British MPs (国会议员) have voted in favour of the creation of babies with DNA from two women and one man, in a historic move. The UK is now set to become the first country to introduce laws to allow the creation of babies from three people. In a free vote in the Commons, 382 MPs were in favour and 128 against the technique that stops genetic diseases being passed from mother to child. During the debate, ministers said the technique was “light at the end of a dark tunnel” for families.
A further vote is required in the House of Lords. If everything goes ahead then the first such baby could be born next year. Supporters said it was “good news for progressive medicine” but critics say they will continue to fight against the technique that they say raises too many ethical (伦理的) and safety concerns. Estimates suggest 150 three-person babies could be born each year.
Prime Minister David Cameron said: “We're not playing god here; we're just making sure that two parents who want a healthy baby can have one.” The method, which was developed in Newcastle, should help women like Sharon Bernadi, from Sunderland, who lost all seven of her children to mitochondrial (线粒体的) disease. Ms Bernadi said she was “overwhelmed” by the decision.
Mitochondria are the tiny compartments (隔间) inside nearly every cell of the body that transform food into useable energy. They have their own DNA, which does not affect characteristics such as appearance. Defective mitochondria are passed down only from the mother. They can lead to brain damage, muscle wasting, heart failure and blindness. The technique uses a modified version to combine the DNA of the two parents with the healthy mitochondria of a donor woman. It results in babies with 0.1% of their DNA from the second woman and is a permanent change that would be passed down through the generations. According to the passage, which of the following statements is NOT true?
| A．The new technique is intended to provide the parents a healthy baby. |
| B．The mitochondrial disease can lead to various fatal illnesses. |
| C．Britain is the first country to have created three-person babies. |
| D．All of Ms Bernadi’s children died of a genetic disease. |
The underlined word “defective” is closest to the meaning of ________.
| A．strangely-made | B．normally developed |
| C．functioning perfectly | D．not functioning properly |
It can be inferred from the passage that ________.
| A．Mitochondria are inside nearly every cell that change food into useable energy |
| B．DNA of Mitochondria can affect a person’s appearance |
| C．in medical science ethical factors should be taken into consideration |
| D．the donor woman’s DNA will not be found in the three-person baby |
Prime Minister David Cameron _________ the creation of such babies.
| A．is in favour of | B．throws doubt on |
| C．objects to | D．is indifferent to |
More than 2 million US teenagers have suffered a serious bout（发作) of depression in the past year, according to a federal government survey released on Tuesday.
On average, 8.5 percent of adolescents aged 12 to 17 described having had a major depressive episode in the previous year, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported.
But there were "striking differences" by sex, with 12.7 percent of girls and 4.6 percent of boys affected.
Depression is the leading cause of suicide, which in turn is the third-leading cause of death for 15- to 24-year-olds in the United States.
"The data Combined 2004 to 2006 data showed that rates of past year major depressive experience among youths aged 12 to 17 generally increased with increasing age," the researchers wrote.
Researchers at SAMHSA and RTI International in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, prepared the report using data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
More than 67,700 youths aged 12 to 17 answered questions about mood and depression. They were also asked to rate how depression affected them using the Sheehan Disability Scale(残疾量表), which measures impact on family, friends, chores at home, work and school.
Researchers defined a major depressive episode as two weeks or longer of depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure, and at least four other symptoms such as problems with sleep, energy, concentration or self-image.
Nearly half of the teenagers who had major depression said it severely damaged their ability to function in at least one of the areas on the disability scale.
"Fortunately, depression responds very well to early intervention and treatment," SAMHSA Administrator Terry Cline said in a statement. The underlined word “ episode ” in paragraph 2 probably means _________.
| A．experiment | B．experience |
| C．expression | D．feeling |
What can be implied, but is not stated directly?
| A．depression is the third-leading cause of suicide. |
| B．There were over 2 million American teens suffering depression in the past two years. |
| C．The students surveyed were aged between 12 and 17. |
| D．There were more girl students suffering depression than boys. |
The main symptoms of a serious depressive episode include ________ .
| A．no family or friends or jobs or interests at all. |
| B．low spirits, lack of sleep, energy and self-image, and poor concentration. |
| C．poor health, sex discrimination, less energy and loss of interests |
| D．suicide, sadness, lack of confidence and depression. |
What will the following paragraph probably talk about according to the passage ?b
| A．How to recover from stress |
| B．How to have a happy feeling |
| C．How to prevent and treat depression |
| D．How to live a comfortable life |
One cold morning in winter, I went alone to a hillside to do some hunting. I sat there waiting for about an hour. Suddenly, a big beautiful deer appeared less than 20 feet away from me. There was no cover near him. Surely I could shoot him.
