2014届最新高考英语一轮单元复习 精品阅读理解提升文章精选一百篇(88)

2014届最新高考英语一轮单元复习精品阅读理解提升文章精选一百篇（57）Unit 6Lost and FoundThe week end was over, and Begbie had returned to town, re stless, and strangely unhappy. There was within him a curious sense of something lost. He unpacked his suitcase listlessly, compared its contents with the cata logue of his weekend needs. Everything was there, from hairbrush to dinner coat -- yet that sense of some thing left behind still oppressed him. A second time he went over th e list and compared it with his possessions, to find that nothing was missing; then on a sudden moment ther e fl ashed across his mind a full realization of what the lost object was. "That's it!" he said with a sigh of relief, "I'll write at once to my hostess and ask her to return it." Action followed the resolution, and, seating himself at his desk, Beg bie wrote:My Dear Mrs. Shelton,Upon my return from the never-to-be-forgotten series of golden hours at Sea Cliff, after the habit of the depa rting guest, I have left at least one of my possessions behind me. It is of value perhaps to nobody but myself, but poor as it is, I cannot very well do without it. It is my heart. If by some good chance you have found it, an d it is of no use to you, will you be good enough to return to me? Or, if by some good fortune you find it worth retaining, will you please tell me so, that I may know it is in your custody and is not lying somewhere cold and neglected? It is the only one I have, and it has never passed out of my keeping before.Harrison BegbieThe following morning, Begbie received a letter postmarked Sea Cliff, and addressed in the familiar handwriting of his hostess. Excitedly he tore it open and found the following:My dear Mr. Beg bie,What careless creatures you men are! I have found ten such articles as you described in my house during the past ten days, and out of so vast and varied a number I ca nnot quite decide which one is yours. Some of them are badly cracked; some are battered hopelessly, a nd only one of them is in first-class condition. I'm hoping it is yours, but I don't know. In any event on receipt of this won't you come down here at once and we can run over them together? I'll meet you on the arrival of the 12:15 at W avecrest station. Meanwhile, knowing how indispensable a part of the human mechanism a heart truly is, I send you mine to take the place of the other. You may keep it until your own is retur ned to you.P.S. Telegraph me if you'll be on the 12:15 train.Mary SheltonTen minutes later the following rush message sped over the wire:Mrs. Shelton:Haven't time to t elegraph you of arrival on 12:15. Am rushing to catch the 9:05. Harrison。

高中英语真题:2014届最新高考英语一轮单元复习精品阅读理解提升文章精选一百篇（59）Unit 61Web FeatsHere is a look at six ways the internet has made an impact on u s in the past decade. There's no going back!Everybody can get information if they learn how to look for it. Irritated at the half-remembered lyrics of a song? Need a recipe for cassoulet? In pre-Internet days, finding the answer would have involved lo oking through reference books, scanning a newspaper or even making a trip to the library -- all with no guarantee of finding the information. Now, Google, t he Internet search engine, can deliver even the most obscure bi ts of information to your desktop computer within a matter of se conds. Spend a little time on the help pages at to hone your search skills and the vast i nformation warehouse that is the web will soon be at your finger tips.Cheap near-instant communication. To those who have grown up in the era of the ubiquitous @ symbol, it's easy to take electronic mail for granted, but the ability to flash messages around the globe with documents or images attached is revolutionary. Of course, with email you cannot ignore the spam problem -- the inconvenience of having an inbox flooded with offers of ch eap drugs and get-rich-quick schemes.No oneis anonymous anymore. Try a search on your best friends nam es in Google, and chances are they will be somewhere on the Internet, especially those who are under 30. From websites to chatrooms, most Internet users leave a trail easy to pick up.Everyone can be a publisher. Publishing used to be concentrat ed in the hands of afew wealthy people and organizations that could afford the exp ensive infrastructure to print and distribute newspapers and ma gazines. Now everyone can play for next to nothing through personal websites or, more likely these days, by joining the Blogging phenomenon. Try for a taste of Blog p ower. How you make people read your Blog, however, is a diffe rent question.Everyone can get breaking news. Previously, the average pers on had to wait until the media decided what information supplied by the wire services or their own reporters they would pass on via television news, radio b ulletins and the next day's newspaper. Now you have direct access to news via the web: try or for starters.The world market comes to your doorstep. The Internet has turned the conn ected world into a huge market place. This is primarily through t he online eBay, but there are many others -- Google