《英语流行话题阅读:语境识词3500》Unit93:服务员.来份克隆牛肉!

　　Unit 93
Send in the Clones, Waiter
It looks life beef. It tastes like beef. In fact, it's nothing less than 100 percent pure beef. But a batch¹ of the beef drew nationwide attention in Japan when it went on the market advertised as the beef of a cloned cow. "It's nice and soft," said an office worker dining on the cloned meat at steakhouse. "I'd buy it again because it tastes good."
A government announcement that cloned beef had been sold unmarked for at least two years resulted in fear across the country. Many retailers² stopped selling it because of negative news reports. The Agricultural Ministry³ insisted that the beef was safe and there was no need to mark its origin. Consumers, however, demanded an informed choice. There is no decision yet. But in the meantime, the ministry provided one cloned cow to be divided among a Tokyo restaurant and several stores around the country. It asked them to label the beef and see the reaction. PURE, a Korean restaurant in Tokyo's busy district, became the ministry's exhibition hall.
Inside the packed restaurant, TV crews crowded around the beer-drinking, beef-eating customers, demanding opinions on the taste. "The word 'clone' has a bad image," said a happy customer. "It makes you think of someone creating human beings in a lab." That didn't stop her and dozens of other diners from wolfing down chopstick-loads of the meat. Te restaurant had informed regular customers of the experiment, and lower prices for the event, which was to continue as long as the meat holds out. Customers got pamphlets⁴ explaining the cloning process and that beef from cloned cows is no different from regular beef.
With a domestic⁵ cattle industry threatened by imports of cheaper beef, Japanese scientists and agricultural officials see cloning as the way to keep small farms competitive⁶. Cloning, they believe, could make farmers rear⁷ genetically⁸ superior cattle at a lower cost. Cloned vegetables and fish are widely marketed here, lso unmarked.
PURE's diners were asked to complete a questionnaire for the ministry on what they thought of the cloned beef. "I don't trust scientist," said a diner who works at a company that inspects organic vegetables. "I don't care what happens to me, but I wouldn't feed it to kids," he said. "Who knows what kind of problems this might cause in the future?"

1 batch   

n.一批(组，群)；一批生产量

参考例句：

• The first batch of cakes was burnt.第一炉蛋糕烤焦了。
• I have a batch of letters to answer.我有一批信要回复。

2 retailers   

零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
• Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。

3 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

4 pamphlets   

n.小册子( pamphlet的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Distribute these pamphlets among them before you leave, will you? 请你在离开之前把这些小册子发给他们好吗？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He fell under suspicion for distributing seditious pamphlets. 他因散发反政府传单而遭到怀疑。 来自辞典例句

5 domestic   

adj.家里的，国内的，本国的；n.家仆，佣人

参考例句：

• This is domestic news.这是国内新闻。
• She does the domestic affairs every day.她每天都忙家务。

6 competitive   

adj.竞争的，比赛的，好竞争的，有竞争力的

参考例句：

• Some kinds of business are competitive.有些商业是要竞争的。
• These businessmen are both competitive and honourable.这些商人既有竞争性又很诚实。

7 rear   

vt.抚养，饲养；n.后部，后面

参考例句：

• We had to rear it in a nursery and plant it out.我们不得不在苗棚里培育它，然后再把它移植出来。
• The hall is in the rear of the building.礼堂在大楼的后部。

8 genetically   

adv.遗传上

参考例句：

• All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
• Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物