What makes us human？Is it our thoughts？Our emotions？Our behavior？All of these

题干

What makes us human？Is it our thoughts？Our emotions？Our behavior？

All of these things make us who we are，but at the center of it all lies the genome — the genes inside our bodies that determine everything from our hair color to our intelligence. But if we could change our genome，would we still be human？

Recently，a group of scientists from the US and South Korea worked together to successfully“edit”a human embryo（胚胎）and remove a genetic mutation（变异）that would have led to heart disease. This was achieved with the help of CRISPR-a gene — editing tool that allows scientists to edit the genome by cutting，changing or adding to parts of it.

Scientists involved in DNA editing are certain about the good of their work，and hope that in the future，diseases could simply be“edited out”.

However，others aren't so sure. People are worried that the science could be used not only to remove life-threatening illness，but also to make a“perfect”baby whose DNA has been chosen to improve its intelligence or other qualities. They say that this is a shallow way of thinking about raising children.

“It makes you think about who we are as people，and it makes you ask if humans should use the kind of power…that is changing human evolution（进化），”Jennifer Doudna of the University of California said.

Still，others worry that DNA editing could be turned into an expensive service that would only be available to the people who could afford it. That might mean the rich would be given another advantage in a world where they already have plenty of them.

“You could find wealthy parents buying the technology for their children, leading to even greater inequality than we already live with,”Marcy Darnovsky, director of the San Francisco Center for Genetics and Society, said.

【小题1】Why are the questions asked in Paragraph 1?

A．To attract the readers' interest.

B．To seek answers from the readers.

C．To show those things aren't important.

D．To correct our understanding of human beings.

【小题2】Which of the following will Jennifer Doudna most probably agree with？

A．Having a perfect baby is not so good for the family.

B．Life-threatening illnesses should be removed before birth.

C．DNA editing might cause unexpected problems to humans.

D．DNA editing may enlarge the gap between the rich and the poor，

【小题3】What does the underlined word“them”most probably refer to？

A．Advantages.

B．Expensive services.

C．Perfect children.

D．Qualities

【小题4】What's the author's attitude towards DNA editing？

A．Disappointed.	B．Doubtful.
C．Positive.	D．Objective.

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同类题1

A team of engineers at Harvard University has been inspired by Nature to create the first robotic fly. The mechanical fly has become a platform for a series of new high-tech integrated systems. Designed to do what a fly does naturally, the tiny machine is the size of a fat housefly. Its mini wings allow it to stay in the air and perform controlled flight tasks.
“It’s extremely important for us to think about this as a whole system and not just the sum of a bunch of individual components (元件),” said Robert Wood, the Harvard engineering professor who has been working on the robotic fly project for over a decade. A few years ago, his team got the go-ahead to start piecing together the components. “The added difficulty with a project like this is that actually none of those components are off the shelf and so we have to develop them all on our own,” he said.
They engineered a series of systems to start and drive the robotic fly. “The seemingly simple system which just moves the wings has a number of interdependencies on the individual components, each of which individually has to perform well, but then has to be matched well to everything it’s connected to,” said Wood. The flight device was built into a set of power, computation, sensing and control systems. Wood says the success of the project proves that the flying robot with these tiny components can be built and manufactured.
While this first robotic flyer is linked to a small, off-board power source, the goal is eventually to equip it with a built-in power source, so that it might someday perform data-gathering work at rescue sites, in farmers’ fields or on the battlefield. “Basically it should be able to take off, land and fly around,” he said.
Wood says the design offers a new way to study flight mechanics and control at insect-scale. Yet, the power, sensing and computation technologies on board could have much broader applications. “You can start thinking about using them to answer open scientific questions, you know, to study biology in ways that would be difficult with the animals, but using these robots instead,” he said. “So there are a lot of technologies and open interesting scientific questions that are really what drives us on a day to day basis.”
【小题1】The difficulty the team of engineers met with while making the robotic fly was that __________.

A．they had no model in their mind

B．they did not have sufficient time

C．they had no ready-made components

D．they could not assemble the components

【小题2】It can be inferred from paragraphs 3 and 4 that the robotic fly __________.

A．consists of a flight device and a control system

B．can just fly in limited areas at the present time

C．can collect information from many sources

D．has been put into wide application

【小题3】Which of the following can be learned from the passage?

A．The robotic flyer is designed to learn about insects.

B．Animals are not allowed in biological experiments.

C．There used to be few ways to study how insects fly.

D．Wood’s design can replace animals in some experiments.

【小题4】Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?

A．Father of Robotic Fly

B．Inspiration from Engineering Science

C．Robotic Fly Imitates Real Life Insect

D．Harvard Breaks Through in Insect Study

同类题4

Driverless technology will soon enter another major global industry: shipping. Several companies recently announced plans to launch self-sailing ships to improve safety and efficiency.

One of them is the Norwegian chemical company Yara International. Yara has teamed up with another Norwegian company, Kongsberg, to build an autonomous goods ship expected to be launched next year. Kongsberg developed the ship’s electrical technology and autonomous control systems. The ship is fully electric to reduce air pollution. It is designed to carry goods containers normally transported by truck. This means the ship will also improve road safety by replacing about 40,000 truck trips a year. The company plans to operate the ships by far-away control beginning sometime next year. By 2020, the ships should be loading and sailing themselves. While Yara’s ships will be limited to Norway at first, the company plans to greatly expand its autonomous shipping operations in the coming years.

Another company putting a high priority (优先) to self-sailing ships is the world’s largest mining company, Australia’s BHP Billiton. The company’s Vice President of Freight, Rashpal Bhatti, recently spoke about the technology in a website post. Bhatti believes automation will be one of the biggest changes for shipping in the future. He said, “Autonomous ships offer important opportunities to improve safety and provide more effective results to the supply chain of the sea.” He added that self-sailing ships could become a reality within the next decade.

Rolls-Royce, the British automobile and engine manufacturer (制造商), is also developing unmanned (无人驾驶的) shipping technologies. Oskar Levander is the company’s head of operations at sea. He said in a conference last year, “This is happening. It’s not if, it’s when.”

Levander said these autonomous ships could be controlled by far-away operators from anywhere. He added, “Because these ships will be designed to be unmanned, they can be built smaller, more efficient and environmentally friendly.”

【小题1】Why have several countries announced plans to produce self-sailing ships?

A．To save money.

B．To develop electrical technology in ships.

C．To compete in autonomous control systems.

D．To make shipping more effective and less risky.

【小题2】How will the Norwegian autonomous ship be developed?

A．On the basis of Rolls-Royce.

B．By a single company independently.

C．By two native companies working together.

D．By taking electrical technology from Australia.

【小题3】What do Oskar Levander’s words suggest in Paragraph 4?

A．It is too early to make autonomous ships.