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。

In the third paragraph,by saying "Producers would like the same meat quantity but to usereduced inputs to get there".  Mike Fitzgerald means that he wishes____

A:chickens" quality could be maintained but with less investment B:chickens" taste could be improved but at less costs C:chickens" growth rate could be quickened but with less inputs D:chickens could grow to the same weight but with less feed

What is the same meaning of location value? （）

A:Different value B:Different value of same goods at the different place C:Different goods D:Different value of different goods at the same place

Personal computers are used by one person at a time. The largest personal computer, or PCS, can fit on a (1) . Some of these (2) have more than one microprocessor. (3) the primary processor, which is a general-purpose device, a PC may have one or more processors to (4) special kinds of work. Some machines, (5) , have maths processors, others have graphics processors to help process photographs and other illustrations. Still others have (6) processors.
Office workers also use PCS that are not (7) to a network. These machines are used for (8) tasks as word processing, performing financial calculations, and organizing and (9) bodies of information called databases. People use PCS at (10) for some of the same kinds of tasks. They use word processing programs for (11) Communication, financial software for household budgets. Individuals also use their home computers to play (12) and to communicate (13) the internet.
Small, portable PCS are (14) with people who often work away from their desks. The (15) include laptop computers, which can be (16) on the lap; notebook computers, which are about the (17) of a loose leaf notebook; and palmtop, or handheld computers, which can be operated while (18) in the hand. Laptop and notebook computers have the same (19) as desktop computers. Palmtop computers have less power but still (20) some advanced capabilities. For example, they can process household financial data.
二、完形填空

A:these B:such C:different D:same

Quality and grade are not the same. A fundamental distinction is that ______ .

A:grade is a category assigned to products or services having the same functional use. but different technical characteristics B:low quality may not be a problem; low grade is always a problem C:determining and delivering the required levels of quality are not included in the responsibilities of the project manager and the project team D:determining and delivering the required levels of grade are not included in the responsibilities of die project manager and the project team

Quality and grade are not the same. A fundamental distinction is that ______ .

A:grade is a category assigned to products or services having the same functional us but different technical characteristics B:low quality may not be a problem; low grade is always a problem C:determining and delivering the required levels of quality are not included in the responsibilities of the project manager and the project team D:determining and delivering the required levels of grade are not included in the responsibilities of die project manager and the project team

Your nerve system reacts (to) (what) you imagine to be true (on much the same way) that it (does) to real experiences.

A:to B:what C:on much the same way D:does

Your nerve system reacts (to) (what) you imagine to be true (on much the same way) that it (does) to real experiences.

A:to B:what C:on much the same way D:does