Science and Technology (->technique)
怎样学好拼音By Judith Raughman (Editor)
[1] (optimistic->)Optimism and empowerment. As the century drew to a clo (end), the potential for human invention and understanding appeared (emed) boundless (limitless). Scientific understanding expanded daily, from the fundamental (basic) building blocks of matter to the source code of all life to the origins, and perhaps the eventual (finally) demi (end), of the univer. The technological advances (progress) of the 1990s ushered in (led to) what appeared to be a social and economic revolution that would rival (match / compete with) the Industrial Revolution two centuries earlier (information revolution), creating a new society of technologically connected citizens with a world of digitized information, commerce, and communication at its fingertips. The new "Digital Age", reprented by the "Information Superhighway" was not all-inclusive, threatened to leave many (people) behind, including older citizens and tho (people) who could not afford (pay for) the new technology. Still (Furthermore), by 1999 more than three-quarters of the U. S. p
opulation was "plugged in" to the new digital society (age), and most Americans felt that technological advances were improving their quality of life. Optimism was the reigning tone [key-note speaker/ speech] of the decade. New advances in science and technology emed to promi eventual (final) solutions to problems ranging from eliminating toxic (poisonous) waste to grocery shopping — genetic engineers developed microbes that would eat industrial sludge and rearchers at the Massachutts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Media Lab worked to devi (design) a refrigerator that could n (feel) when it was out of milk and u the Internet to order more. The 1990s allayed 糊涂的爱歌词(relieved/ reduced) the fear that a technologically advanced society was necessarily heavily centralized, with Big Brother watching every move (=movement). Instead (On the contrary), with the creation of the Internet and the World Wide Web, and their emphasis on decentralization, equality, and the open sharing of resources, many individuals found that greater access (right) to information incread their n (feeling) of personal freedom and power.
[2] Ethics and the Natural. With the explosion of knowledge came public concern (worry)
over where all of the new discoveries and technologies might be taking society. The cloning of an animal in 1997 suggested (show) that human cloning had become viable (feasible) as well (too), raising concerns — no longer quite theoretical — that humanity might be moving toward a "brave (adventurous) new world" of genetically engineered people. The Human Genome Project, launched in 1990 with a mission (missionary/ task) to decode the entire human genetic makeup, held (rai) promis (hope) for an end (terminate) to genetic disorders, but threatened to open the way for "designer babies", who could be genetically altered to suit their parents' wishes. While many (people) argued that plant and animal breeders had been fooling around with genetics for centuries in order to better (improve) the lot of humankind, others pointed out that new advances (progress) in genetics allowed rearchers to cross boundaries t by nature, implanting human genes in animals in order to turn them into medicine factories, creating plants that produced plastics and glowed in the dark, even attempting (trying) to create “terminator" eds that stifled (suppress) their own reproductive capacity (ability) in order to maintain (keep) the ed manufacturer's cash flow. The question of what was "
natural" came under rious consideration (discussion), as no aspect of the environment and the organisms in it emed safe from genetic tinkering. Yet, while experiments with human cloning or customizing a child's genetic makeup emed abhorrent (horrible/ terrible) to most Americans, there was general support for genetic rearch that could help to identify (recognize) and cure genetic dias or make food sources healthier and more plentiful for a growing global population.
[3] (private->)Privacy. Privacy was an over税收筹划论文arching (most important) concern (worry) with many of the technological and scientific advances of the 1990s. The Internet was an amazing牡丹亭名句 (surprising) new tool for sharing information, yet it was also a powerful means (tools) for finding information that was intended to be private, including government and military crets, the source codes to proprietary (private) software, and even a neighbor's social curity number. Companies and individuals alike (ad. similarly) worried that their private information would be compromid when (since) sophisticated computer technologists could "hack" into protected computer systems and era or steal important data. Computer virus, lf-replicating codes (program) written by malicious individuals,
could steal into personal computer systems through e-mail or the Web and wreak havoc with (make a mess of) the data stored there. Protecting privacy over the Internet was not easy, and many people worried that government attempts (try) to intervene would only cripple (disable/ paralyze) the development of the Internet. Similar fears were sparked (vt. sparkled) when concerned (relevant) 小数点的英文groups lobbied (persuade) the government to outlaw pornography and other disturbing materials on the Web in the name of "protecting the children". While most Americans agreed that children should not be expod to (touch/ watch) such material, attempts (efforts) to regulate (control) the content of individual Web pages and newsgroups conflicted with the idea of the Internet as an open, decentralized mass medium, where even the most absurd or repellant (disgusting) ideas could receive a hearing (have some audience). Digital surveillance in the workplace also became an issue (problem), as (when) some companies spied on (watch) their workers' u of the Internet and e-mail. [sur-: above; from above]
[4] Genetics and Privacy. Advances (progress) in genetics also threatened personal privacy. With the Human Genome Project scheduled (planned) to be finished early in the
twenty-first century, and private companies competing to win patents on genetic discoveries, many individuals worried about what scientists might do with a complete understanding of the human genetic code. While genetic dias could be discovered and perhaps cured, this information might also be ud to discriminate against people predispod 关于花的诗句古诗(inclined to) to certain genetic malfunctions, or to group (vt./ classify) individuals bad on their genetic data. The idea that scientists would own patents on the human genetic code was disturbing, as well, as (for/ since) it meant that human life could become a proprietary (private) resource (property).
[5] Big Science And Little Science. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) continued to wow (surpri) the world, nding the giant Hubble Telescope into orbit to gather and transmit never-before-en images 不再害怕(picture) of deep space that offered (gave) increasingly tantalizing (attractive) clues to the origins of the univer. The arch for extraterrestrial life continued during the decade, as NASA scientists found possible evidence of bacterial life in a meteor from Mars, and distant planets were discovered that might contain water. NASA nt space probes (n./vt.) to land on the surfa
ce of Mars, nt national hero John Herschel Glenn Jr. back into space to study aging, and made plans to build an International Space Station with rearch teams from other countries. Still (Furthermore), some critics wondered if all of the money spent on space rearch might not be better ud to fund new discoveries here on Earth, almost as if the (divide->)diversion of space was no longer as necessary when (since) there were so many new and interesting projects going on right here. One of the most fascinating (attractive) new realms (world/ field) of study was nanotechnology, a field of rearch that attempted to manipulate反应能力 matter at the molecular level, building new devices (equipment) atom by atom that could be ud in miniaturized manufacturing, drug-delivery system, and tiny (small) minicomputers. With the discovery of a new family of carbon molecules known as fullerenes, nanotechnology rearchers had a new raw material to work with (process). The science was still very experimental at the turn (beginning) of the century, but rearchers and government officials saw great potential for this science of the tiny (small). (1, 151 words)
