter failure.

D．Its outcome remains uncertain.

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

A．study the possibility of cloning humans

B．search for ways to modify its temperament

C．find out the differences between Missy and its clones

D．examine the reproductive system of the dog species

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

A．a(chǎn) bad temper

B．defective（有缺陷的、有毛病的）organs

C．immune deficiency

D．a(chǎn)n abnormal shape

Just as some people think that certain numbers are lucky or unlucky, others believe that we can use numbers to understand our personalities, or predict what will happen to us in the future.
Numerology is a way of using numbers to describe a person’s character, and to make predictions about future life events. Numerologists use the numbers 1-9, 11 and 22 — also known as the “master” numbers — to help a person understand his or her personality, life goals, and destiny.
Numerologists consider your Life Path number to be the most significant because this number describes your character. To find this number, add together all the numbers in your date of birth. For example, a person born on April 25, 1985 would add the month (4), to the numbers of the date (2+5), plus the numbers of the birth year (1+9+8+5). In this case the total is 34, so this person’s life path number is 7(3+4). Numerologists believe that people with this number are peaceful and affectionate but can also be very reserved.
Your Expression number describes your talents and predicts how you should use these to fulfill your destiny in life. Numerologists assign a number between 1 and 9 to each of the letters in your name. These numbers are then added together in the same way as before to find your Expression number. Numerologists can also do calculations to predict when the most challenging periods of your life will be.
Numerologists also believe that the day a person is born is important. Each day of the month has a character description. People born on the fourth are said to be responsible, honest, and stubborn. People born on the fifteenth have very strong attachments to family and home. Those who celebrate their birthday on the thirtieth are artistic, creative, and imaginative, and often make good writers.
If we calculate the numerical value of our name and birth date, numerologists believe that we can learn more about our personalities. They also believe that we can predict our destinies, how our lives will progress, and what challenges we may face along the way. To the numerologist, numbers can be used in many more ways than we think.
小題1:If a person was born on November 8, 1995, what is his Life Path number?

A．7

B．8

C．9

D．11

小題2:To understand your abilities and how to use them in your life, you should calculate your ______.

A．Life Path number	B．Expression number
C．birthday	D．name and birth date

小題3:According to the passage, a person born on the fifteenth tends to be _______.

A．stubborn

B．home-loving

C．a(chǎn)rtistic

D．imaginative

小題4:According to the passage, numerologists believe that _________.

A．Life Path number can be used to predict a person’s most challenging life periods

B．Expression number is the most meaningful for people to learn a person’s character

C．numbers can help people better understand themselves

D．numbers can be used to change a person’s future

小題5:The function of the passage is __________.

A．to raise doubts about the usefulness of numerology

B．to persuade readers about the benefits of the practices it describes

C．to describe some of the numerological practices and their purpose

D．to tease those who take such beliefs seriously

There are two methods by which hydrogen (氫) can be used to power cars. The first way is to use hydrogen to drive the engine, in much the same way as many cars use gas. The second method is to use the reaction of hydrogen with oxygen in a battery, making the car a kind of electric one.
The dream of producing hydrogen in the car while driving along by electrolyzing（電解）water is a long way off, so we are still at the period of batteries and filling the tank with hydrogen gas. This is the difficulty for potential car users and producers. There are only sixteen hydrogen filling stations in Los Angeles and none in 99% of other cities worldwide.
Indeed, some of the big name automobile producers have pulled out of the race to put the first practical hydrogen car on the streets. Ford and GM have announced that they are pulling out in America and so has Renault in France.
However, the Japanese companies are pressing on. In fact, Honda introduced its first hydrogen fuel cell car in 1999. They are now producing second generation hydrogen car known as the FCX Clarity. Guess where they are available for sale? In only one city because of its filling stations.
Honda thinks that they could go into full-scale production of the FCX Clarity by 2020 if the world is prepared for them by then.
Then there are hydrogen-powered buses in several European cities including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Hamburg, London, Luxembourg and Madrid. Lotus, the makers of London taxis, have announced that they propose to manufacture hydrogen-powered taxis in time for the London Olympics.
So, the hydrogen vehicle is out there and the numbers will be growing fairly soon. The buses go back to their bus station, where an electrolyzing machine changes water into fuel for them to fill up on and the same will be the case for many of London’s taxis.
Unfortunately, getting fuel is not the only difficulty for the average motorist, a number of these vehicles cost about $300,000 each.
小題1:According to the text, hydrogen-powered buses ________.

