1 . Imagine being face-to-face with a woolly mammoth (猛犸象) . It would be quite a sight. Scientists believe it would tower above 11 feet tall and have a sloping back, a long, powerful trunk, and sharp, curved tusks that stretch up to 10 feet. Its thick hair would be up to three feet long. It would weigh six tons—about as heavy as a bus.

You’ve probably never seen a giant furry elephant before. Actually, you definitely haven’t. The species has been extinct for thousands of years.

But a few years from now, you might be able to see a woolly mammoth in person. Scientists believe they have the technology to recreate it.

A team of South Korean and Russian scientists plan to clone a woolly mammoth. How will they do it?

Several woolly mammoth bodies have already been discovered in Siberia, an icy region in Russia. The scientists plan to take cells from these frozen mammoths. In a laboratory, they’ll use them to create a new cluster (群) of cells called an embryo. The embryo will be placed into the womb of a living female elephant. That elephant will then give birth to a baby woolly mammoth.

The scientists believe the whole process will take five years. Many scientists and animal lovers can’t wait. It will be so exciting to be able to bring a creature that has been extinct for thousands of years back to life. People would travel from around the world for the chance to see a living woolly mammoth. By observing the way the creature looks and acts, scientists might make brand-new discoveries about the history of animal life.

Other experts aren’t so sure about the woolly mammoth project. One big question is what to do with a mammoth. The Earth has changed in the thousands of years since these animals roamed the planet. Where would the creature live, and would it be able to survive in today’s climate ? Some believe that the money being spent on the experiment could be better spent on other important scientific projects, such as fighting diseases.

But the South Korean and Russian scientists are sticking to their plan. They admit they have a big challenge ahead. There is no guarantee that they will succeed, but they’ re hopeful.

1. The first paragraph describes the mammoth’s ________.

A．habitat	B．food
C．appearance	D．lifespan

2. What is the challenge for scientists to clone a mammoth?

A．Whether they have enough money for the project.

B．Whether the mammoth can adapt to the new environment.

C．Whether the mammoth can survive the modern diseases.

D．Whether their plan wins support from the public.

3. The last paragraph implies that the attitude of scientists to cloning mammoths is ______.

A．negative	B．disapproving
C．optimistic	D．doubtful

4. What’s the main idea of the passage?

A．Scientists are finding ways to deal with mammoths.

B．Scientists try to find out the history of animal life.

C．Scientists plan to bring the mammoth back to life.

D．Scientists pay little attention to the return of the mammoth.