A
Last spring, I worked in Washington D．C. There I visited Ford’s Theater and looked at Abraham Lincoln’s 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 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’ve never cloned a human. Maybe it’s a horrible desire, but 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 DNA sequence needed for cloning. Sheryl Bernauer, lab supervisor for the DNA Sequencing Facility at UC Davis, said that when cells die over time, the DNA becomes less useful. The DNA in Lincoln’s 145yearold bloodstains and hair is probably futile for cloning. “The hair itself would be very hard to get the entire DNA sequence from unless you have a complete follicle (毛囊)，” Bernauer said. We don’t have any of Lincoln’s follicles, so that’s a nogo.
Still, it’s interesting to think about how 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 — part of the dead lives on.
语篇解读：作者思考了我们是否可以克隆出Abraham Lincoln的问题，但目前来说条件不允许。
1．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
解析：选D 细节理解题。根据第一段的“But at the National Museum of Health and Medicine ...a lock of his hair, pieces of his skull and a handkerchief with his blood on it.”可知，作者在那里看到了一些林肯身上的东西。
2．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 be passed around like saintly relics.
解析：选B 推理判断题。根据第三段的“his doctors and friends collected bits of his skull and bloody pieces of cloth for autopsy (尸检)”可知，是为了了解Abraham Lincoln的死因。
3．What does the underlined word “futile” in Paragraph 4 mean?
A．Useless. B．Interesting.
C．Exciting. D．Necessary.
解析：选A 词义猜测题。根据画线词后的“The hair itself would be very hard ... a complete follicle (毛囊)”可知，该词是指那些血迹和头发里的DNA可能已经“没用”了。
4．It’s implied in Paragraph 4 that a complete follicle________.
A．doesn’t have cells that die over time
B．is in Abraham Lincoln’s remains
C．doesn’t tell well about someone’s genes
D．has one’s entire DNA sequence
解析：选D 推理判断题。根据第四段的“The hair itself would be very hard to get the entire DNA sequence from unless you have a complete follicle”可知，完整的毛囊里面有完整的基因序列。
