What will it mean to know the complete human genome? Eric Lander of MIT’s Whitehead Institute compares it to the discovery of the periodic table of the elements in the last 1800s. “Genomics is now providing biology’s periodic table.” says Lander. “Scientists will know that every phenomenon must be explainable in terms of this list” which will be on a single CD-ROM. Already researchers are extracting DNA from patients, attaching fluorescent molecules and sprinkling the sample on a glass chip whose surface is speckled with 10,000 known genes. A laser reads the fluorescence, which indicates which of the known genes on the chip are in the mystery sample from the patient. In only the last few months such “gene-expression monitoring” has diagnosed a muscle tumor in a boy thought to have leukemia, and distinguished between two kinds of cancer that require very different chemotherapy.
But decoding the book of life poses daunting moral dilemmas. With knowledge of our genetic code will come the power to re-engineer the human species. Biologists will be able to use the genome as a parts list much as customers scour a list of china to replace broken plates and may well let prospective parents choose their unborn child’s traits. Scientists have solid leads on genes for different temperaments, body builds, statures and cognitive abilities. And if anyone still believes that parents will recoil at praying God, and leave their baby’s fate in the hands of nature, recall that couples have already created a frenzied market in eggs from Ivy League women.
Beyond the profound ethical issues are practical concerns. The easier it is to change ourselves and our children, the less society may tolerate those who do not; warns Lori Andrews of Kent College of Law. If genetic tests in uterus predict mental dullness, obesity, short stature or other undesirable traits of the moment, will society disparage children whose parents let them be born with those traits? Already, Andrews finds, some nurses and doctors blame parents for bringing into the world a child whose birth defect was diagnosable before delivery; how long will it be before the same condemnation applies to cosmetic imperfections? An even greater concern is that well intentioned choices by millions of individual parents-to-be could add up to unforeseen consequences for all of humankind. It just so happens that some disease genes also confer resistance to disease: carrying a gene for sickle cell anemia, for instance, brings resistance to malaria. Are we smart enough, and wise enough, to know how knocking out “bad” genes will affect our evolution as a species?
36. The main similarity between the biology’s periodic table and the periodic table of the elements is ______.
37. In the second paragraph, “the book of life” refers to ______.
38. We can infer that some couples are eager to get eggs from Ivy League women because ______.
39. It can be learned from the passage that ______.
40. The author’s attitude towards knowing the complete human genome can be described as ______.
问题1选项
A.they are both lists
B.they can be used to explain every phenomenon in their own fields
C.they can be used to diagnose diseases
D.they are both used to cure diseases
问题2选项
A.a book written by a prophet
