2006年VOA标准英语-Choosing a Baby's Sex Becomes More Accessi

By Carol Pearson
Washington, D.C.
30 March 2006
 
watch Gender¹ Controversy² report

This week a doctor in India was sentenced to two years in jail for testing the sex of an unborn child and then agreeing to abort³ it because it was a girl.  An estimated 10 million female fetuses⁵ may have been aborted⁶ in India over the last 20 years. Indian law prohibits abortion⁷ for the sole reason that the fetus⁴ is a female. There are other ways to select the preferred sex of a child, but they are also controversial.

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What would you do if you had three boys but also wanted a girl? Or vice⁸ versa?

In many countries, couples already select the sex of their children, most commonly through abortion. 

In China as well as in India the desire for baby boys has led to pronounced gender imbalances. But abortion is not the only way to ensure the sex of newborns.  

Couples can choose to undergo a medical procedure called pre-implantation genetic⁹ diagnosis¹⁰ or PGD.  PGD is 100 percent accurate.

John and Kristin Magill used it to add their twin boys to a family that already included three girls.

The Magills conceived their daughters naturally, but used PGD to have their sons.

  
  
With PGD, couples provide doctors with sperm¹¹ and egg samples. After the eggs are fertilized¹², the embryos¹³ are screened for gender before being implanted in the womb.  This procedure was developed to help couples who carry genetic disorders¹⁴ to have healthy children.

Diane Rinaldi and her husband used PGD.

"If is wasn't for this procedure, I really believe we wouldn't have a baby," said Diane.

PGD tests embryos for disease by looking for defective¹⁵ chromosomes¹⁶. 

For example, PGD can help a couple avoid having a baby suffering from rhesus factor disease -- the potentially fatal condition caused by incompatibility¹⁷ between a baby's blood and that of its mother.

But avoiding disease and genetic defects is not why most couples interested in PGD seek the help of fertility specialists such as Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg.

"We're coming up on 2,000 couples now, that we've done PGD on.  Eighty-five to 90 percent of those couples have done it simply for gender selection," said Dr. Steinberg.

Which disturbs Dr. Mark Hughes.  He is one of the pioneers of this procedure. "I went into science and into medicine to diagnose and treat, and hopefully, cure disease. And the last time I checked, gender was not a disease."

  
  
Gender selection is banned in a large number of countries.  But not in the United States.  A study conducted by the Johns Hopkins University Genetics and Public Policy Center shows that about 40 percent of Americans approve the use of genetic testing to determine the sex of their future children, Kristin Magill included.

"I think it's a good opportunity for a family in the same situation as us,” she said.

The procedure is costly¹⁸ - $18,000 for just one try.

But there is also a much less expensive method that involves sperm-sorting and artificial insemination. Here's how it works:  a sperm sample is treated with a special dye.  The X sperm, which produce females, are brighter and heavier so sperm can be sorted by color and weight.

With this technique, 9 out of 10 couples who want a girl get one and 7 out of 10 couples get the boy they want.

No one knows how many couples are using PGD or other gender selecting technologies. 

In the United States there does not seem to be a preferred gender according to Susannah Baruch from the Genetics and Public Policy Center. "We don't have any statistics about whether one sex is preferred over the other,” she says, “but anecdotal evidence shows it is being used more or less equally between boys and girls."

She says choosing the sex of your child raises other ethical¹⁹ concerns.

"There have been objections to sex selection on the grounds that it reinforces gender discrimination and gender stereotypes²⁰.  That's one ethical concern.  Another is that it changes the relationship between parents and children by allowing parents to choose something about their child that would otherwise happen naturally."

The Genetics and Public Policy Center is now gathering²¹ data to find out how often couples choose the sex of their children. 

Some footage courtesy of Orbis Medical News

1 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

2 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

3 abort   

v.使流产，堕胎；中止；中止(工作、计划等)

参考例句：

• The captain instructed them to abort the mission.上尉指示他们中止执行任务。
• With this button the user can abort the audio sequence.用户可以用该按钮终止音频序列。

4 fetus   

n.胎，胎儿

参考例句：

• In the fetus,blood cells are formed in different sites at different ages.胎儿的血细胞在不同时期生成在不同的部位。
• No one knows why a fetus is not automatically rejected by the mother's immune system. 没有人知道为什么母亲的免疫系统不会自动排斥胎儿。

5 fetuses   

n.胎，胎儿( fetus的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• DNA was extracted from fetuses at mid-gestation, about 10 days past conception. DNA从受孕大约10天后的中期妊娠胚胎中提取。 来自互联网
• Brucellosis is a disease that causes fetuses to abort in cattle. 普鲁士菌病是一种可以导致牲畜胎儿夭折的疾病。 来自互联网

6 aborted   

adj.流产的，失败的v.（使）流产( abort的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）（某事物）中止；（因故障等而）（使）（飞机、宇宙飞船、导弹等）中断飞行；（使）（飞行任务等）中途失败

参考例句：

• The rocket flight had to be aborted because of difficulties with computer. 因电脑出故障，这次火箭飞行只好中辍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They aborted the space flight finally. 他们最后中止了这次宇航飞行。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

8 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

9 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

10 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

11 sperm   

n.精子，精液

参考例句：

• Only one sperm fertilises an egg.只有一个精子使卵子受精。
• In human reproduction,one female egg is usually fertilized by one sperm.在人体生殖过程中，一个精子使一个卵子受精。

12 Fertilized   

v.施肥( fertilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The study of psychology has recently been widely cross-fertilized by new discoveries in genetics. 心理学研究最近从遗传学的新发现中受益匪浅。
• Flowers are often fertilized by bees as they gather nectar. 花常在蜜蜂采蜜时受粉。

13 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

14 disorders   

n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调

参考例句：

• Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告，厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 defective   

adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的

参考例句：

• The firm had received bad publicity over a defective product. 该公司因为一件次品而受到媒体攻击。
• If the goods prove defective, the customer has the right to compensation. 如果货品证明有缺陷， 顾客有权索赔。

16 chromosomes   

n.染色体( chromosome的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Chromosomes also determine the sex of animals. 染色体也决定动物的性别。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Each of four chromosomes divide longitudinally. 四种染色体的每一种都沿着纵向分裂。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

17 incompatibility   

n.不兼容

参考例句：

• One cause may be an Rh incompatibility causing kernicterus in the newborn. 一个原因可能是Rh因子不相配引起新生儿的脑核性黄疸。
• Sexual incompatibility is wide-spread in the apple. 性的不亲合性在苹果中很普遍。

18 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

19 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

20 stereotypes   

n.老套，模式化的见解，有老一套固定想法的人( stereotype的名词复数 )v.把…模式化，使成陈规( stereotype的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Such jokes tend to reinforce racial stereotypes. 这样的笑话容易渲染种族偏见。
• It makes me sick to read over such stereotypes devoid of content. 这种空洞无物的八股调，我看了就讨厌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

21 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。