单选题 In the next century we"ll be able to alter our DNA radically, encoding our visions and vanities while concocting new life-forms. When Dr. Frankenstein made his monster, he wrestled with the moral issue of whether he should allow it to reproduce, "Had I the right, for my oval benefit, to inflict the curse upon everlasting generations?" Will such questions require us to develop new moral philosophies?
Probably not. Instead, we"ll reach again for a time-tested moral concept, one sometimes called the Golden Rule and which Kant, the millennium"s most prudent moralist, conjured up into a categorical imperative: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you; treat each person as an individual rather than as a means to some end.
Under this moral precept we should recoil at human cloning, because it inevitably entails using humans as means to other humans" ends and valuing them as copies of others we loved or as collections of body parts, not as individuals in their own right. We should also draw a line, however fuzzy, that would permit using genetic engineering to cure diseases and disabilities but not to change the personal attributes that make someone an individual (IQ, physical appearance, gender and sexuality).
The biotech age will also give us more reason to guard our personal privacy. Aldous Huxley in Brave New World, got it wrong: rather than centralizing power in the hands of the state, DNA technology has empowered individuals and families. But the state will have an important role, making sure that no one, including insurance companies, can look at our genetic data without our permission or use it to discriminate against us.
Then we can get ready for the breakthroughs that could come at the end of the next century and the tech nology is comparable to mapping our genes: plotting the 10 billion or more neurons of our brain. With that information we might someday be able to create artificial intelligences that think and experience consciousness in ways that are indistinguishable from a human brain. Eventually we might be able to replicate our own minds in a "dry-ware" machine, so that we could live on without the "wet-ware" of a biological brain and body. The 20th century"s revolution in infotechnology will thereby merge with the 21st century"s revolution in biotechnology. But this is science fiction. Let"s turn the page now and get back to real science.
单选题 Dr. Frankenstein"s remarks are mentioned in the text ______
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 题干问:“本文引用弗兰肯斯坦博士所说的话的目的是为了……”。此题可以定位在第1自然段,且文章1、2、3段反复强调“moral philosophies”,因此选项D“引入生物技术中所存在的道德问题的话题”为正确选项。而选项A“给出DNA技术突破的精彩的一页”,选项B“强调手段对达到一种永久目的的重要性”和选项C“显示出他是如何在一千年前创造一种新的生命形式”都与原文不相符,不是作者引用的目的
单选题 It can be concluded from the text that the technology of human cloning should be employed ______
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 题干问:“我们从文章可以得出结论:人类克隆技术应该使用的方式是……”。正确选项为B“合理的并且是相当谨慎的”,从文中2、3、4自然段定位,归纳以后得出这样的选项。而选项A“过分和奢侈的”,选项C“激进的和不分青红皂白的”和选项D“公开的而且是热情的”都与作者在整篇文章所使用的语气不相符合。
单选题 From the text, we learn that Aldous Huxley is of the opinion that ______
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 题干问:“我们从本文得知,奥尔德斯·贺胥黎持有怎样的观点?”此题可定位在第4自然段,正确选项为A“DNA技术应该受到个人的控制”,作者在文中对奥尔德斯·贺胥黎的观点提出了一种批判。而选项早“政府应该对个人少加以控制”,选项C“人们需要政府来保护DNA信息”和原文的意思是相反的。选项D“关于人类克隆的道德观念应该被删除”与问题不符合。