Factory farming could soon enter a new era of mass production. Companies in the USare developing the technology needed to "clone" chickens on a massive scale¹. Once a chicken with desirable traits has been bred or genetically engineered², tens of thousands of eggs, which will hatch into identical copies³ , could roll off the production lines every hour. Billions of clones could be produced each year to supply chicken farms with birds that all grow at the same rate, have the same amount of meat and taste the same.

    This, at least, is the vision of theUS"s National Institute of Science and Technology, which has given Origen Therapeutics of Burlingame, California, and Embrex of North Carolina $4.7 million to help fund research4. The prospect has alarmed animal welfare groups, who fear it could increase the suffering of farm birds.

    That"s unlikely to put off5 the poultry industry, however, which wants disease-resistant birds that grow faster on less food. "Producers would like the same meat quantity but to use reduced inputs to get there," says Mike Fitzgerald of Origen. To meet this demand, Origen aims to "create an animal that is effectively a clone", he says. Normal cloning doesn"t work in birds because eggs can"t be removed and implanted. Instead, the company is trying to bulk-grow6, embryonic stem cells7 taken from fertilized eggs as soon as they"re laid. "The trick is to culture8 the cells without them starting to distinguish, so they remain pluripotent," says Fitzgerald.

    Using a long-established technique, these donor cells will then be injected into the embryo of a freshly laid, fertilized recipient egg9, forming a chick that is a "chimera". Strictly speaking a chimera isn"t a clone, because it contains cells from both donor and recipient. But Fitzgerald says it will be enough if, say, 95 percent of a chicken"s body develops from donor cells. "In the poultry world, it doesn"t matter if it"s not 100 percent," he says.

    Another challenge for Origen is to scale up10 production. To do this, it has teamed up with11 Embrex, which produces machines that can inject vaccines into up to 50,000 eggs12 an hour. Embrex is now trying to modify the machines to locate the embryo and inject the cells into precisely the right spot without killing it.

    In future, Origen imagines freezing stem cells from different strains of chicken13. If orders come in for a particular strain, millions of eggs could be produced in months or even weeks. At present, maintaining all the varieties the market might call for is too expensive for breeders, and k takes years to breed enough chickens to produce the billions of eggs that farmers need.

词汇:

Clone/ kləʊn /n. & v.克隆，无性繁殖

embryo / ˈembriəʊ /n.胚胎

implant / "ɪmplɑ:nt /v.植入；移植

chimera / kaɪˈmɪərə /n.嵌合体

embryonic / ˌembriˈɒnɪk /adj.胚胎的

fertilise / "fɜ:tɪlaɪz /v.使受精

pluripotent / plʊə"rɪpətənt /adj.多能的

vaccine / "væksi:n /n.疫苗

注释：

1. on a massive scale:大规模
2. genetically engineered：经过基因改造。genetical engineering：遗传工程
3. hatch into identical copies：孵出如出一辙的（小）鸡
4. help fund research： 资助研究。fund用作动词，research是它的宾语。
5. put off：意为 “discourage”（使……气馁）。
6. bulk-grow： 大量繁殖
7. stem cell：干细胞
8. culture：动词，意思是：培育。
9. a freshly laid, fertilized recipient egg:新产下的；已受精的；要接受细胞植入的鸡蛋
10. scale up： 提高，按比例增加。
11. team up with：与 合作。
12. up to 50,000 eggs：多达 5 万只鸡蛋。
13. different strains of chicken：不同品种的鸡。

Which institution has offered USD 4.7 million to fund the research?

A:The US"s NationalInstituteofScienceand Technology B:Origen Therapeutics of Burlingame,California C:Embrex of North Carolina D:Animal welfare groups

The population of the U.K. is more than （）million.

Many immigrants to the United States find the decision to seek better lives for their families in America can have an unexpected and tragic consequence. Deep differences with their children develop over language and culture.
"Many immigrants arrive here without much education. Their kids soon gain language skills and also street marts on how to live in America, leaving the parents at a disadvantage, " Ileana, Roses, pastor of a Methodist church group operating in Virginia, said.
"Not only that but they find they cannot relate to children who quickly absorb American culture, " she said.
According to the US Census Bureau, the number of foreign born or first generation Americans reached 55 million last year, a record one in five of the total population.
A government survey of 922 immigrants in 2000 found that nearly 40 percent of those who had been in the United States for more than 15 years would still like to take English classes if they had the time.
Two thirds of low income households depended on their children for translation.
Psychologists and sociologists say parents can lose their position of authority in a family as a result and the effects of that can be far-reaching.
Children exposed to American pop culture that glorifies youth and sexuality often rebel when their parents try to impose the conservative values they brought with them.
"Americanization erodes all important aspects of parenting, " said Richard Weissbourd, who teaches education at Harvard University.
"I feel a part of me is dying with my children. They don’t listen to my music. I have to play it on Sunday morning when they are not around, " said an immigrant.
From the passage we can infer that the population of the states at present is about ______.

A:275 million B:220 million C:255 million D:smaller than 250 million

A:275 million B:220 million C:255 million D:smaller than 250 million

A project was expected to cost $6 million for 3 months. At the end of 1 month, you use earned value as a performance management tool and get the following information: BCWP=$1.5 million, BCWS=$2.5 million, ACWP=$2.2.million. What is the schedule variance

A:$0.3 million. B:$-1 million. C:$1 million。 D:$0.7 million.

When mentioning "the $ 4 million to $10 million range" (Lines 2 -3, Paragraph 3) the author is talking about _____.

A:gold market B:real estate C:stock exchange D:venture investment

The production of computer in China is significant, ( ) one million annually.

A:amounts to B:at the amount of C:amounting to D:amounting

In Britain, people （）four million tons of potatoes every year.

A:swallow B:dispose C:consume D:exhaust