高三英语培优外刊阅读
班级：____________学号：____________姓名：____________
外刊精选｜科学家克隆濒危动物，让33年前的雪貂重生
去年12月，一只克隆雪貂在美国出生，它克隆的是一只已经去世32年，一直被冷冻保存的雪貂。作为第一个被克隆的北美本土濒危物种，这一消息在美国引起不少关注。人类几十年来一直在克隆技术领域不断探索，这只克隆雪貂的出生让人们看到了挽救濒危物种的新希望。有很多物种都处于濒危状态，科学家们这次为什么会选择雪貂呢？
Meet Elizabeth Ann, the First Cloned Black-Footed Ferret
By Sabrina Imbler
Last year, Ben Novak drove across the country to spend New Year's Eve with a black-footed ferret. Elizabeth Ann had just turned 21 days old — surely a milestone for any ferret but a particularly meaningful one for Elizabeth Ann, the first of any native, endangered anim
al species in North America to be cloned.
Mr. Novak, the lead scientist of the biotechnology nonprofit Revive & Restore, spent less than 15 minutes with Elizabeth Ann, whose black mask, feet and tail were just beginning to show through her downy white fur. "It felt like time stopped," Mr. Novak said.
Thankfully, time has not stopped for Elizabeth Ann, who now looks bigger, browner and considerably more like a ferret. 
Cloned siblings are on the way, and potential (cloned) mates are already being lined up. If successful, the project could bring needed genetic diversity to the endangered species. And it marks another promising advance in the wider effort to use cloning to retrieve an ever-growing number of species from the brink of extinction.
The black-footed ferret, the first species to be reintroduced to former habitats with the help of artificial insemination, has long been a model species for new conservation technologies. So it is fitting that the ferrets have become the second species to be cloned for this type of genetic rescue.
【词汇过关】
请写出下面文单词在文章中的中文意思。
1.milestone [ˈmaɪlstəʊn] n. ____________________________
2.native [ˈneɪtɪv] adj. ____________________________
3.endangered [ɪnˈdeɪndʒəd] adj. ____________________________
4.species [ˈspiːʃiːz] n. ____________________________pushed
5.lead [liːd] n. ____________________________
6.biotechnology [baɪəʊtekˈnɒlədʒi] n. ____________________________
7.considerably [kənˈsɪdərəbli] adv. ____________________________
8.mark [mɑːk] v. ____________________________
9.advance [ədˈvɑːns] n. ____________________________
10.effort [ˈefət] n. ____________________________
11.retrieve [rɪˈtriːv] v. ____________________________
12.extinction [ɪkˈstɪŋkʃn] n. ____________________________
13.habitat [ˈhæbɪtæt] n. ____________________________
14.conservation [kɒnsəˈveɪʃn] n.____________________________
【词块学习】
请从文章中到下面中文相对应的文词块。
1.排队_______________________________________
2.人工授精_______________________________________
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An endangered black-footed ferret (雪貂), considered to be the rarest mammal in North America, made a “surprise appearance” in a Pueblo West homeowner’s garage on Monday, according to a Colorado Parks and Wildlife(CPW) news report.
The unnamed homeowner called CPW about the furry visitor, and while waiting for officers to arrive, he tricked the animal into a box. The home is located near the Walker Ranch, where CPW has been releasing black-footed ferrets on a prairie dog colony as part of a major conservation collaboration to restore their populations. Black-footed ferrets rely heavily on prairie dogs, which are often treated as pests by farmers, for food.
Since 2013, more than 120 black-footed ferrets have been released on the Walker Ranch by CPW biologists. By scanning the escaped ferret’s microchip, officers were able to determine it was one of nine black-footed ferrets recently released on the ranch.
With the blessing of the ranch owner, and after examining the animal and determining it was healthy, CPW officers took the box and hiked deep into the prairie colony in the dark, opened the box and watched the ferret hurry into a prairie dog hole.
“We don’t know exactly why this black-footed ferret left the colony,” said Ed Schmal, CPW conservation biologist. “We put them into prairie dog holes but they may not stay. Sometimes they move around the colony to find the right home. This one might have gotten pushed out by other ferrets and it went looking for a new home. We really don’t know.”
Schmal said CPW has only received one other report of a black-footed ferret leaving the ranch, and he had never heard of one entering a structure like a garage. “This is extremely rare,” he said. “Black-footed ferrets are active at night and extremely shy. For some reason, this one left the colony and was seeking shelter. We’re just glad it appeared healthy, not starving or sick, and we were able to capture it and return it to the colony.”

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