With only about 1 000 pandas left in the world. China is desperately trying to clone the animal and save the endangered species.

admin2014-04-23  24

问题     With only about 1 000 pandas left in the world. China is desperately trying to clone the animal and save the endangered species. That’s a move similar to what a Texas A&M University researcher has been undertaking for the past five years in a project called "Noah’s Ark".
    Dr. Duane Kraemer, a professor in Texas A&M’s College of Veterinary Medicine and a pioneer in embryo (胚胎) transfer work and related procedures, said he salutes the Chinese effort and "I wish them all the best success possible. It’s a worthwhile project, certainly not an easy one, and it’s very much like what we’re attempting here at Texas A&M—to save animals from extinction. "
    Noah’s Ark is aimed at collecting eggs, embryos, semen (精子) and DNA of endangered animals and storing them in liquid nitrogen. If certain species should become extinct, Kraemer says there would be enough of the basic building blocks to reintroduce the species in the future.
    It is estimated that as many as 2 000 species of mammals, birds and reptiles (爬行动物) will become extinct over the next 100 years. The panda, native only to China, is in danger of becoming extinct in the next 25 years.
    This week, Chinese scientists said they grew an embryo by introducing cells from a dead female panda into the egg cells of a Japanese white rabbit. They are now trying to implant the embryo into a host animal.
    The entire procedure could take from three to five years to complete.
    "The nuclear transfer of one species to another is not easy, and the lack of available panda eggs could be a major problem," Kraemer believes. "They will probably have to do several hundred transfers to result in one pregnancy. It takes a long time and it’s difficult, but this could be groundbreaking science if it works. They are certainly not putting any live pandas at risk, so it is worth the effort," adds Kraemer, who is one of the leaders of the Missyplicity Project at Texas A&M, the first-ever attempt at cloning a dog.
    "They are trying to do something that’s never been done, and this is very similar to our work in Noah’s Ark. We’re both trying to save animals that face extinction. I certainly applaud their effort and there’s a lot we can learn from what they are attempting to do. It’s a research that is very much needed. "
The word "groundbreaking" (Para. 7) can be interpreted as______.

选项 A、pioneering
B、essentially new
C、epoch-making
D、evolutionary

答案A

解析 本题是一道词汇含义类问题。问第七段中groundbreaking一词的意思是什么。利用查阅式阅读法,结合文章第七段内容,我们可以推断出该词的含义应为“开创性的,开拓的”。因此,本题的正确答案应是A。break ground原义为“破土,创建”。文中这句话的意思是:这需要很长时间,很难,但是如果成功,这会成为开创性的科学。
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/wHIYFFFM
0

最新回复(0)