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  3. Couples undergoing IVF (in vitro fertilization) treatment could be given the option to pick the "smartest" embryo within the nex

Couples undergoing IVF (in vitro fertilization) treatment could be given the option to pick the "smartest" embryo within the nex

admin2019-11-19  3
问题    Couples undergoing IVF (in vitro fertilization) treatment could be given the option to pick the "smartest" embryo within the next 10 years, a leading US scientist has predicted.
   Stephen Hsu, senior vice president for research at Michigan State University, said scientific advances mean it will soon be feasible to reliably rank embryos according to potential IQ, posing profound ethical questions for society about whether or not the technology should be adopted.
   Hsu’ s company, Genomic Prediction, already offers a test aimed at screening out embryos with abnormally low IQ to couples being treated at fertility clinics in the US. "Accurate IQ predictors will be possible, if not the next five years, the next 10 years certainly," Hsu told the Guardian. "I predict certain countries will adopt them."
   The prospect of a new generation of genetically selected babies has prompted concerns about unintended medical consequences and the potential for deepening existing social inequalities. The science underpinning the claim that intelligence can be meaningfully predicted by genetic tests is also contentious. Peter Donnelly, a professor of statistical science at the University of Oxford, said any such IQ predictions should be treated with "huge caution", adding: "I have grave misgivings about it on ethical grounds. I think it’ s a really bad idea."
   Since 1990s, couples undergoing IVF have been able to screen their embryos for mutations in single genes that cause serious diseases such as cystic fibrosis, as well as conditions like Down’s syndrome, caused by chromosome abnormalities. Many other traits, including height, physical appearance, intelligence and disease susceptibility, are known to be partly heritable. But because the genetic component is spread thinly over hundreds or even thousands of DNA regions, it has previously been impossible to screen for these traits.
   In the past decade, as vast genetic databases have been established, this picture has changed. Through analyzing many genes, each making a tiny contribution, it has been possible to calculate what are called polygenic risk scores, which give a person’ s likelihood of getting a particular disease or having a certain trait.
   Genomic Prediction is the first company to take embryo screening into this grey area of risk forecasting, offering to alert couples if an embryo has an "outlier" score for risk of cancers, diabetes, heart disease, dwarfism or low IQ. Prediction for IQ is not good enough to give a reliable ranking, but Hsu said that knowing an embryo has a low score could still be desirable.
   The company projects that once high-quality genetic and academic achievement data from a million individuals becomes available, expected to be within five to 10 years, it will be able to predict IQ to within about 10 points.
Which of the following is true according to Stephen Hsu?
选项 A、The technology that scores embryos will be safe to produce few ethical issues.
B、The development of science and technology will make it possible for IVF couples to know how smart the embryo is.
C、The technology that scores embryos can be realized after decades.
D、Some countries will introduce the IVF technology to screen out embryos while others will reject within the next five years.
答案B
解析 根据选项定位到原文。根据A项的ethical可定位到第二段最后一部分…posing profound ethical questions for society about whether or not the technology should be adopted，即“人们是否应该使用这项技术将是一个深刻的社会伦理问题”，由此可知A项错误。B项可定位到第二段中的…said scientific advances mean it will soon be feasible to reliably rank embryos“科学进步意味着人类不久就能够对胚胎的潜在智商给出可靠的评分”，其中The development of science and technology与scientific advances，possible与feasible为同义替换，因此B项正确。C项可定位到第三段第二句“徐道辉认为准确的智商预测是可能的．即使不是在未来5年内，在未来10年内也肯定可以成为现实”，因此C项错误。D项可定位到第三段最后一句“我预计一些国家会采纳这项技术”，因此前半句正确，后半句“有些国家会拒绝采用这项技术”文中没有提及，错误。在文中所提到的时间不仅是5年．还有10年，而且句中的possible表示可能性，因此D项表述不严谨。故本题选B。
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