The first two decades of this century were dominated by the microbe hunters. These hunters had tracked down one after another of the microbes responsible for the most dreaded scourges of many centuries: tuberculosis, cholera, diphtheria. But there remained some terrible diseases forwhichno microbe could beincriminated: scurvy, pellagra, rickets, beriberi. Then it was discovered that these diseases were caused by the lack of vitamins, a trace substance in the diet. The diseases could be prevented or cured by consuming foods that contained the vitamins. And so in the decades of the 1920's and 1930's, nutrition became a science and the vitamin hunters replaced the microbe hunters.
In the 1940's and 1950's, biochemists strived to learn why each of the vitamins was essential for health. They discovered that key enzymes in metabolism depend on one or another of the vitamins as coenzymes to perform the chemistry that provides cells with energy for growth and function. Now, these enzyme hunters occupied center stage.
You are aware that the enzyme hunters have been replaced by a new breed of hunters who are tracking genes-the blueprints for each of the enzymes-and are discovering the defective genes that cause inherited diseases-diabetes, cystic fibrosis. These gene hunters, or genetic engineers, use recombinant DNA technology to identify and clone genes and introduce them into bacterial cells and plants to create factories for the massive production of hormones and vaccines for medicine and for better crops for agriculture. Biotechnology has become a multibillion-dollar industry.
In view of the inexorable progress in science, we can expect that the gene hunters will be replaced in the spotlight. When and by whom? Which kind of hunter will dominate the scene in the last decade of our waning century and in the early decades of the next? I wonder whether the hunters who will occupy the spotlight will be neurobiologists who apply the techniques of the enzyme and gene hunters to the functions of the brain. What to call them? The head hunters. I will return to them later.
Almost everyone with or without a computer is aware of the latest technological revolution destined to change forever the way in which humans communicate, namely, the Information Superhighway, best exemplified by the ubiquitous Internet. Already, millions of people around the world are linked by computer simply by having a modem and an address on the 'Net', in much the same way that owning a telephone links us to almost anyone who pays a phone bill. In fact, since the computer connections are made via the phone line, the Internet can be envisaged as a network of visual telephone links. It remains to be seen in which direction the Information Superhighway is headed, but many believe it is the educational hope of the future.
The World Wide Web, an enormous collection of Internet addresses or sites, all of which can be accessed for information, has been mainly responsible for the increase in interest in the Internet in the 1990s. Before the World Wide Web, the 'Net' was comparable to an integrated collection of computerised typewriters, but the introduction of the 'Web' in 1990 allowed not only text links to be made but also graphs, images and even video. A Web site consists of a 'home page', the first screen of a particular site on the computer to which you are connected, from where access can be had to other subject related 'pages' at the site and to thousands of other computers all over the world. This is achieved by a process called 'hypertext'. By clicking with a mouse device on various parts of the screen, a person connected to the 'Net' can go travelling, or 'surfing' through a web of pages to locate whatever information is required.
Anyone can set up a site; promoting your club, your institution, your company's products or simply yourself, is what the Web and the Internet is all about. And what is more, information on the Internet is not owned or controlled by anyone organisation. It is, perhaps, true to say that no-one and therefore everyone owns the 'Net'. Because of the relative freedom of access to information, the Internet has often been criticised by the media as a potentially hazardous tool in the hands of young computer users. This perception has proved to be largely false however, and the vast majority of users both young and old get connected with the Internet for the dual purposes for which it was intended – discovery and delight.
In view of the inexorable progress in science, we can expect that the gene hunters will be replaced in the spotlight. When and by whom? Which kind of hunter will dominate the scene in the last decade of our waning century and in the early decades of the next? I wonder whether the hunters who will occupy the spotlight will be neurobiologists who apply the techniques of the enzyme and gene hunters to the functions of the brain. What to call them? The head hunters. I will return to them later.
The author implies that the most important medical research topic of the future will be
Read the text and decide that the statement is True (T), False (F) or Not Given (NG).
Although the central region of Mexico's high plateau has been inhabited for at least 20,000 years, Mexico City only dates back to the 14th century. The Aztecs, or Mexica, had reached this area in the previous century, eventually settling on an island in Lake Texcoco. Here, in 1325, the city of Tenochtitlan began to take shape.
