1 . For the general public confused by the heated discussion on human cloning, A Clone of Your Own? does an admirable job in explaining many of the ethical (伦理的) and scientific problems. Drawing from literature, the visual arts, films and her personal experiences, Arlene Judith Klotzko has created an overview of cloning.
Klotzko tells us about the early experiments that Aristotle did with chicken embryos (胚胎); about a German scientist, Hans Spemann, who figured out the theory of cloning some sixty years before we actually succeeded in cloning; about Dolly, the first cloned sheep at Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute; and about the current successes and failures in attempts to cloning.
The book paints a picture of human cloning as a worthwhile job. Klotzko lists many potential benefits that cloning could have. She also, following several others, makes clear many of the common misunderstanding concerning cloning, and puts in plain words the limited effect that genes have on shaping the kind of people we become.
A Clone of Your Own? provides clear explanations of both the basic scientific and ethical problems surrounding cloning. Klotzko appears to have drawn on a wide range of published work on the ethics of cloning, and makes a large number of the arguments in the literature in this short book. However, readers who are unaware of the literature may be left with the impression that Klotzko is the first and the only person to have written on the ethics of cloning, which is far from the case. It is a pity that the author and the publisher have provided so little reference to the ethics literature and given so little sign that they are aware of it. Whether one's interest lies in the science or the ethics of cloning, the short list of further reading provided at the end of the book is unhelpful and misleading.
But this warning aside, the drawings in this book and Klotzko’s words make the book highly approachable. The public who would like to understand what the debate on human cloning is should read this book.
1. What does Klotzko tell us in A Clone of Your Own?| A．Aristotle gave the theory of cloning. | B．Dolly is the earliest cloned animal. |
| C．Spemann cloned the first sheep. | D．Cloning is a heated topic. |
| A．Positive. | B．Negative. |
| C．Uninterested | D．Doubtful. |
| A．Klotzko is the first to write on the ethics of cloning. |
| B．Publishers offer reference to ethics literature. |
| C．The list of further reading provided in the book is helpful. |
| D．Klotzko makes lots of arguments in the literature. |
| A．To recommend a book. | B．To explain a problem. |
| C．To remember a writer. | D．To introduce a discussion. |
2 . Reading is the ability to process text, understand its meaning and to integrate it with what the reader already knows. Of all the reading skills speed-reading is a necessary skill in the Internet age. We skim over articles, e-mails and WeChat to try to grasp key words and the essential meaning of a certain text. Surrounded with information from our electronic devices, it would be impossible to cope if we read word by word, line by line. But a new trend calls on people to unplug and enjoy reading slowly, listing benefits beyond the intelligent stimulation.
A recent story from The Wall Street Journal reported on a book club in Wellington, New Zealand, where members meet in a cafe and turn off their smartphones. They sink into cozy chairs and read in silence for an hour. Unlike tradition book club, the point of the slow reading club isn’t exchanging ideas about a certain book, but to get away from electronic devices and read in a quiet, relaxed environment. According to The Wall Street Journal, the Wellington book club is just one example of a movement started by book lovers who miss the old-fashioned way of reading before the Internet and smartphones.
Slow readers, such as The Atlantic’s Maura Kelly, say a regular reading habit sharpens the mind, improves concentration, reduces stress levels and deepens the ability to sympathize. Another study published last year in Science showed that reading novels helps people understand others’ mental states and beliefs, a fundamental skill in building relationships.
Yet technology has made us less attentive readers. Screens have changed our reading patterns from the top-to-right, left-to-right sequence to a wild skimming and skipping pattern as we hunt for important words and information. Reading text punctuated with links leads to weaker comprehension than reading plain text. The Internet may have made us stupider, says Patrick Kingsley from The Guardian. Because of the Internet, he says, we have become very good at collecting a wide range of interesting news, but we are also gradually forgetting how to sit back, reflect, and relate all these facts to each other.
Slow reading means a return to an uninterrupted, straight pattern, in a quiet environment free of distractions. “Aim for 30 minutes a day,” advises Kelly from The Atlantic. “You can squeeze in that half hour pretty easily if only during your free moments, you pick up a meaningful work of literature,” Kelly said. “Reach for your e-reader, if you like. Kindles make books like War and Peace less heavy, not less substantive, and also ensure you’ll never lose your place.”
1. The book club in Wellington mentioned in Paragraph 2 shows____________.| A．the new trend of slow reading | B．the decline of electronic devices |
| C．the importance of exchanging ideas | D．the increasing number of club readers |
| A．a non-stop reading pattern | B．the straight, left-to-right screen |
| C．a wide range of interesting news | D．the lack of reflection |
| A．contributes to understanding among people |
| B．promotes the current technology advances |
| C．provides people with a quiet environment |
| D．cures the memory loss of elderly people |
| A．Benefit of Reading Clubs | B．Return of Slow Reading |
| C．Reading of the Internet Age | D．Influence of Speed Reading |