A．can easily be filled up with gas.

B．a(chǎn)re likely to sell well in the future.

C．a(chǎn)re mainly used in the United States

D．won’t be used in the London Olympics

小題2:What does the underlined word “them” in paragraph 5 refer to?

A．Japanese companies	B．Hydrogen buses
C．The FCX Clarity	D．Filling stations

小題3:Where are hydrogen cars currently available for sale?

A．In Barcelona

B．In Hamburg

C．In London

D．In Los Angeles

小題4:We can learn from the text that ________.

A．there are sixty hydrogen filling stations all over the world

B．hydrogen vehicles fueled by water will be very expensive

C．Honda will mass-produce the FCX Clarity by 2012

D．Honda produced its first hydrogen car in 1989

These days we are all conditioned to accept newness, whatever it costs. Very soon, there is no doubt that Apple's tablet (平板電腦) will seem as a vital tool of modern living to us as sewing machine did to our grandparents. At least, it will until someone produces an even smarter, thinner and more essential tablet, which, if recent history is any guide, will be in approximately six months' time. Turn your back for a moment and you find that every electronic item in your possession is as old as a tombstone. Why should you care if people laugh just because you use an old mobile phone? But try getting the thing repaired when it goes wrong. It's like walking into a pub and asking for an orange juice. You will be made to feel like some sort of time-traveler from the 1970s. "Why not buy a new one?" you will get asked.
And so the mountain of electrical rubbish grows. An average British person was believed to get rid of quite a number of electronic goods in a lifetime. They weighed three tons, stood 7 feet high, and included five fridges, six microwaves, seven PCs, six TVs, 12 kettles, 35 mobile phones and so on. Even then, the calculation seemed to be conservative. Only 35 mobiles in a lifetime? The huge number of electronic items now regularly thrown away by British families is clearly one big problem. But this has other consequences. It contributes greatly to the uneasy feeling that modem technology is going by faster than we can keep up. By the time I've learnt how to use a tool it's already broken or lost. I've lost count of the number of TV remote-controls that I've bought, mislaid and replaced without working out what most of the buttons did.
And the technology changes so unbelievably fast. It was less than years ago that I spotted an energetic businessman friend pulling what seemed to be either a large container or a small nuclear bomb on wheels through a railway station. I asked. "What have you got in there? Your money or your wife?" "Neither," he replied, with the satisfied look of a man who knew he was keeping pace with the latest technology, no matter how ridiculous he looked. "This is what everyone will have soon—even you. It's called a mobile telephone."
I don't feel sorry for the pace of change. On the contrary, I'm amazed by those high-tech designers who can somehow fit a camera, music-player, computer and phone into a plastic box no bigger than a packet of cigarette. If those geniuses could also find a way to keep the underground trains running on the first snowy day of winter, they would be making real progress for human beings. What I do regret, however, is that so many household items fall behind so soon. My parents bought a wooden wireless radio in 1947, the year they were married. In 1973, the year I went to university, it was still working. It sat in the kitchen like an old friend—which, in a way, it was. It certainly spoke to us more than we spoke to each other on some mornings. When my mum replaced it with a new-style radio that could also play cassette-tapes, I felt a real sense of loss.
Such is the over-excited change of 21st-century technology that there's no time to satisfy our emotional needs. Even if Apple's new products turn out to be the most significant tablets I very much doubt if they will resist this trend.
小題1:When you try getting an old mobile phone repaired, ____.

A．you are travelling through time	B．you are thought to be out of date
C．you will find everything wrong	D．you have got to buy a new one

小題2:Throwing away so much electronic rubbish makes the writer feel quite _____.

A．lost and upset	B．unbelievably fast
C．broken or lost	D．regularly wasteful

小題3:The example of the businessman implies that____.

A．the businessman mastered the latest technology

B．mobile phones used to be quite big just years ago

C．the businessman was a very ridiculous person

D．the writer failed to follow modern technology

小題4:The passage is organized in the pattern of ____.

A．time and events	B．comparison and contrast
C．cause and effect	D．examples and analysis

小題5:Which of the following is conveyed in the passage?

A．The fast pace of change brings us no good.

B．We have to keep up with new technology.

C．Household items should be upgraded quickly.

D．We should hold on for new technology to last.