lists hundreds of differentauction sites. These sites have evolved into an incredibly effici ent marketplace, with people coming together from all parts f th e globe. Huge numbers of conventional retail outlets are also o nline. Get the cheapest price for an item online -- then, armed with a printout, head to the shopping mallto do the battle. You won't make many friends among the shopkeepers, but you'll certainly save some m oney.2014届最新高考英语一轮单元复习精品阅读理解提升文章精选一百篇（59）Unit 61Web FeatsHere is a look at six ways the internet has made an impact on us in the past decade. There's no going back!Everybody can get information if they learn how to look for it. Irritated at the half-remembered lyrics of a song? Need a recipe for cassoulet? In pre-Internet days, finding the answer would have involved looking through reference books, scanning a newspaper or even making a trip to the library -- all with no guarantee of finding the information. Now, Google, the Internet search engine, can deliver even the most obscure bits of information to your desktop computer within a matter of seconds. Spend a little time on the help pages at to hone your search skills and the vast information warehouse that is the web will soon be at your fingertips.Cheap near-instant communication. To those who have grown up in the era of the ubiquitous @ symbol, it's easy to take electronic mail for granted, but the ability to flash messages around the globe with documents or images attached is revolutionary. Of course, with email you cannot ignore the spam problem -- the inconvenience of having an inbox flooded with offers of cheap drugs and get-rich-quick schemes.No oneis anonymous anymore. Try a search on your best friends names in Google, and chances are they will be somewhere on the Internet, especially those who are under 30. From websites to chatrooms, most Internet users leave a trail easy to pick up.Everyone can be a publisher. Publishing used to be concentrated in the hands of afew wealthy people and organizations that could afford the expensive infrastructure to print and distribute newspapers and magazines. Now everyone can play for next to nothing through personal websites or, more likely these days, by joining the Blogging phenomenon. Try bl for a taste of Blog power. How you make people read your Blog, however, is a differ ent question.Everyone can get breaking news. Previously, the average person had to wait until the media d ecided what information supplied by the wire services or their own reporters they would pass on via television news, radio bulletins and the next day's news paper. Now you have direct access to news via the web: try or for starters.The world market comes to your doorstep. The Internet has turned the connected world into a huge market place. This is primarily through the online eBay, but there are many others -- Google lists hundreds of differentauction sites. These sites have evolved into an incredibly efficient marketplace, with people co ming together from all parts f the globe. Huge numbers of conventional retail outlets are also onl ine. Get the cheapest price for an item online -- then, armed with a printout, head to the shopping mall to do the battle. You won't make many friends among the shopkeepers, but you'll certainly save some money.。

2014届最新高考英语一轮单元复习精品阅读理解提升文章精选一百篇（84）Unit 84Liposuction's LimitsDoctors have lo ng suspected that excess fat around the belly -- as op posed to the thighs or hips -- increases the chances of developing heart disease, high blood pressure and di abetes. Apparently, belly fat doesn't just lie there and jiggle.I t actively promotes ill health by, among other things, pumping out inflammatory proteins and interfering with the body's ability to use insulin. So it seemed plausible to many physicians that surgically removing belly by liposuction could give patients a double benefit: a slimmer figure and a better metabolic profile.That's why there was such disappointment wi th the news, reported in the New England Journal of Med icine last week, that unlike losing weight the old-fashioned way -- by eating less and moving more -- liposu ction m akes no difference in a person's b iological risk factors.Researchers in St. Louis, Mo., and Rom e, Italy, conducted extensive tests on 15 obese w omen before and three months after they underwent liposuction. "We removed 20 to 22 pounds of fat from each patient," says Dr. Samuel Kline, director of the Center Hu man Nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis. That's twice as much fat as is usually removed. The women were instructed not to diet or exercise more until the experiment was over. All reported t hat they felt better and could move more easily after surgery. But with respect to their metabolic risk factors, Kle in s ays, "The data after the procedure were identical to the data before the procedure."How is that possible? Liposuction does not remove the fat cells found in the liver or the muscles, or the so-called visceral fat that sur rounds internal o rgans. Nor does liposuction reduce the size of any remaining fat cells; large fat cells