新视野大学英语视听说教程 4 Unit 8-9

MODEL3   Is it interfering¹ with nature?
Script
Nora: Some religious groups are opposed to genetic² research. They believe it’s interfering with nature.
John: I know. But nature can be pretty hard-nosed too, so we often need to interfere³ with her—we build dams to control flooding.
Nora: There’re many diseases that are a part of nature, and they cause people a great deal of misery⁴: cancer and diabetes⁵, for example.
John: A better understanding of the genetic code that controls our body would be a great help in curing many diseases.
Nora: The project to map the human genetic code…what’s that called?
John: The genome project. As you say, it has tremendous promise to make our lives better—just in the ability to identify and correct genetically-caused diseases like Alzheimer’s.
Nora: Some diseases like cancer are also believed to have a genetic switch.
John: That’s right, and once researchers identify the switch, perhaps they can turn off cancer or Alzheimer’s.
Nora: People are also concerned that science will enable us to determine such qualities as intelligence and height.
John: You know it’s going to happen—it’s just a matter of when.
Nora: Imagine if everyone was a combination of Yao Ming and Albert Einstein.
John: But what if they get it wrong, and you wind up with Yao Ming’s knowledge of nuclear physics and Albert Einstein’s height?
Nora: All those religious groups would say that it served you right.
 

1 interfering   

adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词

参考例句：

• He's an interfering old busybody! 他老爱管闲事！
• I wish my mother would stop interfering and let me make my own decisions. 我希望我母亲不再干预，让我自己拿主意。

2 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• 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。

3 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

4 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

5 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。