单选题You must try your best to ______ to the new environment.
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{{B}}Directions:{{/B}} There are 5 reading passages in this part. Each passage
is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there
are four choices marked A, B, C, and D. You should decide on the best choice and
mark your answer on the ANSWER SHEET by blackening the corresponding letter in
the brackets.{{B}}Passage 1{{/B}}
Our theory and practice in the area of
sentencing have undergone a gradual but dramatic metamorphosis through the
years. Primitive man believed that a crime created an imbalance, which could be
rectified only by punishing the wrongdoer. Thus, sentencing was initially
vengeance-oriented. Gradually, emphasis began to be placed on the deterrent
value of a sentence upon future wrongdoing. Though deterrence is
still an important consideration, increased emphasis on the possibility of
reforming the offender--of returning him to the community a useful citizen bars
the harsh penalties once imposed and brings into play a new set of sentencing
criteria. Today, each offender is viewed as a unique individual, and the
sentencing judge seeks to know why he has committed the crime and what are the
chances of a repetition of the offense. The judge's prime objective is not to
punish but to treat. This emphasis on treatment of the
individual has created a host of new problems. In seeking to arrive at the best
treatment for individual prisoners, judges must weigh an imposing array of
factors. I believe that the primary aim of every sentence is the prevention of
future crime. Little can be done to correct past damage, and a sentence will
achieve its objective to the extent that it upholds general respect for the law,
discourages those tempted to commit similar crimes, and leads to the
rehabilitation of the offender, so that he will not run afoul of the law again.
Where the offender is so hardened that rehabilitation is plainly impossible, the
sentence may be designed to segregate the offender from society so that he will
be unable to do any future harm. The balancing of these interacting, and often
mutually antagonistic, factors requires more than a good heart and a sense of
fair play on the judge's part, although these are certainly prerequisites. It
requires the judge to know as much as he can about the prisoner before him. He
should know the probable effects of sentences upon those who might commit
similar crimes and how the prisoner is likely to react to imprisonment or
probation. Because evaluation of these various factors may differ from judge to
judge, the same offense will be treated differently by different
judges. The task of improving our sentencing techniques is so
important to the nation's moral health that it deserves far more careful
attention than it now receives from the bar and many civic-minded individuals
who usually lead even the judges in the fight for legal reform approach this
subject with apathy or with erroneous preconceptions. For example, I have
observed the sentiment shared by many that, after a judge has sentenced several
hundred defendants, the whole process becomes one of callous routine. I have
heard this feeling expressed even by attorneys who should know
better.
单选题The prime minister, beset by______ support rate, made the decision to resign over the weekend to avoid a political vacuum.
单选题Mark Moore, director of the Northwest Weather, warned skiers of the deadly avalanches that have ______ the mountains of Washington state, killing nine people.
单选题Technically, any substance other than food that alters our bodily or mental functioning is a drug. Many people mistakenly believe the term drug refers only to some sort of medicine or an illegal chemical taken by drug addicts. They don't realize that familiar substances such as alcohol and tobacco are also drugs. This is why the more neutral term substance is now used by many physicians and psychologists. The phrase "substance abuse" is often used instead of "drug abuse" to make clear that substances such as alcohol and tobacco can be just as harmfully misused as heroin and cocaine. We live a society in which the medicinal and social use of substances(drugs)is pervasive: an aspirin to quiet a headache, some wine to be sociable, coffee to get going in the morning, a cigarette for the nerves. When do these socially acceptable and apparently constructive uses of a substance become misuses? First of all, most substances taken in excess will produce negative effects such as poisoning or intense perceptual distortions. Repeated use of a substance can also lead to physical addiction or substance dependence. Dependence is marked first by an increased tolerance, with more and more of the substance required to produce the desired effect, and then by the appearance of unpleasant withdrawal symptoms when the substance is discontinued. Drugs(substances)that affect the central nervous system and alter perception, mood, and behavior are known as psychoactive substances. Psychoactive substances are commonly grouped according to whether they are stimulants, depressants, or hallucinogens. Stimulants initially speed up or activate the central nervous system, whereas depressants slow it down. Hallucinogens have their primary effect on perception, distorting and altering it in a variety of ways including producing hallucinations. These are the substances often called psychedelic(from the Greek word meaning "mind manifesting")because they seemed to radically alter one's state of consciousness.
单选题His______brain has worked away on the idea of the foundation.
单选题To what extent will future scientific discoveries make possible the ______ of human life span? A. increase B. expansion C. growth D. prolongation
单选题
单选题As always, I had to fight the ______ to take what she willingly offered.
单选题The family was too
obstinate
to evacuate the house when the flood began.
单选题The history helps explain the
vexing
dispute between the European Union and the United States over the greatest threat to privacy yet conceived: the hundreds of millions of personal dossiers in computerized and networked databases.
单选题The bank manager asked Irish assistant if it was possible for him to ______ the investment plan within a week.
单选题The purchaser of this lorry is protected by the manufacturer's warranty that he will replace any defective part for five years or 50000 miles. A prohibition B. insurance C. prophecy D. guarantee
单选题
单选题A terrible traffic accident happened; people were saddened when they watched the ______ sight on TV.
单选题Cultural pluralism is the dynamic by which minority groups participate fully in the dominant society, yet maintain its cultural differences. A pluralistic society is one where different groups can interact while showing a certain degree of tolerance for one another, where different cultures can coexist without major conflicts, and where minority cultures are encouraged to uphold their customs. A. the dynamic by which B. yet C. maintain its cultural differences. D. while showing
单选题The terrorists might have planted a bomb on a plane in Athens, set to ______ when it arrived in New York. [A] go off [B] get off [C] come off [D] carry off
单选题Sometimes ______ matters may result in surprisingly large effects.
A. predictable
B. big
C. trivial
D. imaginable
单选题Monday's earthquak______.windows and woke residents. A. slammed B. prosecuted C. rattled D. pierced