The lake was shallow, and during the nearly 200 years until 1519, the Aztecs expanded the inhabited area by land refill and the creation of artificial islands. Canals were dug for the transportation of goods and people. Aqueducts were constructed to bring drinking water from natural springs outside the city, dams to protect it against floods, and causeways and bridges to connect the city with the shore. There were many houses, palaces, temples, squares, markets and even a zoo. Perhaps the most striking construction of this period is the Templo Mayor, a double pyramid which still survives. As the capital of an empire stretching from Texas to Honduras, Tenochtitlan was a magnificent and important city. When the Spanish arrived, they called it the 'Venice of the New World'.
The area where people lived was artificially increased between 1325 and 1519.
Read the text and decide that the statement is True (T), False (F) or Not Given (NG).
In the 18th century, too, many new buildings were constructed. It was a prosperous period, when the new aristocracy paid for splendid buildings, banquets and balls, not to mention the latest fashions from Europe.
The rise of Napoleon in the early 19th century led to political changes throughout Europe. An uprising took place in Mexico in l810, with the aim of ending rule from Spain. This goal was finally achieved in 1821, when Mexico City briefly became the capital of the Mexican Empire. Since 1823, it has been the capital of the Republic of Mexico, apart from a short period, from 1863 to 1867, when the country was again an empire.
Almost everyone with or without a computer is aware of the latest technological revolution destined to change forever the way in which humans communicate, namely, the Information Superhighway, best exemplified by the ubiquitous Internet. Already, millions of people around the world are linked by computer simply by having a modem and an address on the 'Net', in much the same way that owning a telephone links us to almost anyone who pays a phone bill. In fact, since the computer connections are made via the phone line, the Internet can be envisaged as a network of visual telephone links. It remains to be seen in which direction the Information Superhighway is headed, but many believe it is the educational hope of the future.
The World Wide Web, an enormous collection of Internet addresses or sites, all of which can be accessed for information, has been mainly responsible for the increase in interest in the Internet in the 1990s. Before the World Wide Web, the 'Net' was comparable to an integrated collection of computerised typewriters, but the introduction of the 'Web' in 1990 allowed not only text links to be made but also graphs, images and even video. A Web site consists of a 'home page', the first screen of a particular site on the computer to which you are connected, from where access can be had to other subject related 'pages' at the site and to thousands of other computers all over the world. This is achieved by a process called 'hypertext'. By clicking with a mouse device on various parts of the screen, a person connected to the 'Net' can go travelling, or 'surfing' through a web of pages to locate whatever information is required.
Anyone can set up a site; promoting your club, your institution, your company's products or simply yourself, is what the Web and the Internet is all about. And what is more, information on the Internet is not owned or controlled by anyone organisation. It is, perhaps, true to say that no-one and therefore everyone owns the 'Net'. Because of the relative freedom of access to information, the Internet has often been criticised by the media as a potentially hazardous tool in the hands of young computer users. This perception has proved to be largely false however, and the vast majority of users both young and old get connected with the Internet for the dual purposes for which it was intended – discovery and delight.
To what does pronoun "WHICH" in the passage refer?
Western people rely on technical and mechanical solutions in everything they do. Refrigerators preserve their food, washing machines clean their underwear and computers are supposed to solve all their problems. When they are ill, they rely on the surgeon’s knife. If their hearts are running down, then they must be repaired, if they cannot be repaired, they should be replaced, just as an old car sometimes gets a new engine. But up to now we have had a shortage of donors to give their hearts, to keep one person alive, another donor had to die.
Nowadays there is more and more talk about using monkeys. Every monkey has a near-human heart, and humans have always been over careful in respecting the lives and well-being of other animals. This includes the life and well-being of other humans. Therefore, in the early years of the 22nd century - It was told the mass killings of monkeys may occur. We’ll need to use their hearts for human consumption.
Monkeys, on the whole, are happier creatures than their near relatives, Homo sapiens, or man. They know fear, of course, and they face real dangers, but they are also more intelligent than us. They create no unnecessary dangers for themselves, they run no businesses, chase no money, are unimpressed by gold – that utterly useless metal, and they do not care at all about hell or evil spirits. I have a vague feeling that it is not monkeys’ hearts that we ought to implant in ourselves, but monkeys’ brains.
Monkeys are more stupid than humans because they always create unnecessary dangers for themselves…
A. TRUE
B. FALSE
C. NOT GIVEN
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