Whatever our differences as human beings are, we all think we’re more like the r

Whatever ourdifferences as human beings are, we all think we’re more like the rest of theanimal world than we realize. It is said that we share 40 per cent of ourgenetic（遗传的）structure with the simple worm.

But that fact hashelped Sir John Sulston win the 2002 Nobel Prize for Medicine. Sir John is thefounder of the Sanger Institute in Cambridge, which was set up in 1992 to get furtherunderstanding of the human genome（染色体组.

To help them do this,they turned to the worm. The nematode（线虫类的）worm is one ofthe earliest creatures on planet earth. It is less than one millimeter long,completely transparent and spends its entire life digging holes through sand.But it still has lots to say about human life, and what can be done to make itbetter.

What the worm told SirJohn and his colleagues was that each of cells in the human body is programmedlike a computer. They grow, develop and die according to a set of instructionsthat are coded in our genetic make-up.

Many of the diseasesthat humans suffer from happen when these instructions go wrong or are notobeyed. When the cell refuses to die but carries on growing instead, this leadsto cancer. Heart attacks and diseases like AIDS cause more cell deaths thannormal, increasing the damage they do to the body. Sir John was the firstscientist to prove the existence of programmed cell death.

1．SirJohn Sulston got a Nobel Prize for Medicine because he has______.

         A．foundthat human beings are similar to the worn

         B．gotthe fact we share 40 per cent of our genetic structure with the simple worm

         C．foundthe computer which controls each of the cells in the human body

         D．provedthat cell death is programmed

2．Peoplemight be seriously ill if the cells in heir body______-.

         A．growwithout being instructed B．die regularly

         C．failto follow people’s instructions    D．developin the human body

3．Theunderlined word “they” (paragraph 5) refers to_________-.

         A．celldeaths                B．diseases          C．instructions           D．cells

4．Whatis the subject discussed in the text?

         A．Thetheory of programmed cell deaths.

         B．Agreat scientist—Sir John Sulston.

         C．Theprogrammed human life.

         D．Dangerousdiseases.

试题答案

【答案】

 D

 A

 B

 A

【解析】