appear to produce more harmful proteins tha n do small ones. Some doctors believe the results would have been better if the patients had been only a few pounds overweight. In any case, the best way to shrink fat cells is still to create a negative energy balance by -- you guessed it -- eating fewer calories than you burn.Disappointing as this study might be, there is s till hope for folks who struggle with their weight. It is becoming increasingly clear that even modest weight loss -- of as little as 5% -- can lead to real improvements in your hea lth. The more weight you lose -- and keep off -- the better. But you don't have to get all the way back to normal weight. Most of us will never see a model-slim figure inthe mirror. But we can all lead hea lthier lives.。

2014届最新高考英语一轮单元复习精品阅读理解提升文章精选一百篇（99）Unit 98Drawbacks of Public SchoolingJohn Taylor Gatto had just been named New York State Teacher of the Year nine years ago when he made a shocking announcement. After t eaching 26 years in New York City public schools, he was quitting saying he could no longer continue to "hurt kids". Since then, Mr. Gatto has written and lectured extensively on the negative effects of c ompulsory schooling, whi ch he believes, has become a destructive activity to lock people up and drill them and confine them with low-level abstr actions.The following are excerpts from a recent interview:1. On why he wrote the book The Underground History of Edu cationI had a need to understand after 30 years of fairly successful teaching why the business had evolved the way it had. The first thing I learned was that the school world is not independent, but a subordinate industry to government and industry and commerce.2. On testingThere's no teacher worth his or her salt who, inside of a period at the start of a year, doesn't know who's going to get the As, who's going to get the Bs, who's going to cause trouble ... How do you know when you get a good haircut? You look in the mirror.Wha t we've allowed to happen is f or normal good judgment and wisdom to be set aside for some kind of mathematical scal e. There's nothing a standardized test measures other t han your ability to score well on the next standard ized test.3. Some assumptions made in modern schoolingGovernment school is a central force of social cohesion. The certifiable expertise of school-teachers is superior to laypeople. Children will inevitably grow apart from parents in beliefs as they grow older, and this process must be encouraged.4. On curricu lumThere is no scientific evidence justifying any particular subject selection, any sequence of subjects, any internal arr angements of time. There is no body of knowledge inaccessible to a motivated elementary school student. The rationing of learning by age is indefens ib le.5. On the role of the teach erThe balance of responsibility was once divided much differently. The assumption was that the kid would do 90 percent of the work and the teacher 10 percent. Sometime around the turn of the 20th century, that a ssumption was deliberately reversed.6. On the future of schoolsThe most effective reform is home-sc hool rev olution. Approximately 2 millionpeople from all soci al classes and cultural backgrounds, in effect, s et up private labs of education.。

2014届最新高考英语一轮单元复习精品阅读理解提升文章精选一百篇（8）Unit 15The Midnight Visitor (I)Ja mes did not fit the description of any secret agent Fowler had ever read about. Following him down the corridor of the gloomy French hotel where James had a room, Fowler felt disappointed. It was a small room, on the sixth and top floor, and scarcely a setting for a romantic figure.James was, for one thing, fat. And then there as his accent. Though he spoke French and German passably, he had never altogether lost the New England accent he had brought to Paris from Boston 20 years ago."You are disappointed," James said wheezily over his shoulder. "You were told that I was a spy, dealing in espionage and dang er. You wished to meet me because you are a writer, young and romantic. Yo u imagi ned mysterious figures in the night, the crack of pistols, drugs in the w ine.""Instead, you have spent a dull evening in a Fren ch music hall with a f at man who, instead of having mysterious messages slipped into his hand by dark-eyed beauties, gets only an ordinary phone call making an appointment in his room. You have been bored!" the fat man chuckled to himself as he unlocked th door of his room and stood aside to let his frustrated guest enter."you are disillusioned," James said. "But take cheer. Presently you'll see a paper, a quite impor tant paper for which several people have risked their lives, come to me in the next-to-last step of its journey into official hands. Someday soon that paper may well affect the course of history. In that thought is drama, is there not?" as he spoke, James closed the door behind him. Then he switched on the light.And as the light came on, Fowler had his first thrill of the day. For half way across the room, a small pistol in his hand, stood a man. James blink ed a few times."Max," he wheezed, "you gave me quite a