
代號:10150 
頁次:4
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You wake up feeling awful—pounding headache, runny nose, sore throat. You decide to go to the 
doctor,   6   today, there’s no need for the old-fashioned ritual of physical exam, throat culture, and 
blood test. Today, all you have to do is simply spit twice in a plastic bag. 
A lab technician tests your saliva for the unique DNA markers of the 200 most common diseases. An 
hour later the results are in: you have a serious bacterial infection. But there’s good news: the bacteria does 
not carry an antibiotic      7      gene, so that a single megadose of penicillin (given through the ear) will do 
the trick. 
As you leave the lab, the doctor calls you into her office. Your saliva contained a few of your cheek 
cells, she explains, which were tested for a variety of genetic disorders. One came up   8  . You are 
seized with fear as the doctor says your risk of developing a tumor by age sixty is several hundred times 
greater than the average person’s. 
  9  , the doctor continues, the government is now distributing a new pill to reduce your cancer risk 
dramatically. What’s more, the pill will save society millions of dollars by preventing thousands of cases of 
colon cancer nationwide. You leave the doctor’s office feeling healthier for the moment and very relieved 
that you just   10    a bullet in your future. 
Sound incredible? The revolution in molecular biology has made the technology described above not 
only possible, but probable within the coming decades. In about ten years genetics has already conquered 
diseases that took centuries even to name. 
6 but   when  suppose  because 
7 consensus  emission  sanction  resistance 
8 realistic  imaginary  positive   negative 
9 Skeptically  Fortunately  Indifferently  Disappointedly 
10 dodged  spawned  fostered  mitigated 
The age of fossil fuels will not last forever. According to the World Resources Institute, fossil fuels will 
be ultimately   11    in the future. Yet for three reasons it is likely that they will be phased out sooner than 
we expect. First, air pollution and the threat of global warming will require us to stop using fossil fuels 
before supplies are exhausted. In order to   12   the climate, we will substantially reduce carbon 
emissions by reducing energy consumption. Second, three oil crises in the past have exposed the 
vulnerability of the global economy and its dependency on political developments in the volatile Middle 
East, an area rich in fossil fuels. Third, coal, while the most      13      of all fossil fuels, is environmentally 
most damaging because it is a major contributor to air pollution and acid rain. 
Some alternatives to fossil fuels have been promoted, but they are not without problems. Natural gas is 
one example since it contains less carbon per unit of energy. However, the greenhouse effect of natural gas 
is many times stronger than that of carbon dioxide. It will, thus, be phased out   14    as a primary source 
of energy. Some people have hailed nuclear energy as a means to slow global warming. Others claim that 
nuclear technologies are uneconomical and dangerous. They see the roughly 500 nuclear plants worldwide 
as a permanent   15    to people living within a distance of hundreds or even thousands of miles. 
11 depleted   reconciled  exerted  congregated 
12 aggravate   stabilize  flourish  diminish 
13 chaotic  ingrained  profound  abundant 
14 eventually  productively  respectively  suggestively 
15 aid  sign  threat  victim