Clone Farm

　　Factory farming could soon enter a new era of mass production. Companies in the US are developing the technology needed to "clone" chickens on a massive scale1. Once a chicken with desirable traits has been bred or genetically engineered2, tens of thousands of eggs, which will hatch into identical copies , could roll off the production lines every hour. Billions of clones could be produced each year to supply chicken farms with birds that all grow at the same rate, have the same amount of meat and taste the same.

　　This, at least, is the vision of the US's National Institute of Science and Technology, which has given Origen Therapeutics of Burlingame, California, and Embrex of North Carolina $4.7 million to help fund research4. The prospect has alarmed animal welfare groups, who fear it could increase the suffering of farm birds.

　　That's unlikely to put off5 the poultry industry, however, which wants disease-resistant birds that grow faster on less food. "Producers would like the same meat quantity but to use reduced inputs to get there," says Mike Fitzgerald of Origen. To meet this demand, Origen aims to "create an animal that is effectively a clone", he says. Normal cloning doesn't work in birds because eggs can't be removed and implanted. Instead, the company is trying to bulk-grow6, embryonic stem cells7 taken from fertilized eggs as soon as they're laid. "The trick is to culture8 the cells without them starting to distinguish, so they remain pluripotent," says Fitzgerald.

　　Using a long-established technique, these donor cells will then be injected into the embryo of a freshly laid, fertilized recipient egg9, forming a chick that is a "chimera". Strictly speaking a chimera isn't a clone, because it contains cells from both donor and recipient. But Fitzgerald says it will be enough if, say, 95 percent of a chicken's body develops from donor cells. "In the poultry world, it doesn't matter if it's not 100 percent," he says.

　　Another challenge for Origen is to scale up10 production. To do this, it has teamed up with11 Embrex, which produces machines that can inject vaccines into up to 50,000 eggs12 an hour. Embrex is now trying to modify the machines to locate the embryo and inject the cells into precisely the right spot without killing it.

　　In future, Origen imagines freezing stem cells from different strains of chicken13. If orders come in for a particular strain, millions of eggs could be produced in months or even weeks. At present, maintaining all the varieties the market might call for is too expensive for breeders, and k takes years to breed enough chickens to produce the billions of eggs that farmers need.

　　詞匯：

　　clone 克隆，無性繁殖 implant 植入;移植

　　embryonic胚胎的 fertilise 使受精

　　pluripotent 多能的 embryo 胚胎

　　chimera 嵌合體 vaccine 疫苗

　　注釋：

　　1. on a massive scale:大規模

　　2. genetically engineered：經過基因改造。genetical engineering：遺傳工程

　　3. hatch into identical copies：孵出如出一轍的(小)雞

　　4. help fund research： 資助研究。fund用作動詞，research是它的賓語。

　　5. put off：意為 “discourage”(使……氣餒)。

　　6. bulk-grow： 大量繁殖

　　7. stem cell：干細胞

　　8. culture：動詞，意思是：培育。

　　9. a freshly laid, fertilized recipient egg:新產下的;已受精的;要接受細胞植入的雞蛋

　　10. scale up： 提高，按比例增加。

　　11. team up with：與 合作。

　　12. up to 50,000 eggs：多達 5 萬只雞蛋。

　　13. different strains of chicken：不同品種的雞。

　　練習：

　　1. Which statement is the best description of the new era of factory farming according to the first paragraph?

　　A. Eggs are all genetically engineered.

　　B. Thousands of eggs are produced every hour.

　　C. Cloned chickens are bulk-produced with the same growth rate, weight and taste.

　　D. Identical eggs can be hatched on the production lines.

　　2. Which institution has offered $4.7 million to fund the research?

　　A. The US’s National Institute of Science and Technology.

　　B. Origen therapeutics of Burlingame, California.

　　C. Embrex of North Carolina.

　　D. Animal welfare groups.

　　3. In the third paragraph, by saying “Producers would like the same meat quantity but to use reduced inputs to get there.” Mike Fitzgerald means that he wishes

　　A. chickens’ quality could be maintained but with less investment.

　　B) chickens' taste could be improved but at less costs.

　　C) chickens' growth rate could be quickened but with less inputs.

