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.

   Every pet owner loves his pet. There is no argument here.

But when we asked our readers whether they would clone their beloved animals，the responses（反应）were split almost down the middle. Of the 228 readers who answered it，108 would clone their beloved animals，111 would not and nine weighed each side without offering an opinion.

Clearly，from readers’responses，this is an issue that reaches deeply into both the joy and eventual sadness of owning a pet. It also shows people’s widely different expectations over the developing scientific procedure.

Most of the respondents who favored the idea strongly believed it would produce at least a close copy of the original；many felt the process would actually return an exact copy. Those on the other side，however，held little hope that cloning could truly recreate a pet；many simply didn’t wish to go against the natural law of life and death.

Both sides expressed equal love for their animals. More than a few respondents owned“the dog/cat in the world”.They thought of their pets as their“best friend”，“a member of the family”，“the light of their life”.They told moving stories of pets’ heroism，intelligence and selfless devotion.

Few wonder the loss is so disturbing（令人不安的）and the cloning so attractive.“People become very close to their animals，and the loss can be just as hard to bear as when a friend or family member dies，”says Gary A. Kowalski，author of Goodbye Friend：Healing Wisdom for Anyone Who Has Ever Lost a Pet. “For me，cloning feels like an attempt to turn death away... It’s understandable. Death is always painful. It’s difficult to deal with it. It’s hard to accept.”

But would cloning reduce the blow? This question seemed to be at the heart of this problem.

【小题1】While talking about the readers’ responses，the expression“eventual sadness of owning a pet”refers to _______.

A．the troubles one has to deal with in keeping a pet

B．the high cost of owning a pet

C．the death of one’s pet

D．the dangers involved in the cloning of a pet

【小题2】What can we know from what Gary A Kowalski says?

A．He has never thought about the problem of cloning.

B．He is in favor of the idea of cloning pets.

C．He has lost his beloved pets.

D．He has doubts about the cloning of pets.

【小题3】What is the key question at the heart of the problem of cloning pets？

A．Can cloning make the pain one suffers less when a pet dies？

B．Can pet owners afford the cost of cloning？

C．Does cloning go against the law of nature？

D．How reliably does cloning produce an exact copy of one's pet？

   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.

B．The supply chain of the sea will be busier.

C．People are more concerned about autonomous ships.

D．Unmanned shipping technologies are becoming more mature.

【小题4】What would be the best title for the text?

A．Automation under Sail	B．Self-sailing Ships in Use
C．Automation in Some Fields	D．Automation in Imagination

   You'll probably never go to Mars or sing on the stage with The Rolling Stones. But if virtual reality （VR）ever lives up to its promise, you might be able to do all these things - and many more - without even leaving your home.Unlike real reality, virtual reality means simulating（模拟）bits of our world. Apart from games and entertainment, it's long been used for training airline pilots and surgeons and for helping scientists to figure out difficult problems such as the structure of protein molecules（蛋白质分子）. Then how does it work?

Close your eyes and think of virtual reality and you probably picture something like this:a man wearing a wrap-around headset and data gloves wired into a powerful workstation or supercomputer. What distinguishes VR from an ordinary computer experiences the nature of the input and output. While an ordinary computer uses things like a keyboard, a mouse, or speech recognition for input, VR uses sensors that detect how your body is moving. A PC displays output on a screen while VR uses two screens （one for each eye） , surround-sound speakers, and maybe some forms of touch and body feedback as well.

VR has been routinely used by scientists,doctors, engineers, architects, archaeologists, and the military for about the last 30 years. Difficult and dangerous jobs are hard to train for. How  can you safely practice taking a trip to space, making a parachute jump, or carrying out brain surgery? All these things are obvious candidates for virtual reality applications.

Like any technology, virtual reality has both good and bad points. Critics always raise the risk that people may be addicted to alternative realities to the point of ignoring their real-world lives, but this criticism has been leveled at everything from radio and TV to computer games and the Internet. Like many technologies, VR takes little or nothing away from the real world: you don't have to use it if you don't want to.

【小题1】According to the passage, virtual reality means ____________ .

A．imagining beautiful things in our mind

B．creating something that doesn't exist

C．creating an environment that seems real

D．cloning something that has died out

【小题2】What equipment do we probably need for virtual reality?

A．A keyboard, a headset and a supercomputer.

B．A headset, data gloves and speech recognition.

C．A headset, data gloves and a supercomputer.

D．A keyboard, a mouse and speech recognition.

【小题3】Paragraph 3 is mainly about ____________ .

A．the principles of virtual reality

B．the applications of virtual reality

C．the history of virtual reality

D．the study team of virtual reality

【小题4】What is the writer's attitude towards VR?

A．Appreciative.	B．Cautious.
C．Skeptical.	D．Indifferent.