VOA慢速英语 2008 0129a
时间:2018-12-07 作者:英语课 分类:VOA慢速英语2008年(一)月
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
Cloned dairy cows at a farm in Maryland
The United States government has decided 1 that food from cloned cattle, pigs and goats is safe to eat. The Food and Drug Administration also says it found no risks in meat and milk from offspring born to them.
A clone is a genetic 2 copy of an animal prized for its quality. A laboratory process develops a cell from the animal into an embryo 3. The embryo is put into a female animal which, if all goes well, gives birth to the clone.
The F.D.A. looked at studies for several years before it announced its decision in a final report this month. The United States Department of Agriculture supported the findings. But it says time is needed to smooth the way for marketing 4 meat and milk from clones. So, for now, the industry is being asked to continue a voluntary ban on such products.
The idea of eating cloned animals rates low with the American public. Several major food companies say they have no immediate 5 plans to get involved.
The Food and Drug Administration will not require any product to be identified as coming from clones or their offspring. A producer would need approval to label a product "clone-free." The agency says that could be misleading because the food is no different from other food.
But activists 6 argue that the F.D.A. based its decision on incomplete research into possible risks. The Center for Food Safety criticized the use of studies supplied by cloning companies.
Animal rights activists point out that cloning attempts often fail. They say cloning is cruel and can lead to suffering in clones born with abnormalities.
Congress has been trying to get the F.D.A. to do more studies. But the agency noted 7 that experts in New Zealand and the European Union have come to the same findings about the safety of food from clones.
Japan, South Korea and Taiwan say they want to study the issue further before taking action.
Products from cloning may not be widely available for several years. Currently the United States has about six hundred animal clones.
Clones are costly 8, which is why most are used for breeding. The Agriculture Department says few clones will ever become food. Their traditionally bred offspring would enter the food supply instead.
The first mammal cloned from an adult cell was Dolly the sheep, born in Scotland in nineteen ninety-six. But the F.D.A. says it could not decide about the safety of food from clones of sheep or other animals besides cattle, pigs and goats.
And that’s the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I’m Steve Ember.
- This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
- There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
- It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
- Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。
- They are engaging in an embryo research.他们正在进行一项胚胎研究。
- The project was barely in embryo.该计划只是个雏形。
- They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
- He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。
- His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
- We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。
- His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
- Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》