環(huán)球英語 — 374：Body Stores
Voice 1
Hello, I’m Marina Santee.
Voice 2
And I’m Ruby Jones. Welcome to Spotlight. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
Imagine the situation. You are feeling unwell. You find that you need to go to the toilet very often to pass water. So, you decide to visit the doctor. He examines you and discovers what the trouble is. You have a weak bladder. The bladder is where the body stores waste water, but yours is not working so well. You then ask the doctor if he can give you some medicine. This would help make your condition easier to live with. The doctor says that he can do more than offer you medicine! He suggests that you could have a completely new bladder - one that has been especially grown from some of your own body cells. What would you say to your doctor?
Voice 2
Or, imagine this. In the past, you liked exercise. You ran three times a week. You went swimming. You took long walks. But now, you cannot. Maybe you suffered an injury, or your muscles have become weak. You are not happy about this, so you go to the doctor. Your doctor tells you not to worry, because you can grow new muscles to replace your old ones. You can now look and feel healthy again!
Voice 1
These may seem like stories from a scientist’s imagination. But such ideas may soon become scientific fact. Doctor Michio Kaku is a scientist. He is also a writer and television presenter. Doctor Kaku has written some television programmes about the science of the future. And he believes that replacing old body parts with new ones will soon be a normal event. He says:
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“Just like we have car body stores today, we will have human body stores in the future. We will go to these stores to replace any broken parts.”
Voice 1
And Doctor Kaku has seen one of these human body stores already. It is at Wake Forest University in the United States. Doctor Kaku describes what he saw:
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“I went to the world’s leading centre for growing body parts... there were body tissues - noses, ears and bladders - growing on the laboratory tables.”
Voice 2
Scientists at Wake Forest University say that their centre grows many different body parts - as many as twenty. These include bones, muscles, and the major organs of the body. And Wake Forest is not the only body part centre in the world. Other medical centres now deal with regenerative medicine - the science of growing new body parts. And the technology is already present in some cases. For example:
Voice 4
Is your head losing its hair? Well, treatment is possible. Doctors can re-plant the body’s hair follicles. Follicles lie in the skin. They are responsible for hair growth. Doctors take follicles from a hairy part of the body. Then, they re-plant them on the part that has no hair. But the process is costly. It will cost you almost six thousand [6000] dollars for one thousand [1000] new hairs!
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In some situations, women are not able to have children. A woman’s womb is the place where a foetus develops into a baby. But some women may have their wombs removed for medical reasons. Then they cannot have children. Now, however, American doctors in New York are ready to replace old wombs with new ones. The new wombs come from donors. The donor would be a woman who has died, but who had a healthy womb.
Voice 4
Since 2005, six patients in Argentina have received some new blood vessels. Blood vessels are the small tubes that carry blood around the body. Scientists took some of the patients’ existing skin cells. They then grew new skin in the laboratory. They rolled the new layer of cells to make tubes. Then they used the tubes as blood vessels. They replanted the tubes in the patients’ bodies.
Voice 1
It seems that scientists possess the power to give new life to old or sick bodies. But not everyone is happy about this. Are scientists developing this technology for the right medical reasons? Some people would say they are not. They believe that in the future, scientists could also offer new, improved organs to healthy people. Nobody wants to die before they have to. So, scientists could design these organs to be free from any disease-carrying genes. People would have a better body - and live much longer.
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So, is it morally right to work towards this? Some scientists do not think so. Professor Leonard Hayflick works at the University of California in the US. He says:
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“Knowing that one day we will die is the key to how we live. Almost every area of our life is governed by our sense of self - when we will grow old and when we will die. We have to think seriously about making any changes to the ageing process - and what the end results of any changes may be.”
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Another scientist, Professor Susan Greenfield, agrees. She says:
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“I do not think that we should worry about wanting to live for hundreds of years. But we should worry about WHY we would want to.”
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And Professor Michio Kaku asks a key question:
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“We will have the power of gods. But will we also have the wisdom of Solomon?”
Voice 1
Solomon was a king of ancient Israel. He loved God and obeyed his commands. So God appeared to him in a dream. He told Solomon to ask for anything that he wanted. God would then give it to him. Solomon answered, “Please make me wise. And teach me the difference between right and wrong.” God was pleased with Solomon’s answer. And he answered his request. Solomon went on to rule his people wisely. His wisdom was famous through out the world. And people still value his wisdom highly today.
Voice 2
Professor Kaku suggests that wisdom is as important as knowledge for today’s scientists. Great power carries great responsibility. So, it follows that scientists have great need of clear moral rules to govern their work. Problems can appear when deciding what those rules should be. People have different ideas of right and wrong. But today’s scientists could do well to follow Solomon’s example. Solomon loved God and followed his commands. That may be a good start for making any decisions about how human life could develop more.