B.a book written by a biologist
C.the periodic table of the elements
D.the human genome
问题3选项
A.they can’t give birth to children
B.they want to have a good-looking child
C.they want to have a clever child
D.curiosity drives them to do that
问题4选项
A.“gene-expression monitoring” is helpful in curing diseases
B.all of the disease genes are harmful to human beings
C.short people may also be looked down upon in future
D.scientists are encouraged to do research on human genome
问题5选项
A.critical
B.objective
C.positive
D.indifferent
第1题:B
第2题:D
第3题:C
第4题:C
第5题:B
36.【试题答案】B
【试题解析】推理判断题。题干意思是“生物学元素周期表和元素周期表的主要相似点是……”。定位第一段第二句Eric Lander of MIT’s Whitehead Institute compares it to the discovery of the periodic table of the elements in the last 1800s.（麻省理工学院怀特黑德研究所的埃里克兰德将其比作19世纪末期元素周期表的发现），第三句Genomics is now providing biology’s periodic table.（基因组学现在提供生物学的元素周期表），以及第四句Scientists will know that every phenomenon must be explainable in terms of this list（科学家们将知道，每一种现象都必须用这张清单来解释）可知，生物学元素周期表提供的基因组学，化学元素周期表提供的是化学元素的信息，所以生物学元素周期表和化学元素周期表都是用来解释相关领域的发现和现象，B项“它们可以用来解释各自领域中的每一种现象”正确。A项“它们都是列表”表述本身没有错误，但是并没有表达出它们两者之间的真正相似点。C项“它们可以用来诊断疾病”和D项“它们都被用来治疗疾病”错误，这只能用来描述生物学元素周期表，属于以偏概全。因此，该题选择B项正确。
37.【试题答案】D
【试题解析】推理判断题。题干意思是“在第二段，‘生命之书’指的是……”。从文章第一句What will it mean to know the complete human genome?（了解完整的人类基因组意味着什么？），以及文章内容可知，本文主要讲述了解整个人类基因组将可能产生的道德困境和后果，因此the book of life指的就是人类基因组，D项“人类基因组”正确。A项“先知写的书”和B项“生物学家写的书”属于无中生有。C项“元素周期表”属于反向干扰。因此，该题选择D项正确。
38.【试题答案】C
【试题解析】推理判断题。题干意思是“我们可以推断，一些夫妇渴望从常春藤盟校的女性那里得到卵子，因为……”。定位到第二段，该段主要讲述了解基因组可能导致的伦理问题，第二句提到Biologists will be able to use the genome as a parts list…and may well let prospective parents choose their unborn child’s traits.（生物学家将能够把基因组作为一个零件清单……而且很可能让准父母选择他们未出生孩子的特征），可知，父母可能根据自己的意愿选择未出世孩子的特征，而Ivy League是美国东部最为著名的顶级大学之一，所以推断，有些夫妇想要Ivy League的女性的卵子是为了得到一个聪明的孩子，C项“他们想要一个聪明的孩子”正确。A项“他们不能生孩子”和D项“好奇心驱使他们那样做”没提到，属于无中生有。B项“他们想要一个漂亮的孩子”属于曲解原文。因此，该题选择C项正确。
39.【试题答案】C
【试题解析】推理判断题。题干意思是“从文章中可以得知……”。定位第一段最后一句In only the last few months such “gene-expression monitoring” has diagnosed a muscle tumor in a boy thought to have leukemia, and distinguished between two kinds of cancer that require very different chemotherapy.（仅仅在过去的几个月里，这种“基因表达监测”就诊断出一个被认为患有白血病的男孩患有肌肉肿瘤，并区分出两种需要非常不同的化疗的癌症）可知，“基因表达监测”可用来诊断疾病，但没有说可用来治疗疾病，A项“基因表达监测有助于治疗疾病”曲解原文。定位最后一段倒数第二句It just so happens that some disease genes also confer resistance to disease: carrying a gene for sickle cell anemia, for instance, brings resistance to malaria.（碰巧的是，一些疾病基因也具有抵抗疾病的能力：例如，携带镰状细胞贫血基因就能抵抗疟疾）可知，某些致病基因可使携带者又抵抗其他疾病的能力，因此B项“所有的疾病基因都对人类有害”属于反向干扰。定位第二段第一句But decoding the book of life poses daunting moral dilemmas.（但是，解读生命之书带来了令人生畏的道德困境），从daunting（使人畏缩的）可知，D项“科学家被鼓励做人类基因组的研究”表达也不符合原文，属于反向干扰。最后一段提到some nurses and doctors blame parents for bringing into the world a child whose birth defect was diagnosable before delivery; how long will it be before the same condemnation applies to cosmetic imperfections?（一些护士和医生已经开始指责父母把一个出生缺陷在出生前就可以诊断出来的孩子带到这个世界上，外表的不完美也会受到同样的谴责还要过多久呢？），可以看出，基因技术的发展会使改变孩子变得很容易，社会将蔑视那些具有不受欢迎特征的孩子，故C项“个子矮的人将来也可能被人看不起”符合原文。因此，该题选择C项正确。
40.【试题答案】B
【试题解析】观点态度题。题干意思是“作者对完整的人类基因组的态度可以用……来描述”。通读全文可知，文章第一段讲的是解读人类基因组的有利方面，随后两段阐述解读人类基因组可能带来的道德问题和后果，即不利影响。作者在其中并没有表达任何有情感性的词语，可见作者的态度是客观的，B项“客观的”正确。A项“批评的”、C项“积极的”和D项“冷漠的”都属于曲解原文。因此，该题选择B项正确。
