普通高中课程标准实验教科书 英语选修8 Unit 2 Cloning-Reading

Topic:

           Should medical cloning be allowed?

Team A: They support the idea that there should be medical cloning.

        Hello, chairperson and everyone else here today. I suggest that medical cloning is very important for curing serious illnesses that at present have no cure; for example, to replace nerve cells in someone who has suffered a stroke. Most profitably¹ they can be used to help with diseases that gradually cause people to lose their ability to move easily or to think (such as Parkinson's Disease). With the help of special cloning techniques, such people can be restored to perfect health and be able to live a normal life again. This is a wonderful thing for them because it improves their quality of life.

       But first we need to be clear about the advantages of the procedure.

    ◎There is no danger of the body refusing to accept the new cells.

    ◎ Nobody needs to donate their own organs for someone else's benefit.

    ◎ Patients can be treated immediately.

      It seems the benefits are so obvious that we hope you will be able to support our side's point of view. Thank you.

 

Team B: They disagree that there should be medical cloning.

         Hello, chairperson and everyone in the room. I would like to suggest that medical cloning is not as simple an issue as my colleague claims. First of all, where do these stem² cells come from? Well, from human cells of course. If you believe, that human life comes into existence as soon as the cells start to grow, then the practice of removing human stem cells from an embryo³ kills it. This embryo, if it was allowed to continue to grow and develop, would eventually become another human being. So by using stem cells to save one person, we are actually killing⁴ another. Is this

ethically⁵ justified⁶ (正当的)? We feel that the answer must be "no".

        At the moment medical cloning research is a very new science. It has been most successful in cloning some animals - but not all. The scientists are also worried about the efficiency of the system. Steve Stice of the University of Georgia said:

        "We can make thousands of embryos⁷. The real cost and real problem for us is when we transfer ( 转变) that embryo and we don't produce a (successful) pregnancy⁸. That costs us time and money."

         It took 29 embryos to produce Dolly the sheep and that was nearly ten years ago. But the situation has not got better for mammal cloning. It seems that the problems for human cloning will be even more serious as no human has yet been cloned. It is obvious that we must be very cautious⁹ about medical cloning until these problems are solved.

        We hope you will agree with us and support our point of view. Thank you.

                                     

 

         A debate is an activity in which students can discuss two sides of an issue. It is a sort of competition with a chairperson in charge to make sure of fair play. The chairperson introduces the topic of the debate and then one person from each side has a chance to begin the argument. After that, the issue can be discussed by anyone in the room one at a time. While having a debate there are several things to remember:

    ◎the person who is leading the team that supports the topic will speak first

    ◎the person who is leading the team that disagrees with the topic will speak next

    ◎then other people can take turns to speak in a free discussion

    ◎everyone must listen when other people are speaking

    ◎no one can be rude to other speakers and must always talk to the chairperson

    ◎the chairperson will stop anyone who repeats arguments that have already been made

    ◎anyone can reply to another person's argument

         Towards the end of the debate, the chairperson will ask the last speaker of one side to summarize the arguments that have been made to support their point of view. Then the other side will do the same. Finally everyone in the room will vote and we can see who has won the debate. So let's start now.

1 profitably   

adv.有利地，有益地

参考例句：

• They thought they should occupy their leisure more profitably. 他们觉得应当更好地利用空闲时间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• In this case you could take it apart most profitably. 这样你就能不费吹灰之力地把它拆开。 来自辞典例句

2 stem   

n.茎，干，船首，词干，血统；vt.堵住，阻止，抽去梗；vi.起源于，发生

参考例句：

• Cut the stem cleanly,just beneath a leaf joint.把茎切整齐点，正好切在叶根下。
• The ship was in a blaze from stem to stern.整艘船从头到尾都着火了。

3 embryo   

n.胚胎，萌芽的事物

参考例句：

• They are engaging in an embryo research.他们正在进行一项胚胎研究。
• The project was barely in embryo.该计划只是个雏形。

4 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

5 ethically   

adv.在伦理上，道德上

参考例句：

• Ethically , we have nothing to be ashamed about . 从伦理上说，我们没有什么好羞愧的。
• Describe the appropriate action to take in an ethically ambiguous situation. 描述适当行为采取在一个道德地模棱两可的情况。

6 justified   

a.正当的，有理的

参考例句：

• She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
• The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。

7 embryos   

n.晶胚；胚，胚胎( embryo的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Somatic cells of angiosperms enter a regenerative phase and behave like embryos. 被子植物体细胞进入一个生殖阶段，而且其行为象胚。 来自辞典例句
• Evolution can explain why human embryos look like gilled fishes. 进化论能够解释为什么人类的胚胎看起来象除去了内脏的鱼一样。 来自辞典例句

8 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

9 cautious   

adj.十分小心的，谨慎的

参考例句：

• We should not only be bold,but also be cautious.我们不仅要大胆，而且要谨慎。
• He was cautious about his work.他对工作非常谨慎。