start. I thought you were in Berlin. What are you doing in my room?" Ma x was slender, not tall, and with a face that suggested the look of a fox. Except for the gun, he did not look very dangerous."The report," he murmured, "t he report that is about some new missiles. I thought I would take it from you. It will be safer in my hands than in yours."James moved to an armchair and sat down heavily. "I'm going to raise the devil with management this time; I'm angry," he said grimly, "This is the second time in a month that somebody has got into my room off that balcony!" Fowler's eyes went to the single window of the room. It was an ordinary window, against which now thenight was pushing blackly."Balcony?" Max asked curiously, "No, I had a passkey. I didn't know about the balcony. It might have sa ved me some trouble had I known about it."。

高中英语真题:2014届最新高考英语一轮单元复习精品阅读理解提升文章精选一百篇（70）Unit 71Escape ValveA man and woman I know moved in together recently. It was, as such occasions are, a moment of sentimen t and celebration. It was also a limited engagement. Before mov ing in, they had already set a fixed date when they would break up. They explained their reasons to one and all. In a year, the woman planne d to change jobs and cities; the man didn't plan to follow. An eventual split is unfortunate, they said, but also inevitable, so why not plan on it? Yet far from being a sad twist of fate, my woman friend's scheduled departure was a liberating force, making possible whatever sho rt-term romance the couple will enjoy. Without the escape clause of a pre-set termination of their affair, they might never have lived together.This situation is not unique. More and more people are ordering their lives along a principle I call the "automatic-out". In love, friendship, work, and the community, people increasingly prefer arrangements that autom atically end at some pre-set date. It is a force in society as a whole, as more of us hunger for lives that appear stable and deep-rooted but lack the complications of commitment.Automatic-out may have its foundations in the preset cycles of academic lif e. In recent decades, an ever-higher percentage of the population has been able to attend college and p ost-graduate schools. That's a good thing for the cause of education but perhaps not so good for society's spirit. L ongtime students learn to view institutions as places where people briefly come to rest, and from w hich they will be automatically removed on a date known years i n advance. They also tend to see institutions as a means by wh ich to take things for themselves, instead of adding things for ot hers.So it may be no surprise that professionals -- usually the beneficiaries of advanced schooling -- seem increasingly uninterested in staying put.A Brookings Institution study shows that Government-agency managers turn over, on average, every 21 months. Now it is becoming true of private enterprisesas well. According to the Conference Board, a business researc h organization,top corporate executives now switch jobs every 4.5 years on a verage.The job-switching mania, it is sometimes suggested, stems from acombination of boredom and expectations of promotion. But I think it is motivated b the desire f or automatic-out. When you know in advance that you will soon be changing jobs, you are relieved of concern for the overall integrity of your institution whether thequality of its products, the fairness of its service, the odds of its survival. You have a built-in excuse for selfishness ("I'll be leaving in a year anyway") and can concentrate on advancing yourself, secure in the knowledge that if you fail to improve your organization, you personally won't suffer. You'll be one step ahead of the crumbling wall. It seems to be the s ame in love. If a romance operates under some per-set restriction, neither partner feels obliged to sacrifice his inter ests for joint interests. Why sacrifice for something not expecte d to last long anyway? Thus, the shot-term benefits ofmarriage and living together (companionship, warmth, conveni ence) remain popular. But long-term obligation to the institution of marriage has fallen into disre pute among many young people. Children and family life are es pecially in disrepute today, for whenever children are present th ere is no easy way out, emotionally and legally. The weekend r omance is especially desirable today, not because people mov e around more now but because distance guaranteesan automatic-out.2014届最新高考英语一轮单元复习精品阅读理解提升文章精选一百篇（70）Unit 71Escape ValveA man and woman I know moved in together recently. It was, as such occasions are, a moment of sentiment and celebration. It was also a li mited engagement. Before moving in, they had already set a fixed date when they would break up. They explained their reasons to one and all. In a year, the woman planned to change jobs and cities; theman didn't plan to follow. An eventual split is unfortunate, they said, but also inevitable, so why not plan on it? Yet far from being a sad twist of fat e, my woman friend's scheduled departure was a liberating force, making possible