Part I Pre-Reading Task
Script for the recording:
A Clone of Our Own
Will humans be the next clones? The technology still has a long way to go before it's considered safe to try on humans. But even if it were safe, would it be right? Let's hear what Professor Hank Greely of Stanford University has to say on this topic .
Interviewer: When will we clone a human?
Greely: That's not a simple question. I think we have to ask ourselves: is there something about the technology that is so wrong or so evil that it shouldn't be used at all? Or should it be judged according to its intended uses? Interviewer: What are acceptable uses?
Greely: We really need to distinguish between different types of cloning. If we use cloning to grow a new liver, I don't think many people will have problems with that - as long as it's growing a liver and not taking a liver from a cloned person. Human reproductive cloning is much trickier. Interviewer: Why?
Greely: Safety. There's still a very low success rate. With Dolly, the first cloned lamb, 29 treated eggs were implanted in sheep to get one Dolly. We don't worry too much about sheep miscarriages or about deformed lambs being born. But we would with humans. And we wouldn't know if a human clone would be healthy. Interviewer: Dolly appears to be healthy. Why wouldn't a human clone be so?
Greely: There may be cell changes that are initially invisible and only show themselves as the
clone ages. There's also a problem with the ends of chromosomes in cells, which shorten until the cells can no longer reproduce. We know that Dolly's chromosomes are shorter than those of other sheep her age, and we don't know what that means yet.
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Interviewer: Suppose human cloning was safe. In what situations do you see cloning being used?
Greely: Helping parents who are having difficulty having children would be one area. Interviewer: Are there other situations where it might be acceptable to create a human clone?
Greely: A situation where parents want to create a new child to be a bone marrow donor for an older sick child. That's a real tough one. But that issue might never arise if we succeed in growing bone marrow outside the body. Another situation is cloning a child who has accidentally died. I think that's disturbing. But I've never been in that position and so I don't feel comfortable saying whether that's a good application or a bad application of the technology. Interviewer: What about cloning a Hitler or Michael Jordan ?
Greely: I think we can dismiss those as bad or even silly applications. Interviewer: Is there anything else you'd like to say about the future of human cloning?
Greely: Even if cloning humans were safe and we as a society had decided it was right and proper
for reproductive purposes, I don't think we'd see a lot of clones. The oldfash-ioned way of making babies has a lot going for it: It's easy, traditional, well understood, and occasionally even pleasant. People are not going to give up sex anytime soon.
Part II Text A
Texf Organization 1.
Parts Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Paragraphs Paras 1-2 Paras 3-6 Paras 7-11 Paras 12-16 Main Ideas Dolly the sheep, a clone, was born. Dolly's birth has made cloning a reality and human clon-ing a possibility. People have to face the ethical problems of human clon-ing. Cloning technology could benefit people in more than one way. .
Appendix I
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2.
Sections Section One Section Two Paragraphs Paras 7-9 Paras 10-11 Main Ideas Human cloning has given rise to the question of what implica-tions the technology may have for mankind. The making of the atomic bomb had a tremendous impact on scientists . Vocabulary
1) residence 3) fuse 5) genes 7) mixture 9) beforehand 11comment ) 13theoretical ) 15opposed ) 1) calls for 3) took up 5) sums ... up 7) lashed out at
2) gave birth to
4) primitive -
6) compromise 8) union 10) started out , 12) catalog 14) all the world
2) woke up 4) runs out of 6) broke down 8) has grown into
1) The hillside facing the Pacific is dotted with colorful houses.
2) The present Labour government inherited a weak economy from the Conservative govern-
3) The great historian Dr. Franklin lashed out at the racial discrimination that has plagued the American Blacks for more than two hundred years. 4) This blood test will show whether or not you're immune to the disease. 5) Polite society will not tolerate such offensive behavior. 4. 1) I am not opposed to the idea of cloning humans. I believe that in principle it is far less terrifying for a person to use his or her own genetic material to create an identical twin than to use an atomic bomb to kill people. 2) Some people are wondering whether the advances in science have been good. They say that the discovery of atomic energy let loose a power far more destructive than any weapons people have invented since ancient times. They think that science has a great potential .
