单选题 A bite of a cookie containing peanuts could cause the airway to constrict fatally. Sharing a toy with another child who had earlier eaten a peanut butter and jelly sandwich could raise a case of hives. A peanut butter cup dropped in a Halloween bag could contaminate the rest of the treats, posing an unknown risk.
These are the scenarios that "make your bone marrow turn cold" according to L.Val Giddings, vice president for food and agriculture of the Biotechnology Industry Organization. Besides representing the policy interests of food biotech companies in Washington, D. C. , Giddings is the father of a four-year-old boy with a severe peanut allergy. Peanuts are only one of the most allergenic foods; estimates of the number of people who experience a reaction to the beans hover around 2 percent of the population.
Giddings says that peanuts are only one of several foods that biotechnologists are altering genetically in an attempt to eliminate the proteins that do great harm to some people's immune systems. Although soy allergies do not usually cause life-threatening reactions, the scientists are also targeting soybeans, which can be found in two thirds of all manufactured food, making the supermarket a minefield for people allergic to soy. Biotechnologists are focusing on wheat, too, and might soon expand their research to the rest of the "big eight" allergy-inducing foods: tree nuts, milk, eggs, shellfish and fish.
Last September, for example, Anthony J.Kinney, a crop genetics researcher at DuPont Experimental Station in Wilmington, Del., and his colleagues reported using a technique called RNA interference (RNAi) to silence the genes that encode p34, a protein responsible for causing 65 percent of all soybean allergies. RNAi exploits the mechanism that cells use to protect themselves against foreign genetic material; it causes a cell to destroy RNA transcribed from a given gene, effectively turning off the gene.
Whether the public will accept food genetically modified to be low-allergen is still unknown. Courtney Chabot Dreyer, a spokesperson for Pioneer Hi-Bred International, a subsidiary of DuPont, says that the company will conduct studies to determine whether a promising market exists for low-allergen soy before developing the seeds for sale to farmers. She estimates that Pioneer Hi-Bred is seven years away from commercializing the altered soybeans.
Doug Gurian-Sherman, scientific director of the biotechnology project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest-a group that has advocated enhanced Food and Drug Administration oversight for genetically modified foods-comments that his organization would not oppose low-allergen foods if they prove to be safe. But he wonders about "identity preservation" — a term used in the food industry to describe the deliberate separation of genetically engineered and nonengineered products. A batch of nonengineered peanuts or soybeans might contaminate machinery reserved for low-allergen versions, he suggests, reducing the benefit of the gene-altered food. Such issues of identity preservation could make low-allergen genetically modified foods too costly to produce, Chabot Dreyer admits. But, she says, "it's still too early to see if that's true."

单选题 According to the text, foods have been genetically altered to ______.

A. taste more delicious
B. to cure people's ineffectiveness in immune system
C. to promote sales of peanut
D. to lower the chance to get allergy

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 事实细节本文的前两段都在讲食品过敏的问题，文章第一个问题问的是转基因的问题，说明转基因这个话题跟文章前两段有必然联系。初步判断出过敏与转基因技术之间有联系后，就要找出是何种联系，由于文章的第一、二段未提及转基因，就从第三段开始，第四段第一句指出，人们通过转基因技术改造食品，从而降低过敏的风险。因此选项D是正确答案。本题针对文章第三、四段内容命题，属于事实细节考查类题目。此类题目一般要据题干定位到原文作答。选项A、C在文中都没有提及，因此被排除。选项B脱离了例子本身，具有一定的迷惑性，immune只在文中第三段出现一次，但第三段明确指出了转基因技术是通过去除一些让人类过敏的蛋白质，从而达到降低过敏概率的效果，其目的不是治疗人类的免疫系统，后文也再没有提及人类免疫系统，因此选项B可以排除。

单选题 What can be inferred about genetically modified foods from the text?