We must do what we can to protect the plants because plants are very important for living things. Life could not go on if there were no plants. This is because plants can make food from air, water and sunlight. Animals and man cannot make food from air, water and sunlight. Animals get their food by eating plants and other animals. Therefore animals and man need plants in order to live. This is why we find that there are so many plants around us.
If you look carefully at the plants around you, you will find that there are two kinds of plants: flowering plants and non-flowering plants. Flowering plants can make seeds. The seeds are protected by the fruits. Some fruits have one seed, some have two, three or four, and some have many seeds. But a few fruits have no seeds at all. An example of a fruit without seeds is the banana fruit. Most non-flowering plants do not grow from seeds. They grow from spores（胚芽）. Spores are very small. Some spores are so small and light that they can float in the air. We may say that spores are quite the same as seeds. When these spores are all on wet and shady places, they usually grow into new plants.
小題1:Plants can make food from______.

A．flower, water and air	B．water, sunlight and air
C．a(chǎn)ir, water and soil	D．a(chǎn)ir, sun and light

小題2:The main idea of the first paragraph is that ______.

A．plants are important for life

B．plants cannot grow without air

C．there are many plants in the world

D．we can not live without water

小題3:What can we infer（推斷） from the passage？

A．Of all living things animals are most important

B．Spores are seeds

C．All fruits of flowering plants have seeds

D．Without plants, man will die out

小題4:This passage may be taken from______.

A．a(chǎn) medicine book	B．a(chǎn) novel
C．a(chǎn) science magazine	D．a(chǎn)n experiment report

小題5:The underlined word “protected” in the passage can be replaced by ______.

A．damaged

B．polluted

C．prevented

D．guarded

A new reading tool was put on the market this week for the two-to five-year-old set. It is sold for at least $389, an expensive purchase for a kid – and that doesn’t even include a $99 annual subscription (訂閱) fee for games, e-books, and age-appropriate software.
That might be fine for parents willing and able to pay thousands for private nursery schools, but will the tool actually help kids learn language and reading skills more effectively than traditional books?
Probably not, said Dr. Michael Rich, director of the Center for Media and Child Health at Children’s Hospital Boston. “There is a sensory components (感官因素) to books that isn’t there with e-books,” he explained. “You can smell it, turn the pages, and taste it, as young kids are likely to do.”
That might help little ones become more familiar with the books, helping them learn from them, but far more important is whether a person is actually sitting with them while they’re looking at the pages.
Researchers have shown time and again that kids learn better when they’re having interaction (互動) with real people, rather than electronic voices reading to them from a computer or speaking to them from the TV.
A Georgetown University study found that kids who learned to put on gloves from watching a video took six times as long to learn the process as those who watched it shown by an adult standing in front of them.
“I’m a big believer in teaching kids to live in the digital society and use what the rest of the family uses, but they do need to be supervised,” said Dr. Gwenn O’Keeffe, a Boston-based children’s doctor and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics. “We don’t recommend that young kids use any type of technology for very long since they have the attention span (注意力持續(xù)時間) of a butterfly.”
小題1:According to the text, the new tool        .

A．is mainly used to entertain kids

B．can be accepted by most families

C．is designed for preschool kids

D．can download games for free

小題2:Why is Dr. Michael Rich against the new tool?

A．Because it doesn’t really involve many of the senses.

B．Because it does great harm to kids’ eyesight.

C．Because kids can’t communicate with it.

D．Because traditional books are cheaper.

小題3:The study mentioned in Paragraph 6 aims to        .

A．show the disadvantage of kids’ watching videos

B．prove the importance of interaction with people

C．a(chǎn)sk parents to teach their kids to learn

D．prove using e-books saves much time

小題4:The underlined word “supervised” in the last paragraph can be replaced by “     ”.

A．punished

B．watched

C．encouraged

D．understood

小題5:What is the author’s purpose in writing the text?

A．To introduce a new electronic device.

B．To teach kids how to live in a digital world.

C．To show parents how to help kids gain knowledge.

D．To throw new light on kids’ use of electronic tools.

