Section ⅡReading Comprehension

　　Part A

　　Directions: Reading the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)

　　Text 1

　　Gene therapy and genebased drugs are two ways we could benefit from our growing mastery of genetic science. But there will be others as well. Here is one of the remarkable therapies on the cutting edge of genetic research that could make their way into mainstream medicine in the coming years.

　　While it’s true that just about every cell in the body has the instructions to make a complete human, most of those instructions are inactivated, and with good reason: the last thing you want for your brain cells is to start churning out stomach acid or your nose to turn into a kidney. The only time cells truly have the potential to turn into any and all body parts is very early in a pregnancy, when socalled stem cells haven’t begun to specialize.

　　Yet this untapped potential could be a terrific boon to medicine. Most diseases involve the death of healthy cells — brain cells in Alzheimer’s, cardiac cells in heart disease, pancreatic cells in diabetes, to name a few; if doctors could isolate stem cells, then direct their growth, they might be able to furnish patients with healthy replacement tissue.

　　It was incredibly difficult, but last fall scientists at the University of Wisconsin managed to isolate stem cells and get them to grow into neural, gut, muscle and bone cells. The process still can’t be controlled, and may have unforeseen limitations; but if efforts to understand and master stemcell development prove successful, doctors will have a therapeutic tool of incredible power.

　　The same applies to cloning, which is really just the other side of the coin; true cloning, as first shown with the sheep Dolly two years ago, involves taking a developed cell and reactivating the genome within, resetting its developmental instructions to a pristine state. Once that happens, the rejuvenated cell can develop into a fullfledged animal, genetically identical to its parent.

　　For agriculture, in which purely physical characteristics like milk production in a cow or low fat in a hog have real market value, biological carbon copies could become routine within a few years. This past year scientists have done for mice and cows what Ian Wilmut did for Dolly, and other creatures are bound to join the cloned menagerie in the coming year.

　　Human cloning, on the other hand, may be technically feasible but legally and emotionally more difficult. Still, one day it will happen. The ability to reset body cells to a pristine, undeveloped state could give doctors exactly the same advantages they would get from stem cells: the potential to make healthy body tissues of all sorts, and thus to cure disease. That could prove to be a true “miracle cure.”

　　21.The writer holds that the potential to make healthy body tissues will

　　[A] aggravate moral issues of human cloning.

　　 bring great benefits to human beings.

　　[C] help scientists decode body instructions.

　　[D] involve employing surgical instruments.

　　22.The word “rejuvenated” (Para. 5) most probably means

　　[A] modified. re-collected. [C] classified. [D] reactivated.

　　23.The research at the University of Wisconsin is mentioned to show

　　[A] the isolation of stem cells. the effects of gene therapies.

　　[C] the advantages of human cloning. [D] the limitations of tissue replacements.

　　24.Which of the following is true according to the text?

　　[A] The principle of gene therapy is applicable to that of cloning.

　　 The isolation of stem cells is too difficult to be feasible.

　　[C] It is reasonable for all body instructions to be activated.

　　[D] Cloned animals will eventually take control of the world.

　　25.Towards the genetic research, the author’s attitude can best be said to be that of

　　[A] Frustration. Indifference. [C] Amazement. [D] Opposition.

　　Text 2

　　What our society suffers from most today is the absence of consensus about what it and life in it ought to be; such consensus cannot be gained from society’s present stage, or from fantasies about what it ought to be. For that the present is too close and too diversified, and the future too uncertain, to make believable claims about it. A consensus in the present hence can be achieved only through a shared understanding of the past, as Homer’s epics informed those who lived centuries later what it meant to be Greek, and by what images and ideals they were to live their lives and organize their societies.

　　Most societies derive consensus from a long history, a language all their own, a common religion, common ancestry. The myths by which they live are based on all of these. But the United States is a country of immigrants, coming from a great variety of nations. Lately, it has been emphasized that an asocial, narcissistic personality has become characteristic of Americans, and that it is this type of personality that makes for the lack of wellbeing, because it prevents us from achieving consensus that would counteract a tendency to withdraw into private worlds. In this study of narcissism, Christopher Lash says that modern man, “tortured by selfconsciousness, turns to new therapies not to free himself of his personal worries but to find meaning and purpose in life, to find something to live for”. There is widespread distress because national morale has declined, and we have lost an earlier sense of national vision and purpose.

　　Contrary to rigid religions or political beliefs, as are found in totalitarian societies, our culture is one of the great individual differences, at least in principle and in theory; but this leads to disunity, even chaos. Americans believe in the value of diversity, but just because our is a society based on individual diversity, it needs consensus about some dominating ideas more than societies based on uniform origin of their citizens. Hence, if we are to have consensus, it must be based on a myth — a vision about a common experience, a conquest that made us Americans, as the myth about the conquest of Troy formed the Greeks. Only a common myth can offer relief from the fear that life is without meaning or purpose. Myths permit us to examine our place in the world by comparing it to a shared idea. Myths are shared fantasies that form the tie that binds the individual to other members of his group. Such myths help to ward off feelings of isolations, guilt, anxiety, and purposelessness — in short, they combat isolation and the breakdown of social standards and values.

　　26.In the eyes of the author, the greatest trouble with the US society may lie in

　　[A] the nonexistence of consensus on the forms of the society should take.

　　 the lack of divergence over the common organizations of social life.

　　[C] the nonacceptance of a society based on individual diversity.

　　[D] the pervasive distress caused by national morale decline.

　　27.The asocial personality of Americans may stem from

　　[A] the absence of a common religion and ancestry.

　　 the multiracial constituents of the US society.

　　[C] the want of a shared myths they possess in life.

　　[D] the counterbalance to narcissistic personality.

　　28.Homer’s epics is mentioned in Paragraph 1 in order to

　　[A] exemplify the contributions made by ancient poets.

　　 illustrate the role of shared fantasies about society.

　　[C] show an ideal stage of eternal social progress.

　　[D] make known myths of what a society ought to be.

　　29.The author concludes that only shared myths can help Americans

　　[A] to bring about the uniformity of their culture.

　　 to regain their consensus about a common experience.

　　[C] to stay away from negative feelings in their life.

　　[D] to counteract the effects of consensus about society.

　　30.It can be inferred from Paragraph 2 that Christopher Lash is most probably

　　[A] a reform advocate. a senior psychologist.

　　[C] a reputed poet.[D] a social historian