To my surprise, he came toward me! He was curious, I suppose, or maybe he was stupid. For this was not a youngster, but a fully grown-up one. He must have known about men and their guns. But this deer came closer, and I still waited. His big eyes never moved away from my face. His wonderful head with a set of antlers (鹿角) was clear in sight.
I was getting a bit nervous as he walked closer. A big deer can do a lot of damage. Well, he walked right up to where I was sitting. Then he stopped and looked at me.
What happened next was hard to believe. But it all seemed quite natural. I held out my hands and scratched his head right between the antlers. And he liked it. The big, wild, beautiful deer bent his head.
I scratched and touched his head and body. His nose touched my shoulder. I fed him with my last sandwich. Well, he finally went his way, down the hill. Shoot him? Not me. You wouldn’t, either. Not after that. I just watched him go, a strong deer carrying a proud head.
I picked up my gun, and started walking back. Suddenly, I heard two shots, one after another. If you have hunted much, you will know what two shots mean. They mean a kill. I had forgotten that there were other hunters around. You will now understand why I gave up hunting from that day on.How the deer behaved toward the writer shows that______.
| A．it pretended to be friendly to the writer |
| B．it was quite friendly to the writer |
| C．it was too scared to run away |
| D．it wanted to attack the writer |
You can infer from the passage that ______.
| A．the writer had waited for more than an hour before the deer appeared |
| B．the writer was a little nervous at first as he had been attacked by a big deer before |
| C．the writer felt afraid to kill the deer the moment the deer walked up to him |
| D．a grown-up deer usually will not get close to men with guns |
After reading the whole passage, we can know that the passage is written in a(n)_____ tone.
| A．sad | B．excited | C．worried | D．happy |
A 17-year-old boy, caught sending text messages in class, was recently sent to the vice principal's office at Millwood High School in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The vice principal, Steve Gallagher, told the boy he needed to focus on the teacher, not his cellphone. The boy listened politely and nodded, and that's when Mr. Gallagher noticed the student's fingers moving on his lap. He was texting while being scolded for texting. “It was a subconscious act,” says Mr. Gallagher, who took the phone away. “Young people today are connected socially from the moment they open their eyes in the morning until they close their eyes at night. It's compulsive.”
A study this year by psychology students at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Ga., found that the more time young people spend on Facebook, the more likely they are to have lower grades and weaker study habits. Heavy Facebook users show signs of being more sociable, but they are also more likely to be anxious, hostile or depressed. (Doctors, meanwhile, are now blaming addictions to 'night texting' for disturbing the sleep patterns of teens.)
Almost a quarter of today's teens check Facebook more than 10 times a day, according to a 2009 survey by Common Sense Media, a nonprofit group that monitors media's impact on families. Will these young people get rid of this habit once they enter the work force, or will employers come to see texting and 'social-network checking' as accepted parts of the workday?
Think back. When today's older workers were in their 20s, they might have taken a break on the job to call friends and make after-work plans. In those earlier eras, companies discouraged non-business-related calls, and someone who made personal calls all day risked being fired. It was impossible to imagine the constant back-and-forth texting that defines interactions among young people today.
Educators are also being asked by parents, students and educational strategists to reconsider their rules. “In past generations, students got in trouble for passing notes in class. Now students are skilled at texting with their phones still in their pockets,” says 40-year-old Mr. Gallagher, the vice principal, “and they're able to communicate with someone one floor down and three rows over. Students are just fundamentally different today. They will take suspensions rather than give up their phones.”The underlined word “a subconscious act” refers to an act __________.
| A．on purpose | B．without realization |
| C．in secret | D．with care |
Mr. Gallagher reminds us that the students in the past and those today _________.
| A．like to break rules and have the same means of sending messages |
| B．are always the big problem for the educators and their parents |
| C．like sending text messages but those today do it in a more secret and skillful way |
| D．cannot live without a cellphone |
What’s the best title of the passage?
| A．Teenagers and Cellphones |
| B．Teenagers’ Texting Addiction |
| C．Employers and Teenagers |
| D．Teenagers’ Education |
The sound of a mosquito can mean trouble in many parts of the world. The bite of the mosquito can be deadly. The insects carry serious diseases like malaria (疟疾). It is estimated that almost 630,000 people died from malaria and malariarelated causes in 2012, and most of these cases were in African countries.