Penguins live together，but each pair has a little piece of ground of their own.When a penguin wants to walk through its neighbor’s ground，it must ask permission.If it does not do that，it will have to fight.Most of the time，penguins live on the water.They eat shell fish and look after their children carefully.
All penguins are good parents—the male penguins are perhaps the best parents in the world. They walk in the sea in the middle of the dark Antarctic water. They choose their wives in the dark.They can only hear them—not see them.Then the female penguins lay their eggs and go away for about two months.The males take care of the eggs.If the eggs get cold，there will be no chicks.There is no food.The snow falls heavily and the wind blows strongly—sometimes at 150 kilometers an hour.The penguins do not move.When the females return from the sea，they will not remember their husbands.It does not matter.Only one thing matters—the eggs.Male penguins never fight—unless a penguin leaves a chick for a minute.They then fight because they all want it.They are strange and wonderful birds.
小題1:It seems interesting and unusual that the male penguins choose their wives ______.

A．when the female penguins return from the sea

B．just by hearing in the darkness

C．each time they see the lovely females

D．a(chǎn)fter they have had their own grounds

小題2:Male penguins fight when ______.

A．they choose their wives

B．they see a chick left alone

C．they want to get something to eat

D．they walk through their neighbors’ ground

小題3:From the passage we know that ______.

A．penguins live a hard life

B．penguins live in pairs

C．penguins will fight if one walks through others’ ground without permission

D．each penguin has a little piece of ground of its own

小題4:The penguins choose their wives in the dark. We can infer that ______.

A．penguins like nights very much

B．there is no daytime in that place at all

C．the weather is cloudy and rainy all the year around

D．the sun can’t shine there for nearly half a year every year

小題5:Which of the following is NOT true?

A．Female penguins take care of the eggs.

B．Female penguins often have their new husbands.

C．Male penguins use their ears to choose wives.

D．Male penguins don’t move when they take care of eggs，even though the wind often blows strongly.

Although April did not bring us the rains we all hoped for, and although the Central Valley doesn’t generally experience the sound and lightning that can go with those rains, it’s still important for parents to be able to answer the youthful questions about thunder and lightning.
The reason these two wonders of nature are so difficult for many adults to explain to children is that they are not very well understood by adults themselves. For example, did you know that the lightning we see flashing down to the earth from a cloud is actually flashing up to a cloud from the earth? Our eyes trick us into thinking we see a downward motion when it’s actually the other way around. But then, if we believed only what we think and we see, we’d still insist that the sun rises in the morning and sets at night.
Most lightning flashes take place inside a cloud, and only a relative few can be seen jumping between two clouds or between earth and a cloud. But, with about 2,000 thunderstorms taking place above the earth every minute of the day and night, there’s enough activity to produce about 100 lightning strikes on earth every second.
Parents can use thunder and lightning to help their children learn more about the world around them. When children understand that the light of the lightning flashing reaches their eyes almost at the same moment, but the sound of the thunder takes about 5 seconds to travel just one mile, they can begin to time the interval (間隔) between the flash and the crash to learn how lose they were to the actual spark (閃光).
小題1:According to the author, in the area of the Central Valley____.

A．rains usually come without thunder and lightning.

B．it is usually dry in April

C．children pay no attention to the two natural wonders.

D．parents are not interested in thunder and lightning.

小題2:We believe that lightning is a downward motion because_______.

A．we were taught so by our parents from our childhood.

B．we are taken in by our sense of vision.

C．it is a common natural sight.

D．it is a truth proved by science.

小題3:What is TRUE about lightning according to the passage?

A．Only a small number of lightning flashes occur on earth.

B．Lightning flashes usually jump from one cloud to another.

C．Lightning travels 5 times faster than thunder.

D．There are far more lightning strikes occurring on earth than we can imagine.

小題4:The underlined word “activity”  is most closely related to the word (s) _____.

A．cloud

B．lightning strikes

C．lightning flashes

D．thunderstorms

小題5:It can be concluded from the passage that _______.

A．we should not believe what we see or hear.

B．things moving downward are more noticeable.

C．people sometimes may have wrong ideas about ordinary phenomena.

D．a(chǎn)dults are not as good as children in observing certain natural phenomena.