whatever sh ort-term romance the couple will enjoy. Without the escape clause of a pre-set termination of their affair, they might never have lived together.This situation is not unique. More and more people are ordering their lives along a pri nciple I call the "automatic-out". In love, friendship, work, and the community, people increasingly prefer arrangements that automatically end at some pre-set date. It is a force in society as a whole, as more of us hunger for lives that appear stable and deep-rooted but lack the complications of commitment.Automatic-out may have its foundations in the preset cycles of academic life. In recent decades, an ever-higher percentage of the population has been able to attend college and post-graduate schools. That's a good thing for the cause of education but perhaps not so good for society's spirit. Longtime students learn to view i nstitutions as places where people briefly come to rest, and from which they will be automatically r emoved on a date known years in advance. They also tend to see institutions as a means by w hich to take things for themselves, instead of adding things for others.So it may be no surprise that professionals -- usually the beneficiaries of advanced schooling -- seem increasingly uninterested in staying put. A Brookings Institution study shows that Government-agency managers turn over, on average, every 21 months. Now it is becoming true of private en terpris es as well. According to the Conference Board, a business research organization,top corporate executives now switch jobs every 4.5 years on average.The job-switching mania, it is sometimes suggested, stems from acombination of boredom and expectations of promotion. But I think it is motivated b the desire for automatic-out. When you know in advance that you will soon be changing jobs, you are relieved of concer n for the overall integrity of your institution whether thequality of its products, the fairness of its service, the odds of its survival. You have a built-in excuse for selfishness ("I'll be leaving in a year anyway") and can concentrate on advancing yourself, secure in the knowledge that if you fail to improve your organization, you personally won't suffer. You'll be one step ahead of the crumbling wall. It seems to be the s ame in love. If a romance operates under some per-set restriction, neither partner feels obliged to sacrifice his interests for joint interests. Why sacrif ice for something not expected to last long anyway? Thus, the shot-term benefits ofmarriage and living together (companionship, warmth, convenience) remain popular. But long-term obligation to the institution of marriage has fallen into disrepute among many young people . Children and family life are especially in disrepute today, for whenever children are present the re is no easy way out, emotionally and legally. The weekend romance is especially desirable to day, not because people move around more now but because distance guaranteesan automatic-out.。

2014届最新高考英语一轮单元复习精品阅读理解提升文章精选一百篇（82）Unit 82Euthanasia: For and Against"We mustn't delay any longer ... swallowing is difficult ... and breathing, too ... Those muscles are weakening ..." These were the wor ds of Dutchman van Wendel asking his doctor to help him die. Affected with a serious disease, van Wendel was no longer able to speak clearly and he knew there was no hope of recovery and th at his condition was deteriorating.Van Wendel's last three months of life before being given a final, lethal injection by his doctor were filmed and first shown on television in the Netherlands. The program has been bought by 20 countries and each time it i s shown, it triggers a nationwide debate on the subject.The Netherlands is the only country in Europe which permits euthanasia, although it is not technically legal there. However, doctors who carry out euthanasia under strict guidelines introduced by the Dutch parliament are usually not prosecuted. The guidelines demand that the patient is experiencing extreme suffering, that there is no chance of a cure, and that the patient has made repeated requests for euthanasia. In addition, a second doctor must confirm that these criteria have been met and the death must be reported to the police department.Should doctors be allowed to take the lives of others? Dr. Van Oijen, Van Wendel's do ctor explains how he looks at the question, "it's not as if I'm planning to kill a crowd with a machine gun. I c are for people and I try to ensure they don't suffer too much."Many people, though, are totally against the pract ice. Do. Ferguson, Chairman of Healthcare Opposed to Euthanasia, says that "In the vast majority of euthanasia cases, what the patient is actually asking for is something els e. They may want a health profession al to open up communication for them with their family -- there's nearly always another question behind the question."Britain has a strong traditio n of hospices -- special ho spitals which care only for the dying and their special needs. Cicely Saunders, a founder member of the hospices movement, argue s that euthanasia does