英语听力精选进阶版 13950

Danish sperm¹ donor² passes on disorder³

Summary

27 September 2012

Denmark's health authorities are tightening⁴ rules on sperm donation after one donor was revealed to have passed a rare genetic⁵ disease to at least five of the 43 babies he's thought to have fathered.

Reporter:

Beth McLeod

Report

Known only as donor 7042, the man gave sperm to the Nordic Cryobank in Copenhagen. Current regulations in Denmark say that the number of women who can be impregnated by the same donor should be limited to 25. But he's thought to have fathered 43 children and at least five of them have been diagnosed with neurofibromatosis type 1.

This rare genetic condition affects the nervous system, and in its most severe form can lead to learning difficulties and blindness. Mia Noegaard is one of the women who received sperm from the donor, and says the bank continued distributing the sperm after the alarm was raised that there might be problems with it.

The Danish Health and Medicines authority also criticised the Nordic Cryobank for not telling fertility clinics quickly enough about their suspicions. But the director of the bank, Peter Bowers⁶, said they acted as fast as they could. He also denied that their screening procedure was to blame.

Denmark is popular with women who want to conceive using artificial insemination because it's one of the few countries in Europe that allow donors⁷ to retain their anonymity⁸. From the 1st of October a new law will reduce the number of women who can be impregnated using one sperm donor down from 25 to 12. It will also require sperm banks and fertility clinics to act more quickly and stop the use of sperm that could pass on an inheritable disease as soon as a suspicion is raised.

1 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。

2 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

3 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

4 tightening   

上紧，固定，紧密

参考例句：

• Make sure the washer is firmly seated before tightening the pipe. 旋紧水管之前，检查一下洗衣机是否已牢牢地固定在底座上了。
• It needs tightening up a little. 它还需要再收紧些。

5 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。

6 bowers   

n.（女子的）卧室( bower的名词复数 )；船首锚；阴凉处；鞠躬的人

参考例句：

• If Mr Bowers is right, low government-bond yields could lose their appeal and equities could rebound. 如果鲍尔斯先生的预计是对的，那么低收益的国债将会失去吸引力同时股价将会反弹。 来自互联网

7 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 anonymity   

n.the condition of being anonymous

参考例句：

• Names of people in the book were changed to preserve anonymity. 为了姓名保密，书中的人用的都是化名。
• Our company promises to preserve the anonymity of all its clients. 我们公司承诺不公开客户的姓名。