　　D) chickens could grow to the same weight but with less feed.

　　4. Which of the following statements about Origen and Embrex is correct according to the fifth paragraph?

　　A) Origen and Embrex will jointly invent machines to increase production.

　　B) Origen wants to purchase an efficient donor cells injecting machine.

　　C) Origen has joined hands with Embrex in producing cell-injecting machines.

　　D) Origen is the leading company in producing embryo-locating machines.

　　5. The technology of freezing stem cells from different strains of chicken can do all the following EXCEPT that

　　A) farmers can order certain strains of chicken only.

　　B) Origen can supply all the strains of chicken the market might need.

　　C) chicken farmers order certain strains of chicken for economic reasons.

　　D) chicken farmers can be supplied with whatever strain they need.

　　答案與題解：

　　1. C 第一段最后一句提供了直接的答案。 .

　　2. A 第二段共提到三個研究機構和一個民間組織。The US's National Institute of Science and Technology為研究提供了經費，被資助的研究機構是Origen Therapeutics of Burlingame, California 禾口 Embrex of North Carolina.因此，A 是答案。

　　3. D 原句的意思有兩點是關鍵的，即每只雞提供的肉量不變，但飼料(inputs)要減 少。只有D符合原意。

　　4. C 該段第二個句子中which引導的從句表明，是Embrex生產疫苗注射裝置，而 不是兩家研究單位共同研制。Embrex在此基礎上將裝置改造為細胞注射裝置。所以， 只有C最接近原意。

　　5. A 最后一段的大意是，如果能冷凍所有品種的雞的干細胞，那么，無論需要什么 品種的雞或多少數量，都不是問題。但是，目前儲備所有品種是非常昂貴的。B、C、 D從幾方面表達了這層意思。因此，只有A是答案。

　　譯文：克隆農場

　　工業化農場很快會進入一個大產量的新領域。美國的公司正在開發一項需要大規模克隆小雞的技術。一旦一個具有所期望特性的小雞被孵化出來或被基因改造，每小時成千上萬的雞蛋會孵出如出一轍的小雞滾下生產線。每年上百萬的克隆小雞能被孵化出來，從而為雞場提供以相同比例生長，重量相同并且味道相同的小雞。

　　這至少是美國國家科技院的夢想，科技院給位于加利福尼亞柏林蓋姆的奧利藥物研究所，以及北卡羅來的艾姆伯利斯470萬基金以資助研究。這個預想為擔憂增加雞場小雞痛苦的動物福利組織拉響了警報。

　　那好像并沒有讓使家禽養殖業氣餒，然而，他們想使抗病小雞吃得更少，長得更快，“養殖者希望減少投入但仍獲得相同的產量，”奧利研究所的邁克?費茨杰拉德說。為了達到這個要求，奧利致力于“制造一個有效克隆體的小雞，”他說，正常的克隆技術對鳥類無效，因為卵不能被移動或移植。然而，公司正試圖大量繁殖剛產下的受精卵中提取的胚胎的干細胞。技巧是在細胞開始顯示其差別前對其進行培育，這樣它們還保持多能性。”費茨杰拉德說。

　　運用早已成熟的技術，這些干細胞會被注入剛產出的，受精受體雞蛋的胚胎中，形成一個嵌合體的小雞。嚴格地說，嵌合體的小雞不是克隆雞，因為它既有植入的細胞又有本身的細胞。但費茨杰拉德說，如果小雞身體的95%是由被植入的細胞發展而來的就足夠了。“在家禽界，不是100%也沒關系。”

　　奧利研究所面臨的另一個挑戰是提高生產量。為了做到這點，他和艾姆伯利斯合作研制了一個可將疫苗注入5萬個雞蛋中的儀器。艾姆伯利斯正試圖改造那個儀器，從而使胚胎和注射的細胞落在準確的位置而不殺死它。

　　在將來，奧利設想將不同品種小雞的干細胞冷凍，如果定單要某一種小雞，成百萬的卵能在幾個月甚至幾個星期被生產出來，目前，維持市場可能需要的各種小雞對養殖者來說太昂貴了，而且要花數年的時間才能培育出足夠的小雞以生產出農民需要的數以10億計的雞蛋。