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for doing evil unless we learn to harness it. 3) The young man was a genius and had a brilliant mind for business management. Soon after he inherited from his father a local newspaper, he merged it with another. Today his news-paper has grown into one of the best-known national news dailies. II. Collocation
1) Would you rather she took up residence elsewhere? 2) I'll order tea. Or perhaps you 'd rather have coffee?
3) She would rather work for a living than become dependent on her husband. 4) Yd rather she did not tell you the story.
III. Usage
1) An unusual present, a book on ethics, was given to Henry for his birthday,
2) The reason (he gave) that he didn't notice the car till too late was unsatisfactory. 3) Football, his only interest in life, has brought him many friends.
4) Cloning had been raised as a possibility decades ago, then dismissed, something that serious scientists thought was simply not going to happen anytime soon. Structure
1. 1) True, the sentence is grammatically correct, but it does not read naturally.
2) It's true there has been a considerable increase in our living costs, but the quality of our life has improved significantly because our wages have doubled over the same period.
3) True, Peter does not hold an MBA degree, but he is none the less a competent manager. 4) \"In my country, teenagers are not allowed to buy alcoholic drinks.\" \"True, but we're not in your country, are we?
2. 1) What if the scheme does not work out?
2) What if some scientists ignore bioethics and start to clone human beings? 3) What if you can't get home before dark?
4) What if I did have a talk with your boss before he fired you ? Comprehensive Exercises I. Cloze (A)
1. cloning
2. am opposed to
.
Appendix I
3. terrifying 5. normally 7. in principle 9. transplanting 11. genius (B) 1. on 3. of 5. both 7. took 9. human 11. not 13. by
15. opposition/condemnation 17. what 19. with
4. offensive 6. curiosity 8. potential 10. immune 12. identical
2. producing 4. that/which 6. Despite 8. with 10. for 12. but 14. who 16. of 18. from 20. when
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II. Translation After Dolly was born, cloning could no longer be dismissed as science fiction. The ability to create an identical twin of a lamb is but one step short of cloning humans, which many find terrifying and offensive . However the technology holds great potential for medical application. Scientists could cultivate a batch of cells and direct them to grow into whole organs or even limbs that will be genetically identical to those of the patient, thus eliminating the problem of rejection caused by immune reaction when they are transplanted into his body. Or they could take an organ from animals such as a pig that has been genetically altered so that it will be tolerated by the recipient. Then the lives of thousands of patients who die every year before a replacement heart, liver or kidney becomes available would be saved. Part III TextB
Comprehension Check
1. d 3. b
2. c 4. d
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5. b 6. c
Translation
(#JAL Appendix III)
Language Practice
1. prospect 3. necessarily 5. vague
7. was bound to 9. lent ... support to 11. objections 13. subscribed to
15. come to terms with 17. had second thoughts 19. prohibiting
2. enhance 4. condemn 6. overcome 8. rests on 10. artificial 12. inevitable 14. significant 16. by virtue of 18. in essence 20. vital
Part IV Theme-Related Language Learning Tasks
Model paper
My Views on Human Cloning
With human cloning becoming a near-term prospect, we are brought face-to-face with the
most basic ethical questions of life. Opinions differ widely as to whether human cloning should be prohibited.
True, human cloning clearly has much to offer. By using cells from the patient's own body to grow organs to replace diseased parts, the problem of rejection can be avoided. This might prove useful, for example, in fighting leukemia through bone marrow transplants. But what about making an identical copy of a human being?
Ian Wilmut, who created Dolly the sheep, finds the idea offensive. Professor Hank Greely at Stanford also finds the suggestion deeply disturbing. For one thing, the technology is far from perfect. There may be lots of miscarriages and deformed clones. What shall we do with them? Shall we keep the healthy clones and just kill off the ones with a deformed body or defective brains? That, I am afraid, would offend the religious beliefs of a great many people. For another, even if the
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Appendix I 143 -
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technology is perfected, who can guarantee no one will misuse it for evil purposes?
Therefore, I am strongly opposed to human cloning for reproductive purposes. The government should enact laws to prohibit it before it is too late. Non-reproductive cloning, on the other hand, should be encouraged. It may mean hope to many who are waiting desperately for organs for transplantation to save their lives. If used wisely the technology may eventually free humans from many kinds of suffering that today seem unavoidable.
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(273 words)
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