2. 外语
  3. A Genome Milestone It was the biggest scientific grudge match since the space race. The Genome Wars had everything: two grou

A Genome Milestone It was the biggest scientific grudge match since the space race. The Genome Wars had everything: two grou

admin2013-07-11  31
问题                         A Genome Milestone
    It was the biggest scientific grudge match since the space race. The Genome Wars had everything: two groups with appealing leaders ready to fight in a scientific dead heat, pushing the limits of technology and rhetoric as they battled to become the first to read every last one of the 3 billion DNA "letters" in the human body. The scientific importance of the work is unquestionable. The completed DNA sequence is expected to give scientists unprecedented insights into the workings of the human body, revolutionizing medicine and biology. But the race itself, between the government’s Human Genome Project and Rockville, Md. , biotechnology company Celera Genomics, was at least partly symbolic, the public/private conflict played out in a genetic lab.
    Now the race is over. After years of public attacks and several failed attempts at reconciliation, the two sides are taking a step toward a period of calm. HGP head Francis Collins (and Ari Patrinos of the Department of Energy, an important ally on the government side) and Craig Venter, the founder of Celera, agreed to hold a joint press conference in Washington this Monday to declare that the race was over(sort of) , that both sides had won (kind of) and that the hostilities were resolved (for the time being).
    No one is exactly sure how things will be different now. Neither side will be turning off its sequencing machines any time soon the "finish lines" each has crossed are largely arbitrary points, "first drafts" rather than the definitive version. And while the joint announcement brings the former Genome Warriors closer together than they’re been in years, insiders say that future agreements are more likely to take the form of coordination, rather than outright collaboration.
    The conflict blew up, this February when Britain’s Wellcome Trust, an HGP participant, released a confidential letter to Celera outlining the HGP’s complaints. Venter called the move " a lowlife thing to do". But by spring, there were the first signs of a thaw. "The attacks and nastiness are bad for science and our investors," Venter told Newsweek in March, "and fighting back is probably not helpful." At a cancer meeting earlier this month, Venter and Collins praised each other’s approaches, and expressed hope that all of the scientists involved in sequencing the human genome would be able to share the credit. By late last week, that hope was becoming a reality as details for Monday’s joint announcement were hammered out. Scientists in both camps welcomed an end to the hostilities. "If this ends the horse race, science wins." With their difference behind them, or at least set aside, the scientists should now be able to get down to the interesting stuff: figuring how to make use of all that data.
It is implied in the third paragraph that______.
选项 A、the "finish lines" refers to completion of DNA research
B、the former Genome Warriors will never fight again
C、the Genome war and peace will co-exist
D、both sides will still work on independently
答案D
解析 本题考查推理引申。第三段最后一句提到：尽管共同宣言使以前的基因勇士们比几年来任何时候都更加亲密，但内部人士说未来达成的共识可能更多采取协调的形式，而不是直接的合作。[D]项所述内容是该句的言外之意。由第三段的第二句话可知finishline指基因测序工程基本完成，但所得结果只是初稿，还不是最终的确定版本，所以研究还要继续，[A]项错误。该段首句说：没人确定现在情形与以前有何不同。可见，他们以后会不会再起烽烟是不确定的事，所以[B]项错误。该段末句指出未来双方将以协调为主，排除[C]项。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/nl4O777K
0

专业英语八级

相关试题推荐
随机试题
最新回复(0)