not take into account that the re are ways of caring for the dying. She is also concerned that allowing euthanasia would undermine the need for care and consideration of a wide range of people: "it's very easy in society now f or the elderly, the disabled, and the dependent to feel that they are burdens, and therefore that they ought to opt out. I think that anything that legally allows the shortening of life does make those people more vulnerable."Many find this prohibition of an individ ual's right to die paternalistic. Although they agree that life is important and should be respected, they feel thatthe quality of life should not be ignored. Dr. Van Oijen believes that people have the fundamental right to choose for themselves if they want to die: "What those people who oppose euthanasia are telling me is that dying people haven't the right, and that when people are very ill, we are all afraid of their death. But there are situations where death is a friend. And in those cases, why not?"But "why not" is a question that might cause strong emotion. The film showing Van Wendel's death was moving and sensitive. His doctor was a family friend; his wife had on ly her husband's interests at heart. Some, however, would argue that it would be dangerous to use this particular cas e to support th e case for euthanasia. Not all patients would receive such a high level of individual care and attention.。

高中英语真题:2014届最新高考英语一轮单元复习精品阅读理解提升文章精选一百篇（73）Unit 74Will We Follow Dolly, the Sheep?Hearing Scottish scientists' success in cloning a sheep from a single adult cell, the world cones to an unsettling realization: the science is the easy part. it's not that the breakthrough was not decades in the making. It's that once yo u figured out how to transfer the genes from an adult cell into a living ovum and keep the fragile embryo alive throughout gestation -- most of your basic biological work was finished. The social an d philosophical tremors it triggers, however, have merely begun . How will the new technology be regulated? What does the sud den ability to make carbon copies of ourselves say about theconcept of individuality? Or is there something about the indivi dual that is lost when the mystical act of conceiving a person becomes standardiz ed into a mere act of photocopying one?Of all the reasons for using the new technology, pure ego raise s the most hackles. The Pharaohs built their pyramids, the Emp erors built Rome, and Napoleon built his Arc de Triomphe -- all, at least in part, to make the permanence of stone compens ate for the impermanence of the flesh.But big buildings and big tombs would be a poor second choic e if the flesh could be made to go on forever. Now it appears, it can. However, it' s one thing to want to be remembered after you are gone; it's q uite another to manufacture a living monument to ensure that you are. Some observers claim to be shocked that anyone would co ntemplate such a thing. But that's naive. It's obvious that a lot of people would be eag er to clonethemselves. Especially those who think the world could use mor e of them; people who are so arrogant that they have no qualms about bestowing their inner life on a dozen members of the next gen erations; people, in short, with high self-esteem. It's a horrible crime to make a Xerox of someone. It amounts to putting a human into a genetic straitjacket.More acceptable than the ego clone is the medical clone, a bab y created to provide transplant material for the original. Nobody advocates harvesting a one-of-a-kind organ like a heart from the new child -- an act that would amount to creating the clone just to kill it. Bu t it's hard to argue against the idea of a family's loving child so much that it will happily raise another, identical child so one of its kidneys or a bit of it s marrow might allow the first to live.The problem is that once you start shading the cloning question -- giving an ethical OK to one and a thumbs-down to another -- you are beginning making a mess of things. Suppose you could show that the baby who was created to pr ovide marrow would forever be treated like a second-class ch ild -- well cared for, perhaps, but not well loved. Richard McCormic k, a Jesuit Priest, says, "I can't think of a morally acceptable rea son to clone a human being."In a culture in which not everyone sees things sostraightforwardly, however, some ethical compromises are goin g to be reached. How it will be done is anything but clear. Science is close to crossing some horrific boundaries. Hare is an opportunit y for human beings to decide if we're simplystanding in the path of the technological steamroller of take control and help guide its direction.It will be up o science to determine if human cloning can be don e. It is up to the rest of us to determine if it should be.2014届最新高考英语一轮单元复习精品阅读理解提升文章精选一百篇（73）Unit 74Will We Follow Dolly, the Sheep?Hearing Scottish scientists' success in cloning a sheep from a single adult cell, the world cones to an unsettling realization: the science is the easy part. it's not that the breakthrough was not decades in the making. It's