A. People do not accept any genetically modified foods.
B. All genetically modified foods will be of benefit. to people's health.
C. Genetically modified foods still have a long way to go.
D. Genetically modified foods will soon be sold in supermarkets.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 事实细节文章在第五、六段分别论述了转基冈食品面临的两个挑战：其一，人们对转基因食品的态度不可知，因此技术的市场化需要时间；其二，身份保留问题，即没有经过转基因处理的食品是否会影响转基因食品。这两点都说明了目前转基因食品仍然不成熟。选项C符合题意，是正确答案。另外，第五段末提到转基因技术市场化至少需要七年时间，这也在某种程度上给了考生提示答案应该是C。本题针对文章第五、六段内容命题，属于事实细节考查类题目。此类题目一般根据题干定位到原文作答。尽管后面两段提到了转基因食品面临的挑战，但第五段第一句话就指出，人们对转基因食品的态度还不可知，因此很容易排除选项A。本文只是提到人们可以利用转基因食品降低食品过敏概率，而且连这一点都受到了挑战，文章并未提到所有转基因食品对人们健康有利，选项B属于典型原意被扩大，因此排除。选项D与文章第五段提到的至少需要七年存在明显矛盾，因此排除。

单选题 According to the text, which of the following statements is true?

A. Genetically modified foods have been supervised by the authority.
B. Genetically modified foods have proved to be safe.
C. The nonengineered foods absolutely can be contaminated by the engineered foods.
D. The engineered foods are immediately profitable for the food companies.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 推理判断本题定位在最后两段的议论上。文章在最后一段第一句话提到“公共利益科学中心一贯要求食品与药品管理局加大对转基因食品的监控”，其中enhanced(加大)一词就说明目前食品与药品管理局对转基因食品有监控措施，只不过公共利益科学中心认为这种监控力度不够，所以选项A是正确答案。本题针对文章第五、六段内容命题，属于推理判断考查类题目。此类题目要根据原文相关内容进行推理。文中并未提到“转基因食品被证明是安全的”，因此B错误。文中提到“A batch of nonengineered peanuts or soybeans might contaminate machinery reserved for low-allergen versions”一批没有经过基因改造的花生或大豆可能会污染低过敏的花生或大豆，因此选项C错误。选项D文中也并未提及，因此D也错误。

单选题 From the text, we can know that RNAi ______.

A. can deprive cells of certain mechanism
B. can protect cells against foreign genetic material
C. can be effective on 34 kinds of genes
D. can cause soybean allergies

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 事实细节根据题干定位到第四段第一句和第二句RNA interference (RNAi) to silence the genes that encode p34, a protein responsible for causing 65 percent of all soybean allergies. RNAi exploits the mechanism that cells use to protect themselves against foreign genetic material; it causes a cell to destroy RNA transcribed from a given gene, effectively turning off the gene. 分析此句，即可发现“让细胞破坏掉从特定基因转录而来的RNA，从而有效去掉该基因”，是RNAi技术的重要一环，即可得出正确答案为A。本题针对文章第四段内容命题，属于事实细节考查类题目。此类题目一般根据题干定位到原文作答。第四段提到了人们对食物过敏主要是由于某些蛋白质引起，而转基因技术就是去除这些蛋白质，从而减低食品过敏的概率。RNAi技术实际上分为两步：第一，先破坏了细胞抗外来基因的机制，第二，让细胞破坏掉从特定基因转录而来的RNA，从而有效去掉该基因。因此选项A符合原文，是正确答案。选项B正好与原文意思相反。选项C属于数字干扰，原文提到了数字34，不过那是一种引起过敏反应的蛋白质编号。选项D也正好与原文意思相反，RNAi技术的目的是降低过敏概率，而不是引起过敏，故排除。

单选题 What is the author's attitude towards genetically modified foods?

A. Supportive.
B. Unbiased.
C. Partial.
D. Skeptical.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 观点态度文章的第一、二段提出现象和问题，第三、四段论述技术的细节，最后两段才是对技术的讨论和评价。因此，关于作者的态度，更需关注最后两段。本文最后提出了转基因技术面临的两大挑战：其一，由于不知人们对转基因食品是否接受，因此要一定时间才能推向市场；其二，身份保留问题。既有人担忧，也有人提出该问题是否存在还言之过早。我们可以看出，作者重在论述转基因技术面临挑战的客观事实，并没有明确表示褒贬，因此选项B符合题意。另外，考生还当注意表示客观的同义词：impartial、objective、unbiased等。本题针对文章全文命题，属于观点态度考查类题目。此类题目的正确答案一般需要根据原文相关内容来进行推理。 A项Supportive与文章第五、六段表达内容相悖，因此排除。C项Partial，为无中生有。D项Skeptical为最大干扰项，作者首先提出解决食品过敏的解决方案为转基因食品，但是随后又提出疑问，表明转基因食品还有一些未解决的问题，因此可以看出作者对转基因食品态度是客观的，因此D项错误。