In the United States, a group of California scientists are working to develop a more effective and less costly substance (物质) to protect people from mosquitoes. The researchers are investigating the sense of smell in mosquitoes. They found the insects use the same receptor for identifying carbon dioxide in human breath as they do for the smell of our skin. Anandasankar Ray, who is leading the investigation, says scientists tested more than a million chemical compounds (化合物) until they found a substance called Ethyl Pyruvate. He says Ethyl Pyruvate makes the mosquitoes' receptors inactive. “When we apply Ethyl Pyruvate to a human arm and offer it to hungry mosquitoes in a cage, very few of the mosquitoes are attracted to the human arm because only a few of them are able to smell it out,” said Ray.
Genevieve Tauxe, a member of the research team, says it was not easy to find the neurons (神经元) of noble cells that recognize both the smell of human breath and skin. “With the device used to examine the mosquito, we are able to insert a very small electrode (电极) into the part of the mosquito's nose, where its smelling neurons are and where the smell is happening,” said Tauxe.
Anandasankar Ray says a product based on Ethyl Pyruvate may cost less to produce than DEFT, the most effective chemical treatment now in use. He says DEFT is too costly for most people who live in areas affected by malaria.
“Perhaps by finding smells that can attack other target receptors, we will be able to improve upon DEFT and finally have the next generation of insect behaviour control products,” said Ray.The underlined word in the second paragraph probably means ________.
| A．a substance that protects people from mosquitoes |
| B．a piece of equipment that sends signals |
| C．a device that reacts to light |
| D．a sense organ that reacts to changes |
According to the passage, Ethyl Pyruvate can ________.
| A．kill the mosquitoes' smelling neurons |
| B．cause the mosquitoes to lose their senses of smell |
| C．result in the inactiveness of the mosquitoes' receptors |
| D．make the mosquitoes uninterested in human breath and skin smell |
Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Ethyl Pyruvate—an Insect Behaviour Control Product |
| B．Malaria—a Serious Disease Causing 630,000 Deaths |
| C．Scientists Find a New Substance to Fight Mosquitoes |
| D．A New Generation of DEET Has Been Developed to Kill Mosquitoes |
This passage most probably appears in ________.
| A．a textbook of medical schools |
| B．a collection of doctors' essays |
| C．the column of newspaper ads |
| D．the health column of a magazine |
The associates I hired in my bicycle and lawn mower shop like myself were never perfect; however, they were excellent. Working with them as they improved taught me new ways to show forgiveness, understanding, and patience.
One day the placement officer asked me to interview a young man who was having trouble finding a job. He told me that David was a little shy, did not talk much and was afraid to go on with interviews. He requested that I give David an interview just for practice. He plainly told David that I had no positions open at the time and the interview was just for practice.
When David came in for the interview, he hardly said a word. I told him what we did at the bicycle shop and showed him around. I told David to keep showing up because the number one thing an employer wanted in an associate was dependability.
David was very quiet (he was evaluated as a slow learner in school). Every ten days or so, for weeks after the interview, David walked into the bicycle shop and stood by the front door. He never said a word, just stood by the door.
One day, shortly before Christmas, a large truck came to the shop, packed with 250 new bicycles. It had to be unloaded right away or the driver would leave.
It was raining. Some of my workers (without physical limitations) chose not to brave the weather to get into work, so I was short-handed. It seemed everything was going wrong and on top of it, David came in the front door and just stood there. I looked at him and shouted, “Well, all right! Fill out a time card and help me unload this truck!”
David worked for my bicycle shop for eighteen years. He came to work every day thirty minutes early. He could talk; however, he rarely chose to. He drove my truck and made deliveries. The customers would praise David, saying, “He doesn’t talk, but he really shows you how to operate a lawn mower!”The author finally hired David because________.
| A．there were no other workers in the shop then |
| B．he needed someone who was willing to work then |
| C．David kept showing up |
| D．he realized David was dependable |
We can infer from the last paragraph that_______.
| A．the author feels lucky to hire David |
| B．David has had his character changed through work |
| C．the author prefers David to be more outgoing |
| D．some customers just play jokes on David |
The author gave David an interview to _______.
| A．find a person who is reliable |
| B．find a part-time worker in need |
| C．give him some practice |
| D．show sympathy for him |
The author’s tone in describing David is full of ______.
| A．pity | B．wonder |
| C．disappointment | D．appreciation |