that once you figured out how to transfer the genes from an adult cell into a living ovum and keepthe fragile embryo alive throughout gestation -- most of your basic biological work was finished. The social and philosophical tremors it trigger s, however, have merely begun. How will the new technology be regulated? What does the sud den ability to make carbon copies of ourselves say about theconcept of individuality? Or is there something about the individual that is lost when the mystical act of conceiving a person becomes standardized into a mere act of photocopyi ng one?Of all the reasons for using the new technology, pure ego raises the most hackles. The Pharaoh s built their pyramids, the Emperors built Rome, and Napoleon built his Arc de Triomphe -- all, at least in part, to make the permanence of stone compensate for the impermanence of the flesh. But big buildings and big tombs would be a poor second choice if the flesh could be made to go on forever. Now it appears, it can. However, it's one thing to want to be reme mbered after you are gone; it's quite another to manufacture a living monument to ensure that you are. Some observers claim to b e shocked that anyone would contemplate such a thing. But that's naive. It's obvious that a lot of people would be eager to clonethemselves. Especially those who think the world could use more of them; people who are so arrogant that they have no qualms about bestowing their inner life on a dozen members of the next generations; people, in short, with hi gh self-esteem. It's a horrible crime to make a Xerox of someone. It amounts to putting a human into a genetic straitjacket.More acceptable than the ego clone is the medical clone, a baby created to provide transplant material for the original. Nobody advocates harvesting a one-of-a-kind organ like a heart from the new child -- an act that would amount to creating the clone just to kill it. But it's hard to argue against the id ea of a family's loving child so much that it will happily raise another, identical child so one of its kidneys or a bit of its marrow might allow the first to live.The problem is that once you start shading the cloning question -- giving an ethical OK to one and a thumbs-down to another -- you are beginning making a mess of things. Suppose you could show that the baby who was created to provide marrow would forever be treated like a second-class child -- well cared for, perhaps, but not well loved. Richard McCormick, a Jesuit Priest, says, "I can't th ink of a morally acceptable reason to clone a human being."In a culture in which not everyone sees things sostraightforwardly, however, some ethical compromises are going to be reached. How it will be done is anything but clear. Science is close to crossing some horrific boundaries. Hare is an opportunity for human beings to decide if we're simply standing in the path of the technological steamroller of take control and help guide its direction.It will be up o science to determine if human cloning can be done. It is up to the rest of us to det ermine if it should be.。

2014届最新高考英语一轮单元复习精品阅读理解提升文章精选一百篇（84）Unit 85Ghost of Diana at Royal Wedding?For Prince Charles and longtime lover Camilla Parker Bowles, Princess Diana will be the ghost at their wedding feast. Could it be sweet revenge from beyond the grave?"Diana always said her marriage was a bit crowded because there were three people in it," said Judy Wade, royal correspondent for Hello Celebrity magazine. "I think there will now be three people in Charles' second marriage."Many feel Diana would also have been hugely amused at the problems that have dogged the wedding, ranging from a forced switch of venue to a local town hall, to a postponement at the last minute over the clash of fates with Pope John Paul's funeral."Diana would be laughing at the chaos and the damage it has done to the monarchy," said Wade. "She must be orchestrating it from on high -- all we need is wait for it to rain on the wedding day and we will know she is pulling the strings."Tabloid reporters who followed every twist and turn in the tragic soap opera that was her melodramatic life believe Diana would in the end have wised Charles well for finally tying the knot with Camilla.Daily Mail royal correspondent Richard Kay, who last talked to Diana just hours before she was killed in a Paris car crash in 1997, said: "I think she had reached a point in her life where she had come to accept that Charles would be married. But she would find it hard to accept Camilla taking her place. She had anticipated them ending up together but with Charles standing aside and letting his son William take his place in the line of accession."Daily Mirror royal reporter James Whitaker, who broke the story of er romance with Dodi Al Fayed, said: "Funnily enough, I think Diana would be quite happy about it. She understood towards the end that Camilla was the love of Charles' life." But he felt that Diana's influence would still be all-pervasive on Charles and Camilla's big day. "Comparisons are odious but they will be made. I do think she will be the ghost at