Text C
Noah’s ark has set sail again. Unlike the Old Testament vessel, however, today’s metaphorical ark is not carrying threatened animals two by two to safety. Rather, if it lives up to its billing, it could produce potentially unlimited numbers of endangered creatures. In the updated story, though, Noah is not the skipper of the rescue project. Instead, it’s the name given in advance to the clone of a dead gaur, an endangered wild ox found in Southeast Asia. The new Noah is expected to be born any day now to Bessie, a cow living on a farm near Sioux City, Iowa. Cows have given birth to gaurs before, but this is the first time that one animal species is acting as surrogate mother to a clone—an exact genetic duplicate—of a different species. ACT (Advanced Cell Technologies), a small biotechnology company based in Worcester, Mass. is using a novel technique that could usher in what it sees as a new era in conservation.
Bessie’s ultrasound tests may look good, but is the concept itself a sound one? ACT’s vice president says the technique is not a panacea but “present exciting possibilities” that may help rescue endangered species and perhaps even reverse extinction. Other scientists aren’t sure. They argue that such high-tech approaches are unlikely to make a significant contribution to the support of vulnerable species, especially if their habitats have been destroyed. Moreover, some wildlife researchers express doubts about the project’s conservation claims and think the wrong message is being sent. “We do not believe that cloning has any relevance to the routine management and conservation of endangered species,” said David Wilds, a senior scientist at the Smithsonian Institution’s Conservation center in Front Royal, Va. Instead, Wilds favors low-tech methods, like the artificial insemination used to breed to the endangered black-footed ferret, which is now being reintroduced to the American West.
Helping animals into the future is a priority for the world’s wildlife researchers as an ever growing number of species become imperiled each year. Oliver Ryder, a geneticist at the San Diego Zoo’s Center, is the driving force behind a 25-year effort to assemble a bank of frozen DNA, eggs and sperm from endangered species. Under his direction, the frozen zoo now has living cells from 5,400 spanning more than 400 species and subspecies, cultured and frozen in liquid nitrogen.
After years of watching one species after another become extinct, researchers are sounding optimistic. “We don’t have the right to do nothing,” says Mauget, who predicts that interzoo exchanges of sperm to the four corners of the earth.” Meanwhile, in a corner of Iowa, another kind of delivery is awaited.
Text D
Controversy has been raging for a long time between those who favor a “soft” approach and those who favor a “hard” approach to punishing criminals. But much of what actually happens in the legal system combines the worst features of both approaches.
The basic problem is that the law hands out penalties in installment. The first installment is likely to be turning the criminal loose after some sociological mumbo jumbo about “rehabilitation” or “community” release. The young offender, especially, is likely to get the idea that the law is a paper tiger that can be defied and mocked. As he continues down the same road, the law slowly begins to act, sometimes only after many arrests and convictions. But just as the law is slow to start punishing, it is slow to stop. Installments keep coming long after the criminal has stopped raising hell and may be trying to settle down to raise a family. A prison record dogs him wherever he goes, cutting off his opportunities, making him a social pariah and generally painting him into a corner. Would it not have been more humane, as well as more effective, to have given the young offender a quick rap across the knuckles, to let him know the law means business? The ever more elaborate “rights” and “due process” which encircle the criminal have been criticized as unfair to the victim or to society. They may also be unfair to the criminal, especially the young offender who is repeatedly misled into believing that the law has no real teeth. By the time those teeth are finally sunk into him, it may be too late for him and too late for his victims.
The soft-liners and the hard-liners both contribute to this tragic situation. The soft-liners dress up their indecision and cop-outs as deeper insight into the social causes of crime. Being poor, underprivileged, and discriminated against are supposed to cause crime. The hard-liners contribute to the problem by refusing to do anything about impossible prison conditions. Even a judge who has both feet on the ground and has the guts to enforce the law is going to hesitate to send a young man with a minor offense to an overcrowded prison snakepit, where he is likely to be terrorized and gang-raped.
It will cost hard cash to maintain enough prison capacity to eliminate overcrowding and the breakdown of internal prison discipline that goes with it. It will cost tax dollars to hire the quantity and quality of guards needed to put the prison population under control of the authorities instead of under the prison terrorists. This isn’t coddling criminals. This is protecting society. At the very least, it means giving the judge a place where he can send a young offender for a minor punishment rather than a dehumanizing trauma. Right now, there is nothing much in between letting him go scot-free and letting him be devastated as a human being.
93. What’s the main idea of the text?
[A] “soft” and “hard” approaches
[B] problem of the legal system in punishing criminals
[C] the features of the legal system
[D] the process how criminals are punished
94. What does the author convey in paragraph 2?
[A]It is humane for the law to punish criminals by stages.
[B]Criminals would suffer from incessant and gradually severe punishes.
[C]The law punishes criminals step by step to relieve them of severity.
[D]Criminals are penalized in due process.
95. It is inferred from paragraph 2 and paragraph 3 that_____.
[A]A prison record deprives opportunities of a criminal .
[B]The legal system is also a cause of crimes
[C]The punishing process is of avail both to criminals and victims.
[D]The hard-liners advocate the improvement of prison conditions.
96. Which does the author mainly think of the soft-liners?
[A]courageous and enterprising
[B] realistic and sensible
[C]irresponsible and irresolute
[D]considerate and compassionate
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