During the first week of the term, every student was given a job for which they would be responsible for the rest of that school year.
Some jobs were more  26 than others, and the children were eager to be given one of the best ones. And the teacher would  27 who had been most responsible during the previous year. Among them Rita  28 . During the previous year she had followed all the teacher’s  29  perfectly.
But that year there was a big  30 . Each child received one of the normal  31 , like cleaning the blackboard. But Rita’s job was very  32  . She was given a little box containing some sand and one ant. And even though the teacher  33 that this ant was a very special ant, it  34 Rita. Most of her classmates felt sorry for her and even her father  35 Rita to ignore it.  36 , Rita preferred to show the teacher her error by making the unimportant task into a special job.
“ I will turn this little task into  37  great,” Rita said to herself.
So Rita started  38 her little ant. She gave the ant the best food, and it grew bigger than anyone had expected…
One day, the teacher  39  a man to the students and said he would tell them a  40  piece of news. The man said, “ Today they have announced the winner of the  41 , and this class is the winner! This class has been chosen to accompany me on a  42 to the tropical rainforest to investigate all kinds of insects.  43 all the schools of this region, it is this one that has best  44  for the little ant given to you. Well done!”
That day the class was filled with joy. Everyone  45 Rita and thanked the teacher. And many children learnt that to be given the most important tasks you have to know how to be responsible for even the smallest tasks.

小題1:	A．interesting B．possible C．necessary D．creative

小題2:	A．realize B．doubt C．a(chǎn)rgue D．consider

小題3:	A．stood up B．stood out C．stood for D．stood by

小題4:	A．opinions B．concerns C．instructions D．experiments

小題5:	A．curiosity B．movement C．surprise D．chance

小題6:	A．tasks B．promises C．dreams D．purposes

小題7:	A．different B．ordinary C．familiar D．valuable

小題8:	A．hoped B．insisted C．a(chǎn)greed D．guessed

小題9:	A．a(chǎn)nnoyed B．inspired C．satisfied D．disappointed

小題10:

A．supposed B．forced C．encouraged D．a(chǎn)dmitted

小題11:

A．Therefore B．Otherwise C．However D．Moreover

小題12:

A．something B．nothing C．everything D．a(chǎn)nything

小題13:

A．developing B．studying C．comforting D．writing

小題14:

A．introduced B．exposed C．a(chǎn)ppealed D．connected

小題15:

A．terrible B．confusing C．wonderful D．foolish

小題16:

A．competition B．challenge C．conference D．negotiation

小題17:

A．journey B．vacation C．meeting D．story

小題18:

A．Between B．Along C．Besides D．Among

小題19:A looked        B. paid        C. cared          D. worked

小題20:

A．prized B．congratulated C．respected D．celebrated

It takes years of school to develop math skills, but learning about numbers starts earlier than you might think. Now according to a new study, at three months, babies have already started acquiring a concept (概念) of “how much”.
Previous research had suggested that very young babies can tell when the number of objects (物體) in a group has changed. But the babies in these studies were simply reacting generally to the fact that something had changed, they suspected.
Researchers of Harvard University studied 36 babies, all three months old. During the tests, each baby wore a hat with sensors (傳感器). The babies watched a series of images on a computer screen. They showed the same object, such as a cartoon character. For a while, the number of the objects in the pictures didn’t change. Then the images began to display a different object, or a different number of one of the objects the babies had previously looked at. As soon as something changed, the babies’ brains responded with a specific pattern of electrical signals, which would be recorded by sensors.
By analyzing these signals, the researchers discovered that one part of the brain (near the top on the left side) responded when the object in the image changed. A different part of the brain (lower and on the right side) responded when the number of objects in the image changed. This was not the area of the brain that is involved in attention. That suggests that the babies’ brains are doing more than just reacting to a change in what they’re seeing – they actually seem to be able to tell number changes from other types of changes.
Numbers and amounts are important concepts in our lives. Even though babies are years away from adding, subtracting (減), multiplying, and dividing, their brains seem to be preparing for a time when they finally will.
小題1:Why were hats with sensors used in the study?

A．To record the images on the computer screen.

B．To remind babies of the changes of numbers.

C．To record the electrical activity of each baby’s brain.

D．To help babies concentrate on the computer screen.

小題2:What does the underlined word “They” in the third paragraph refer to?

A．Babies involved in the study.

B．Sensors worn by the babies.

C．Numbers marked on the objects.

D．Images shown on the computer screen.

小題3:Which part of the brain is responsible for responding to the changes of numbers?

A．The top.

B．The left side.

C．The lower and the right side.

D．The upper and the left side.

小題4:The last paragraph mainly implies that           .

A．babies are in fact cleverer than they are thought

B．it is impossible to understand human brain completely

C．numbers play the most important part in people’s lives

D．the ability of babies remain a mystery to scientists

小題5:The purpose of the study is to prove that          .

A．math skills should be developed as early as possible

B．numbers are easier for babies to judge than images

C．babies really do have some sense of numbers

D．babies can react differently to what they see