the feast."The contrast between Charles' two weddings could not be more stark. In 1981, Charles married his blushing young bride Diana at London's St. Paul's Cathedral before a television audience of 800 million. Britain jubilantly hailed the fairytale wedding. In April 2005, Charles marries Camilla before just 30 witnesses in Windsor town hall. Television cameras have been barred. Queen Elizabeth, who has been slow to warm to Charles' 35-year romance, will not be attending the wedding of her eldest son, a decision inevitably seen as a snub.Diana was consumed with jealousy over Charles' first love, telling Camilla in one famous confrontation: "It must be hell for both of you but I know what's going on. Don't treat me like an idiot." Even on honeymoon, Diana felt her marriage was doomed when two pictures of Camilla fell out of Charles' diary. he wore gold cufflinks with two interlinked C's that Camilla had given him.As the world's most photograhped woman, Diana was also a mistress of manipulation, using the media to put her side of the affair in the bitter divorce battle with the heir to the British throne.Royal biography Robert Lacey, reflecting on how Diana might have reacted to Camilla finally getting her man, concluded: "I think she would say 'good luck' in public and make sure she could wreak as much mischief in private as possible. If she had been alive, her ingenuity would have risen to the challenge and she would have made things still more difficult."。

2014届最新高考英语一轮单元复习精品阅读理解提升文章精选一百篇（80）Unit 80Civil Rights Move ment against Segregation in the USDuring and after World War II, challenges to segregation became more common and more successful. Three major factors accounted for this:-- The Great MigrationThe g reat migrat ion was the movement of blacks from the Southern states to the Northern and Western ones for a range of reasons including better jobs, better schools, and a less racist environment. It began during World War I, continued during the 1930s, and expanded dramatically in the 1940s and 1950s. The great migration introduced millions of blacks to a world in which formal segregation did not exist and basic facilities, like transportation, restaurant, and public bathrooms, were open to all people. However, the North was not without racism. Blacks could not move to certain neighborhoods, were denied access to many jobs, and were informally segregated. But, despite segregation and exclusion by individuals, unions, and employers, blacks who moved to the North were able to love with out the oppression of day-to-day segregation. They were thus better able to oppose legalized segregation in the South.-- Change s in American PoliticsWhile the great migration changed how black Americans lived, the Great Depression of the 1930s and the New Deal altered American politics by setting a precedent for government activism. The administration of President Frankl in Roosevelt assumed a new role of intervening in society to ensure jobs, justice, and the prosperity of the American people, who were severely affected by the Depression. Roosevelt himself was liberal on race and appointed blacks to high offices. The president's wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, made clear her hatred for segrega tion. In a gesture that symbolized a sharp break with previous administrations, she invited the National Council of Negro Women to have tea at the White House. By the eve of World War II, black voters regularly elected officials in a number of Northern states. These newly elected officials actively fought against segregation and racism although not always successfully.-- Social and Cultural ChangesA final drive to the civil rights movement was World War II. The struggle against Nazism forced some Americans to reconsider the legitimacy of racism in the United States. The Holoc aust of six million Jews, merel y because of their ethnicity, led some Americans to realize t hat racism could be a threa t to democracy itself. Blacks also served in the military in unprecedented number s. Thus, the war experiencethough t many people that equality was possible. Following the war, black veterans returned with a new sense of purpose. Joining them in the struggle against segregation was a better-educated and financially more secure black middle class and working class living in the North. Many blacks had earned high wages in war industries, were members of industrial unions, and politically active. Finally, the postwar world forced the government to face the threat that segregation posed to international relations. After the war, many colonies in Asia and Africa gained their independence from European domination. At the same time, the Cold War struggle with the Communist Government of USSR forced the Unit ed States to seek the good will of these nations. Segregation undermined the nation's ability to negot iate with these new nations while giving the USSR ammunition in its propaganda war against the United States. Leaders of the American fore ign policy establishment urged an end to segregation at home as a way of fighting Communism abroad.。