题目内容
For the rest of March, a disease will sweep across the US. It will keep kids home from school. 1 Employees will suddenly lose their ability to concentrate.
The disease, known as “March Madness”, refers to the yearly 65 – team US men’s college basketball tournament (锦标赛). 2 Teams compete against each other in a single – elimination (单局淘汰) tournament that eventually crowns a national champion.
Nearly 20 million Americans will find themselves prisoners of basketball festival madness. The fun comes partly from guessing the winners for every game. Friends compete against friends. 3 Colleagues against bosses.
Big – name schools are usually favored to advance into the tournament. But each year there are dark horses from little – known universities.
This adds to the madness. Watching a team from a school with 3,000 students beat a team from a school with 30,000, for many Americans, is an exciting experience. Two years ago, the little – known George Mason University was one of the final four teams. 4
College basketball players are not paid, so the game is more about making a name for their university and themselves. 5 About $ 4 billion will be spent gambling (赌) on the event. According to Media Life magazine, the event will bring in $ 500 million in advertising income this year, topping the post – season income of every US professional league, including that of the NBA.
A. Husbands against wives.
B. The players will go all out for the games.
C. But that doesn’t mean money isn’t involved.
D. College students will ignore piles of homework.
E. People are willing to spend more money on watching it.
F. It begins on March 15 and lasts through the beginning of April.
G. Many people had never even heard of the university before the tournament.
DFAGC |
With only about 1,000 pandas left in the world, China is desperately trying to clone (克隆) the animal and save the endangered species(物种). That's a move similar to what a Texas A&M University researchers have been undertaking for the past five years in a project called “Noah's Ark”.
Noah's Ark is aimed at collecting eggs, embryos(胚胎),semen and DNA of endangered animals and storing them in liquid nitrogen(氮). If certain species should become extinct , Dr. Duane Kraemar, a professor in Texas A&M University Medicine, says there would be enough of the basic building blocks to reintroduce the species in the future.
It is estimated that as many as 2,000 species of mammals , birds reptiles will become extinct in over 100 years . The panda, native only to China , is in danger of becoming extinct in the next 25 years .
This week , Chinese scientists said they grew an embryo by introducing cells from a dead female panda into the egg cells of a Japanese white rabbit . They are now trying to implant the embryo into a host animal.
The entire procedure could take from three to five years to complete.
“The nuclear transfer(核子移植) of one species to another is not easy, and the lack of available(capable of being used) panda eggs could be a major problem,” Kraemer believes. “They will probably have to do several hundred transfers to result in one pregnancy(having a baby). It takes a long time and it’s difficult, but this could be groundbreaking science if it works. They are certainly not putting any live pandas at risk, so it is worth the effort, ”adds Kraemer, who is one of the leaders of the Project at Texas A & M, the first–ever attempt at cloning a dog.
“They are trying to do something that’s never been done, and this is very similar to our work in Noah’s Ark. We’re both trying to save animals that face extinction. I certainly appreciate their effort and there’s a lot we can learn from what they are attempting to do. It’s a research that is very much needed.”
【小题1】 The aim of “Noah’s Ark” project is to ________.
A.make efforts to clone the endangered pandas |
B.save endangered animals from dying out |
C.collect DNA of endangered animals to study |
D.transfer the nuclear of one animal to another |
A.available panda eggs | B.host animals |
C.qualified researchers | D.enough money |
A.China’s Success in Panda Cloning |
B.The First Cloned Panda in the World |
C.Exploring the Possibility to Clone Pandas |
D.China---the Native Place of Pandas Forever |