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  3. Handle With Care When Thomas Butler stepped off a plane in April 2002 on his return to the United States from a trip to Tanz

Handle With Care When Thomas Butler stepped off a plane in April 2002 on his return to the United States from a trip to Tanz

admin2013-07-11  49
问题                            Handle With Care
    When Thomas Butler stepped off a plane in April 2002 on his return to the United States from a trip to Tanzania, he set in motion a chain of events that now threatens to destroy his life. A microbiologist at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Butler was bringing back samples of the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis for his research. Yet on reentering the country, he is alleged to have passed right by US customs inspectors without notifying them that he was carrying this potentially deadly cargo. That move and its consequences have led the federal government to prosecute Butler for a range of offences. If convicted on all counts, he could be fined millions of dollars and spend the rest of his life in jail.
    The US scientific community has leapt to butler’s defence, arguing that his prosecution is overzealous, alarming and unnecessary. The presidents of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine have written to Attorney General John Ashcroft, claiming that the case could endanger research into countering the threat of bioterrorism. And the academy’s human-rights committee has asked its members to write letters on Butler’s behalf and to donate funds for his defense.
    Those who defend Butler argue that the rules governing the import of pathogens are so restrictive that bending them is the only option for researchers who are working to provide protection from deadly diseases that affect the developing world. Why, they ask, prosecute Butler for breaking the rules that made his work more difficult without serving a useful purpose?
    The supporters consider that the charge laid against Butler merely reflects the determination of federal prosecutors to throw the book at Butler to make an example of him to others. Many researchers now fear falling victim to an overzealous prosecution if they fail to dot all the i’s and cross all the i’s on their paperwork. Some US microbiologists are so frightened of being hauled off in handcuffs for a minor administrative error that they have decided to avoid biodefense research entirely—despite the current funding boom in the field.
    Whether Butler is a villain or a scapegoat is now for a jury to decide. But whatever verdict is eventually reached, scientists who are lobbying on Butler’s behalf would do well to consider public perceptions. If the rules governing the import of pathogenic bacteria make no sense, then microbiologists must make that case clearly, and lobby for the regulations to be changed. Researchers are also justified in making statements to help ensure that any punishment that Butler might receive is proportionate.
    But researchers risk a damaging public protest if the main message that emerges is that his peers think he was justified in carrying samples of the plague bacterium onto a commercial flight. Appearing to deny the importance of rules designed to protect the public from deadly pathogens—however unwieldy those rules may be in practice— will not generate trust. It will not foster a culture of responsibility. And it would show disregard for the public’s faith that scientific research will be conducted as safely and as competently as possible.
The author believes that scientists should______.
选项 A、advocate for the abolition of import rules
B、speak in defense of Butler’s behavior
C、give careful attention to public health
D、learn a lesson from Butler’s case
答案C
解析 本题考查作者观点。文章末段首句指出“如果认为携带鼠疫细菌样本乘坐商业飞机是正当的，那么会遭到公众的强烈反对”；第二句指出，“会失去公众的信任”；第三句指出，“不会培养出一种富有责任感的文化氛围”；末句指出，“同时会表现出对公众想法的漠视”。综合全段可以总结出，作者并没有为巴特勒辩护，相反，他不赞成为了做科学研究而置民众的身体健康于不顾这种行为，所以[B]错误。从上述分析也可推出，作者借公众的话明确表明自己的观点，即科学研究应该尽可能安全、有效。换句话说，科学研究应尽可能不危害人民的健康。第五段第三句提到，如果科学家认为与携带病原体细菌有关的规定都是毫无意义的废话，那么他们应该建议议员修改这些规定(to be changed)。[A]项的“废除”(abolition)与原文相悖，所以排除。[D]项原文未提及。
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