新西兰英语 36 IVF Sex Selection

　　A report to the government suggested that New Zealand could allow parents to choose the sex of their children who are born using IVF (in-vitro fertilisation). This is a process where the egg from the woman is fertilised by sperm¹ from the man outside the women’s body, in a glass test tube (‘vitro’ means ‘glass’). IVF is used for couples who are having problems with fertility; the woman has difficulty getting pregnant².
However, it can also be used by parents who need to choose the sex of their child. There is a method used for sorting out male and female embryos³, before one is put back into the woman’s body. But IVF is expensive and it is also not a pleasant process. The sorting process does not have a very high success rate of pregnancy⁴ either, less than 20% success.
There are some reasons that parents may want to choose the sex of their child. The most common reason is because someone in their family has a disease which affects males. In this case, they might want to have a female child. It is already legal to use IVF for this medical reason in New Zealand, the UK and Australia.
Some parents might want to choose either a male or female to balance their family if, for example, they have 3 boys and want a girl. In some sad cases, where a son or daughter has died, a family might want to replace that child. At the moment, it is illegal to choose the sex of a child for social reasons in New Zealand, the UK and Australia. However, this report, which is called ‘Who Gets Born?’ says that parents should be able to choose the sex of their child if they want to.
The government will now discuss this report and decide if the law should be changed.

1 sperm   

n.精子，精液

参考例句：

• Only one sperm fertilises an egg.只有一个精子使卵子受精。
• In human reproduction,one female egg is usually fertilized by one sperm.在人体生殖过程中，一个精子使一个卵子受精。

2 pregnant   

adj.怀孕的，怀胎的

参考例句：

• She is a pregnant woman.她是一名孕妇。
• She is pregnant with her first child.她怀了第一胎。

3 embryos   

n.晶胚；胚，胚胎( embryo的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Somatic cells of angiosperms enter a regenerative phase and behave like embryos. 被子植物体细胞进入一个生殖阶段，而且其行为象胚。 来自辞典例句
• Evolution can explain why human embryos look like gilled fishes. 进化论能够解释为什么人类的胚胎看起来象除去了内脏的鱼一样。 来自辞典例句

4 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。