Lastspring,IworkedinWashingtonD.C.ThereIvisitedFord’s...

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Last spring, I worked in Washington D.C. There I visited Ford’s Theater and looked at Abraham Lincoln’ impressive memorial(纪念碑). But at the National Museum of Health and Medicine, my nose could almost touch pieces of the man himself: a lock of his hair, pieces of his skull(头盖骨) and a handkerchief with his blood on it. As I stood there, I wondered, “Could we clone Abraham Lincoln?”

Since Dolly the sheep was cloned in 1996, scientists have cloned mammals from mice to mules, but we have never cloned a human. Maybe it’s a horrible desire, if we ever decided to clone someone, I would vote for Abraham Lincoln.

After Abraham Lincoln was shot, his doctors and friends collected bits of his skull and bloody pieces of cloth for autopsy(尸检). Locks of his hair were passed around like holy relics. Long before they knew about DNA, these pieces of Lincoln represented the essence(本质) of the man.

While we do have his genes, we probably don’t have the entire DAN sequence needed for cloning. SheryI Facility at UC Davis, said that when cells die over time, the DNA becomes less useful. The DNA in Lincoln’s 145-year-old bloodstains and hair is probably futile for cloning. “The hair itself would not be very hard to get the entire DNA sequence(顺序) from unless you have a complete follicle(毛囊),” Bernauer said. We don’t have any of Lincoln’ follicles, so that’s a no-go.(不宜进行的事)

Still, it’s interesting to think about ho the development of cloning has changed the way we view human remains. Humans have always honored the dead, but now we know that---in DNA at least----party of the dead lives on.

28. At the National Museum of Health and Medicine, the author__________.

A. touched pieces of Abraham Lincoln

B. looked at Abraham Lincoln’s memorial

C. was asked about cloning Abraham Lincoln

D. saw something belonging to Abraham Lincoln’s body

29. Why were bits of Abraham Lincoln’s skull and bloody pieces of cloth collected?

A. To remember him

B. To learn about his death

C. To store for cloning in the future

D. To he passed around like saintly(神圣的)relics.

30. What does the underlined word “futile” in Paragraph 4 mean?

A. Useless B. Interesting C. Exciting D. Necessary