2011考研：歷年真題來源報刊閱讀50篇連載(3)

　　3. A meaty question

　　(The Economists Sep 21st, 2006)

　　IF YOU have ever longed for a meat substitute that smelt and tasted like the real thing, but did not involve killing an animal, then your order could be ready soon. Researchers believe it will soon be possible to grow cultured meat in quantities large enough to offer the meat industry an alternative source of supply.

　　Growing muscle cells (the main component of meat) in a nutrient broth is easy. The difficulty is persuading those cells to form something that resembles real meat. Paul Kosnik, the head of engineering at a firm called Tissue Genesis, is hoping to do it by stretching the cells with mechanical anchors. This encourages them to form small bundles surrounded by connective tissue, an arrangement similar to real muscle.

　　Robert Dennis, a biomedical engineer at the University of North Carolina, believes the secret of growing healthy muscle tissue in a laboratory is to understand how it interacts with its surroundings. In nature, tissues exist as elements in a larger system and they depend on other tissues for their survival. Without appropriate stimuli from their neighbours they degenerate. Dr Dennis and his team have been working on these neighbourly interactions for the past three years and report some success in engineering two of the most important—those between muscles and tendons, and muscles and nerves.

　　At the Touro College School of Health Sciences in New York, Morris Benjaminson and his team are working on removing living tissue from fish, and then growing it in culture. This approach has the advantage that the tissue has a functioning system of blood vessels to deliver nutrients, so it should be possible to grow tissue cultures more than a millimetre thick—the current limit.

　　Henk Haagsman, a meat scientist at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, is trying to make minced pork from cultured stem cells with the backing of Stegeman, a sausage company. It could be used in sausages, burgers and sauces.

　　But why would anyone want to eat cultured meat, rather than something freshly slaughtered and just off the bone? One answer, to mix metaphors, is that it would allow vegetarians to have their meatloaf and eat it too. But the sausage-meat project suggests another reason: hygiene. As Ingrid Newkirk of PETA, an animal-rights group, puts it, “no one who considers what’s in a meat hot dog could genuinely express any revulsion at eating a clean cloned meat product.”

　　Cultured meat could be grown in sterile conditions, avoiding Salmonella, E. coli, Campylobacter and other nasties. It could also be made healthier by adjusting its composition—introducing heart-friendly omega—3 fatty acids, for example. You could even take a cell from an endangered animal and, without threatening its extinction, make meat from it. Giant-panda steak, anyone?

　　1. The word “resemble” (line 2, paragraph 2) most probably means .

　　A look like B differ C excel D substitute

　　2. Robert Dennis thinks the secret of growing healthy muscle tissue in a laboratory is the relationship between .

　　A muscles and tendons B muscles and nerves

　　C muscles and surroundings D muscles and animals

　　3. What is the advantage of removing living tissues and culture them?

　　A It makes the color and taste of cultured meat better.

　　B Meat cultured in this way is similar to real meat.

　　C Meat cultured in this way can be used in more kinds of food.

　　D It is likely to grow tissues more than a millimeter thick.

　　4. Cultured meat is better than something freshly slaughtered because it .

　　A allows vegetarians far away from meat

　　B is cleaner and healthier

　　C tastes much better

　　D can be made from cells of all endangered animals

　　5. Which of the following statements is NOT mentioned in the passage?

　　A Cultured meat will not involve killing animals.

　　B Many efforts have been done to culture meat.

　　C Most vegetarians long for special meatloaf.

　　D It is possible to have panda steak in the future.

　　考研詞匯

　　substitute

　　n.代用品,代替品;v.(for)代替,替換

　　[真題例句] In talking to some scientists, particularly younger ones, you might gather the impression that they find the “scientific method” a substitute (n.) for imaginative thought.[1999年閱讀5]

　　[例句精譯] 在和一些科學(xué)家,特別是年輕科學(xué)家交談時,你可能會有這樣一種印象：他們認(rèn)為“科學(xué)方法”可以代替創(chuàng)造性思維。

　　resemble

　　v.像,類似

　　tissue

　　n.①織物,薄絹,紙巾;②(動、植物的)組織

　　stretch

　　v.拉長,延伸;n.①一段時間,一段路程;②延伸

　　[真題例句] It is a remarkable record, stretching (v.) back over 70 years—yet the BBC�餾 future is now in doubt.[1996年閱讀2]

　　[例句精譯] 七十多年來,BBC可謂歷程輝煌,然而現(xiàn)在,BBC的未來卻令人疑慮。

　　vessel

　　n.①容器,器皿;②船,艦;③管,血管

　　[真題例句] Today’s vessels (②) can find their prey using satellites and sonar, which were not available 50 years ago.[2006年閱讀3]

　　[例句精譯] 今天的漁船能夠使用五十年前沒有的衛(wèi)星和聲納來追蹤他們的獵物。

　　slaughter

　　n.屠宰,殘殺,屠殺;v.屠宰,殘殺,屠殺

　　背景常識介紹

　　荷蘭科學(xué)家取得了一項用細(xì)胞“培育”肉類,并出售給人類食用的計劃的專利權(quán)。阿姆斯特丹大學(xué)皮膚學(xué)專家維特·韋斯特霍夫稱,可以用在實驗室的培養(yǎng)皿中培育皮膚細(xì)胞的方法來培育肌肉組織。出售這種在實驗室中培育的肉類將使大量動物免遭屠宰。韋斯特霍夫正在尋求投資者。他認(rèn)為,可以在容積為5000升的巨型培養(yǎng)池中培育每塊至少50克的現(xiàn)成瘦肉塊。他和另外兩位商人在全球很多地方都取得了這項計劃的專利權(quán)。專利證書稱贊這種肉沒有脂肪和軟骨。豬、牛、雞、袋鼠和鯨魚的細(xì)胞全都可以使用。這項計劃仍需改進(jìn),因為迄今的試驗結(jié)果顯示,細(xì)胞要2��3天才能增加一倍。

　　答案及解析

　　1.詞匯題【正確答案】A

　　有了問題便有研究來解決問題，注意本段比較后一句講述研究成果時提到an arrangement similar to real muscle，即可推知答案。

　　2.細(xì)節(jié)事實題【正確答案】C

　　根據(jù)第三段第一句...believes the secret of growing healthy muscle tissue in a laboratory is to understand how it interacts with its surroundings.可知C是正確答案。

　　3.細(xì)節(jié)事實題【正確答案】D

　　第四段比較后一句This approach has the advantage that...so it should be possible to grow tissue cultures more than a millimetre thick—the current limit.明確指出了摘取新鮮細(xì)胞進(jìn)行培育的優(yōu) 點。

　　4.推理題【正確答案】B

　　文中比較后兩段講到人工肉的優(yōu)點，即更干凈更健康，因此選B。由倒數(shù)第二段第二句可知A錯誤，C、D未提及。

　　5.判斷題【正確答案】C

　　C的內(nèi)容文章未提及，A、B、D的內(nèi)容分別可以在第一段第一句、第六段比較后一句、比較后一段比較后一句中提及。